Estate planning is never a “set it and forget it” exercise, as laws continue to evolve at both the federal and state level. 2025 has brought meaningful updates that could impact Washington families, particularly those with larger estates. Thoughtful planning can help reduce estate tax liability and ensure assets pass smoothly… Read More
“Those are my principles; and if you don’t like them, well, I have others” —Groucho Marx The summer holidays did not come soon enough. To be sure, it has been a busy year: tariffs, fights between White House and Federal Reserve, war in Iran, war in Ukraine, India-Pakistan war, Deep… Read More
The U.S. government’s decision to purchase a nearly 10% stake in Intel for $8.9 billion marks a historic shift in how Washington approaches private industry. Rather than acting only as a crisis backstop—as seen during the bailouts of banks and automakers in 2008—the government is now positioning itself as a… Read More
By Howard Marks, Oaktree Capital We are presenting a memo from Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital that discusses how investors should think about value, price, and the interaction between price and value. Mr. Marks uses this framework to analyze the current state of the market, weighing in on whether market valuations are high… Read More
The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) introduces major changes to the tax treatment of charitable contributions. Starting in 2026, a new 0.5%-of-Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) floor will apply to most charitable deductions, creating important timing and planning opportunities for donors. New opportunities are also available for those… Read More
A cynic, wrote Oscar Wilde in Lady Windermere’s Fan, is someone who “knows the price of everything but the value of nothing.” A great quip, but in fairness, figuring out value is far harder than figuring out price. In Wilde’s own era, Karl Marx famously (and wrongly) argued that value… Read More
It’s amazing how quickly tides change. After ChatGPT was released in November 2022, Artificial Intelligence (AI) became the rage. To many, the excitement was reminiscent of the dot-com boom when scores of companies rushed to add a “.com” moniker to their name, hoping to cash in on the gold rush… Read More
Many investors accumulate a substantial portion of their stock portfolio in a single company, often through executive compensation, inheritance, or a long-term investment in a successful stock. While such concentration can lead to significant wealth creation, it also introduces considerable financial risk. Overconcentration risk can threaten retirement and legacy goals, as the fortunes of a single… Read More
The concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has existed for decades. The field was formally established in 1956 at the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence, where John McCarthy coined the term. Yet, the groundwork began earlier, with ideas about thinking machines and machine learning surfacing in the 1940s and… Read More
On May 20, 2025, Governor Bob Ferguson of Washington State signed into law a series of tax increases to address a projected $16 billion budget shortfall. The centerpiece is Senate Bill 5167, a $77.8 billion biennial budget for 2025–2027, marking a 6.5% increase over the previous budget. Key Tax Legislation… Read More
