Sycamore Updates and Investment Decisions

Hello from Sycamore,

We admire everyone’s efforts to stay safe as we all continue to navigate through challenging times caused by COVID-19. At Sycamore, we take pride that during these times of uncertainty, there are quite a few things we can remain certain about:

  1. We are fully operational via phone or email for all questions, concerns, and account reviews.
  2. Our clients continue to be the most important asset to our business.
  3. Helping our clients achieve their financial goals, is our number 1 objective.

We use a ‘risk first analysis’ in our investment decisions. This means when considering an investment, we judge the stability of a company and its industry, and the longevity of that stock within its sector. Using this approach has helped us limit exposure to industries like airlines and entertainment that are not very predictable, and due to the uncertain nature of these businesses, we’ve kept most of them out of your portfolios.

This is not our first rodeo, we are no stranger to the fact that there will be good markets and volatile markets. Understanding this, when we put your individual financial plan into place, we consider this as we make the rate of return assumptions.

As we look back over 2019, we can proudly say Sycamore’s Growth & Income portfolios experienced gross returns above 27%. We also feel that it is important to point out that as we write this, the markets are currently sitting around 24,000 which also happens to be higher than where we began the 2019 year.

We continue to thank all of you for being great investors. Stay safe, wash your hands, and stay invested!

Thank you for your business and trust,

Brent Yard
Sycamore Financial Group

*Data not audited
**Results reported gross of fees
***Past performance does not assure future results. Investors cannot invest directly in the stock market indexes such as the S&P 500. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate. Investor value, when sold may be worth more or less than their original cost.

 

By |2022-07-21T12:23:17-04:00April 28th, 2020|2020 Newsletters|0 Comments

COVID-19 Stimulus Package

Hello from Sycamore,

On March 27th, 2020 congress passed and the President signed into law a roughly $2 trillion stimulus package to help individuals and businesses deal with the fall out due to COVID-19. We have not had a chance to learn the specifics of this bill but understand the basics. Here are some of the policies that we think are pertinent to investors.

  1. Required minimum distributions from IRA type accounts have been waived for 2020.
  2. If you have already taken your 2020 RMD it appears that you may be able to ‘roll’ that distribution back into the IRA but only if you can put the money back within 60 days of the distribution. If you took your distribution early in 2020, these monies cannot be put back into your IRA type account.
  3. The tax filing deadline has been moved to July 15th, 2020 and with this, so has the date to make contributions to IRAs and health savings accounts for 2019.
  4. The 10% tax penalty on withdraws from IRA type account for those not yet 59.5 years old is waived on withdraws up to $100,000.
  5. IRA distributions in 2020 will be allowed to be paid back in full within 3 years and not incur any tax as long as the distribution is due to disaster relief. If you elect not to repay this amount, the distribution is taxable as ordinary income. Additionally, you may have the ability to pay this tax liability over 3 years.
  6. Loans from your 401(k) etc. are now allowed up to $100,000 or 100% of the account balance.

If you currently take RMD’s from your account with Sycamore and do not need the money for living expenses, it may be wise to delay those payments. This would allow for a reduced tax bill and potential for having to liquidate assets at a reduced price.

We want to remind you that we are fully operational during these times but are conducting business only remotely. The health and safety of our community continue to be at the forefront of Sycamore’s mind.

Brent Yard
Sycamore Financial Group

*Past performance does not assure future results. Investors cannot invest directly in the stock market indexes such as the S&P 500. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate. Investor value, when sold may be worth more or less than their original cost.

By |2020-04-02T06:04:52-04:00April 2nd, 2020|2020 Newsletters|0 Comments
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