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Tax-loss harvesting is the practice of buying and selling in a portfolio with the goal of reducing the tax consequences of investing. For example, an investor may sell an investment at a loss simply to offset the gains from another investment. Here are three things to keep in mind with tax-loss harvesting:

People most often rely on trusts to protect assets from bad decisions made by heirs who are ill-prepared to handle an inheritance. Families rely less on trusts to avoid taxes. A trust helps you put conditions on when or in what way your assets are divvyed up among your heirs when you die.

In my opinion, a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plan is among the very best retirement accounts for small businesses with one to three employees, where the owner is the “rainmaker” and has lower income employees.

Sales can vary greatly from year to year for a small business owner or sole proprietor. But a SEP gives a business owner the ability to change contribution levels to meet business conditions.

During the last six years, we’ve enjoyed a bull market. A bear market (defined as a 20 percent or more drop from the market’s high) will undoubtedly come. So people often wonder if they can (or should try to) time their retirement to anticipate the expected trajectory of the stock market.

Cash flow keeps a business afloat and allows a business owner to purchase new assets. It’s not much different for an individual. Cash flow enables you to pay your bills and invest for the future.

In the classic rock song “Riders on the Storm,” Jim Morrison sings, “The world on you depends; our life will never end.” And while our loved ones do depend on us, we all know our years will end. With that in mind, many people see the need for a permanent insurance policy to protect their loved ones. But sometimes insurance policies have other benefits for the owner of the policy.

What if a “storm” of another kind strikes? Think of someone diagnosed with a terminal illness; a family becomes financially strapped. What then?

Mistake #1:  Waiting to save. Young people (folks in their 20s) tend to be focused on hobbies, travel and entertainment. There are so many things they think they need. Saving is a low priority if it’s even thought of. There are exceptions, of course. And young people who do save (even a little) for retirement take advantage of a powerful tool – compounding interest. Money you invest early in your career will have more time to grow.  

Most family businesses are either bought by outside parties for a fraction of what they are worth or shut down. This scenario caused me to once again look at how owners think about their businesses. Most see a small business as their personal investment. This kind of thinking creates both a problem and an opportunity for a closely held business.

Robots are in the news these days. The Feb. 25, 2015, edition of The Wall Street Journal reports that experts are rethinking what robots are capable of. One interviewee said robot-driven cars were just a couple of decades away. And two new movies, “Chappie” and “Ex Machina,” explore the boundaries of artificial intelligence. Could robots become investment advisors? To some extent, they already have. “Robo-advisors” are supposed to disrupt the market with technology and lower costs. The idea is to primarily rely on algorithms, instead of advisors.

Last year USA Today columnist Rodney Brooks wrote “… you’ve banked a cool $1 million for your retirement years.  Think you’re set? … you still might be short.”