Many financial decisions are made in an uncertain environment. For example, people evaluate whether the expected benefits of saving for a rainy day may or may not outweigh the cost of reducing consumption today.

Borrowers struggling to repay loans compare the potential benefits of avoiding default, such as preserving a good credit score, to the costs of reducing spending today or getting a second job to avoid defaulting on their debt. Many middle-aged people evaluate whether insuring their long-term care is worthwhile at the expense of the insurance premiums each month.

In all these choices, people consider a trade-off involving an action that is costly today and has an uncertain effect on how future outcomes might look. Therefore, people's subjective perception of this trade-off is likely to influence their decisions.

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Gold is glittering. Recently, the spot price was around $2,403 an ounce, up about 21% in the past 12 months. Some buyers are snapping up gold bars and coins, while others are investing in funds holding bullion.

For many reasons, today’s gold buyers could become tomorrow’s sellers, and—as this column often warns—the time to learn about taxes on an investment is before buying, not after. Being aware of the tax rules on gold sales could help avoid costly mistakes.

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With tax season coming to an end, this is a good time to dust off your tax planning strategies and create an action plan for the year. Indeed, we have said many times that tax planning should be a year-round sport, and not consigned to December or the fourth quarter. In addition, many clients may be sharing their tax returns with you upon completion, so providing feedback and leveraging tax planning ideas is also appropriate. With that in mind, let’s review six key tax planning strategies for every investor.

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Nearly 200 U.S.-listed companies stopped paying a dividend in 2020, but most have restored them. Four years later, almost 50 are holding off as inflation and higher interest rates slow their path to full recovery. 

Call them the dividend holdouts. Companies including Boeing and Carnival, for example, have placed other financial priorities ahead of reviving their dividend, such as reducing leverage, addressing production problems, and making capital investments.

In 2020, 187 companies suspended or canceled their dividend to preserve cash as the COVID-19 pandemic pressured their balance sheets, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, a data provider. Thirty-nine restored their dividend that same year, followed by 53 in 2021 and 31 in 2022. That pace has since slowed, with nine companies, including Disney, Delta Air Lines, and Hyatt Hotels, reviving the investor payouts in 2023 and so far one, commercial printer Quad/Graphics, this year.

That leaves 47 companies, or roughly a quarter, that haven’t revived their dividend, with seven other companies delisting in recent years. These holdouts include some of America’s largest listed companies—American Airlines Group, Aptiv, Boeing, Carnival, Expedia Group, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Western Digital—which are all in the S&P 500. Household names like Abercrombie & Fitch and Dave & Buster’s also haven’t brought back their dividend.

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