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Tax Reform and Your Bottom Line, Part 1: Bunching Deductions
In 2017, Congress signed a tax reform bill called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This new law offers significant changes to taxes as we’ve known them, but these changes are only effective for a finite period of time (2018 –...
Read MoreTax Reform and Your Bottom Line, Part 2: Cashing in Those Appreciated Assets
Part 1 of our Tax Reform article series discussed how to bunch deductions to get the most from your Schedule A Itemized Deductions considering the changes to the standard deduction and Schedule A deduction limitations imposed by the...
Read MoreTax Reform and Your Bottom Line, Part 3: Roth Conversions
Part 1 of our Tax Reform article series discussed how to bunch deductions to get the most from your Schedule A Itemized Deductions in light of the changes to the standard deduction and Schedule A deduction limitations imposed by the...
Read MoreWomen: Now is the time!
As a daughter, sister, wife, mother and aunt, I, like many of you, fill many roles as a woman. While there have been significant improvements to the gender gap in the workplace, statistics show that women are still at risk of not...
Read MoreMeet Kate.
“What? You’re retiring?” Name: Kate Age: 54 Profession: Newspaper columnist Status: Working part-time Receiving the sudden news from an employer that you are going to be let go for early retirement is difficult for...
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What Happens When Your Minor Child Receives an Inheritance
Your parents love your children, their grandchildren. They want their grandchildren to remember them after they are gone. And they may want to help reduce some future financial burden for you. In a lightbulb moment, grandma and grandpa...
Read MoreWhat’s in a Name?
I have a few people in my family that call me Lars…although my given name is Lori. It’s an endearing nickname I’ve grown to love. Love is a funny thing. We may show our love to those around us in traditional...
Read MoreHow Much Money Do You Really Need to Retire?
Retirement is in your future … somewhere, out there. Commercials tout “knowing your number”. What number are they talking about? “Your number” is the amount of money you need to have in investments and...
Read MoreThe Health Savings Account: A Triple Threat
We are all familiar with the term “triple threat”. It most often refers to an athlete or performer who excels in three areas. For example, a performer would be considered a triple threat if they could sing, dance and act....
Read MoreDo Your Muscles Hurt?
Recently, I was talking to a friend and she mentioned she had joined an exercise boot camp that had just opened up nearby. She invited me to join her for a free class…after all, I had nothing to lose. In the subsequent days, I...
Read More5 Common Misconceptions that Could Affect Your Retirement
As investors, we hope to find ourselves making good decisions the majority of the time. However, we may sometimes make bad financial decisions based on what we believe to be true. Just because you read it online or hear it from a...
Read MoreRMDs in the year 2020
If you are retired and older than age 70 ½, you should be familiar with Required Minimum Distributions, simply called RMDs. In late 2019, Congress passed the SECURE Act which resulted in new RMD rules that went into effect on...
Read MoreThe Secure Act – IRA & 401(k) Changes You Need to Know About
At the very end of December 2019 Congress, with bipartisan support, signed into law the SECURE Act (The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019). The SECURE Act represents the most significant changes to...
Read MoreBuy Low, Sell High
We’ve heard it before. The age-old adage for investment success is to Buy Low and Sell High. Warren Buffet says it this way, “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” On an intellectual...
Read More6 Social Security Traps to Avoid
Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, received the first monthly Social Security check on January 31, 1940. She received $22.54, according to the Social Security Administration. She was 65 years old at the time. She received benefits...
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