Urban legend goes that if municipalities raise taxes on the rich, the rich will just pack up their suitcases full of money and move elsewhere. And that's why they call it an urban legend. A new study published in the American Sociological Review found that most millionaires don't move from state to state to avoid big tax bills. Based on research from 45 million tax records of Americans who earned $1 million or more from 1999 to 2011, the annual migration rate of millionaires is 2.4 percent, actually lower than the 2.9 percent migration rate of the general population, according to Bankrate.com. In fact, it's the low-income tax filers who move the most at a 4.5 percent yearly rate. And while millionaires are no more likely to live in states with low or no income taxes like Texas or Florida, than high-tax states like New Jersey or California, if they do move, they are migrating to a low-tax state. The most popular destination: Florida.
Docupace Gets Capital Infusion
Docupace Technologies, which reached an agreement in April with troubled RCS Capital to repurchase its stake in the company, has raised $16.5 million in new funding from Palisades Growth Capital and TVC Capital. The capital will go towards Docupace’s long-term growth. Docupace, which provides electronic processing and document management for financial services firms, was acquired by RCAP in September 2014, giving the firm’s 11 broker/dealers access to its straight-through processing platform, ePACS, and client onboarding and document storage tools. But the firm regained its independence in April in order to continue its growth trajectory as a privately owned corporation. RCAP recently emerged from bankruptcy, renaming itself Aretec, or Cetera spelled backwards.
Wealthfront Launches College Savings Plans
As previously suspected, Wealthfront became the first independent robo advisor to offer 529 college-savings plans on Wednesday. The company announced that it would employ 20 different investment "paths" that are tailored to the risk tolerance of investors, which will automatically relocate to protect against a market downturn. Weathfront’s 529 accounts will make use of nine different exchange traded funds and will be offered for the same price as regular accounts (no fees on the first $10,000 and 0.25 percent after that), which it says is less than that majority of direct-sold 529 plans. As with other aspects of “Wealthfront 3.0,” the company says it will use artificial intelligence to provide advice on how much to save and contribute, even factoring in financial aid qualifications. According to Wealthfront vice president of strategic partnerships Ali Rosenthal said the new robo 529 plans are, “akin to getting boutique-quality product selection and informed recommendations at Amazon prices.”
