Bear Mountain Capital Inc.

Half Dome Is Anything but Average

| October 4, 2023

What we remember A few weeks ago, I had the chance to hike Half Dome in Yosemite National Park for the second time in my life. The first time was over 23 years ago with two close friends. The three of us reunited, added one more long-time friend, and ventured out again to conquer the 8,800 granite peak, climbing 4,800 feet of elevation to reach the top. It was a…

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FOMO and Personal Finance

| August 28, 2023

FOMO is the new catchy acronym for a very old phenomenon we know as the “fear of missing out.” While the term is often used in social contexts, FOMO is extremely prevalent when it comes to our personal finances. Oftentimes, we just don’t realize it.  In this blog post, we’re going to highlight some common situations where we may feel financial FOMO as it relates to our lifestyle, investing, and…

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Travel Tips From the BMC Team

| July 13, 2023

We are constantly discussing what it takes to meet our long-term financial goals with clients. However, we also discuss how important it is to live, today, finding our own balance between our future needs and our current needs. To be sure, travel budgets are a worthy goal!  With summer upon us, we’d like to give a nod to living in the moment and share some of our team’s personal travel…

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Building Wealth

| April 4, 2023

Recently, I had a chance to preview a personal finance book by a best-selling author that focused on how to build and manage your wealth. During the process of reading an early draft of the book, it struck me that it is easy for many to think of wealth building and wealth management as the same thing. However, they are distinctly different and should be considered separately. Building wealth is…

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The Power of Automating Your Savings

| February 12, 2023

In today’s world, where information about the stock market is readily available at our fingertips, it can be easy to overlook the importance of developing good savings habits. While investment returns are a critical part of any financial plan, developing consistent savings habits is a tried-and-true way to build financial security over the long run. The investment landscape is always going to be ever changing and as investors, to a…

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What’s Ahead for Investors in 2023 and Beyond

| January 11, 2023

LOOKING BACK It’s difficult to know what the future will hold without understanding the past. 2022 was a difficult year in the market. An unprecedented, rapid increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, created significant market volatility and negative returns for the year: Consequently, the S&P 500 finished down -19.44% and investors experienced the risk side of the “risk/reward” relationship. What was different about 2022 was that the negative…

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An Underappreciated Employee Benefit: Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP)

| November 3, 2022

If you were to ask someone “What are the best benefits an employer could offer?”, most would respond with perks like health insurance, time off, remote work, and if it’s been a long day… a company sponsored happy hour might be a popular choice. They’d also be remiss if they didn’t mention the valuable 401(k) match, which is a benefit that’s often used synonymously with the phrase “free money”, and…

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Washington’s Long-Term Care Tax Status Updates

| July 22, 2022

Thank you to Haley Sanford of New York Life for the status update regarding WA LTC Tax: Earlier this year Governor Inslee signed a bill that postponed the tax by 18 months. WA State did this to try and address a few bipartisan issues such as options for those who are close to retirement and will not pay in for ten years, live in neighboring state but work in WA…

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Buy For the Long Term: When is that?

| July 21, 2022

During most years, the stock market tends to go up in value, 73% of the time since 1928, to be precise.1 Using historical returns as an indicator, in any given year, you’re usually better off investing in ‘the market’ than not investing at all. Unfortunately, the S&P 500 (often referred to as the ‘the market’), is having one of its worst starts to the year ever and at the time…

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Economic Hot Buttons

| June 14, 2022

Inflation is an economic indicator we discuss heavily with clients during our planning sessions to project future income needs. For years, inflation has been benign, to say the least. Over the last decade, policy makers have been attempting to increase inflation, to ensure it stays close to their preferred target of 2%. Anything lower than their 2% target, risks stagnation in an economy, or worse deflation, which is difficult to…

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