The ongoing situation with Silicon Valley Bank has understandably led to many questions While the bank’s failure is certainly a disappointing and noteworthy event Mesirow’s clients should be assured that we are actively monitoring the situation and believe that overall exposure to the bank failure is minimal That said we do believe the situation has created an opportunity to reassess how clients…, What happened to Silicon Valley Bank, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB was closed on Friday March 10 2023 by banking regulators following a “run” on the bank by its depositors In our opinion this bank was particularly susceptible due to its client concentration in tech start-ups and other venture capital-oriented firms combined with poor internal risk management  The bank’s management missteps were exacerbated by a sharply rising interest…, What did Federal regulators do to help, On the evening of Sunday March 12 2023 the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department announced steps to ensure that all depositors at SVB would have access to their full account balances both insured and uninsured thus ensuring that its many corporate clients could maintain operations such as paying employee salaries bills and funding day-to-day operations The joint announcement also indicated that…, Is my bank and bank account safe, Yes you should consider your bank accounts as relatively safe from any potential bank failures in the near future Bank accounts below $250000 will continue to be insured by the FDIC While the Federal Reserve is making SVB depositors whole and has indicated a desire to see that depositors are made whole above the limit balances above $250000 are not insured by the FDIC and there is no guarantee of…, What should we do with our cash, The silver-lining to higher interest rates is that cash and some bonds can now earn an attractive risk-adjusted return for the first time in many years With short-term Treasury rates still north of 4% investors have several options for how to manage their cash and liquidity needs Those options include, Money Market Funds, — Money market funds invest cash in very short-term securities with the goal of maintaining value and earning a slight return All of Mesirow’s money market sweep options for clients with our primary custodian invest solely in Treasury and Government Agency securities, Treasury Securities, — Treasury securities especially those with extremely short maturities are reasonably stable assets These securities may see declines in value if short-term interest rates increase but the shorter maturity bonds are much less sensitive to higher rates than longer-term bonds Building short-term Treasury bond ladders can be a profitable and prudent way to manage excess cash balances while holding…, Short-Term Bond Funds, — Short-term bond funds are excellent options for excess cash that may not be needed for one to three years These bond funds may provide additional return over traditional government securities by investing in corporate bonds or extending duration slightly to generate additional income Short-term bond funds will likely experience incrementally more volatility than money market or Treasury…

Although periods of market volatility can often create investor anxiety the gains and losses incurred during up and down markets can be leveraged to work together to minimize the taxes investors pay on capital gains Through a practice called “tax loss harvesting” a savvy investor and wealth advisory team can strategically reduce federal tax liabilities without impacting long-term investment plans, When you hold a security in a taxable investment account (eg not an IRA Roth IRA workplace retirement plan or College Savings Plan dividends distributions and sales can be subject to income tax Complicating matters each type of income may be subject to a different tax calculation, Capital gain tax rates, Sales of investments are subject to “capital gains” taxes and tax levels are based on how long you have held the investment Capital gains (or losses are the difference between the sale price of an investment and its purchase price If the investment is sold after being held for less than one year it is considered a “short-term capital gain” If an investment is sold after being held for one year or…, Federal capital gain tax rates, Listed below are the 2024 Federal long-term capital gain tax brackets ¹ Long-term Capital Gains tax rate Single filers (taxable income Married filing jointly 0% $0–$47025 $0–$94050 15% $47026-518900 $94051-583750 20% Over $518900 Over $583750 Many taxpayers are also subject to state income taxes on their capital gains, You can offset taxes on capital gains by capital losses, The IRS allows investors to reduce the amount of capital gains subject to tax by the amount of losses they realize during year These realized losses offset gains on a dollar-for-dollar basis reducing the total tax burden If losses exceed gains for any calendar year up to $3000 can be applied to other income (such as your earned income retirement plan distributions or dividends during the year…, Tax loss harvesting, Although periods of market volatility can often create investor anxiety the losses incurred during down markets provide a unique planning opportunity called “tax loss harvesting” During these “down market” periods investors may be able to sell an investment at a price lower than the purchase price Sale proceeds could then be redeployed to an investment that offers comparable market exposure or a…, Here’s an example, A few months ago an investor purchased $200000 of a mutual fund that invests in large US companies Because of market volatility this holding’s current market value is $180000 This individual had also realized a short-term capital gain of $5000 on a sale earlier this year and she expects to receive $10000 of long-term capital gain distributions from the mutual fund holdings in her taxable…, The “wash sale” rule, It’s important to understand the impact of the “wash sale” rule This IRS rule states that you cannot buy a “substantially identical” security as the investment sold for a loss within 30 days of the sale (either before or after the sale date Investors can employ a few different strategies to comply with the wash sale rule One alternative is to buy a similar (but not identical investment as the…, Published February 2024, Mesirow does not provide tax advice Our Wealth Advisors will work with a clients tax or other professionals , 1  https//wwwmesirowcom/sites/default/files/PDFs/Wealth/2022-Contribution-Limits-webpdf Your wealth advisor can work with your tax professional to be sure that you achieve the desired result Mesirow does not provide legal or tax advice  

Martha Payne is a member of the investor relations and business development team and is responsible for responding to client and consultant requests for information communications and client service She is also a member of Mesirow Private Equity’s Environmental Social and Governance (ESG Committee Prior to joining Mesirow in 2009 Martha was a Client Relationship Management Associate at Calamos…

Matt Donahue is a Managing Director in Public Finance at Mesirow Matt is based in Portland Oregon and works with state and local governments in the pacific northwest to finance crucial infrastructure projects Matt joined Mesirow in 2024 Prior to joining Mesirow Matt worked in the pacific northwest for 14 years and led over 200 government financings as investment banker municipal advisor or…

Matt is a Managing Director in Institutional Sales and Trading In this role he is responsible for sales across all fixed income sectors Matt brings over 25 years of experience to Mesirow Prior to joining the firm he held positions in fixed income sales at Vining Sparks Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns Matt has served as an Associate Board Member for Lake Forest Open Lands a volunteer for Orchard…

Matt Roberts is Managing Director Head of Operations in Mesirow Currency Management He is responsible for all operational processes such as oversight and management of collateral counterparty trade confirmations reports and settlement processes Matt has approximately 20 years of industry experience Prior to joining Mesirow Matt was Head of Operations at The Cambridge Strategy (TCS In 2018 Mesirow…

Matt Coen leads the financial reporting accounting and operations team with primary responsibility for financial reporting Prior to joining Mesirow in 2009 Matt served as a Senior Audit Associate for McGladrey & Pullen LLP  Matt received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Matt is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA and serves as a member of…

Matt Olsen is a Managing Director in Mesirow CTL and Structured Debt Products He focuses primarily on the firm’s structured debt products offering which includes bifurcated ground leases mezzanine and residual value financing Prior to joining Mesirow in 2015 he held various engineering roles at the Turner Construction Company Before that he worked as a Development Analyst for Michael Pepper…

Matt Scherer is a member of the financial reporting accounting and operations team Prior to joining Mesirow in 2019 Matt served as an Associate at Standish Management Matt earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame