Retirement Watch Weekly
Year-End Tax Planning: It Is Different This Year
This year and next could be the time to make a radical change in year-end tax planning. This year, recognizing extra income and capital gains might be the winning long-term strategy. The traditional year-end tax advice is, whenever possible, to defer income until next year or later. Another leg of the strategy is to accelerate […]
Do It Yourself or Not? How to Decide
Many Americans, especially homeowners, face this constant dilemma: Should we do it ourselves or contract it out? Today, this is a headline-grabbing issue for many businesses. They even must decide if work should be contracted locally or to some lower-wage country around the globe. Yet, before it reached the desks of top executives, almost every […]
The Overlooked Triple Tax-Saving Estate Planning Tactic
Estate planners agree that one of the most underused strategies is the charitable remainder trust. That might change. New trends are making CRTs more attractive. Taxpayers with appreciated property should take a fresh look at CRTs as part of their retirement and Estate Planning strategies. In a CRT, an individual transfers appreciated property to the […]
How to Update Old Trusts
New legal tools are available to help many families stuck with out-of-date trusts. For years I’ve warned against traditional trusts that make fixed distributions or distributions only from income. Inflation and the twenty year decline in interest rates and dividends have crippled the benefits from these trusts. Beneficiaries are helpless because the trusts are irrevocable […]
Estate Planning Strategies to Help Heirs While Protecting Wealth
Incentive trusts and protective trusts are all the rage. Many people want to be generous with succeeding generations – now or in their wills – but they want some assurance the wealth won’t be wasted. People are concerned that inheriting wealth might reduce an heir’s work ethic. They don’t want the money to disappear in […]
The Medicare Overhaul: An Update
We’re getting more details about the most significant parts of the Medicare prescription drug law that was enacted in late 2003. The two key provisions are Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and prescription discount cards. The new Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for people under age 65 were reviewed in detail in January. Recall that the accounts […]
Special Tricks for Tax Season
Most of us need to get set for an unusual tax filing year. The recent tax laws, phased-in provisions, and other factors will keep you on your toes. Prepare for amended returns. Brokerage firms asked the IRS for permission to issue their Form 1099-DIVs a month late. They have to determine which dividends qualify for […]
How Old Are You?
Your birthday isn’t always the day you get older, according to the IRS and other government agencies. You have to check closely to be sure how old you are. Most of the time your birthday is your birthday. But the Social Security Administration and some other government agencies use what is called the common law […]
