Many ‘experts’ advise waiting until age 70 to claim Social Security benefits. The reasoning is sound on its face – the longer you wait the larger your monthly check. According to the SS Administration the following is how much of your full benefit you will receive depending upon the age you file: age 62 - [...]
First the good news... The recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 includes a subsection that eliminates the state residency requirement for Achieving a Better Life Experience (“ABLE”) accounts. ABLEs are tax-free accounts (similar to §529 qualified tuition plans) that allow individuals who become disabled before reaching the age of 26 to pay for certain [...]
“If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.” -Sun Tzu The humorously sad side of being in the wealth management business is having listened through the years to the people who want to ignore solid advice and strategies in favor of blindly following the fakakta theories of [...]
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 became public law on Dec 18th. Included therein is the establishment of Qualified Charitable Distributions (“QCDs”) from IRAs as permanent. Previously the QCD provision expired annually and required extension via temporary legislation. What is a QCD? QCDs are direct transfers from an IRA to a qualified charity totaling up [...]
The IRS has issued the 2016 optional standard mileage rates for calculating the deductible costs of operating an automobile. Taxpayers always have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates. Effective Jan 1st the standard rates for a car, van, pickup truck or panel truck [...]
Under new Federal guidelines borrowers with a loan closing date on or after Jan 1st will be required to escrow funds with their mortgage lender or servicer to cover flood insurance premiums and fees if the property is located in a Special Flood Hazard Area in a community participating in the National Flood Insurance Program. [...]
No, we don’t mean this Myra or this Myra. We mean this myRA courtesy of our friends at Treasury. We, um, “sat down with myRA” to get to know her. Let’s see what she’s all about: Apollo: When were you born? myRA: President Obama mentioned me in his 2014 State of the Union address. Apollo: [...]
In an attempt to close a ‘loophole’ they claim is exploited by ‘evil one-percenters’ Congress has done away with a very useful planning strategy – File and Suspend. File and Suspend allows spouse #1 to file for and immediately suspend receipt of benefits until a future date up to age 70. This allows spouse #2 [...]
Last week the IRS told us what’s new in 2016. While some items remain unchanged there are interesting developments with 401(k) contribution limits, income tax brackets and deductions, IRA contributions, the estate tax credit, AGI phase outs and more. More than 50 tax-related items were addressed. A partial summary and some of the more interesting [...]
We’re strongly considering adding a new category for blog posts dedicated to the wonderfully naïve Milhouse Van Houten. The goal?...expose the frauds who try to buy us with the BS they sell. You know these folks. People like him and her. Read about it here and here. Here’s an exchange between Milhouse and Bart from [...]