With fall fully in swing and football tailgates quickly making way for holiday parties, chances are, the number one conversation piece at your next social gathering: the housing market. Call it a sign of the times, but it appears that America’s favorite current form of window shopping – and source of neighborhood gossip – is Zillow ®.

Home prices have shot through the roof since the summer of 2020 [1], and despite mortgage rates now...

Here’s a shocking statistic: Approximately 70% of transferred wealth is lost by the second generation and 90% by the third generation [1].

Some of the reasons why these current trends exist include: 1) the rising generation doesn’t currently have an existing relationship with an advisory firm, 2) the wealth management industry has primarily focused on preparing the assets for the family and neglected to prepare the family for the...

Last year Regent Peak Wealth Advisors shared a video from our Founding Principal and Managing Director, Craig Robson, CFP®, CIMA®, CDFA® that explained the difference between asset location and asset allocation. This multifaceted approach allows for tax efficiencies and diversification.

Asset Location: allows for strategic tax optimization by placing different types of investments in the most tax-efficient accounts (e.g., taxable,...

I recently re-watched Apollo 13, the classic movie about the ill-fated 1970 mission to the moon and the teamwork required by Mission Control to bring the crew safely back to Earth. In one scene, Tom Hanks’s character needs Houston to verify a calculation because the command module’s computer has stopped working. To ensure accuracy, the entire front row of mission controllers re-calculates the equation with the appropriate technology...

The housing boom of the past several years combined with inflationary fears has created a renewed interest in real estate investing. People may forget to discuss their real estate holdings with their financial advisor, usually under the belief that real estate should be viewed as separate from their investment portfolio. However, ownership in real estate is an investment just like stocks and bonds, and there are considerable planning...

As your younger children move through middle and high school, guidance counselors and career advisors might suggest that children with a comparative strength in math, data and computing look into careers in “finance” or “economics”. Sometimes those recommendations can feel vast and too broadly focused to understand what paths your children should take with regard to course selection as well as extra-curricular activities. One option within...

We're halfway through the year already?! Time has flown for us as we have focused on strengthening relationships with clients and partners - an effort that we thoroughly enjoy and value. Whether you've worked with us for decades, or you are a recent member to the Regent Peak family, our commitment to you does not differ. Just as we work to establish and adhere to a plan for our clients portfolios, in tandem with tax and estate professionals,...

Small business owners face a unique set of challenges due in part to the interconnected nature of their personal and professional finances. Here are five common financial management concerns that small business owners face:

1. Raising Capital

Small businesses are often capital intensive, especially in the early years of ownership. This can be a daunting time in the life of a business, and owners are often more...

The Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) Tax Exemption is one of the most impactful yet least understood tax exemptions for business owners. It comes from Section 1202 of the Internal Revenue Code, which states that any Qualified Small Business shareholder can sell their qualified stock, aka ownership in the company, and will be exempt from capital gains on that stock, up to the greater of $10 million or 10x the initial...

This Spring our family traveled to Europe. This trip exceeded our expectations in so many ways, my personal favorite sites were the Winston Churchill Museum and the Normandy American Cemetery. Walking through both, I gained a greater appreciation for the dedication, courage, and unwavering commitment the Allied forces had in defeating the Nazis. Through all the chaos, uncertainty, confusion, and destruction, a simple mandate of victory at...

As financial advisors, we like to explore the big picture of both your professional and personal goals. At the root of that discussion is, what are you doing in your professional life that will enable you to fund and enjoy your personal life? Interestingly, we sometimes stumble into conversations where our relationships will say in passing, “I might also seek to join a Board…” That’s when we say, “Fantastic! But let’s talk about why and...

Making a donation to a favorite non-profit organization has several obvious benefits. Firstly, the satisfaction you and your family gets out of supporting an organization that gives back in your local or national community is not only satisfying, but also provides a good example for children of all ages on the importance of helping others who might be in need.

Secondly, there are financial benefits to both the recipient and you as the...

As financial advisors, we like to explore the big picture of both your professional and personal goals. At the root of that discussion is, what are you doing in your professional life that will enable you to fund and enjoy your personal life? Interestingly, we sometimes stumble into conversations where our relationships will say in passing, “I might also seek to join a Board…” That’s when we say, “Fantastic! But let’s talk about why and...

Company culture can be hard to describe, and also hard to maintain. At Regent Peak Wealth Advisors, we believe our culture is a significant part of our value added to our relationships. We put time and effort into building our team bond and we use our core values as a foundation for how we work with one another as well as our clients.

