U.S. stocks experienced their worst month in September and Q3 was the first negative performing quarter since Q3 2022 due in part to the Fed’s message that interest rates will remain higher after leaving the Fed Funds rate unchanged at 5.50%. The 10-year treasury yield jumped +75 bps and higher yields caused bonds to be negative for a second consecutive quarter. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell -3.3% and -3.9%, respectively. Oil prices surged close to +30%, leading to commodities’ strongest quarter since Q1 2022. With oil prices rising, consumer prices came in hotter than the previous month at +3.7% YoY in August. The U.S. economy added 336,000 jobs in September, the first month since January to deliver over 300,000 net payrolls. Jobless claims and continuing claims are hovering around 8-month lows, and a strong labor market could push bond yields higher.

With higher rates and tight capital markets, the private equity environment, particularly in the small and mid-market, has changed dramatically in a short time. This new environment has implications both for PE investors and for business founders assessing the merits of partnering with a PE firm to fund growth. Whether this is a hurdle or an opportunity is a nuanced question, one which Pathstone’s recent webinar with Stewart Kohl, co-CEO of The Riverside Company, explored.

The academic year has begun, and with the new season it’s a logical time to reassess planning for educational expenses. Typically, 529 plan funding is handled by a parent or grandparent with the goal of simply covering the costs of each of their children or grandchildren. For those with the means and interest in doing so, however, a Dynasty 529 Plan can be used to cover qualifying expenses for extended family and across multiple generations.

This note provides a simplified overview of the Dynasty 529 concept. For extended or multigenerational families, discussions of goals, strategy, reach, and the like can be quite complex and entail considerations much deeper than financial objectives. Our goal in sharing this information is to stimulate conversations around those complexities.