Taxpayers may be on the hook for a ‘bailout’ larger (and less profitable) than the banks. Default on student loans is on the rise and now ‘misled’ students are demanding relief. Who will pick up the tab? You and I – the American taxpayer. Of course this has me thinking of others who have been [...]
Some rather provocative words from Barry Ritholtz: 3 simple rules will explain 99% of human behavior 1) Most people don’t think. 2) Some people are jerks. 3) Everyone is selling something. — Barry Ritholtz (@ritholtz) June 15, 2015 Point #3 reminds me of the sentiment, ‘everyone has an agenda.’ I fought this for the longest [...]
Effective July 9th the IRS amended §401(a)(9) of the Internal Revenue Code. Notice 2015-49 guides that qualified defined benefit plans will generally not be permitted to replace any joint and survivor (“J&S”), single life (“SLA”) or other annuity in current payment status with a lump-sum or other accelerated payment form.
Apollo Wealth Management partnered with a handful of firms to provide “matching funds” for donations made to The Linda Fund at Tabby’s Place. Together we helped raise $143,000. Wow! Double wow! For the NJ.com story about The Linda Fund: http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2015/07/tabbys_place_in_ringoes_thanks_linda_fund_donors.html For more information about Tabby’s: http://www.tabbysplace.org/ For more information about Apollo: http://apollowealth.com/
There’s a fantastic exchange between President Andrew Shepherd and his aide Lewis Rothschild from 1995’s The American President written by Aaron Sorkin: Lewis Rothschild: “People want leadership…and in the absence of genuine leadership they’ll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone...They’re so thirsty for it they’ll crawl through the desert toward a mirage [...]
As investors clamor for indexing and other forms of passive investment they don't seem to appreciate the hidden costs. One estimate has it at 3x the annual operating expenses of the fund. As always...caveat emptor.
Sex sells. This isn't a surprise. But while we're titillated (how's that for a delicious pun?) by financial porn the feeling is fleeting. The results are disastrous. Just how bad is it? Kudos to Jimmy Atkinson at Fund Reference for putting together this plain language comparison (with pretty charts for the USA Today crowd) for [...]
While Greece dominates the headlines it’s more commentary on sentiment than material threat to the financial system. Why? – 80% of Greece’s debts are owned by the European Central bank and the International Monetary Fund. When you’re a quasi-governmental organization you can absorb lots of body blows. Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory dealing with its [...]
Hey IRS, you want a fight? Bring it on! A recent IRS decision limits individuals to one IRA rollover a year in hopes of avoiding exploitation of a loophole allowing the use of retirement accounts as short-term, tax-free loans The strategy was simple. Withdraw money from an IRA and use it to cover short-term cash [...]
The Internal Revenue Service has added some types of grantor trusts to the list of areas in which it does not plan to issue letter rulings or determination letters. Detail may be found here.