Category Archives: Financial Planning / Investments

PROVIDED BY MEGHAN MURRAY, CRPC®

If you own a business and you offer a 401(k) or similar retirement plan to your employees, you’ll want to stay current on the various changes affecting these types of accounts. And in 2024, you may find some interesting new developments to consider.

These changes are part of the SECURE 2.0 Act, enacted at the end of 2022. And while some parts of the law went into effect in 2023 — such as the new tax credit for employer contributions to start-up retirement plans with 100 or fewer employees — others were only enacted this year.

Here are some of these changes that may interest you:

New “starter” 401(k)/403(b) – If you haven’t already established a retirement plan, you can now offer a “starter” 401(k) or “safe harbor” 403(b) plan to employees who meet age and service requirements. These plans have lower contribution limits ($6,000 per year, or $7,000 for those 50 or older) than a typical 401(k) or 403(b) and employers can’t make matching or nonelective contributions. These plans are low-cost and easy to administer but the credit for employer contributions doesn’t apply, as these contributions aren’t allowed, and since start-up costs are low, the tax credit for these costs will be correspondingly lower than they’d be for a full-scale 401(k) plan.

Matches for student loan payments – It’s not easy for young employees to save for retirement and pay back student loans. To help address this problem, Congress included a provision in Secure 2.0 that allows employers the option to provide matching contributions to employees’ retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), 457(b) and SIMPLE IRAs) when these employees make qualified student loan payments. Of course, if you offer this match for student loan payments, your costs will likely increase, although these matching contributions are tax deductible. In any case, you may want to balance any additional expense with the potential benefit of attracting and retaining employees, particularly those who have recently graduated from college.

Two area businessmen have announced the launch of TechFirst Insurance Agency Inc.

It is a collaboration between co-founders Kevin O’Brien and Mark Shaw. O’Brien is a seasoned insurance professional while Shaw is a successful entrepreneur.

Shaw founded StoredTech in 2010, and since then has started three other companies. He has been named on Upstate Businesses Top CEO’s list by the Times Union and regularly supports the local community.

O’Brien has contributed significantly to various organizations, including the Tri-County United Way, Rotary Club of Glens Falls, Conkling Center, Adirondack Independent Insurance Association, 211NY, Glens Falls Civic Center Foundation, United Way of New York State, and The Glen at Highland Meadows. He is the 2013 recipient of the J. Walter Juckett Award and the first winner of the Ethics in Business Award.

Over several years the friends explored ways to modernize the insurance brokerage, discussing the extreme complexity of getting coverage for clients. They looked for ways to streamline that, which would free up time for agents to focus on clients’ needs.

TechFirst has built out a robust back-office process, partnering with more than 10 insurance providers. This allows them to be trusted advisors to businesses and families. One broker can address both business and personal needs. Also,  they pledge to re-rate accounts every year to make sure their clients are getting the best coverage at the fairest price.

By Meghan Murray

As an investor, you can easily feel frustrated to see short-term drops in your investment statements. But while you cannot control the market, you may find it helpful to review the factors you can control.

Many forces affect the financial markets, including geopolitical events, corporate profits and interest rate movements – forces beyond the control of most individual investors.

In any case, it’s important to focus on the things you can control, such as these:

• Your ability to define your goals. One area in which you have total control is your ability to define your goals. Like most people, you probably have short-term goals—such as saving for a new car or a dream vacation—and long-term ones, such as a comfortable retirement. Once you identify your goals and estimate how much they will cost, you can create an investment strategy to help achieve them. 

Over time, some of your personal circumstances will likely change, so you’ll want to review your time horizon and risk tolerance on a regular basis, adjusting your strategy when appropriate. And the same is true for your goals. They may evolve over time, requiring new responses from you in how you invest.

• Your response to market downturns. When the market drops and the value of your investments declines, you might be tempted to take immediate action in an effort to stop the losses. This is understandable. After all, your investment results can have a big impact on your future. However, acting hastily could work against you. 