Our core values are:

• Creative Solutions

• Teamwork

• Trusted...

Looking for a summer project for your children? Teach them financial literacy this summer… and next summer, and the following summer, and so on.

There is a range of sophistication of financial literacy, and we can help our children learn the basics early, and then help them grow and feel comfortable with the concepts and jargon over the years. Normalizing conversations about money, budgeting, and planning can be powerful tools to allow...

Divorcing couples have many questions which their attorney, CPA, and financial planner are unequipped to answer.

Examples may include:

1) How do we value and divide property? How do you calculate capital gains from selling the marital home? This is an important evaluation to undertake before approaching an attorney or CPA, who have the responsibilities of facilitating the division of assets, not evaluating the value of assets....

During times of marketplace uncertainty, bad actors smell opportunity. The fall of Silicon Valley Bank and the resulting nervousness in the marketplace could trigger unscrupulous operators to engage with you to try to get you to reveal your private and personal information, particularly related to your banking practices.

Things to beware of include:

• Scammers might attempt to impersonate trusted banking brands or cyber...

Investor sentiment can be influenced in a variety of ways, and when one is thinking about how to manage a portfolio during a recession, it’s important to recognize what information is truly important vs what is just noise. Media and other speculative forces can push sentiment in directions that don’t always follow the data.

So, what exactly is a recessionary market? The commonly-accepted definition of recession is when there are two...

Taking the time to pull together a financial plan may sound onerous. If you embark on the effort, your initial thought is, “There has got to be a return on the investment of my time,” right? At Regent Peak, we believe there are MANY benefits to a financial plan, but below are our Top Five:

1. It gives you short and long-term goals to be working towards.

We have a lot of runners among our Regent Peak Wealth Advisors’ team. None of...

Craig Robson, CFP®, CIMA®, CDFA®, Founding Principal and Managing Director

During a recent conversation with one of my teenage boys while driving him to school, he commented that he felt I was a risk-taker compared to his friends’ fathers. I was somewhat caught off guard with this unexpected comment so I asked him to elaborate. To paraphrase, he responded, for example: 1) you were...

At Regent Peak, we strongly feel our relationships are partnerships. We like to describe the relationship like our clients are the pilots, and we are the co-pilot. Even though we are in the financial planning advisory role, our clients establish the destination (set their financial goals), outline the flight path (explain the level of risk they are comfortable taking on), and safely land the plane (reap the rewards of financial discipline)....

The concept behind an Investment Committee is comparable to our government’s purposeful “checks and balances” system. Just like the judicial, executive and legislative branches’ responsibility to question, review and validate proposals from one another, members of an Investment Committee take on the responsibility to research and understand the risks and benefits of proposed investments from other members.

At Regent Peak, we are proud...

The majority of our clients have been investing for years, if not decades. There are times, however, when we meet individuals or couples who come to the realization that they are now accumulating wealth but just haven’t done anything about investing, and they are concerned that they’ve “missed the boat”. Or we have clients who would like to advise their young adult children on how to set out on their investment journey. In either case, the...

As a business owner thinks about selling their business, there’s a number of different components they need to think about well in advance of the actual sale of the company. Those considerations can be categorized into “internal,” aspects that relate to ensuring the business will be operating as efficiently and effectively as possible to be attractive to potential buyers, and “external,” which includes market conditions and timing of a...

Craig Robson, , CFP®, CIMA®, CDFA®, Founding Principal And Managing Director

When I am randomly asked what my favorite holiday movie is, I answer, without hesitation, "It’s a Wonderful Life." For those who are not familiar with this 1946 classic, the movie showcases a man who has given up his personal dreams in order to help others in his community and whose thoughts of suicide on...

Craig Robson, CFP®, CIMA®, CDFA®, Founding Principal and Managing Director

Note from Regent Peak: The Wall Street Journal is cited in this article and the cited content may require a subscription to view.

Last week I read an article in the Wall Street Journal which caught my attention. It referenced that 18 months into the pandemic, the IQ scores of 700...

Your Regent Peak team has had a busy summer, as we work hard to make it happen for you, as your co-pilot, while enjoying time with family and friends. Take a look in this edition of our newsletter to see what we've been up to!

We distribute this newsletter to keep you, our client, informed of important details, deadlines, and other information you might need.

We hope you find our newsletters helpful. We enjoy staying engaged with...

For existing investment advisory professionals who are interested in joining a team that is young, diverse, growing, dynamic, innovative, works smart and has fun together, we encourage you to listen to Craig’s podcast with Mindy Diamond of Diamond Consultants. In this podcast you’ll hear why Craig created Regent Peak Wealth Advisors to better serve our client relationships while...

