Cameron Barsness Named to 2024 Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State for Washington

Cameron Barsness Named to 2024 Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State for Washington

Seattle, WA, March 6, 2024—Kutscher Benner Barsness & Stevens is proud to announce principal Cam Barsness was named to the 2024 Washington State Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State list compiled by Forbes in partnership with SHOOK Research. Barsness was also among 2023 award winners. This is the eighth annual list of Forbes/SHOOK Top Women Wealth Advisors, […]

Financial Advisor Magazine speaks with Scott Benner

Financial Advisor Magazine

KBBS principal Scott Benner spoke with Ben Mattlin of Financial Advisor Magazine for an article about 2024 required minimum distributions. “And this year isn’t the best time for Roth conversions—they’re best done in lower RMD years. . . High-distribution years like 2024, in fact, show how such conversions smooth taxation over five to 10 years,” […]

2024 Estate and Gift Tax Exemptions

As we enter tax season and many of our clients are working with their tax professionals to finalize their taxes for 2023, we want to remind everyone that with the change of calendars comes new tax considerations. Every year, the IRS adjusts amounts exempt from federal estate and gift taxes to consider inflation. Also, Congress […]

2023 Year in Review & Investment Landscape

The close of 2023 finds us in mind of two overlapping trends: one short-term and recently driving financial markets to a handsome rally at year’s end, and one long-term that bodes for change and challenges in financial markets as we enter a period with marked differences, certainly from the Covid pandemic and the policy responses, […]

Second Quarter Review: Sometimes Less Is More

Sometimes less is more. We all know the saying, but seeing it effected in life—through art, sport, business, parenting, gardening—is the exception rather than the rule. Imagination more frequently bends towards complexity. With that in mind, we endeavor to make this quarterly review more compact and to share some thoughts near the end about simplifying […]

First Quarter Review: Bank Stress and The Case For Private Lending

Most of us, thankfully, only know what a bank run looks like from movies and television, most famously from the film It’s a Wonderful Life, a holiday staple of broadcast television in the past.  George Bailey (played by Jimmy Stewart), desperate as a young man to leave his hometown of Bedford Falls, is waylaid in […]

Bank Account Hygiene

The announcement today that the FDIC has become the receiver for Silicon Valley Bank is a useful reminder that significant bank failures occasionally do occur and that as depositors we all should pay mind to the $250,000 ceiling on FDIC insurance. We recommend that clients keep each account below the insured ceiling at their banks […]

Key provisions of SECURE Act 2.0

Just over three years ago Congress passed the most consequential retirement law in decades. Among other things, the original SECURE Act of 2019: Made retirement plans more accessible to more people. Increased the potential tax benefits of saving inside a qualified plan by raising the age when required minimum distributions (RMDs) kick in. Eased concerns […]

Cameron Barsness Named to 2023 Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State for Washington

Seattle, February 23, 2023—Kutscher Benner Barsness & Stevens principal Cameron Barsness was named among the Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-In-State for Washington in a 2023 list of advisors compiled by Forbes in partnership with SHOOK Research, which is the only advisor ranking firm to focus on quality. This is the seventh annual list of Forbes/SHOOK […]

2023 Gift and Estate Tax Exemptions

Gift and estate taxes apply, in certain cases, to large gifts made by a person during their lifetime or by their estate after their death. One critical purpose of financial planning is minimizing the impact of gift and estate taxes. Every year, the IRS adjusts amounts exempt from federal gift and estate taxes to consider […]