First and foremost, I want to wish you and your loved ones a very Happy New Year! If we learned one thing in the past two years, it is to be grateful for what we have because we do not know how long the nice things last. Keeping our focus on the financial environment, there were different surprises that might have brought up doubts about how markets work. While it is important to stay open-minded to new developments, the environment we have lived through during the pandemic is everything else than representative of how markets usually work. Thinking back to pre-coronavirus, discussions about helicopter money were more of a theoretical construct. Now, however, governments sending out cash to the people, covering losses that usually are borne by banks and insurance companies, and governments working hand in hand with central banks have become normal.

As 2021 is coming to an end, we would like to take the opportunity to look back on an eventful year and tell you about some of our highlights.

When we think of financial health, a few things might come to mind. We may think of our own financial status, our investments, the Dow Jones Industrial Average performance, the stock market as a whole, the economy, the country’s employment status and so on. While some aspects may be interrelated on some level, they are not all one and the same, nor do they all indicate the status of one another.

Capital gains taxes apply to more than stocks. Capital gains taxes can apply to any other property that acquires value over time. These taxes are calculated by subtracting the cost of the investment from the final selling price of said investment. And the amount you pay will depend on a variety of factors. Here's how capital gains taxes work and a few methods you can use for reducing them.

Passive income allows for an accumulation of wealth without a person’s direct involvement once the initial investment has been funded. Think stocks, bonds, etc. Each build wealth using various tools from interest payments, dividends, or shares.

Does the latest news story have you concerned over stock market volatility? One of the greatest dangers to your wealth may not be the market’s dips and dives, but before you make any drastic financial moves, we've outlined some important things to consider first.

It is crucial to understand how much you can (and should be) contributing to your retirement plan, and the good news is preparing for retirement just got a little more financial wiggle room. Catch-up contributions can be a great way to make up for the lost time when it comes to retirement savings. Are you eligible?

After the markets broadly corrected during September, they once again recovered relatively quickly. Accordingly, we are seeing new record highs once again. Investors may ask what is going on at the markets. While a clear answer is impossible to give, we believe that it has to do with the enormous amount of money in the system. Some investors missed performance because they were convinced at the beginning of 2021 that the recovery could not endure the way it has over the year. We had a similar perspective. Some of them lost their patience and used the correction in September to get back into the markets. However, we believe that changing the strategy due to frustration is the wrong move. We feel that the situation did not change for the better. Despite the markets rising, there are several new risks like the real estate market in China, the rise in inflation, and the rising tensions between China and the U.S., and Japan due to their provocations of Taiwan.

Both SRI and ESG investing are strategies that allow an investor’s portfolio to reflect their personal values. These types of investing have been gaining traction, and they can be helpful lenses to look at companies' business models to evaluate long-term sustainability. Learn more about these strategies and how they differ.

Learning about a company should be part of doing your due diligence prior to earning. Here’s how to read a company’s quarterly earnings report. Learning how to read companies’ reports comes in handy when assessing the overall position of a company, especially their financial well-being.

Right now, Congress is considering a number of tax law changes, including an adjustment to current estate tax law to help pay for the Build Back Better Plan. This timely piece examines current estate taxes and cautions against any sudden estate changes in the near future.

There are a lot of questions about President Biden’s Build Back Better plan and potential tax law changes, including an adjustment to capital gains taxes. Many ideas are being considered as legislators look for ways to raise revenue to help pay for the Build Back Better plan.

You may be tempted to panic or sell when the stock market is down. However, with a wise strategy you may want to reconsider saying the course. Here's why.

You want to check off all the boxes when it comes to making an estate planning strategy. But it can be hard to see what you may still be missing. As you work with your financial professional, start by reviewing these 9 questions.

After observing one high after another at the stock markets, the indices broadly turned red in September. How severe this correction will become is still unsure. Amongst others, the insecurity comes from mainland China, where the property behemoth Evergrande became incapable of making interest payments on their outstanding bonds. However, the tremendous amount of debt carried by Evergrande was nothing new. While the risk of the collapse of Evergrande is not comparable with the Lehman crisis back in 2008, according to different experts in this field, there are threats that, due to the current development, other countries will be affected by as well. Australia in particular is at risk of losing part of their commodity delivery, especially iron-ore, because of unrealized property projects.

While your day-to-day focus is on running your family business, it's important to keep an eye on the future as well. If you haven't considered business succession planning yet, here's where to start.

In honor of WHVP's 30 year anniversary, we take a trip down memory lane and highlight some of the most important milestones of the past three decades.

I discovered my love for investment finance while in my first two years of university. I saw the beauty in the markets and saw that it was a source that could be tapped for helping others achieve their financial goals and provide for themselves as well as their future generation. The love for finance is spurred by my upbringing in the rocky mountain air, where I was taught to expand my existence in efforts to improve the lives of others.

Meme stocks make headlines - but do they make good investments? Before the next hot stock emerges, here's what to know about meme stocks.

Only 16.4 percent of U.S. high school students are required to take a personal finance course. It's up to you as a parent to teach your children financial basics. Here are 5 steps to get you started on the right foot.