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CLient Portal
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Dear Clients and Friends,
As we wrap up another eventful year, I'm excited to share with you our fourth quarter newsletter for 2024. This quarter has brought its share of challenges and opportunities, and I'm proud of how our team has continued to adapt and thrive in this ever-changing global economic environment. In this quarter’s newsletter, we'll dive into the key market trends, developments within the firm, provide an update on our planned move to Australia, and highlight some of the content and innovative strategies we've employed to help our clients achieve their financial goals. As always, our focus remains on delivering personalized, comprehensive wealth management solutions that align with your unique circumstances and aspirations.
Our team got together in Minneapolis in mid-December for our bi-annual in-person summit.
XYPN Live - Minneapolis, MN: I addressed an audience of financial planners sharing information on lessons learned running my practice these past 11 years.
Hawaii Tax Institute - Honolulu, HI: Wonderful conference venue (Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Honolulu) to hear from the most diverse group of finance professionals I’ve ever heard from on all manner of topics relating to international tax & Estate planning.
Schwab Impact - San Francisco, CA: Probably the headlining conference of the year. Biggest takeaway was hearing from Chip Conley about the Modern Elder Academy and why life gets better with age.
Global Financial Planning Institute Retreat - San Francisco, CA: This is actually a conference I help put together, so I’m a little biased in my review. Just fantastic to see all these cross-border advisors can meet, share and compare their approaches
The U.S. investment scene, in aggregate, churned out another unusually positive investment experience this past year, with 20+ percent gains heaped on top of 2023's historically unusual gains.
A breakdown shows that just about every U.S. investment category was showing double-digit gains. The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index—the broadest measure of U.S. stocks— gained 2.63% in the 4th quarter, and ended the year with a 23.76% gain. The comparable Russell 3000 index gained 23.81% for the year.
Looking at large cap stocks, the Wilshire U.S. 2500 Large Cap index was up 2.63% in the fourth quarter, and posted a 23.94% gain in the year just passed. The Russell 1000 large-cap index finished the year with a 24.51% gain, while the widely-quoted S&P 500 index of large company stocks gained a modest 2.07% during the year’s final quarter and overall finished up 23.31% in calendar 2024.
Market Overview:
Read the Full 2024 Investment Report
Our plans are falling into place for our upcoming move. On Jan 18th we’ll be boarding our flight out of the USA to resume residency in Australia.
Clients will recall that we lived there from Feb 2021 to July 2023, so there’s no question that it’s possible for me to run our operations from Australia.
My plan is to shift my work day to better align with the U.S. I’ll also be making bi-annual U.S. visits to meet with clients, attend conferences and meet with centers of influence in the business. My first trip back to the US is already booked for Mar 22nd - Apr 2nd (San Francisco, CA and Austin, TX).
We’re in the process currently of hiring a second staff-member to increase support on the US side. We’re committed to this changes as being catalysts for enhanced customer service as we’ll now have more staff and cover more timezones. Separately, we’ll be converting to SEC registration this quarter which shall increase our compliance oversight.
Best wishes to you and yours in 2025!
Yours sincerely,
Ashley Murphy, CFP® GFP (USA) Fellow
Founder / Financial Advisor Areté Wealth Strategists, LLC.
Minneapolis, MN, USA
You should’ve received our annual Client Satisfaction Survey. This is our primary tool for determining how we’re doing and as such, we make a strong effort to address every detail of feedback we receive. per prior year’s, we’ll be offering multiple gift cards to encourage participation.
As per prior year’s, we’ll be offering multiple gift cards to encourage participation.
Please keep an eye out for the registration emails closer to the date
Is AI Making it Easier for Workers to Cheat?
A recent comic strip shows two different office workers in two different cubicles, talking about the great benefits of artificial intelligence on their working lives—and on the company’s productivity as a whole.
Crypto’s Day in the Sun
An investment that the incoming president has promised to buy as part of the U.S. government reserves, and which a number of U.S. states (mostly those run by conservative governors) are eyeing as a potential investment for their pension plans and reserve deposits?
Eight Strategies for Deciding When to File For Social Security
Applying at age 70 maximizes your monthly payout, but claiming early could provide advantages that can’t be quantified on a spreadsheet.
Social Security Fairness Act Calls for 2024 Back Payments
The SSA has confirmed that the Social Security Fairness Act would provide retroactive payments to those subject to the WEP or GPO in 2024
Trump Vows to End ‘Double Taxation’ of Overseas Citizens
Former President Trump is seeking to court American voters overseas by pledging to end what he called the “double taxation” of citizens living abroad.
In this webinar, Areté Wealth Strategists Australia Founder and Principal Ashley Murphy, CFP®, GFP Fellow walked through pertinent details of what tax and investment proposals we’ve heard from the incoming Trump administration, and what you can do to prepare.
Please click 'Global Tax Planning, Maximizing Savings' and 'Brave New World' to watch the 60 minute webinars.
If you’ve been pleased with the work we’ve done together and have a friend or someone you care about facing similar challenges, we want to extend for you to make an introduction. We guide all clients through our Wealth Summit Pathway process to get to understand their most deeply held values, goals and understand their relationship to money. If we’re not the right firm to help them, we will do our best to find them the right advisor.
Please let me know if we might be of assistance.
Have a wonderful rest of your day,
Ashley Murphy, CFP® GFP Fellow
Areté Wealth Strategists, LLC.
Access our comprehensive, unbiased financial guides here.
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