Craig Robson, Founding Principal and Managing Director

In May, when our youngest son was finishing school exams, my wife and I encouraged him to start thinking about what he would want out of a summer job. He initially suggested a few options to us that we, as his parents, felt were narrow and somewhat one-dimensional, acknowledging that as a 14-year-old his employment choices were limited. We encouraged him to think...

Craig Robson, Founding Principal and Managing Director

On a recent scuba dive with my older son in Cozumel, he unfortunately realized his tank was out of air while approximately fifty feet below sea level. Without any hesitation he calmly and instinctively enacted the training we all must complete before certification. The first step you take is to locate your dive buddy and use hand signals to verbalize the situation....

Elias John Crist, Associate Relationship Manager

As tax season rolls around, charitable giving may be on your mind. While it is too late to impact your 2021 giving, here are ways to make your charitable giving more tax efficient going forward.

Craig Robson, Founding Principal and Managing Director

Note from Regent Peak: The Wall Street Journal is cited in this article and the cited content may require a subscription to view.

As a family, we typically make trips from Atlanta to Florida this time of year for our children’s ice hockey tournaments and scuba dives. However, this year we experienced sticker shock! We...

2022 is off to an exciting start, and your Regent Peak team hopes you are having a great year so far!

We distribute this newsletter to keep you, our client, informed of important details, deadlines, and other information you might need.

We hope you find our newsletters helpful. We enjoy staying engaged with you!

Elias Crist, Associate Relationship Manager

While logging in and seeing a reduction in the value of your investment accounts can be unnerving, periods where markets have pulled back can also present unique opportunities, depending on your individual situation and appetite for risk. Below are some strategies to consider, if you are:

...

Some of the Regent Peak team’s most successful relationships are with business owners. We have always strived to simplify their financial decisions and fine tune their plan, while working to maximize rewarding outcomes. Now, our team has another differentiator that provides us the ability to go deeper with business owners, assisting them with one of the biggest career decisions in their life: the sale of their business.

Our Chief...

Reflection.

As we near the end of the year, you might be thinking of all the goals you did or didn’t accomplish. Our Regent Peak Wealth Advisors team believes the end of the year is a great time for reflection. We encourage our clients to sit back and take inventory of what worked when they set their goals for 2021. We believe it is important to then apply those lessons learned to 2022, as you start to reestablish new...

Founding Principal and Managing Director, Craig Robson

Note from Regent Peak: The Wall Street Journal and The Bespoke Report are cited in this article and the cited content may require a subscription to view.

Do you know someone who left their job this year? I recently read an article that reported U.S. workers left their jobs 20 million times between April and August, and that doesn’t...

Every year around this time, the thought hits us, "Wow, where did the year go?" On the heels of 2020, we held such high hopes for 2021. While it may not have been the year any of us anticipated, we have made the most of it! Most importantly we've been able to get back to face-to-face meetings, when allowed and if all parties are comfortable. It feels nice to see our clients again!

We welcome the holiday season and look forward to...

Founding Principal and Managing Director, Craig Robson

Note from Regent Peak: The Wall Street Journal is cited in this report and the cited articles may require a subscription to view.

This spring, our oldest son secured his first paying job at the age of 16. For years he’s done household chores for his allowance, but this was his first real job! We are very proud of our...

Founding Principal and Managing Director, Craig Robson

Note from Regent Peak: Bespoke Report is cited in this report and the cited article may require a subscription to view.

Recent events in our country and around the world have left me asking myself, where do we go from here? I’ll start with the markets.

The S&P 500 achieved its 52nd record high of the year on Friday, August...

Founding Principal and Managing Director, Craig Robson

Note from Regent Peak: Charles Schwab Quarterly Chartbook is cited in this report and the cited articles may require a subscription to view.

Change is constant and change is guaranteed. When reviewing recent changes we’ve experienced, I believe there are a few things to keep in perspective when it comes to capital markets and the...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

For many of us, the start of summer is exciting and it means different things to different people. Whether it's vacations, beaches, baseball and even the occasional heat wave, summer normally means good times.

As a kid growing up I played baseball and one of the rare occurrences within the sport is a triple play. For those of us who are not baseball...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

The recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline caused drivers to panic and fill up their gas tanks. For those of us old enough to have lived through the ‘70s (full disclosure, I was 10 years old in 1979), the gas shortage earlier this month was an eerie reminder of what happened then.

