Retirement Watch Weekly
How to Beat Higher Property Taxes
Real estate values are climbing, and local property taxes are soaring with them. If the real estate tax rate stays the same and your home appreciates, your real estate tax bill rises at the same rate as the appreciation. In my recent trip to Naples, Fla., I learned that the prices of most residences there […]
How to Maximize Retirement Community Deductions
A portion of long-term care expenses are deductible as medical expenses. The question taxpayers often ask is what portion of the fees paid to retiree communities, such as assisted living facilities or nursing homes, can be deducted. The Tax Court recently stepped into this issue and set some new rules. When someone enters a nursing […]
The Growing Trap of Alternative Minimum Tax
This is the transition year. For many Americans it will be a transition to higher income taxes. Beginning in 2004, millions more Americans will get snared in the alternative minimum tax (AMT). They will pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars more in taxes than they imagined possible. They will lose the benefit of tax […]
New Tax Break for Annuities
The IRS in a recent ruling handed a break to annuity owners who are under age 59 1/2 and need cash. The ruling allows these annuity owners to restructure payments they receive from the annuities. Until the ruling, annuity owners had only one opportunity to determine the payment stream to take before age 59 1/2. […]
Developing the Complete Estate Planning Strategy
A will plus a trust or two simply do not make a complete estate plan. Most estate plans are woefully incomplete. Heirs and loved ones often suffer as a consequence. A complete estate plan does more than decide how your assets will be divided and how taxes will be reduced. A full estate plan meets […]
The New Private Medicare Plans
The sales pitches are back, enticing seniors to join HMOs and other private health plans. Congress has changed the law again, this time to encourage firms to offer these alternative plans to regular Medicare. In 1997 Congress reduced reimbursements to Medicare HMOs and other private Medicare plans. As a result, many HMOs stopped participating and […]
New Rules of Homeowners’ Insurance
Homeowner’s insurance no longer is a modest expense to be taken for granted. Without monitoring and management, premiums will climb and coverage could be lost. About 2.5 million homeowners lost coverage or had substantial premium increases in the past two years, according to a survey. Reasons for the change are legion. Insurers suffered big investment […]
Warnings from the Bond and Commodity Markets
Strange things have been happening in the bond market. These actions should be a big caution sign for investors, especially income investors. In 2003 we warned that interest rates were too low and likely to rise. The great bond bull market seemed over. It looked like prescient advice, especially after interest rates spiked in the […]
