Retirement Watch Weekly
Social Security Underpays Widowed Beneficiaries
For the second time in four years and third time since 2008, the Social Security Office of the Inspector General concluded that the agency is significantly underpaying benefits to widowed beneficiaries. The latest report found that it doesn’t tell surviving spouses that they can apply for survivor’s benefits before age 70 and delay receipt of […]
Stock Market Bubbles – The Tulip Mania Revised
Most people who’ve done any reading on investing have come across the Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania of the 1630s. It often is considered to be the first financial bubble and the classic example of manias, financial delusions, and other mental mistakes. This article says that everything we’ve been told about the tulip mania is wrong. […]
The Two Questions You Need to Ask
Investors were avoiding two key questions, but now they’re paying attention. It was easy to overlook these questions for more than a year, because we were in the sweet spot of the business and market cycles. Yet, that’s the time when it’s most important to probe these questions, and we’ve been doing that. Since mid-2016, […]
Saving Your Charitable Contribution Deductions from Tax Reform
Many savvy taxpayers will change their charitable giving strategies after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. For years I’ve advised that writing checks to charities each year or more frequently is an inefficient way to donate. It’s even less efficient now. The latest tax law made several key changes that can reduce the tax benefits […]
Minimizing Taxes on Sales of Mutual Funds, Stocks
The House of Representatives’ version of the 2017 tax reform caused a panic among many tax and financial advisors, because it would have effectively increased capital gains taxes on many investors, especially retired investors. Fortunately, the change didn’t make it into the final law. Savvy investors retain some control over the amount of taxes they […]
The War on Stretch IRAs and Other Strategies Continues
Leading up to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, there were a number of proposals to eliminate strategies and benefits involving IRAs and other retirement accounts. Changes proposed included eliminating the Stretch IRA, reducing the maximum contributions to IRAs and 401(k)s, ending inflation indexing of the contribution limits and eliminating catch-up contributions for high-income individuals. […]
Good News: IRS Says 2017 IRA Conversions Can Be Reversed
The IRS recently announced that the prohibition on recharacterizations of IRA conversions doesn’t apply to conversions made in 2017. Since the first days of Roth IRAs, taxpayers have been able to convert traditional IRAs into Roth IRAs by including the converted amount in gross income and paying the taxes. Taxpayers also have been able to […]
True Investment Diversification in Detail
I’ve said many times that people believe they have diversified portfolios when they really don’t. Here’s a good explanation of what true diversification is and its benefits. It explains how diversification can result in higher long-term returns and also less risk in the portfolio, with risk being measured as the variability of returns. When we […]
