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Grinch’s tax plan
President Trump’s new tax law will make multi-millionaires and billionaires wealthier than they have been in years. Too bad that’s not the majority of us.
Top the new tax changes off with the DJIA up over 25% this year, unless the roof blows off between now and the last trading day of the year, Dow portfolios were 25% plumper as of Friday than they were at that time last year. Too bad the majority of us aren’t invested in it either.
Then again, this is a president who plays to the minority—the wealthy and those less financially fortunate who believe he really cares about them —and the tax law changes from him and his Republican party show it.
For instance, if you are a childless family—as the vast majority of families in America are— any increase in child tax credits is meaningless to you. Putting that into perspective, in 2016 there were roughly 7 million families in our country sporting three or more children, according to Statista.com. And, 13 million families had two kids, 14.8 million had one child and 47.5 million families had no children. So that doubling of tax credits for families with kids sounds like a bigger gimme than it actually is.
Eliminating all of the interest deduction for folks in with middle and lower incomes with a home equity loan matters a lot to them. And so does totally eliminating the personal exemption of $4,050 for each member of your family as it takes the juice out of that doubling of the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for joint filers. That point never got talked about much in the press before the signing of the new tax law but the personal exemption loss is a loss and no bonus prize for any family.
The jury is still out on the impact changes in charitable giving will have to both the givers and the receivers of the gifts. And who knows what court challenges will arise after what President Trump said this is the biggest tax cut in history. For the record, it’s not.
But what may turn out to be the biggest of anything this president has done will be what the impact of the challenges Our Master’s new tax law will mean to the Little People going forward.
Happy Boxing Day.
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Market Quick Glance
Last week was a merry week for index followers as all four followed here closed up for the week.
Below are the weekly and 1-year index performance results for four major indices— including the dates each reached new highs—according to CNBC.com based on prices at the close of business on Friday, December 22, 2017.
–DJIA +25.26% YTD up from last week’s 24.74%.
- 1 yr Rtn +24.27% up from last week’s 24.18%
Another new high for the DJIA was reached on December 18, 2017 of 24,876.07. The previous high was reached on December 15, 2017 with the Dow closing at 24,688.62
On March 1, the Dow stood at 21,169.11.
-S&P 500 +19.85% YTD up from last week’s 19.52%.
- 1yr Rtn +18.68% up from last week’s +18.29%
The S&P 500 reached another new high on December 18, 2017 of 2,694.97. The previous high was on December 15, 2017 of 2,679.63.
On March 1, 2017, that index stood at 2,400.98.
-NASDAQ +29.29% YTD up from last week’s +28.86%.
- 1yr Rtn +27.77% up from last week’s 27.12%
Nasdaq reached a new high of 7,003.89 on December 18, 2017. Its previous high was reached on December 15, 2017 of 6,945.82
.On April 5, 2017 the index closed at 5,936.39.
-Russell 2000 +13.69%YTD up from last week’s +12.77%
1yr Rtn +13.23% way up from last week’s +12.00%
The Russell 2000 reached a new all-time high on December 4, 2017 of 1,559.61.
The previous high was reached on November 30, 2017 of 1,551.69.
On March 1, 2017 this index stood at 1,414,82.
-Mutual funds
A lovely jump up in the year-to-date average cumulative total reinvested returns for equity funds that fall under the broad U.S. Diversified Equity Funds heading. On Thursday, December 21, 2017, it was 18.57%, according to Lipper. That’s up from the close on Thursday of the previous week of 16.59%.
Under that heading the top three and lowest three performing fund types were:
Top Three:
-Equity Leverage Funds, average +41.50%
-Large-Cap Growth Funds, +29.89%
-Mulit-Cap Growth Funds, +28.63%
Bottom Three:
-Dedicated Bias Funds, -22.79%
-Alternative Equity Market Neutral Funds, +0.05%
-Small-Cap Value Funds, +9.60%
Visit www.allaboutfunds.com for more information about how various equity and fixed-income funds have rewarded investors over the short-and long-term, based upon Lipper data. Short-term meaning weekly and monthly performance returns; longer-term includes quarterly, year-to-date, 1-yr, 2-yr, 3-yr and 5-yr returns.
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Enjoy
May this last week of 2017 be a happy one for you and yours.
And may the fairy of good luck, fortune, health, friendships, humor and happiness live with you each day in the coming New Year.
Cheers to the welcoming in of 2018.
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