By Jill Nagy

Sit still. Hold tight. Don’t panic. That sums up the advice of some financial advisors to investors feeling a bit seasick in a volatile market. 

From 1980 to the late October 2018 market drop, there have been 36 corrections in which the market fell 10 percent or more, said Jeff Vahanian of Vahanian & Associates in Saratoga Springs. In each case, the market recovered and continued moving upward.

The worst thing an investor can do is to sell when the market drops and then miss the upswing that is likely to follow, he said. 

Tim Pehl of Luther Forest Wealth Advisors agreed. 

“We try to keep our clients on the straight and narrow,” Pehl said. His advice to nervous clients: “Stick to your plan.”

 “People with good rules, good discipline, and good habits do well,” noted Vahanian.

By Stephen Kyne

The end of another year is rapidly approaching, and just as you cross items off your checklist and prepare your home for the winter, it’s also important to complete maintenance items to prepare your finances to close-out 2018.

An often-overlooked task is to review your beneficiary declarations each year. Families grow, as new members are added, and shrink with death and divorce, which means that beneficiary and transfer-on-death declarations can easily become outdated and no longer reflect your true wishes. 

Since these declarations are a matter of contract, they will overrule what your will may say. So, even if you’ve updated your will to exclude an ex-spouse, but you left them as beneficiary on your IRA, your new spouse won’t be able to inherit those assets, but the ex will, and it can’t be challenged in probate. 

Another piece of financial housekeeping is to begin to gather documents you’ll be needing just after the new year to prepare your taxes. Compile receipts for medical bills, tuition payments, child care and charitable contributions, among others.

Frank C. Mayer

On Dec. 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Act has effectively reduced the acquisition cost of certain capital assets by making significant changes to the rules for bonus depreciation and capital expenditures, commonly known as Internal Revenue Code Section 179 Expensing and certain other depreciation.

Prior to the Act, taxpayers were allowed to deduct 50 percent of the cost of most new tangible personal property and most new computer software in the year that an asset was placed in service. Because of the bonus depreciation deduction allowed in the year an asset was placed in service, there was a corresponding reduction in the amount of regular depreciation allowed in that year and later years.

For qualifying property placed in service after Sept. 27, 2017, and before Jan. 1, 2023, the Act raised the 50 percent bonus depreciation deduction rate to 100 percent.