NICOLE WISE PROMOTED TO PRESIDENT OF SENTINEL RISK ADVISORS
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Time Business News
19 minutes ago
- Time Business News
How Investment Management Services in Virginia Can Help
Investing can be a daunting and complex process, especially for individuals who lack the time or expertise to manage their portfolios effectively. Whether you are just starting or a seasoned investor, the goal remains the same: to maximize returns while managing risk. In Virginia, investment management services provide individuals and businesses with the expertise, personalized strategies, and local insights necessary to achieve their goals. By partnering with an investment management service in Virginia, you gain access to professionals who understand both the broader market and the specific financial dynamics that may impact your investments. This guest post explores how these services can help you grow your wealth, optimize your portfolio, and reach your financial objectives. One of the primary reasons to seek investment management services in Virginia is the opportunity for personalized strategies. Unlike generic, one-size-fits-all financial products, investment managers in Virginia tailor their advice and investment plans to fit your specific goals, risk tolerance, and financial situation. For example, if you are a young professional in Virginia with a long time horizon for retirement, your advisor may recommend a more aggressive portfolio composed of stocks and growth-oriented assets. On the other hand, if you're nearing retirement, the focus would shift to preserving capital while still achieving modest growth through more conservative investment choices. These tailored strategies ensure that your portfolio is aligned with your unique financial situation, maximizing the potential for returns while minimizing risk in accordance with your needs. Diversification is a fundamental concept in investing, and it's one of the key ways investment management services in Virginia help protect your wealth. Instead of placing all your money into a single asset class, diversification spreads your investments across various asset types—stocks, bonds, real estate, and commodities—reducing the impact of volatility on your overall portfolio. In Virginia, where local industries such as technology, government contracting, healthcare, and real estate play a significant role in the economy, local investment managers have the knowledge to help diversify your portfolio within these sectors. For instance, a Virginia-based advisor may recommend investments in regional real estate projects or healthcare stocks that have strong growth potential. The goal of diversification is to protect your portfolio against market fluctuations by ensuring that not all your assets are affected by the same economic conditions. This balance of risk and reward is crucial to maximizing returns in both favorable and adverse market environments. Investment management services in Virginia offer access to a diverse range of specialized investment vehicles that may not be readily available to the average investor. These vehicles include private equity, hedge funds, municipal bonds, and even real estate investments, which can offer higher returns compared to traditional stocks and bonds. For example, Virginia is home to a thriving real estate market, particularly in areas such as Northern Virginia and Richmond. An investment manager familiar with the local market can offer strategies for investing in real estate directly or through real estate investment trusts (REITs), both of which may yield higher returns than other forms of investment. Moreover, investment managers have access to institutional-grade opportunities. They can help you tap into these exclusive investment options, potentially providing higher returns that are not available to the average investor. Taxes are one of the most significant factors affecting your returns. Virginia's state income tax rates, property taxes, and capital gains tax laws can all have an impact on how much you take home from your investments. A skilled investment manager can help you optimize your portfolio to minimize your tax burden, ultimately maximizing your net returns. For instance, investment managers may recommend tax-advantaged accounts like IRAs or 401(k)s, which allow you to defer taxes on your investment gains. Additionally, strategies such as tax-loss harvesting, where you sell losing investments to offset gains, can help you reduce your taxable income, thereby giving your portfolio more room to grow. By leveraging these tax-efficient strategies, you can keep more of your gains and further enhance the returns on your investments. The financial markets are constantly changing, and so are your circumstances. That's why regular monitoring and portfolio rebalancing are crucial to maintaining a strategy that continues to meet your objectives. Investment management services in Virginia offer ongoing portfolio reviews and adjustments to ensure that your investments remain aligned with your financial goals. For instance, if the stock market experiences a significant downturn, your advisor may adjust your portfolio to minimize exposure to high-risk assets. Similarly, if a particular asset class is performing exceptionally well, they may recommend taking profits and reinvesting them into more stable, growth-oriented options. By staying proactive, Virginia-based investment managers help you navigate market volatility and ensure your investments stay on track for long-term growth. When you choose an investment management firm based in Virginia, you're partnering with professionals who have a deep understanding of the local economy, market conditions, and regulatory environment. They are aware of which industries are thriving in the region and which economic factors could impact your investments. For instance, with the growing tech industry in Northern Virginia and the influence of government contracts on the local economy, investment managers in the region can guide you toward the best investment opportunities. Their local expertise can also help you stay informed about upcoming changes in Virginia's tax laws and how those changes might impact your investment strategy. Maximizing returns through smart, strategic investing is the ultimate goal for any investor. With the guidance of an experienced investment management service in Virginia, you gain access to personalized investment strategies, diversification, specialized investment vehicles, and tax optimization strategies that can significantly enhance your wealth. By leveraging local expertise and continuous portfolio monitoring, investment management services enable you to navigate the complexities of wealth management while maximizing your returns. If you're serious about growing your wealth and optimizing your financial future, partnering with an investment management service in Virginia is an innovative and effective step toward achieving your financial goals. Reach out to a trusted advisor today and start maximizing your investment returns! TIME BUSINESS NEWS
CNBC
4 hours ago
- CNBC
China plans subsidy vouchers for seniors to ease strain on its aging population, drive consumption
