By Don Deans, Deans Consulting LLC

Omnibus Spending Highlights – Plan NOW for 2016!

My first update for 2016 will be my final one focused on the end of year Omnibus spending bill. My conclusion after a more thorough review is that this year more than prior years it is imperative to plan at the start of the year how best to take advantage of changes in 2016.

In addition to the big changes in Section 179 and IRA Charitable Rollover that will be just as important this year as they were for those who acted before the end of 2015, here are key provisions to plan for now:

Solar and Wind

First, there is more certainty, such as with the Solar and Wind credits moving from a yearly question mark. Solar now has a clear path with the 30% residential solar credit extended through 2019 and then phased out until it expires in 2022. As a Bloomberg article in December said in the article title “What Just Happened in Solar Is a Bigger Deal Than Oil Exports”, this is a BIG deal!

It seems like every year we have more and more Wall Street analysts coming out with ridiculously optimistic projections for the year even though worrying signs are staring them in the face.  2015 was no different, however the markets did not deliver those rallies.  So what is a Wall St. analyst to do?  Scratch out 2015 and put 2016 on that list, at least that is what quite a few did.

Northman Trader put together a great summary image of Wall St projections for 2015 and 2016.

Northman Trader

Even though global economic growth was slowing, earnings estimates were being revised down and inflation was nowhere to be found, S&P projections largely remained constant.  The one analyst that was pretty right was Nuveen’s Bob Doll who expected a fairly volatile year.