The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee raised the Fed funds rate today by 0.25% to a range of 4.50-4.75%. The vote was unanimous, and continued a deceleration in tightening, after four straight 0.75% moves in 2022, and capped by 0.50% in December. Last year’s hiking pace was the fastest and steepest since the early 1980s.

Running a business is no easy feat. As an owner, you face numerous challenges, from managing finances to attracting and retaining talented employees. In such a competitive landscape, it's crucial to stand out from the crowd and create a workplace that values and supports your employees. One way to achieve this is by offering employee benefits. So let's explore why providing benefits is essential for your business and how it can contribute to your long-term success.

Happy New Year! We think most of you would agree that we are thankful to see 2022 in the rearview mirror. It was a challenging year on a whole host of levels with inflation spiking up to levels not seen in many decades, a new war in Europe that shows no sign of abating anytime soon and the actions of the Fed in pushing up interest rates. All this has unsettled markets and provided ample grist for speculation about the timing of the next recession.

To our friends who are tax and estate planning professionals, we hope you're staying warm and healthy. Here is a list of articles that caught our eyes recently. We hope you find them interesting and helpful to your practice as well.

It’s hard to believe, but it was only a year ago when a 30-year fixed mortgage rate was around 3%. The sudden and rapid rise of the rate has been unnerving for homebuyers and sellers (and observers) alike. What are we to make of it? Well, we are grateful for our trusted partner and mortgage professional, Scott Bothel of North Pacific Mortgage, for his insight and thoughtful explanation on today’s mortgage environment and what it means for us. 

Have you ever considered inviting your parents to live with you and your children? If so, you’re not alone. Our trusted partner and real estate professional, Brooke Knight of Good Knight Homes, tells us that according to census data, multi-generational households have increased four-fold between 1971 and 2021. We are grateful for her knowledge and willingness to share her insights on building a happy multi-generational home.

As professionals, we are usually quite good at what we do. We can do a lot to help improve our clients' financial situation. Still, we don't know what we don't know. It's important, therefore, to lean on the knowledge of professionals in various disciplines. We asked our trusted partner and a mortgage professional, Doug Moore of The Moore Team, to share his insights on how partnering with other professionals helps clients stay on track with their long- and short-term financial goals.

At its core, retirement planning is simple. You trade income during your working years for income during your non-working years. To do this, you set aside a portion of today's income and accumulate enough so you can live off of it in retirement.

Well, here we are again. This last quarter started on a somewhat positive note with stocks rising until the middle of August. That cheer didn’t last, however, as uncertainties about rising interest rates and the direction of the economy pushed us back to a bit lower than where we started. Bonds followed a similar pattern as folks wrestled with the idea that interest rates would climb higher than had been anticipated earlier this year