Improving Your Products or Processes? MD says Thank You.
April 19, 2010 | 
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Good news for Maryland businesses looking to improve themselves: Gov. Martin O’Malley signed legislation on April 13 to extend Maryland’s research and development tax credit program through tax year 2019, instead of letting the credit lapse in tax year 2010 as previously scheduled.
Remember, its not just high tech, bio tech and advanced manufacturing companies that are eligible for R&D credits. The rules are complicated, but any manufacturer, professional, or technical service provider that seeks to improve its product – or seeks a better way to make its product – may be eligible for tax credits. We provided more information on the qualifications in a previous Wealth Wisdom entry.
Submitted by Sam Cohen
Questions:
Quarterly Investment Update- The End of an Era?
April 15, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Slightly more than a year has past since the worst stock market crash of our lifetime. Historically, investors’ psyche has followed a typical path. See what our investment team has to say about where we’ve been and where we might be going in the Quarterly Update.
Questions?
jon.dinkins@glassjacobsonia.com
Investment Update- How is 2010 Really Going?
April 13, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
- The US equity market continued its strong performance in the first quarter of 2010, the fourth consecutive quarter with above-average returns. The broad US market gained about 6% in the quarter, with all asset classes delivering solid gains again. Performance in other developed markets around the world was mixed.
- European markets as a whole had negative returns for the quarter, with Spain, Greece, and Portugal all suffering double-digit losses. On the other hand, developed markets in the Asia Pacific region, led by Japan, which had an outstanding quarter, generally fared much better. The US dollar gained ground against most major currencies, especially the euro and the pound, which hurt the dollar-denominated returns of developed market equities.
- After being the top-performing asset class for the past four quarters, emerging markets cooled off in the first quarter, although returns were still solidly positive. As in the case of developed markets, there was much dispersion in the performance of different emerging markets and asset classes. Most emerging markets experienced solidly positive returns in the first quarter, but some of the larger markets such as Brazil, China, and Taiwan had negative returns. The US dollar lost ground against the main emerging market currencies in the first quarter, which contributed to the dollar-denominated returns of emerging market equities.
- Value stocks outperformed growth stocks across all market capitalization segments in the US, while the opposite was true in other developed markets. In emerging markets, large cap value stocks trailed large cap growth stocks, while small cap value stocks outperformed small cap growth stocks.
- Along the market capitalization dimension, small caps outperformed large caps in the US, in other developed markets, and in emerging markets.
- Real estate securities were among the top performers in the first quarter in the US, but they had a flat performance in other developed markets.
- Fixed income securities had positive returns in the first quarter. Longer-term securities tended to have better performance than short-term ones.
Life’s 5 Most Common Financial Hazards
March 30, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Glass Jacobson’s Christine Schmitz will be presenting at the Maryland Chapter of the American Association of University Women’s spring convention on April 10th.
Her presentation, “Life’s Financial Hazards: Strategies to Overcome Risk” outlines 5 of the most common hurdles people fear and unfortunately face:
- inevitable crises (i.e., the last 2 years!)
- outliving your money
- long-term care costs
- not understanding the insurances you own
- estate tax on your assets
Her presentation discusses how proper planning can calm some of these fears and prepare you should you encounter any unforeseen issues.
The Convention is open to members of the AAUW. For more information on the AAUW, visit www.aauwmd.org.
For more detail on life’s 5 most common financial hazards, please contact Christine at Christine.schmitz@glassjacobsonia.com.
2010 Outlook- Bull or Bear?
March 25, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
One of our top priorities is to bring you current information and forward-thinking insights about our financial markets. Glass Jacobson recently sent our entire financial service team to attend Charles Schwab & Co.’s Regional Investment Conference. We heard many notable speakers, including former Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner, Legg Mason’s Bill Miller, and Charles Schwabs’ Chief Market Strategist Liz Ann Sonders.
Their central message forecasting the path of the 2010 economic recovery outlined two possible scenarios (based on economic and historical precedence). First case: we are on the path to full-blown recovery at this point and entering a Bull Market. The second, and a bit more pessimistic: the recovery from the 2008 collapse will be tempered by another short drop and we are entering a Bear Market period.
For more from the conference, click here: Schwab Investment Outlook 2010
Questions?
Jon.dinkins@glassjacobsonia.com