The following is a summary of the most common items relevant to the majority of American taxpayers. Complete information written in the IRS tax speak we know and love may be found here. 2015 income tax brackets STANDARD DEDUCTION: Singles and married persons filing separate returns may clam a deduction of $6,300 (up from $6,200 [...]
Life is hectic. How many times has, “I’m just really busy” been the answer you’ve received when asking a friend how they’re doing? We handle the time crunch with shortcuts. We like our apps, AAA diamonds, three out of four star movie reviews, Yelp and the like. But there are times when shortcuts are due [...]
Recently Apollo began working with a new client and in doing so gathered information about their P&L Insurance - homeowners ("HO") and auto plus special circumstances and risks like excess liability, flood, earthquake, hurricane, etc. They were understandably angry when we broached the topic as their current insurer (we'll leave the name out to protect [...]
Recently we had the pleasure of making a presentation at a local business association’s quarterly breakfast. The focus was the economy, contributing factors and the impact on small and mid-sized businesses – the owners of which comprised the bulk of the audience. Thereafter a Q&A was held with questions coming mostly from economic, investment and [...]
The Problem with Entitlement Programs Just before year-end we participated in a Q&A with Jeff Gundlach of DoubleLine Funds. In support of his investment thesis a myriad of information was provided. We carved out and reordered a few slides of interest as although they were not directly related to Mr. Gundlach’s thesis they speak to [...]
With the fervor having subsided and the rhetoric a thing of the past it’s a good time to take a look at the specific provisions of Obama’s health care legislation. Here’s a rundown: TAX REDUCTIONS: An “eligible small employer” may claim a tax credit for premiums paid toward health care coverage for its employees beginning [...]
Interest in muni bonds is heating up with marginal income tax rates set to rise in 2011 and imposition of a 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income beginning in 2013. Given their combination of favorable tax treatment, relative safety and muted volatility munis have long been a favorite investment of taxpayers in high tax brackets. [...]
The pop culture element of the financial world has dubbed these last ten years as The Lost Decade – a means of describing the roughly 10% drop in the S&P 500 during the timeframe. It’s a lament to seemingly better times like the late 90s when UselessCompany.com or anything else with the ubiquitous dot-com label [...]
Recent months have seen historical lows in interest rates. Two key factors have been a rush by investors to the safety (real or perceived) of US Treasury bonds and unprecedented intervention in financial markets by The Fed and Treasury. With rates so low it’s obvious the only place they can go is higher. Will this [...]
We live in a society that likes to measure and classify. It’s a way to make sense of things and gives us a sense of control. We learn to measure early in life as schools introduce us to grades. A-students are smarter than B-students who are smarter than C-students and so on. For some it [...]