Todd Rosen, CRPC, AWMA - May, Bonee & Clark Financial Services

05/29/2026

The Biggest Mistakes People Make With Inherited Money:

An inheritance can be a blessing. But handled the wrong way, it can also create unnecessary taxes, investment mistakes, and family stress.

A few common mistakes I see:

1. Spending before planning
It is easy to treat an inheritance like “found money.” Before making big decisions, understand the tax impact, cash needs, debt, and long-term goals.

2. Mishandling inherited IRAs
Inherited retirement accounts have specific rules. Many non-spouse beneficiaries are subject to the 10-year rule, and the timing of withdrawals can have major tax consequences.

3. Taking inherited IRA distributions too fast
Pulling everything out in one year can push heirs into a higher tax bracket, increase Medicare IRMAA surcharges, reduce tax credits, or create unnecessary tax drag.

4. Waiting too long and creating a year-10 tax bomb
The opposite mistake is taking little or nothing for years, then being forced to distribute a large inherited IRA balance in year 10. That can create a much larger tax bill.

5. Selling assets without understanding cost basis
Many inherited taxable assets receive a step-up in basis. That can significantly change the capital gains tax picture.

6. Keeping the same portfolio
The investments may have been right for the person who passed away, but they may not be right for the beneficiary.

7. Ignoring estate and beneficiary updates
Receiving an inheritance is often a good time to revisit your own will, trust, powers of attorney, and beneficiary designations.

The best move is usually to pause.

Before you spend, sell, roll over, or reinvest inherited assets, build a coordinated plan around taxes, cash flow, investment risk, and long-term goals.

An inheritance should strengthen your financial future, not create avoidable mistakes.

05/27/2026

I’ve posted about the Dow Transports before because they can be a useful signal of economic resilience.

If products are being made, they also need to be shipped.
So when transportation stocks are acting well, it often points to healthy demand, improving activity, and a stronger underlying economy.

There are plenty of concerns right now: inflation, oil prices, valuation bubbles, layoffs, and geopolitical risk.

But when you combine:
• strong earnings growth
• improving manufacturing activity
• resilient consumer and business demand
• strength in economically sensitive areas like transports
…it suggests the fundamentals may be stronger than the headlines imply.

Markets always have noise.

The key is knowing when to respect the risks, and when to stay focused on the bigger picture.

Right now, there are still plenty of reasons to remain constructive and let disciplined investment plans continue working.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/toddarosen_i-pointed-this-out-a-few-weeks-ago-when-the-activity-7452778574874513408-0ZBY?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAALfsZ8BNvd2nw-ZSP5Y7ShptKH1zwCyup8

05/22/2026

Manufacturing May Be Sending a Bullish Signal

For the first time in a while, U.S. Manufacturing PMI Output is starting to outperform Services PMI Business Activity.

For much of the post-COVID cycle, services carried the economy while manufacturing stayed more uneven. But if manufacturing output is now moving back above services, it may be a sign that the expansion is broadening.

Why that could be bullish:

✅ Manufacturing above 50 signals expansion

✅ Manufacturing strength can support earnings breadth

✅ It may point to improving demand for industrials, materials, energy, transportation, and infrastructure

✅ It fits with the AI/data center/power/grid buildout theme

This doesn’t mean “all clear.”Inflation, Fed policy, oil prices, and geopolitics still matter. But if manufacturing is starting to lead again, that’s an important signal. Bull markets tend to get healthier when participation broadens.

And a manufacturing rebound could be one more clue that this economy is more resilient than the headlines suggest.

05/11/2026

QCDs: A Smarter Way to Give in Retirement

A Qualified Charitable Distribution, or QCD, can be one of the most tax-efficient ways for retirees to give to charities they care about.

Here’s why:
Once you reach age 70½, you can send money directly from your IRA to a qualified charity.
Even though RMDs generally don’t begin until age 73, QCDs can start earlier. And for 2026, you can give up to $111,000 per person through QCDs, regardless of how much your RMD is. For married couples, each spouse can use their own IRA limit.

