William Blair Thinking
Our library of white papers, market updates, podcasts, and other resources is designed to provide you with actionable intelligence for emerging opportunities.
Our Latest Insights
Your Estate Plan – Capture the Golden Opportunity Before It Sunsets
Absent further legislation, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will sunset on January 1, 2026, reverting to 2017 levels, adjusted for inflation, or approximately $7M per taxpayer. As a result, wealthy individuals and families will be subject to significantly more federal estate tax in 2026 than they are today.
Read more
Quick Reference Guide to Retirement Plans
Understanding the nuances between retirement plans can be challenging. William Blair’s Quick Reference Guide to Retirement Plans compares and contrasts features such as account establishment, account contributions, and accessibility.
Read more
CMMC 2.0 Set to Materially Expand Cyber and Regulatory Compliance Market
The 220,000+ companies that contract with the Department of Defense will soon face a significantly expanded regulatory framework—known as CMMC 2.0—designed to thwart increased cyber threats and secure the defense industrial base.
Read more
Life After Employee Benefits
In addition to retirement considerations, any employee preparing to leave a job should plan for life after employee benefits.
Read more
AviationPros Podcast: Addressing Trends and Concerns in the FBO Industry
Josh Ollek, managing director of William Blair’s Aerospace, Defense, and Government Services team, recently joined the AviationPros Podcast. Ollek discussed how high demand for private aviation—spurred by persistent delays and cancellations on commercial flights—has created a hangar shortage across the country. He also outlined electrification trends in private travel and among fixed-base operators.
Listen to the podcast
On the Ground and in the Cloud: Observability and AIOps
William Blair tech analyst Jake Roberge joins the show to discuss the observability and AIOps software markets, including the increasingly important role these platforms are playing for businesses of all sizes, why they are gaining momentum over legacy monitoring tools, and some of the key trends he’s seeing in the market.
Listen to the podcast
What Gold, Copper, and Treasurys Are Telling Us About Growth and Inflation
Gold and U.S. Treasuries have historically had a negative correlation. Recently, however, yields are rising and gold continues to reach new highs. Macro analyst Richard de Chazal provides a deep examination of these dynamics and offers his views on the reasons, along with potential implications for investors.
Read more
The Unique Challenges of Pre-Liquidity Planning in 2024 (and 2025)
Pre-liquidity planning in 2024 will be anything but dull. Find out what business owners on the cusp of a liquidity event should know—and how they should prepare.
Read more
The Quarterly Rx: Q1 2024 U.S. Biopharma Recap
Biopharma’s rebound came into full effect in Q1 2024. In this report, William Blair's biopharma team shares its perspectives on the biopharma environment in Q1 2024 and what to expect for the remainder of the year.
Read more
Making Sure America Gets Bang for Its Infrastructure Buck
The country’s electrical, water, telecom, and transit systems are facing years of catch-up repair and maintenance needs—and not even a massive infusion of federal dollars can address all of them.
Read more
Three Issues in Zambia
Dan Wood speaks to us from Zambia, where restructuring, mining, and currency appreciation are top of mind for emerging markets debt investors.
Watch the video
Is Angola Ready to Re-engage with the IMF?
Dan Wood speaks to us from Angola, where he seeks to determine if the country is ready to engage with the IMF and whether oil production and privatization will pick up.
Watch the video
Monthly Macro with Richard de Chazal—March 2024
In this episode, Richard discusses the latest in macroeconomic news for March, including the latest FOMC dot plot, stubborn inflation, stock markets, and the real estate pain being felt by banks.
Listen to the podcast
Is This Another Market Bubble?
Are we facing a stock market bubble? In some ways, the acute rise in select stocks could suggest we are. However, as macro analyst Richard de Chazal examines, many of the valuation metrics of companies driving these gains have so far delivered on these expectations, relative the late 1990s, when it was mostly all narrative and no numbers.
Read moreDelivered to Your Inbox
Stay up-to-date with the latest William Blair news and insights