While my biggest complaint about the gas shortage in the '70s was...

This month our Regent Peak team is celebrating our two year anniversary!

The creation of Regent Peak as an independent advisory firm is a direct result of our desire to access optionality and a variety of solutions for our clients.

Now, two years into our independence, our growing firm is proud of our work to help individuals and families reach their financial goals. Thank you to all of our industry partners and clients for...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

Have you noticed? It’s happening. For many, the fears and uncertainties of 2020 are washing away and now, many of us are beginning to see the world through an optimistic lens. I’m seeing it with capital markets and the economy. Many economists are already raising their 2021 forecasts. For example, AllianceBernstein recently raised their 2021 global GDP from 4.8%...

Chief Investment Officer, Nathan Hoyt

Financial literacy is a term that gets thrown around a lot - I think of it in terms of understanding money and, more importantly, accessing the tools available to grow your wealth. It doesn’t mean much to understand money, if you don’t have enough money to access the tools critical to grow your wealth.

One of...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

What does taking a loss mean to you? No one likes it, but sometimes a loss is easier to handle than others. In some situations you know that a loss is just part of being in the game.

I’ve had several recent conversations where I’ve noticed an uptick in loss aversion. They would rather avoid losses, over achieving equivalent gains. My advice to these...

Chief Financial Officer, Kevin Manning

Our process – helping you to successfully achieve your goals At Regent Peak, one of our core responsibilities to clients is to understand their financial goals, while simultaneously managing their investible net worth in a way that provides them the greatest likelihood of achieving those goals. We want to set our clients up for success during their lifetime and...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

The past 12 months have highlighted something that lingers behind many of the choices we make: Risk.

I was recently reading various market and economic commentaries, and I came across a staggering statistic. Household wealth in the United States has increased by $5.2 trillion since the end of 2019.1 It caused me to reassess the current risks I see coming our...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

In the first four weeks of the new year, I’ve had multiple conversations with individuals about the markets’ performance. The conversations keep having the same theme; nervousness, even though the markets are doing so well.

Person 1: “The markets can’t keep going up.” My response: “Actually, they can.”

Person 2: “It’s safer to stay in cash.” My...

Have you noticed our email communications have a new look? On our journey to independence, you may have heard us express our delight in our ability to take advantage of new technology.

We recently began using a new email marketing platform, which enables us to further customize our messages to you. You can expect to continue seeing Craig's Corner reports and our New Heights newsletters arriving in your inbox, however, now improved for...

Chief Investment Officer, Nathan Hoyt

You have probably heard from any one of the financial news outlets and most of the major news outlets (or your barista, uber driver, hairstylist etc.) the remarkable price action in a handful of stocks that you thought you would never hear about ever again ($AMC / $GME / $NOK / $BB to name a few positions that have doubled or tripled and then halved, sometimes in the same day)....

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

It is a new year, with new economic forecasts, and depending which forecast you read, you will see there are many varying viewpoints. I am frequently asked to provide my thoughts on future economic projections, however, as I share my views, I acknowledge, I, nor anyone else truly knows.

I often say to our clients, the best course of action is to create a...

Working Remotely By now you know that we have moved into our wonderful new office in the Galleria Office Park. While our new office is beautiful, we are continuing to heed the guidance from the CDC and local officials. You've likely heard that most of our team members visit the office on a part-time, rotating schedule to minimize contact with one another. If an in-person meeting is warranted, and our office happens to be the...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

We’ve all faced challenges in 2020 and now many of us are questioning, what will the new year bring?

In late January, a new administration will take office and with that administration it’s time to start thinking about equity market returns. When taking a look back at the S&P 500, historically, new administrations average a positive 13.3% in their first...

A Joyous Holiday Season. As we near the end of 2020, we hope nothing but positivity for you through the remainder of what has been a rollercoaster ride of a year. While the holiday season looks very different from what we're used to, we hope everyone takes this time to enjoy what matters most. We're counting our blessings. Stay safe and well. A

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

Bring on the good news! Two weeks in a row pharmaceutical companies have announced positive COVID-19 vaccine results, driving major market growth.

Pushed by the continued optimism of a faster economic rebound, The Wall Street Journal reports the DOW set another new record this week, gaining 470.63 points, or 1.6%, to 29950.44. That is just shy of the 30000...

