Trump's Massive Changes | Stewardship Concepts Financial Advisors

Happy Friday! It's official; my wife Jenny and I just painted the baby room, which means we are 100% prepared for our first baby, right? I can't believe it's almost February already. Thank you for joining me today for two minutes on the economy, an interesting story, and a financial planning secret.

*Quick PSA for our clients* 1099 tax forms will be released in stages. The last 1099s released are for the taxable accounts; their deadline is the end of February.

Economy – Trump's first week

The stock rose, and yield fell after Trump's week. Only time will tell any long-term trends.

There are many pro sentiments towards nuclear energy, crypto assets, and reduced oil and gas production.

Trump reversed renewable energy policies from the Biden area.

Trump signed executive orders giving more power to enforce the deportation of illegal immigrants, which may impact industries dependent on migrant workers like agriculture.

Trump and Melania both launched meme coins before his first day in office. Both coins zoomed to valuations of over 8 billion.

Trump has pulled out of the World Health Organization, citing the unfair price tag.

During this first week in the White House, we saw many honors and priorities given to the most prominent Silicon Valley faces: Google, Meta, Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, TikTok, Open AI, and Apple.

Another notable fact is that many venture capitalists are in positions of power. Vice President JD Vance used to work for Peter Tiel. Many of these venture capitalists can be traced back to a group deemed the "PayPal Mafia," where many investors sold their shares to make the lion's share of their money.

Interesting Story – 500B investment in AI

OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank promised to invest $100 billion initially and potentially another $400 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The Stargate initiative (started in the Biden term) aims to build Texas's data centers and electricity generation facilities. Led by tech leaders Masayoshi Son, Sam Altman, and Larry Ellison, it is expected to revolutionize digital health and help find cures for illnesses. The initiative includes partners like Microsoft, MGX, Arm, and NVIDIA. The U.S. is positioning itself in a global race to lead AI development.

Financial Planning Secret – Advanced tax strategy (CRT)

This technique usually works well for those with low-basis stock, land, or real estate who desire to give to a charity, want to reduce their taxable income, and want to avoid Washington State estate tax.

A Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT) is an irrevocable trust that allows a donor to provide income to themselves or other beneficiaries for a set period, after which the remaining assets are donated to a charity. This strategy provides several tax benefits, including a partial tax deduction for the donor, avoiding capital gains, a gift, and estate taxes. CRTs can be structured as a Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust (CRAT), which provides fixed annual payments, or a Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT), where payments vary based on the trust's assets. These trusts also benefit estate and retirement planning, removing the assets from the donor's estate and avoiding probate and estate taxes. However, CRTs are irrevocable, meaning the donor cannot alter the terms or access the funds once the trust is established. Despite the complexity and costs of creating and maintaining them, CRTs are a powerful tool for charitable giving and tax management. Book a free discovery call with one of our Spokane financial advisors to find out if a CRT strategy could benefit you.

We have availability. If you know someone who can use our help, please share our website, where they can make a no-cost, no-commitment discovery call.