The #1 Question of 2015
Every year a hot topic surfaces in the world of personal finance. In 2015, “How do I protect my identity?” has been at the top of the list. The answer normally involves paying for a monthly service to monitor credit…
Children Fighting Over Estates
No parent dreams of their family being torn apart when their estate is settled. Rather, they hope the passing of life is a time of solace and family unity providing comfort after the loss of a parent. In recognizing that the…
Annuity Advertising; Misleading at Best
During the past five years the #1 question I am hearing from clients and prospective clients relates to an annuity commercial most of us have seen or heard. The annuity promises a bonus up-front of 6-8% on your initial investment…
Want to manage your tax rate in retirement… Start while you’re saving!
While it’s hard to say what the tax laws will be in 30 or 40 years, it is likely that distributions from different types of retirement accounts will still receive special tax treatment. In addition to ensuring the investments in…
The Greatest Gift to Your Children
Most parents want to give their children gifts, but what gift would you consider to be the greatest gift? Ideas like cash, a new car, a big family trip, or a really cool shared experience (like skydiving) might come to…
The IRS Will Not Call You…
I began contemplating this article after two of my tax clients (both widows) called me to ask if they should reply to messages on their answering machines that they owed the IRS taxes. Two more clients, both married couples, received…
What’s a Digital Estate?
If you are not a lawyer or financial planner and haven’t heard of the term “Digital Estate”, you’re not alone. This new buzz term has been causing a great deal of confusion lately, even for those in the industry because…
To Extend or not to Extend
By Bob Boehner It seems every year most people want to have their taxes filed by April 15th and nobody wants to file an automatic, no questions asked, extension till October 15th. I wonder, do you feel you are doing…
I Love to Save You Taxes
As a Comprehensive Financial Advisor, among my services are risk management, investments, estate planning, retirement planning, cash flow management, debt analysis and tax planning. The one that energizes me the most is reducing your tax obligations through perfectly legitimate tax…
Roth IRA Conversions – When Should I Convert?
By Sue Slowinski Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) come in two varieties—the traditional IRA and the Roth IRA. The traditional IRA allows you the opportunity to claim a tax deduction on your income tax return for contributions made into the IRA,…