Retirement Watch Weekly
New Rulings Show Importance of Checking IRA Beneficiaries
A series of recent IRS rulings shows how important it is to review carefully your IRA beneficiary designations. The rulings show that your will and other documents don’t matter. Only the beneficiary designation form on file with the IRS custodian or trustee matters to the IRS. In the rulings, an IRA owner had IRAs at […]
Weighing the Pros and Cons of IRA Conversions
Forget all you’ve heard about converting traditional IRAs into Roth IRAs. There are too many rules of thumb, shortcuts and plain misinformation floating around. Also, circumstances change. You might have evaluated the conversion option a few years ago and reached a decision. You should re-evaluate that decision regularly, because important factors might be different now. […]
IRS Announces 2017 Estate, Income Tax Adjustments
The IRS announced the inflation-indexing of many tax provisions for 2017. The lifetime estate and gift tax exemption will increase to $5,490,000 from $5,450,000 for the estates of those who pass away in 2017. That gives married couples a potential joint exemption of $10,980,000. The annual gift tax exclusion remains at $14,000 in 2017, where […]
Enhancing Your Estate Planning Legacy with a Family Love Letter
Your estate plan is part of your legacy, but your legacy should be more than financial assets, material possessions and legal documents. For more and more people, the final touch to their estate plans is what sometimes is known as an ethical will. I call it a family love letter. Others have called it a […]
5 Best Options for Meeting Estate Planning Goals Without Wills and Trusts
Many Estate Planning goals can be accomplished without wills and trusts. Using other tools can spare you some of the expense and complications of wills and trusts. These strategies also cause the assets to avoid the delay and expense of probate, transferring the title of each asset automatically to the person you intended. But these […]
Talking Investing with David Swenson of the Yale University Endowment
The longtime head of the Yale University Endowment is famous in money management circles but not so much elsewhere. In this article, The New York Times talks to him about his career, strategies for managing money, and more. In a series of extended interviews, he and more than a half-dozen of his investment-office veterans discussed […]
The Byron Wein Investment Update
The Blackstone strategist generally is bullish about the economy and U.S. stocks. In his latest monthly essay, it makes several arguments in favor of his bullish thesis. But he also writes about what worries him and what events could make his outlook wrong. My principal worry is earnings disappointment. According to Bianco Research, revenues in […]
Investments Tumble in October
I don’t know if the presidential election is affecting the stock market, but some analysts believe that’s the case. They also believe the stock market anticipates the election results. Their conclusion is that when the stock market rallies into election day, the incumbent party will win the election. When the market declines leading up to […]
