Retirement Watch Weekly
How Long-Term Care Insurance Can Reduce Risk
Most people evaluate long-term care insurance the wrong way. Sales approaches also often stress the wrong factors. LTCI should be analyzed in much the same way we analyze investment opportunities. Fear often is the focus of LTCI discussions. Scary statistics are used to try to convince consumers that they need the policies to protect them […]
Tax Reduction Opportunities for 2006
There still is time to make some valuable year-end tax planning moves, and this year there are some special opportunities to reduce tax payments. The Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT snares more taxpayers each year, taking away tax benefits and pushing up tax bills. Basically, we have two tax systems, the regular tax and the […]
Wealth Replacement Strategies with Trusts
As we discussed in the legacy planning segment, grandparents and parents usually have multiple goals, and it can take some thought to put together a plan that tries to meet all or most of those goals. One tool that can add a lot to a plan is the wealth replacement trust. That is a clever […]
Planning Your Retirement: What’s Really Important?
Most people do their retirement planning backwards. They are guided that way by conventional advice and advisors. Retirement is more fulfilling and the planning is easier if the steps taken are a little different than those in the conventional planning process. The traditional retirement plan begins with money. The first step or series of steps […]
How Simple Estate Planning Can Avoid Family Dramas
A family drama has been playing out in the pages of major New York newspapers. The stories revolved around 104-year-old Brooke Astor, an heir of perhaps the first “richest man in America,” John Jacob Astor. The story became public when her grandson sought to have his father removed as caregiver and guardian, claiming that his […]
Part D Medicare Prescription Drug Plan: Changes and Updates
We are rolling into the second year of the Part D Medicare Prescription Drug Plan. Beneficiaries can switch plans during the enrollment period from Nov. 15 through Dec. 31. If new coverage is selected, it begins Jan. 1. With one year of experience behind them, insurers are changing their plans, and most of the changes […]
Housing Bubble Revisited
The headlines about housing certainly changed over the last year. Talk of unending years of double digit appreciation have been replaced by stories of unsold homes, sharp price declines, and forecasts of how long and how steep the decline might be. Throughout the housing boom we maintained that there was not a national housing bubble. […]
Who Falls for Frauds? A Surprising Answer
You might be more susceptible to investment and financial fraud than you think. New research found that the most likely fraud victims do not match the stereotype of a befuddled, uninformed senior living alone. The NASD Investor Education Foundation sponsored a study to determine who among senior citizens is likely to become a fraud victim, […]
