Investors can be broadly broken down in to two classes:  individuals and institutions.  While the distinction between individuals and institutions is self-evident, the category of “institutional investor” is quite diverse and can include defined-benefit and defined-contribution retirement plans, foundations and endowments, insurance companies, banks, and mutual funds.  As institutions often represent large pools of money,…

At Legacy Trust, we provide wealth management, trust and family office services to individuals and families in West Michigan, designed to meet the needs of our current and prospective clients.  This has led us to develop specialties and expertise in several different areas of wealth management. When meeting with prospects and centers of influence, one…

In the years following the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, central banks around the globe led by the U.S. Federal Reserve took unprecedented steps to stimulate economic growth through exceptionally low interest rates and quantitative easing (QE) programs designed to push liquidity into the hands of individuals and businesses.  While the effectiveness of these programs…

I’m sure you’ve heard the stories or have seen the headlines about the eccentric multi-millionaire that left their $13M fortune to their beloved cat Tommaso or the three Texas pups set to inherit $75M.  You may be asking, is this for real?  I assure you that, yes, this is real, and yes, leaving money for…

Around tax time each year we are reminded about how critical it is to be vigilant in protecting confidential personal information.  As mentioned in a release from the IRS (see the link below), criminals are becoming more and more savvy in how they gather information and then use it to exploit taxpayers across the United…

With the recent decline in the equity market, the time is ripe to discuss how to take this opportunity to turn a “lemon into lemonade”. Nobody likes seeing a decrease in their portfolio value, even if it is just temporary.  However, at times this can indeed be an opportunity in disguise.  Here are four ideas…

As we begin 2016, you will undoubtedly see many publications on the internet, in the news, in the paper and so forth talking about how to get your finances in order for the New Year. The truth is that while saving an additional $100 of every paycheck, paying down credit card debt and allocating a…

The New Year has begun with a broad-based selloff in global equities. China’s stock market posted heavy losses this week, causing trading activity on the Chinese exchange to be halted two of the past four trading days and spilling over into selloffs in the U.S. markets as well.  The stock market declines came on the…

It’s not what you think.  The Harvard Study of Adult Development is the longest study of adult life that’s ever been done.  It has tracked the lives of 724 men over 75 years and what the researchers found was that wealth, the accumulation of assets, hard work or climbing the corporate ladder does not bring…

Last year at this time, I wrote a short blog  titled “The Robot will see you now!”  The critical point I was trying to make is that while technology-centered robo-advisor platforms are likely to continue growing in the coming years, they are likely to never replace the value of the personal service advisory model. I…