Should you fire up the gas powered shredder or not? There tends to be a serious amount of confusion when it comes to the plethora of paper records required to substantiate the information Americans use for their tax returns. Record-keeping requirements have been growing, as evidenced by the recently expanded requirements for receipts supporting charitable […]
I know its June, but for small business owners the April 15th We often encounter many small business owners that carry the misconception that 401(k)’s are only for larger corporations and are unaffordable or they don’t have enough employees to be eligible. Fortunately, businesses as small as one person can open up affordable 401(k) plans, […]
John Donofrio is our resident expert on all things tax. His column Tales From the Crypt makes a regular appearance in the Personal CFO. This month our Crypt keeper, needed to blow off some steam. Here is another example of how frustrating my business is. Like clockwork, I was doing my post-morning workout homework (WSJ, […]
A popular method for unscrupulous brokers and advisors to generate revenue to make those quotas and to keep their sales managers happy is churning. Churning is when in a broker excessively trades an account to generate commissions. Currently fraud charges are being brought against firms that are levying excessive fees in wrap accounts. This past […]
I have to admit that I am pretty hard on insurance agents. I often compare them to the infamous “Needle-Nose Ned Ryerson” from the film Groundhog Day; and with good reason. Of the countless stories of investment fraud that crosses my desk each and every week, the overwhelming majority of them are perpetrated by dishonest […]
While watching the single biggest trash talking moment in movie history, “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!” I had an epiphany. After years of covering Wall Street scandals with little to know repercussions from the offenders; I transposed that entire Milkshake drinking attitude portrayed in an Oscar winning performance by Daniel Day Lewis to Wall Street. In […]
It is time once again for another episode of Wall Street’s version of Extreme Makeover! Just like clockwork, after a major scandal, rip-off, scam, or financial calamity, the big investment houses and banks call upon the mystics of Madison Avenue advertising firms to make them soft, cuddly, and brilliant once again. Some of the latest […]
Faster than rising entitlements. More powerful and complex then the tax code. Able to defy economic gravity with a single bound. Look! Up in the sky! It’s a liberal, it’s a unifier, it’s Barack Obama I have thoroughly reviewed Barack Obama’s economic plan, it is readily available on his, and my website. I dubbed it […]
I have to admit that I am a dork. I am one of the forty-seven individuals in the United States that actually watches C-SPAN on a regular basis. I actually find greater humor in watching our leaders, are self-proclaimed best and brightest stumble all over themselves in Congress, rather than anything made available on network […]
Another day… another attempt at separating senior citizens from their money. The air waves are being blanketed with advertisements for reverse mortgages. They are being sold as a cure-all for retirement financing, easy living, and in some cases a fantastic and astute means to finance other investments. The reality is that this could not be […]