The collapse of the Russian Ruble, what does it mean?

The collapse of the Russian Ruble, what does it mean?

There are many factors that determine the strength of one currency versus another. The interest rate differentials between countries, the level of a country’s fiscal discipline compared to another, and the stability of one’s government, are just a few of the variables that influence the flow of global capital and subsequently, the strength and weakness of a currency.

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Cyber Security and the Security of Your Assets

Cyber Security and the Security of Your Assets

With all eyes on the crisis in Europe, our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Ukraine. This situation remains highly uncertain and the capital markets have become exceedingly volatile. In keeping with our pledge to increase the pace of our updates and communications with you, I am writing today to address the growing concerns over cyber security and the potential for attacks targeting the United States.

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February Private Client Letter

February Private Client Letter

After a strong 2021, stock market volatility returned in dramatic fashion in January. The S&P 500 has had an intraday trading range of at least 2.25% in January’s final week (Bespoke). The average stock is down a little more than 9% so far in 2022, but stocks with the highest valuations are down closer to 20%.

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Outlook 2022 - The Case for Optimism

Outlook 2022 - The Case for Optimism

At the beginning of each new year, your team at Clearwater Capital Partners comes together to produce our annual outlook report. This is a fair-minded attempt to establish a baseline set of economic assumptions and observations for the coming year. As in years past, our purpose is to set forth sensible economic perspectives to enlighten and guide our investment strategies throughout the year.

Our process begins with an in-depth study of research produced by some of the nation’s leading financial firms and prominent academic institutions. Our team carefully deliberates over these diverse narratives, and we debate the wide range of opinions. This said, our Outlook 2022 report represents much more than an elementary summary of the Wall Street commentary churned out each year. We work hard to balance our macro view with insights we continuously receive from our clients and their businesses.

Our goal is to create an intelligent framework for decision making. We welcome the hard work that brings us to our own insights and opinions. This discipline promotes a better understanding of the primary forces affecting the financial system, while enhancing our ability to keep critical decisions close to our clients as the fact pattern evolves over time.

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A Shifting Fact Pattern for 2022

A Shifting Fact Pattern for 2022

For many, 2021 proved to be a difficult year. The battle with the COVID pandemic dragged on even with readily available vaccines and developing therapeutics. Variants of the virus have emerged, and the economic recovery coming out of the pandemic’s peak has remained uneven with several start / stop phases along the way. This has broadly disrupted the production and supply of goods and services, while inflationary pressures have surged.

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Economic Growth, Booming Profits, and Loose Monetary Policy

Economic Growth, Booming Profits, and Loose Monetary Policy

As the year comes to an end, Clearwater Capital’s CEO and Chief Investment Strategist, John Chapman, offers an extended point of view on the U.S. economy and equity markets in this final Private Client Letter for 2021. Our Outlook 2022 report is scheduled for publication in January.

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Charitable Gifting Using Appreciated Assets

Charitable Gifting Using Appreciated Assets

‘Tis the season for giving and a familiar conversation we have with clients involves year-end charitable gifting strategies using appreciated assets. The tax code allows for favorable treatment of appreciated securities, however, there are a few details one must get right to increase the impact of a gift while also maximizing the gift’s tax efficiency.

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The Neglected Asset

The Neglected Asset

Many people own this and probably pay less attention to it than many of their other assets. It is usually worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions. And yet once it is purchased it usually ends up in a file cabinet in the basement. Or maybe it becomes an inmate of the safe deposit vault only to be seen every couple of years when you are digging out a birth certificate.

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Life Expectancies & Retirement Planning

Life Expectancies & Retirement Planning

When it comes to planning for retirement, the length of the planning horizon (i.e., life expectancy) stands apart from the many other assumptions required in the modeling process. Life expectancy is defined as the average number of years a person can expect to live at a given age. The specific issue for planning is something called longevity risk, or the possibility an individual will live to such an advanced age that they will deplete their retirement savings and be forced to rely solely on Social Security and Medicare for their expenses.

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What is Stagflation?

What is Stagflation?

Stagflation is the term used to describe an economy that has stagnate economic growth while having higher inflation and higher unemployment. Stagflation can be seemingly contradictory as stagnate economic output leads to higher unemployment, which normally should not lead to rising prices as economic demand falls. For the most part stagflation is rare, in fact we have not seen a stagflation type period for almost 50 years. We have to go back to the 1970’s to find a true stagflationary period.

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Consolidated Reporting & Family Office Services

Consolidated Reporting & Family Office Services

This piece will focus on consolidated reporting and technology for managing family wealth. Across every level of wealth, it is important to have continuous insight on the immediate financial picture of the family. As the scale and complexity of wealth increases, so does the need for the ability to observe the totality of the balance sheet. Similar to an air traffic controller, it is imperative that a family office team have the ability to monitor each element of the assets and liabilities of the families they serve.

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Opportunities For Planning with Self Employment Income

Opportunities For Planning with Self Employment Income

Many of our clients receive Self Employment income each year, which is to say income earned from a business as a sole proprietor, independent contractor, or through some form of partnership or Limited Liability Company (LLC). For some, this income is generated from a business with no other employees, or through a side business.

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