When All You Have is the Price for Many (Patents) It is rare for all patents included in portfolio license or sale agreements to have equal value. In a patent infringement case, the individual values of the patents are needed. So, when only a small subset of patents are at issue, how can we estimate their worth? This article provides insight as to how value can be adduced. It is rare for all patents include ...

Of Your Work? What can a BVFLS professional do to stand out amongst his or her peers? In this article, Rod Burkert shares his thoughts. How do BVFLS professionals like us to demonstrate our analytical skill? How do we exhibit our problem-solving acumen? How do we showcase our report writing talent? I have an idea…turns out it is somewhat controversial…but read on and let me know what you think. All creative ...

It’s not hard to envision Gen X advisors finally achieving things that many of us hoped would happen a decade or more ago. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Next-Gen Takeover. ...

Company retirement plans have changed significantly over the past few decades, with a few trends coming on strong. In light of the fact that 401(k) participants are famously hands-off, plans have increasingly added “nudge” features to get more people saving: Roughly two thirds of plans now offer automatic enrollment, for example, up from just about half in 2012. Roth accounts have also shot up in popularity ...

If stock market volatility has drained value from your traditional IRA, this might be a good time to convert the account into a Roth IRA to take advantage of tax-free asset growth. The move may be especially appealing for retirees who have delayed their Social Security benefits and are younger than 70½. To read the full article in CNBC, click: This Failing Market Offers an Opportunity to Cut Your Taxes in R ...

I consider myself a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. As an African-American, I have long been sensitive to issues like racial and gender equality. The last 12 months have been polarizing in America, from the #MeToo movement to tiki torch-bearing white nationalists to Black Lives Matter and the NFL national anthem protests. Our national melting pot is looking like anything but. To read the full arti ...

One rule of thumb that’s commonly incorporated into financial plans assumes clients will have paid off their mortgage before entering retirement. Not only does it ease cash-flow concerns for initial retirement years, but it can also create a sense of calm as clients become debt free. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: Mortgage Advice it Might be Best to Ignore. ...

Many long-term investors have amassed substantial capital gains since the market bottomed out in March 2009.  While great-looking on paper, such gains have real tax implications for engaging in even routine investment adjustments. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, click: Kitces: Three Strategies for Managing Big Capital Gains. ...

Clients can use tax-free, non-alternative minimum tax municipal bonds to create a source of tax-free income, an advisor on CNBC writes.  While long-term investors will be better off building a portfolio of equities and bonds than having a 100% bond portfolio, muni bonds are a good alternative to annuities and other fixed-income vehicles, according to the expert.  Clients who invest in annuities will incur t ...

Before investing client assets, advisors are required to assess a client’s risk tolerance. If the investor takes on more risk than they can endure, they are likely to lose more money than they can stomach when the inevitable bear market comes. And even if the market recovers, there’s a risk that the investor will panic sell at the bottom of the market. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: ...

Priding itself on being a technology company first, Betterment has learned it needs a deeper human touch to sustain its advisor platform.  RIAs are often impressed by the slick interface of Betterment for Advisors, its contemporary user experience and the way it helps speed onboarding and back office tasks.  But, the young firm can’t scale on technology alone. To read the full article in FinancialPlanning, ...

In our most recent issue of Portfolio Valuation: Private Equity and Venture Capital Marks and Trends, we provide a brief digest and commentary of some of the most relevant market trends influencing the fair value of private equity and venture capital portfolio investments.  In this blog, there are key highlights covered in our Second Quarter 2017 newsletter. To read the full article in Mercer Capital's Fina ...

Over the past decade, we have been retained by several investment funds to assist them in responding to formal and informal SEC investigations regarding fair value measurement of portfolio investments.  Reflecting back on those engagements yields a couple observations and reminders for funds and fund managers as they go through the quarterly valuation process.  Travis Harms, Mercer Capital’s Financial Repor ...

Last spring we observed that 2015 would likely mark a turning point in portfolio valuations.  With Q4 earnings season beginning, we take an opportunity to check in on portfolio marks and market sentiment over the year.  Travis W. Harms, Mercer Capital’s Financial Reporting Valuation Group lead, explains the key takeaway from the year. To read the full article in Mercer Capital's Financial Reporting Blog, cl ...

High account balances is an often overlooked risk related to sequence of returns especially for investors within five years of their retirement.  Ron Surz, target-date fund expert and ThinkAdvisor contributor, warns that most target-date investors are in grave peril. Read more about why sequence of returns is so risky in this article at ThinkAdvisor. ...