The big benefit?
A QCD can satisfy all or part of your RMD, but the amount donated is excluded from taxable income. That is different from writing a personal check to charity and hoping you receive a tax deduction.

Many retirees take the standard deduction and are unable to itemize, which means they may not get much tax benefit from charitable gifts. A QCD can bypass that issue because it reduces taxable IRA income directly.
That can potentially help with:
✅ Lower taxable income
✅ Reduced tax impact from RMDs
✅ Charitable giving without needing to itemize
✅ Possible reduction in income-based Medicare surcharge exposure
✅ Supporting organizations that matter to you

At LPL, the process is fairly simple. We can either set up checkwriting on a brokerage IRA, allowing clients to write checks directly to qualified charities, or clients can provide the charity details and LPL can send the check directly as a QCD.

For clients who are charitably inclined and taking IRA distributions, this is worth reviewing before year-end.

*As always, coordinate with your tax professional to make sure the gift qualifies and is reported properly*

04/22/2026

8 of 8 signals bullish 👀

04/22/2026

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/toddarosen_a-new-savings-vehicle-for-children-was-recently-activity-7436064808778608640-KA89?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAALfsZ8BNvd2nw-ZSP5Y7ShptKH1zwCyup8

A new savings vehicle for children was recently introduced as part of the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act: “Trump Accounts” (Section 530A). The goal is simple. Give families a way to start investing early for their children’s future. A few key things to know: • Who qualifies: Any child under age...

03/23/2026

https://www.fastcompany.com/91510452/pokemon-go-data-maps-pizza-delivery-robots-gamers-react

🌍Most people think of data as something abstract.
But it may be one of the most valuable assets in the world.

This article is a great example:
Pokémon Go didn’t just build a game… it crowdsourced a global mapping system by having millions of users explore the real world.
That data now has value far beyond gaming.
And it’s happening everywhere:
• Amazon knows what we buy, when we buy, and what we might buy next
• Google understands search behavior, email, maps, and video consumption
• Tesla is collecting real-world driving data at massive scale to train AI
• Netflix & Spotify know what we watch, skip, replay, and binge
• Apple gathers behavioral and biometric data across devices
• Visa/Mastercard track global spending patterns in real time

The companies that win over the next decade may not just be the ones with the best products…
💾They’ll be the ones with the best data.
Because data is the foundation for:
→ AI models
→ personalization
→ predictive analytics
→ automation at scale

It’s also why many of today’s largest companies keep getting stronger.
Their data advantage compounds.

Something to think about when investing:
You’re not just buying revenue or earnings… you’re buying access to data ecosystems.

Niantic Spatial, a spinout of the game maker behind the mobile phenomenon, is putting all that AR creature-catching data to interesting use.

03/21/2026

Great post from Capital Group:

Investors are worried about how war in Iran could impact economic growth and inflation. Given the volatility, it’s natural to question your investment approach, but history shows that the U.S. stock market has recovered from past declines. Here are 5 charts that help put market volatility in persp...

03/20/2026

Good post from The Market Stats:
https://x.com/TheMarketStats/status/2034948277439807743?s=20

03/20/2026

One of the more interesting charts I’ve seen recently compares today’s AI boom to the late-1990s internet bubble.

During the dot-com era, stock prices surged far ahead of earnings, and the earnings growth never materialized to support those valuations.

Today looks different.

In the current AI cycle, earnings growth has largely kept pace with price growth for many of the leading companies driving the market. In other words, the growth is showing up in the fundamentals.

That doesn’t mean volatility won’t happen. Markets rarely move in a straight line.

But it’s an important distinction when people ask whether today’s environment is simply another repeat of the 2000 bubble.

Worth reading the full article from Capital Group:
https://www.capitalgroup.com/advisor/insights/articles/5-keys-investing.html