Gifting: As we move further into the fourth quarter, we know many of you have gifting on the mind. It is the season for giving! As you get into the spirit, remember, early December is the recommended deadline for processing stock gifts, to ensure delivery by year-end for tax benefits. Some questions you may need to ask yourself: What is your company's deadline for gift matching? Does the charitable organization you want to...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

In this day and age, it is hard to imagine a world where you can’t simply look up the score of a game or the outcome of a movie. I remember when I first watched one of my favorite movies as a kid, The Empire Strikes Back, in the original Star Wars Trilogy. I was so surprised by the climax of the movie; I didn’t see it coming! And just like I didn’t see the end of...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

Whether it is online or on television, we hear a lot of bad news. So, how about some good news? Capital markets continue to surge forward and at the end of the third quarter the S&P 500 gained 30.1% over the previous six months.

According to financial experts with the Bespoke Report, “The last time the S&P 500 saw gains of greater than 30% in a...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

We know that growth and change do not happen overnight, and of course we can expect economic growth and recovery to take time as we push forward. According to the Wall Street Journal, “U.S. service-sector and manufacturing companies reported solid growth in September, a positive signal for overall economic growth in the third quarter.”

The labor market,...

As we've mentioned before, our Regent Peak team is committed to working towards successful outcomes for our clients and to keep you informed on major financial/economic news. Through his Craig's Corner reports, our Founding Principal and Managing Director provides insight into the markets, as he digs into the data. Here is a sample of his latest edition:

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

For many of us, the beginning of the pandemic seems like a lifetime ago. As we move forward, we continue to see signs of economic optimism and recovery. The Wall Street Journal recently polled business and academic economists and they expect better growth forecasts for gross domestic product in Q3 than originally anticipated (23.9% compared with 18.3%).1...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

With only four more months left in 2020, it has definitely been a year of surprises. One being the unexpected summer market rally we have experienced! From April 30 to August 18 the S&P 500 gained 19.8%. That gain works against the strategy, “sell in May and go away” that some favor. It is important to note the S&P 500 lost 6.8% in the previous six months...

Keeping You Informed

With nearly three decades of experience in the financial industry, our Founding Principal and Managing Director Craig Robson examines the latest data and gives his take on the pulse of the economy in his Craig's Corner reports. To reference one of his recent Craig’s Corners, he explains, the factors of an economic recovery are as numerous as they are complex. The data, however, suggests we could...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

What drives an economic recovery? The factors are as numerous as they are complex. The data, however, suggests we could look at this economic recovery with cautious optimism. Following better-than-expected Q2 earnings results, many large financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs recently increased its S&P 500 earnings-per-share estimate for this year....

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

We are now within 100 days of the presidential election, and as we get closer to November, you will continue to hear debate about both political parties and the economy. Historically, the stock market performs better with a Democrat in the White House, rather than a Republican. From 1952 through June 2020, annualized real stock market returns under Democrats have...

We're Growing

As part of Regent Peak's success, we are excited to share that our team is growing! We have diligently planned the expansion of our team by creating a new role. We evaluated what would add the most value to our team and we quickly realized we could all benefit from administrative assistance: an office manager. After going through the discovery process and interviewing many candidates, we came to an...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

Adapting to the COVID World: No matter what business you are in, we are all adapting to our new normal with the COVID-19 pandemic. New data suggests we might be moving in the right direction when it comes to jobs. At the start of July, The U.S. Department of Labor released its May unemployment numbers. In May, 1.8 million workers were laid off from their jobs....

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

As we move past this year’s halfway point many of us are trying to get back to some sense of normalcy. But, as cases of COVID-19 increase, it is hard to ignore its impact on the economy and our daily routines. As the summer goes on, many of us have taken beach vacations with our families and you might have noticed that in some situations it doesn’t even seem like...

A Message From Craig

We hear you, and we are feeling it too. It is a time of much uncertainty. It is difficult continuously verify their alignment with your goals. We hope you are enjoying everything we’ve shared with you across many forms of communication. You can still rely on us to connect with you in a one-on-one setting, to discuss your confidential data, and take a deep dive into your planning needs. To touch on...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

As of Tuesday, May 19 the S&P 500 increased by almost 31%, since the low point (March 23) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Why is this important? May 19 was the 40th trading day and there have only been five other 40-day periods where the S&P 500 has increased by greater than 25% 1. This surge left some people asking, is it time to de-risk? Perhaps, but we...

Founding Principal & Managing Director, Craig Robson

In the first few days of June, I was planning to release another version of Craig’s Corner, yet I have withheld it because I am compelled to touch on a different topic.

Last week I witnessed so much violence: the devaluation of human life, the destruction of property, and nationwide societal unrest. Racism and disregard for human life is incredibly...