News & Insights

Seascape Capital Annual Client Event

by Laurie Barrett on Nov 9, 2022

November 2022-- Clients and friends of Seascape Capital enjoyed an evening with Mariana Budjeryn at the One Hundred Club for Seascape's annual client event. Mariana is a regular contributor to CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, France 24, The Guardian, and other media that seek out her analysis on the war in Ukraine. Please read on to learn more..

Donor-Advised Fund

by Laurie Barrett on Nov 1, 2022

November 2022- A donor-advised fund offers an easy way for a donor to make significant charitable gifts over a long period of time. A donor-advised fund is similar to a private foundation but requires less money, time, legal assistance, and administration to establish and maintain. A donor-advised fund also enjoys greater tax advantages than a private foundation. Determining your charitable deduction can involve many factors. We will review your tax returns, your philanthropic goals, and coordinate with your CPA to determine the most appropriate plan for your personal tax situation.  Please give us a call soon if you would like to consider this charitable giving strategy. Please read on to learn more.

Medicare Open Enrollment Is Here: How Are Costs Changing for 2023?

by Laurie Barrett on Oct 17, 2022

October 2022- Medicare's Open Enrollment Period — which runs from October 15 through December 7 — is your annual opportunity to switch your current Medicare health and prescription drug plans to ones that better suit your needs. Just in time for Open Enrollment, 2023 Medicare premiums, deductibles, and other costs have been announced, and surprisingly, some of these costs are lower than they were last year. Read on to learn more.

New Cancellation for Federal Student Loans: Think you may not be eligible? Scenarios to consider--

by Laurie Barrett on Sep 8, 2022

September 2022- Do you have a Federal Student Loan or family members with student loans? The new Student Debt Relief Plan announced late last month will cancel $10,000 in federal student loan debt for individual borrowers whose income was below $125,000 ($250,000 for married couples) in 2020 or 2021, plus another $10,000 for Pell Grant recipients. Think you may NOT be eligible? Here are some considerations: --> First, to the extent an individual is a business owner and still has the ability to make deductible contributions to a retirement plan for 2021 (e.g., a self-employed person contributing to their own SEP IRA), if those contributions, and the corresponding deductions, reduce AGI enough to get under the applicable threshold, such contributions should be carefully considered. --> In addition, if the thresholds for single filers are also applied to married individuals who file separate returns, married couples with student debt should evaluate whether filing separate returns for 2021 makes sense, even if they normally file joint returns. If the debt forgiveness available to one spouse exceeds the additional tax burden (plus any other applicable costs, such as tax prep fees) created by filing separately, it could be a net win. Please read on to learn more and call us so we can help!

Seascape Capital Supports the Cross Roads House

by Laurie Barrett on Aug 22, 2022

August 2022- The Seascape Capital Team spent a beautiful Volunteer Day at the Cross Roads House.  We support their mission to meet the immediate needs of homeless families and individuals, and to provide them with the tools and guidance they need to successfully return to permanent housing.  This transitional shelter has helped homeless families and individuals get back on their feet for forty years.  It has been our pleasure to support this great organization for most of the nearly twenty years we've been in business.

Inflation Reduction Act: What You Should Know

by Laurie Barrett on Aug 22, 2022

August 2022- The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law on August 16, 2022, includes health-care and energy-related provisions, a new corporate alternative minimum tax, and an excise tax on certain corporate stock buybacks. Additional funding is also provided to the IRS. Please read on to learn about some significant provisions in the Act that you should know.

IRS Releases 2023 Key Numbers for Health Savings Accounts

by Laurie Barrett on Jun 27, 2022

June 2022- The IRS has released the 2023 contribution limits for health savings accounts (HSAs), as well as the 2023 minimum deductible and maximum out-of-pocket amounts for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs). An HSA is a tax-advantaged account that's paired with an HDHP. An HSA offers several valuable tax benefits: (1) You may be able to make pre-tax contributions via payroll deduction through your employer, reducing your current income tax; (2) If you make contributions on your own using after-tax dollars, they're deductible from your federal income tax (and perhaps from your state income tax) whether you itemize or not; (3) Contributions to your HSA, and any interest or earnings, grow tax deferred; (4) Contributions and any earnings you withdraw will be tax-free if used to pay qualified medical expenses. Read on to see the key tax numbers for 2022 and 2023.

Grantor Retained Annuity Trust (GRAT)

by Laurie Barrett on May 23, 2022

May 2022- Grantor retained annuity trusts (GRAT) are estate planning instruments in which a grantor locks assets in a trust from which they earn annual income. Upon expiry, the beneficiary receives the assets with minimal or no gift tax liability. GRATs are most useful to wealthy individuals who face significant estate tax liability at death. In such a case, a GRAT may be used to freeze the value of their estate by shifting a portion or all of the appreciation onto their heirs. Please read on to learn more and call us so we can help!

Seascape's Investment Process

by Laurie Barrett on Mar 24, 2022

March 2022- Over the last several weeks, a few clients have called and asked if we were considering changes in their portfolios as a result of the recent volatility and geopolitical landscape.  One brought up that, being new to the firm, he hadn’t endured a market shock like this so it might be comforting to know why we were confident in our process in the first place.  We thought it was a very apt comment so took the inspiration and ran with it.    Below we offer a brief overview of our investment process.  We hope you find it helpful.