Debra Luf is Vice President Treasury of Mesirow Alternative Credit  Prior to joining Mesirow Debra served as Vice President of Treasury for Bastion Management where her responsibilities included treasury and fund accounting functions Bastion joined Mesirow in December 2024 Before joining Bastion Debra was Chief Compliance Officer at SSARIS Advisors Prior to SSARIS Debra was Senior Vice President…

December ended the year on solid footing for food beverage and agribusiness M&A with momentum expected to carry into 2025 While Decembers number of announced deals was flat year-over-year the full year finished on a high note with total activity up more than 15% from 2023 levels  Looking ahead 2025 is expected to see a continued focus on strategic add-ons  (and divestitures by public…

Designing robust models for FX trade sizing and currency positioning , Using historical spot FX rates from 30 currency pairs dating back 16 years Mesirow Currency’s neural network models address the challenges that traditional machine learning techniques can face when trying to model financial time series Brief overview of classic machine learning pipelines Traditional machine learning pipelines usually consist of four separate steps , 1 Pre-processing,   |  Data is mapped from a noisy irregular and sometimes high dimensional space onto a cleaner more regular and lower dimensional space , 2 Handcraft feature extraction,    |  Distinctive features (represented as vectors or tensors are manually formulated and engineered from the input data These features should be consistent robust and preserve information while simultaneously removing redundancy , 3 Post-processing,   |  The features which together form a feature space are sometimes post-processed to achieve further dimensionality reduction or expansion , 4 Classification,   |  The result of the first three steps is then given to a classification/regression algorithm Input is mapped onto a discrete domain (class labels and hyper-planes split the feature space into different regions each belonging to different classes  Read more ​The information contained herein is intended for institutional clients Qualified Eligible Persons Eligible Contract Participants and…

By Gary Pattengale CFP, ®, For high-earning executives and key employees traditional 401(k plans often fall short of meeting long-term financial goals Strict IRS contribution limits restrict how much you can save in a tax-advantaged way, That’s where deferred compensation plans come in These offer a powerful way to contribute significantly more than a 401(k reduce current tax liability and enhance retirement income, What is it, Deferred compensation is a supplemental retirement plan typically offered to high-earning executives and key employees It allows you to postpone receiving a portion of your salary or bonus until a future date — usually retirement This strategy can reduce your current tax bill while helping you build wealth on a tax-deferred basis, How it works, Deferred compensation plans are in many ways similar to traditional 401(k plans Contributions are made on a pre-tax basis Investments grow tax deferred Distributions are taxed as ordinary income Some plans may offer employer matching contributions, Key differences, However there are important distinctions, No contribution limits, Nonqualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC plans are not subject to IRS contribution caps, Payroll taxes still apply, You’ll still owe Social Security and Medicare taxes on deferred income, Lack of ERISA protection, These plans are not protected under ERISA making them unsecured liabilities of the employer, No IRA rollovers, You typically cannot roll over NQDC assets into an IRA to continue tax deferral if you leave your employer, Election  timing, You must elect your deferral amount and payout schedule — usually in the calendar year prior to when the compensation is earned Once made these elections are often irrevocable or very difficult to change, Risks to consider, Creditor risk, Because NQDC plans are unsecured your deferred funds could be at risk if your employer becomes insolvent, Liquidity risk, Ensure you have sufficient liquidity to meet your financial needs while deferring income, Investment risk, Poor investment choices can offset the tax advantages of deferral, Limited portability, If you leave your job you generally cannot transfer these funds to an IRA, Who should consider it, Deferred compensation plans may be a good fit for Executives who have maxed out their 401(k and want to save more Individuals expecting to be in a lower tax bracket during retirement Employees with long-term plans to stay with their employer and confidence in the company’s financial stability As you can see there are many complexities Your dedicated Mesirow Wealth Advisor can help you navigate…

Many of our clients own business assets or personal property that have appreciated in value and struggle with ways to sell these assets without triggering immediate capital gains taxes The good news is there is a way to defer these taxes by using a 1031 Exchange, If you’ve ever owned real estate for business purposes or physical property as an investment you’re probably well aware that these assets can leave you susceptible to large capital gains taxes as they appreciate in value  Perhaps you own an apartment building and rent out the units for additional income or maybe you own a plot of farm land  Whenever you sell these items like any taxable…, How a 1031 Exchange works, As an example if you had purchased a rental property for $300000 ten years ago and today it is worth $500000 you would be responsible for $200000 in capital gains taxes if you sold it outright  However if you instead sold the property and purchased another for rental purposes within 180 days of the original sale the IRS would allow you to delay paying capital gains taxes on the $200000…, Assets that don’t qualify , It’s also worth pointing out what assets are not afforded this treatment Personal use assets (such as a primary home or an automobile inventory securities (stocks and bonds an exchange of foreign real estate for domestic real estate and partnership interests are just a few that don’t qualify  Alternatively the IRS has a fairly loose interpretation of what represents a “Like-Kind” property …, Published February 2025, Mesirow does not provide tax advice Our Wealth Advisors will work with a clients tax or other professionals , 1  https//wwwirsgov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/like-kind-exchanges-real-estate-tax-tips Additional source Kaplan University – CFP Exam Curriculum 2016 Course 104 Unit 8 Pages 133-136

Denice Nard is a Managing Director and Supervisory Principal in Mesirow Wealth Management an SEC-Registered Investment Advisor (RIA firm As Managing Director and Supervisory Principal she implements and oversees the firm’s supervisory program and all supervision activities across the division Working closely with the Wealth Management leadership team legal and compliance she works to ensure…

Dermot Keegan is a Senior Managing Director for Mesirows Global Investment Management Distribution team  and is based in London He leads the team responsible for marketing and distribution of all of Mesirow’s investment capabilities to institutional investors and investment consultants across Europe the Middle East and Africa Preceding this role Dermot was Head of the Europe Middle East and…