Blogs

The Covid-19 pandemic—a rare black swan event—was the catalyst that created a logistics nightmare. This past summer, Congress stepped in and passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA 22) to prevent another such crisis from occurring in the future. Learn more about OSRA 22 and what it means for your business. The supply chain bottlenecks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic exposed longstanding issues with ocean ports and maritime regulations. Ships sat stranded off the west coast for weeks at the pandemic’s height, unable to deliver goods at the Port of Los Angeles. The result was a goods shortage...

Skyrocketing demand trends during the Covid-19 pandemic—coupled with rampant labor shortages and bottlenecked supply chains—strangled the logistics industry. As people locked themselves inside during the early pandemic, eCommerce took off—but the pivot caught businesses by surprise. It was a mass shift to a digital economy, but with all the expectations of the old system; manufacturers, retail stores, and consumers alike expected their orders instantly, stressing a delicate logistics system near breaking point. In addition, rising costs and tax rates added strain as the economy began to slow...

Quarterly Market Review: Q4 2022 By: Paul Dickson, Director of Research and Mark Stevens, Chief Investment Officer The New Map The post crisis economic and investment era is moving to the rear-view mirror as new drivers emerge. One year ago, we published our market review for the fourth quarter of 2021 and presented an outlook for 2022 that we termed “Shifting Gears.” Those shifts included our expectations for a significant tightening in monetary policy via interest rate increases and a decline in the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) balance sheet. That balance sheet of almost $9 trillion of U.S...

Check out these actionable strategies to coordinate your estate and tax planning documents—and minimize your 2022 tax liability. Let’s dive into some actionable strategies to consider over the next several weeks to coordinate your documents and minimize your 2022 tax liability. File Your Taxes Online Instead of by Mail Shopping, dating, ordering takeout—you can do practically anything online these days, including filing your taxes. But while filing online is significantly easier, is it better? Let’s unpack the overwhelming advantages of online filing and why this should be integral to your...

If you get an SMS message supposedly from your bank about a fraud alert, be wary. The scheme tries to scare you into believing the scammers are representatives of your bank. An automated SMS message will appear on your phone, claiming to be a fraud alert from a banking institution. It’ll then ask if you recently made an instant payment in the thousands of dollars. How it happens: Scammers will first research your online history to learn your past addresses, Social Security numbers, the last four digits of your bank accounts or any other identifiable information about you. You will receive a...