Welcome to our February 2026 Viewpoints, a monthly bulletin from PDS Planning to our valued clients and friends. Our goal with each issue of Viewpoints is to provide you with a wide variety of perspectives on life and wealth. Feel free to share with others. Your Favorite Asset Class Quilt Rebalancing and diversification are once again…
New tax rules require certain employees age 50 and older who earned more than $150,000 in W-2 wages in the prior year to make retirement plan catch-up contributions on a Roth basis. This change eliminates the upfront tax deduction and may increase taxable income, affect Medicare Part B and D premiums, and limit other income-based…
Estate & Legacy, Investment Planning
Roth IRA for Kids: How Custodial Roth IRAs Work and When They Make Sense Summary: A Roth IRA for a child can be a useful planning tool when earned income exists, but it’s not a default strategy and should not replace education-focused accounts like 529 plans. Custodial Roth IRAs follow standard IRS rules, including earned income requirements and…
February delivered one of the more dramatic market reactions in recent memory, driven not by an economic data release, but by a personnel decision. News that President Trump intends to nominate Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as Chair of the Federal Reserve sent shockwaves through the gold and silver trading markets. If there’s such…
The Hidden Costs That Quietly Erode Wealth “Don’t tip the IRS” It’s a familiar mantra among tax-conscious investors. Yet while most business owners and executives focus on minimizing their tax obligations, far fewer recognize a different set of “taxes” quietly eroding their wealth. These hidden costs don’t appear on a tax return. They’re embedded in…
Welcome to our January 2026 Viewpoints, a monthly bulletin from PDS Planning to our valued clients and friends. Our goal with each issue of Viewpoints is to provide you with a wide variety of perspectives on life and wealth. Feel free to share with others. Varying Lengths of Bull Markets The chart below shows the length…
Beyond Your Finances, PDS News
Forty years. It was humbling to celebrate such a milestone anniversary for PDS in 2025. It is a testament to Bob Hamilton, his brother Jim, and Bob Cochran. They worked for years in service to their clients, with incredible humility, and created a reputation which our current team has been able to use to help…
2025: A Masterclass in Tuning Out the Noise If you felt like 2025 was an exhausting year to be an investor, you weren’t alone. Between tariff announcements, government shutdowns, and the 24/7 news cycle constantly reminding us the sky might be falling, it would have been easy to throw in the towel and move everything…
Welcome to our December 2025 Viewpoints, a monthly bulletin from PDS Planning to our valued clients and friends. Our goal with each issue of Viewpoints is to provide you with a wide variety of perspectives on life and wealth. Feel free to share with others. Impact of Tariffs Data and analysis from the Tax Foundation shows…
Big Changes Are Coming to Retirement Contributions in 2026 The IRS has released updated retirement plan contribution limits for 2026, and several SECURE Act 2.0 changes take effect on January 1, 2026. For high-income earners and retirees who delegate financial complexity to advisors, these updates will influence tax strategy, plan contributions, and how much you…
The holiday shopping season is off to a record-breaking start. From Black Friday through Cyber Monday, shoppers spent $44.2 billion—up 8% from last year and well above expectations. Consumers are on track to spend $250 billion this holiday season for the first time ever. Contrary to what increased consumer spending typically signals, November consumer sentiment…
Estate & Legacy, Retirement, Taxes
The end of year is nearing, and these final weeks of the year present a critical window for implementing strategies that can significantly reduce your tax liability and advance your long-term financial goals. With this timeline in mind, here are some things to consider before year-end to help ensure your financial plans remain on track. 1. Optimize…
Welcome to our November 2025 Viewpoints, a monthly bulletin from PDS Planning to our valued clients and friends. Our goal with each issue of Viewpoints is to provide you with a wide variety of perspectives on life and wealth. Feel free to share with others. Precipitous CapEx Since the end of 2023, capital expenditures from Meta,…
If you donate to charity each year, there’s an important tax change coming in 2026 that may reduce how much of your charitable giving is deductible. That’s why many families may be better off accelerating part of their multi-year charitable gifts into 2025, locking in today’s higher deduction while still supporting the same causes on…
Year-end capital gain distributions can create unexpected tax bills for investors — even when no trades were made. Many people understand that selling an investment at a profit creates taxable income, but fewer realize that mutual funds can generate capital gains internally, resulting in what’s often called “phantom income.” Because fund companies typically release distribution…
