Financial Planning

FROM THE COMMISSIONER OF THE IRS

Let me tell you how it will be. There’s one for you, nineteen for me. Cause I’m the taxman. Yeah, I’m the taxman. Should five percent appear too small, be thankful I don’t take it all. Cause I’m the taxman. Yeah, I’m the taxman. If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street. If you […]

What if foreign entities stop buying our debt? Most of our nation’s debt is in short-term instruments that need to be rolled over on regular basis. We have just witnessed what happened when the nation of Greece had a hard time borrowing to finance their socialist entitlement programs.   What would our government do if […]

There is a very attractive new option for employer sponsored retirement plans that will become available next year. The DB(k) will provide businesses with 500 or fewer employees an opportunity to provide a strong retirement plan for their employees with a lot less paperwork, hassles and cost than a traditional pension plan. The DB(k) is […]

Some recent tax-law changes have improved Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) that have made them even more attractive to a wider range of people. We have been strong advocates for high deductible health insurance couple with HSA’s since their inception. The HSA can best be described as an IRA for medical expenses. Contributions can be deducted […]

After the aftermath of the past two years (Lehman, Wachovia, GM and Washington Mutual) a question and problem we have to deal with from many of our new clients coming on board is, “What do I do with stock that is worth zero?” The strategy is to claim a capital loss deduction for worthless stock […]

In the aftermath of the credit crunch, widely publicized ponzi-schemes, and regulatory failures, there is a battle taking place that will hopefully put in motion some important steps in providing investors with unbiased advice they need. The power struggle taking place right now in Washington is between stockbrokers and insurance agents that work for the […]

These extraordinarily difficult markets have brought out from underneath the rocks, a bevy of unscrupulous insurance/annuity salesmen selling products that are nothing more than Trojan horses. I spend a large amount of time in my car and listen to hefty doses of AM radio; and I am very concerned with the volume of advertisements from […]

Conventional wisdom states that one would never want to know what goes in to making a hot dog or sausage, and if one did know they would never consume its mystery meat goodness. Unfortunately it is also conventional to not discuss the inner workings of legislation proposed by the sausage makers in Washington D.C. The […]

Various tax changes take effect on January 1, 2009; the following are a few important law changes to keep in mind. If you are 70 ½ or older, you may skip payouts from qualified plans such as IRA’s without penalty. Heirs also need not to take withdrawals in 2009 from inherited plans and IRA’s. The […]