For many high-income and high-net-worth families, tax planning often centers on familiar, year-end techniques: deferring income, maximizing deductions, and harvesting capital losses. These strategies can be valuable tools. However, they are typically focused on a single…
Thought Leadership
We believe communication is the key to successful client relationships. While sharing useful information is beneficial, regardless of source, Oakworth believes in the value proposition of developing and having its own experienced financial professionals and ideas. By generating our own market commentaries, economic newsletters, topical subject analysis and serials, and even conversational podcasts and videos, our clients know we are using our knowledge, creativity and experience to help them succeed.
At the end of 2025, my forecast for the upcoming year was: “if you liked the U.S. economy this past year, there is a good chance you will like it in 2026.” There was little in…
As I sit here on the morning of April 1, it seems like April Fool’s Day is a fitting day to write about the stock market. It is amazing to think about the amount of news…
The first quarter of 2026 unfolded in dramatic fashion. Volatility, which began to emerge late last year, intensified and created a more challenging environment for investors. What first appeared as brief disruptions in the fourth quarter…
The federal funds futures market has recently behaved as though the rise in crude oil prices will be sustained. That may not be the case. In our opinion, if tensions in the Middle East ease, oil…
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have escalated, though whether the situation qualifies as a formal war remains a matter of interpretation. Regardless of the label, financial markets have begun to price in rising risk, with…
We’ve all seen it: a game that looks competitive on paper but is effectively decided in the opening minutes. I’m not talking about the typical David vs. Goliath matchup that college powerhouses schedule early in the…
For the first few decades of the 21st century, Americans put little thought into inflation. Yet for the past five years, it has dominated headlines. Many consumers have likely felt the impact, but much like a…
THE INFLATION FRUSTRATION GAP We have traditionally maintained that “inflation is wherever you want to look for it.” This remained true throughout the first quarter of 2026. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for…
This past week, a friend of mine gave me grief about using exchange traded funds (ETFs) for our allocation(s) to precious metals and other commodities. He argued that holding physical gold, in this instance, would provide…