By David Cumming, CFP, RICP, CRPS

In today’s dynamic market environment, some investors may be looking beyond stocks and bonds for other options for investing their money. This search for other options may lead to alternative investments. 

Alternative investments are investments outside the stock and bond markets, and may include real estate, private equity, hedge funds, digital assets, and may include investments offering to these financial instruments such as cryptocurrencies, commodities, precious metals and art or collectibles. 

These types of investments tend not to be correlated to the performance of stocks and bonds, and may offer the potential for higher returns, but typically with higher risk.

Here is an overview of what you need to know before investing.

Potential upsides of alternative investments:

• Potential reduction in overall volatility. Since their performance are historically low to moderate correlation with market indices, alternative investments may help to reduce overall volatility within a portfolio of traditional investments.

• Diversification. Alternative investments typically help provide diversification across different markets, strategies, managers and investment styles.

• Potential for increased performance. Like any investment, the rate of return for alternative investments is not guaranteed. However, according to a study called “The Rate of Return on Everything, 1870-2015,” which looked at performance across 16 advanced economies over a period of 145 years, residential real estate provided the best returns.

By Stephen Kyne, CFP

During times of economic uncertainly and market volatility, we are often reminded that fear is generally a greater motivating factor than greed. It is during these times that prognosticators of doom gain traction, and individual investors make unwise choices out of fear of losing it all.

While nobody can be certain of what the future holds, we can look to the past for clues and, in doing so, temper our reaction.

Downturns, like the one we are experiencing, generally signal a change in market leadership supported by structural changes in our lives.

At the beginning of the pandemic, we saw a decline in stock indices of about 30 percent as the economy shut down, and investors had to survey the landscape for opportunities. It quickly became apparent that the pandemic was going to last longer than most expected, and that meant the closure of brick-and-mortar shops, restaurants, and offices. The only way the situation would be tenable would be to shift huge parts of our lives online.

For months, you could buy a bicycle from Amazon, but not from Joe’s Bike Shop. The huge and almost instantaneous structural shift favored large national retailers with a strong online presence, and sufficient ordering and distribution channels.

It favored companies that allowed us to remain productive in our occupations from anywhere. It favored restaurants that already had online ordering, and forced others to catch up or perish. An entire generation that largely feared technology was forced to adopt it in order to check in with their doctors. We were fed endless options for streaming entertainment.

Last year, as the pandemic began to wane, we saw some semblance of normalcy. People were going out to dinner again, neighborhood stores were reopening, workers were returning to the office, Pelotons became coat racks, and we walked away from our televisions to picnic and see friends. Structurally, our lives and the economy were correcting, and we’re seeing that reflected today.

by Andrea Harwood Palmer

Sherry Finkel Murphy, CFP, ChFC, RICP, private wealth advisor of The Atrium Financial Group, has relocated its downtown office to 11 South St. in Glens Falls.

“This endeavor has been several years in the making. It will be a huge benefit to clients and business owners,” said Finkel Murphy.

Finkel Murphy was looking for just the right space. Plans were delayed because of the COVID pandemic, but she found what she was looking for at the Empire Theatre Building. The space needed renovations for what Finkel Murphy had in mind.

“There is a dearth of office space in Glens Falls. I am very fond of the building. It is in the heart of Glens Falls, and in the heart of the new Glens Falls in the making,” said Finkel Murphy. “It’s a beautiful office space. Clients are stopping by frequently. It’s nice to give them a space locally so they don’t have to drive down to Albany,” she said.

“Establishing the Adirondack office of the Atrium Financial Group in downtown Glens Falls is a reflection on our commitment to the multiple generations of business in this community. And what an awesome community it is. It’s a great place to live, work and play simultaneously,” said Finkel Murphy.

She is the lead advisor  for the company in the Adirondacks. She also leads the Women’s Practice of the Atrium Financial Group. Of the firm’s six CFP  practitioners, three are women.

The Atrium Financial Group is headquartered in Albany and has 21 associates altogether.

The firm has many clients in the area. The establishment of a Glens Falls office is an opportunity to provide a superior level of service to those clients, she said.