Stableford Capital Insights

Creating a digital currency is on the minds of financial professionals inside the Federal Reserve Bank and out. Making a digital option that permits cash-like exchanges and direct deposits from the government seems like an inevitable good for U.S. citizens. But what kind of control does it offer the government, and does it come with the same level of security as other digital currencies like cryptocurrencies?

For investors, it can be difficult to know if an investment firm is presenting fair and accurate performance. GIPS compliant firms adhere to a global standard to measure performance and offer objective data that helps potential investors compare across markets, languages and processes. GIPS compliance aids in investment performance transparency.

Governments around the world are considering expanding their currency to include digital dollars. Using central bank digital currency will offer some benefits like direct-to-citizen payments and indisputable accounting. However, the concerns regarding inflation and technology corporation oversight is delaying immediate acceptance.

Transferring wealth to beneficiaries should be done with tax reduction in mind. Keep an estate intact by strategizing with gifting, insurance, buy/sell agreements, and trusts. Retain control of business assets and benefit from profits while arranging for a smooth transfer of responsibilities in estate planning.

Working remote has been commonplace in nearly every industry since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this allows for more freedom and flexibility in some areas, it also creates challenges in others. With video trumping text communication as the best way to replace to in-person meetings, there are some specific dos and don’ts to communicate effectively on video.

Many companies that were approved for the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) have already received the loan disbursements and we expect many more awaiting funds to receive them over the next few weeks. The most attractive feature of the Paycheck Protection Program is the loan forgiveness. In order to take advantage of this feature, we recommend that companies should prepare to use these funds in a way that will maximize the loan forgiveness amount. Here we provide a list of actions to help do this.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, working remotely was picking up speed and many companies were already practicing it on some level, including Stableford Capital. Now with stay at home mandates, it is the new normal for most industries, companies and workers. Financial firm performance management is changing in light of the new working environments, and the changes are likely to stay in effect long after the crisis.

While it’s clear that technology advancements have many benefits, there are also downsides and times when human interaction should take precedence. Building a solid human-machine relationship is critical to reaping the best benefits of business artificial intelligence while keeping a personal touch. We’ll cover three things that make AI an easier prospect.

Wealth management firms are now tasked with how to best implement artificial intelligence to maximize company and client benefits, while still minimizing risk. Stableford Capital selectively picks and chooses where artificial intelligence is most useful or relevant to our clients. Deploying the AI algorithms to process data and utilizing state-of-the-art learning methodologies is good for clients and good for the financial industry.

The complexity theory argues that in natural systems, resilience increases as the systems become more complex. But for manufactured systems, becoming complicated (like our economy and globalization) means less resilience. The summer of 2019 is chock full of threats to the stability of our economy; let’s review them and go over suggestions on how to weather these bond and stock market trends.