Don’t hit the panic button; I’m not predicting a recession this month/summer/year/decade. I don’t know when the next recession will be any more than the talking heads on TV (trust me, they don’t know either). But, as the scouts say, it’s always good to be prepared. Prepared for a recession means different things at different…
Yay, inflation! No, really. Thanks to high inflation, interest rates have gone up (sorry borrowers) so that people who want to keep a stash of safe money and actually earn interest on it may do so. Money markets at 4%? CDs at 5%? I can barely remember the last time safe money sounded this good.…
Except that you do. First off, what is cost basis? The term refers to what it cost you to buy something. Plus improvements (in the case of real assets.) For example, if you bought Amazon stock at $50/share, $50/share is your cost basis. If you bought a house for $150,000 and put $50,000 of improvements…
Those of you small business owners will be familiar with the idea of quarterly estimated tax payments. The idea is that the IRS does not want to wait until April 15th to get all of their tax revenue from you. They want some all during the year. For people who are paid on a W2…
Super-fast blog today! If you are looking to generate regular payments out of your portfolio and find yourself in a quandary of what securities to sell, try this: Turn off the dividend/interest reinvestment feature in your mutual funds. Those distributions will go to cash and can build up your liquid position without selling shares. Caution: …
I think of creating retirement income plan in terms of funnels and buckets. The funnel is the decision-making process. The buckets are where your various accounts are placed and invested for income. First, the funnel. Start wide at the top with the overall retirement projection. This informs how much you can safely spend in…
This week I’m thrilled to share the expertise about life insurance of Ladicia Grosch, COO and Principal of Bridge Life, LLC. Ladicia partnered in creating Bridge Life in 2012. She has worked in the wealth transfer and life insurance industry for over eighteen years. Ladicia oversees company operations including compliance, human resources, financials, technology, and…
For those of you reading this to learn more about the Queen of Soul, Irma Thomas, get used to disappointment. If, however, you are hoping for a riveting read about Medicare premiums, you are in luck! IRMAA stands for Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount. It is the calculation that has people with higher means paying more…
…in the first year? That is a question. Not THE question – surely there are more important questions in life. But, with the new SECURE Act 2.0 moving the Required Minimum Distribution start date out yet another year, that old question may pop up again. To recap, the rule has always been that in the…
As the parent or grandparent of young children, you might be thinking about the best way to save for college. 529 plans, introduced in the 1990s, are a great way to shelter investment for college from taxes. BUT, as with all things there are drawbacks. One worry clients routinely express is, what if they overfund…
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