These crucial years call for action. Today, retirement may seem nearer to you than it once did. The following moves might be worth making—and soon. Catch-up contributions to your retirement accounts. Starting in the year you turn 50, you may make a total of $1,000 in catch-up contributions to your IRAs each year and put an extra $6,000 per year …
A Look at the Gift Tax Exemption
How much can you gift in a year, and a lifetime? Federal tax rules allow you to give away millions of dollars during your lifetime. You can make five-figure gifts of money or property to other individuals in any given year. These gifts may be made without tax consequences … as long as they fall within the IRS annual and …
Do You Consider Taxes as You Invest?
A few astute moves could help promote a better after-tax return. As you weigh risk vs. return, you may risk taking an eye off taxes. A focus on tax efficiency could help you improve the effective yield of your portfolio. You can try to cut or delay taxes linked to investing. Consider placing the most tax-efficient investments you have in …
How Inflation Threatens Retirees
Its effect is subtle, yet significant. Even mild inflation eventually reduces the value of a dollar. If consumer prices rise just 2% a year for the next 25 years, $50,000 will buy the equivalent of $30,477 by the end of 2041. Or to put it another way, a car that costs $50,000 today will cost $82,030 by then. If inflation …
What is the Opportunity Cost of Achieving a Goal?
With the stock market hitting all-time highs on a what seems like a daily basis, now is the time to review heavily appreciated and concentrated stock holdings. What is intent of the investment that you are holding? Is there a particular goal in mind? No one knows what the value of the investment will be when you want to achieve …
Service Specialist or Advisor?
With the Department of Labor’s proposed changes, a lot of firms have changed the way that they do business. This is, in theory, is a good thing, as financial advisors now must act in a Fiduciary capacity. In other words, they should put the client’s interests before their own. Ironically, there has been an unintended consequence for some: the lack …
What are you crossing off your bucket list?
A river cruise in Europe. RVing the lower 48 states. Scuba diving in Bali. Spending the night on the ice in Antarctica. Yes, that Antarctica. I have a client did it. It was something that she always wanted to do. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? Can you visualize what it would look …
More Women Drive Financial Decision Making, But Fewer Seek Professional Advice
By default, single women have always taken responsibility for managing household wealth, but the latest in a series of ongoing studies into the attitudes and actions of women around financial topics found that an ever-increasing percentage of married women are taking charge of financial and retirement planning for their families. Prudential’s “Financial Experience & Behaviors Among Women 2014-2015” — which …
Women, Wealth, and Legacy Planning
Whether nurturing the values of children, fulfilling charitable goals, or making investment decisions that affect their own as well as their beneficiaries’ financial security, women play a central role in establishing and preserving family wealth. Consider these statistics:1 Women now control more than half of the investment wealth in the United States. 48% of estates worth more than $5 …
Disability Insurance VS Long-Term Care Insurance?
Disability insurance addresses lost wages that stem from an inability to work. Long-term care insurance, in contrast, addresses expenses associated with medical care provided to you in your home, a nursing home, a rehabilitation center, or an assisted living facility. Disability insurance policies may address either short-term or long-term needs for income. Short-term disability policies provide coverage on a temporary …