The Lowry Letter®

It’s time to change up our format just a little bit, which you may notice below. We may still do the occasional “Ask the Joes®,” but will shift many of those questions toward our new YouTube series “Ask the Joes® (and Cale)”

We’ve established a YouTube channel to provide periodic, short videos on interesting topics. Please subscribe to receive updates and let us know if you have any ideas for future topics.

Our first video, on cryptocurrency, is available here. 

This is the time of year for tax preparation and we often receive questions about the timing of tax forms. Investment custodians like National Financial Services (NFS) have until February 15th to provide preliminary 1099s showing estimated information for taxable accounts. This is not considered final and you should not file a tax return until the official 1099 is issued. While the final 1099 is often the same, waiting will prevent the need to amend a filed return. Because NFS has received a mailing extension from the IRS, final tax forms will be provided no later than March 15th. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Don’t forget that Sunday is Valentine’s Day! It’s not too late to find a winning way to show appreciation for your significant other. Locals can find something tasty from our @Bearkery friends at theplantshoppe.com.

The major market indices reached new highs this week, moving beyond January’s up-and-down start to the year. You can read more about recent performance in our January Market Recap here.

We enjoyed a very informative presentation on Social Security last week, courtesy of Blackrock. Social Security can be hard to understand and is critically important. We are glad to discuss ideal strategies for your specific situation, especially if you missed the talk.

An abbreviated version this week, as both Joes are visiting clients out of the area. Please remember that tomorrow is our webinar on Social Security, Thursday, January 28^th at 4pm Eastern time.

If you have any family or friends who would benefit from the information, please feel free to share this invite with them.

We hope you can join us for our next remote event, taking place on Thursday, January 28^th at 4pm Eastern time. We will hear from Jennifer Taboada with Blackrock Investments about how to make Social Security a more effective part of your retirement strategy. Jennifer is a member of BlackRock's Advisor Insights team, has been in the financial services industry for over 15 years, and has deep experience creating and presenting educational programs on financial planning topics. Currently, she leads the Social Security Consulting team at BlackRock and serves as a national specialist on financial planning topics including Social Security and Behavioral Finance.

It has been said that the proverb, “May you live in interesting times,” was intended as a curse and not a blessing. Regardless of the intent, here we are.

We have some interesting items for you this week and hope you enjoy them!

Welcome to 2021! A New Year is an interesting event. Like the stock market hitting a notable number or reaching a birthday, there is nothing inherently magical or transformative about the milestone outside of the psychological impact.

Fortunately (and sometimes unfortunately) the psychological impact really matters and the opportunity to make resolutions and improve our lives is very welcome.

Our Ask the Joes® has an important item in this area.

The new year is a great opportunity to make changes to improve our lives. If you have any resolutions, we would love to hear them. We are often inspired by the interesting and uplifting things that our clients accomplish.