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 [...]
Beginning January 2015 an employee will be able to contribute up to $18,000 pre-tax into his or her 401(k). This article details the change plus provides additional information regarding COLA adjustments to IRAs, etc.
If you have a 401(k) chances are you own something from American Funds – a 33 fund lineup managed by Capital Research and Management (“CRM”). They may not be a household name like Fidelity or Vanguard but make no mistake – they’re a behemoth at about $1.25 trillion under management. Historically CRM has been happy [...]
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 [...]
Last week the IRS released guidance indicating distributions of after-tax dollars contributed to retirement plans could be converted free of taxes to a Roth IRA effective January 1, 2015. Additional information may be found here.
If you’re a believer in efficient markets and that “good performance” means exceeding an arbitrary benchmark (such as the S&P 500) then you’re done reading. Please step outside. If however you believe that price doesn’t indicate value then read on. As we’ve written about numerous times price is not an indicator of usefulness or utility. [...]
“You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured – so hopelessly dependent on the system – that they will fight to protect it.” Sound familiar? That’s Morpheus explaining The Matrix to Neo in the 1999 film of the same name. But could [...]
For the week ended August 6th (fund flows are often reported with a bit of a lag) the high-yield (or “junk”) bond market saw net outflows of $6.5 billion bringing to a close a four week stretch of net redemptions totaling $12.5 billion. The cause?...likely the pick up in chatter over recent months about “froth” [...]
According to a recent Wells Fargo/Gallup poll when asked if the S&P 500 index increased about 10%, 20% or 30% in 2013 only 11% of adults with at least $10,000 in savings and investments got it right. (The answer is almost 30% rising to 32% with the inclusion of reinvested dividends). This is despite the [...]
A longevity annuity is a deferred income vehicle with payouts beginning at an advanced age and continuing throughout an individual's life. This tool while nominally attractive at best makes sense in limited circumstances and at worst should be avoided by everyone saving for retirement. Much like Twitter has had it easy for any halfwit to [...]