China is planning to offer subsidy coupons to seniors in a rare use of direct fiscal support as Beijing seeks to ease the financial strain on its aging population and drive consumption of elderly-care services. The allowances will be paid monthly in the form of electronic coupons to cover part of the costs for seniors' care services, according to a joint statement issued by the ministry of civil affairs and ministry of finance on Wednesday. Chinese policymakers have avoided direct cash handouts similar to what the U.S. and Hong Kong offered during the pandemic to stimulate spending, even as they step up efforts to support employment and improve social welfare. "The financial burden that elderly care generates for Chinse households ... is one of major current constraints to reducing precautionary savings and boosting domestic consumption," said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a Beijing-based advisor to multinational enterprises. Seniors will be assessed for their physical disability, and only those evaluated as "moderately, severely or completely disabled" will be allowed to claim such subsidies, according to the official statement. The allowances are currently set between 500 yuan and 800 yuan a month and can be used to pay for a portion of the costs for certain senior-care services, such as meal and bathing assistance, rehabilitation and day care. Details of the plan may be further "optimized" as authorities will run a pilot in select cities this month before a nationwide roll-out later this year. The scheme will last for 12 months. The measures could incentivize the adoption of such senior care services and ease the "hefty elderly care burden" for family members, said Tianchen Xu, senior economist at Economist Intelligence Unit. Echoing that view, Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING, said that while "strengthening of the social safety net has been one of the main goals in order to better unlock consumption, these measures can be interpreted as steps in this direction." As China's population ages and middle-class consumers facing job uncertainty scale back spending, the so-called silver economy — a sector that provides goods and services for people over 50 — has been on the rise, with more businesses targeting seniors who have accumulated sufficient retirement funds. "It's crucial for the government to keep pushing forward with reforms and strategies that tackle the deeper structural [supply-demand] imbalances," Montufar-Helu said. The fiscal aid will be primarily funded by the central government, with local authorities contributing a smaller share, according to the statement Wednesday. "Elder care is a key component of the country's broader services consumption ... the initiative is designed to foster new growth drivers and better align economic development with social welfare," the statement reads, translated by CNBC. Economists have ramped up calls for Beijing to prioritize policies aimed at strengthening the country's social safety net to tackle the aging population, high youth jobless rate and tepid domestic consumption. "Mounting demographic and economic pressures are forcing Beijing to highlight the social policy agenda in the upcoming 15th five-year plan," Eurasia Group said in a note Thursday. "Bolstering the social safety net, especially through changes to pensions and healthcare, is high on the agenda to adapt to a rapidly graying society," Eurasia Group said in a note Thursday. About 22% of China's population was aged 60 or older at the end of 2024, the statement said, up from 18.7% in 2020. The population aged 65 years and above in China reached 216.8 million in 2023, accounting for 15% of the total population.
CNBC
4 hours ago
- CNBC
Estonia's tech elite are getting behind a European challenger to Robinhood
Some of the biggest names of Estonia's tech scene are backing Lightyear, a startup looking to become Europe's answer to commission-free trading pioneer Robinhood. Based in London, Lightyear develops an app that lets users invest in a range of over 5,000 stocks, exchange-traded funds and money market funds. It was founded by two former Wise employees, Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, in 2021. The company is set to announce later on Thursday that it has raised $23 million in a new round of funding led by NordicNinja, a Japanese-backed venture capital fund based in Europe. Estonian tech entrepreneur Markus Villig, who co-founded ride-hailing unicorn Bolt has also invested. Lightyear CEO Sokk told CNBC that the firm didn't necessarily need to raise more cash for the business but chose to do so because of the caliber of investors involved. "People like Markus have been building massive companies in many, many markets, and this is something that's really exciting for us because it's so hard to go into all the markets and understand their local dynamics and what people need," he said. Lightyear currently operates in 25 countries. However, with help from angel investors like Bolt's Villig, the firm will be able to launch in another five markets "pretty quickly," Sokk said. Villig told CNBC that it can be "challenging to scale a business across multiple countries in a heavily regulated sector," adding that Europe's less developed retail investing market provides ample opportunities for disruption. Other Estonian angel investors who have previously backed Lightyear also participated in the funding round, including Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, former Chief Technology Officer Ott Kaukver and Skype founding engineer Jaan Tallinn. Estonia is widely considered a prominent tech hub in Europe. The country is home to the highest number of unicorns per capita in Europe, according to the Estonian Investment Agency. Meanwhile, Estonia's e-residency scheme has also enabled foreigners to become digital residents and launch their companies in the country. The new round values five-year-old Lightyear at between $200 million and $300 million, significantly higher than its valuation in 2022 when it raised $25 million, according to two people familiar with the matter who preferred to remain anonymous as the information has not been made public. Alongside the additional funding, Lightyear is also launching new artificial intelligence features. AI has been a hot area of investment for startups following the explosive popularity of generative AI services like OpenAI's ChatGPT. One of the features, called "Why Did It Move," allows users to select a point in time on a stock chart and see what happened that day to cause a jump or fall in a company's share price. The firm is also using AI to provide "bull" and "bear" theses on stocks as well as short updates on assets in their own portfolios. "In the end, you're going to have two models" when it comes to investing, according to Sokk: "Self-driving money," where you ask an AI to achieve certain investment goals, and a "manual gearbox" approach of figuring out different strategies and approaches on your own. Still, the market for online investment products is heavily competitive. Lightyear faces some hefty competition from both incumbent brokerage services as well as more modern tech players such as Robinhood, Revolut and Trade Republic. However, Sokk insists Lightyear is building a differentiated enough product to stand out from the crowd. While competitors like Robinhood profit from offering risky products like crypto and margin trading, Lightyear is focused on serving long-term investors, he told CNBC. To that end, Sokk said Lightyear is planning on rolling out a crypto product of its own in two months' time — one that's "more focused on a long-term view."
