Financial Planning - The Big Picture for You and Your Family Do you picture yourself owning a new home...starting a business... or retiring comfortably? These are a few of the financial goals that may be important to you, and each comes with a price tag. That's where financial planning comes in. Financial planning is [...]
Capital Gains Tax Overview (for all investors) As an investor, you may be impacted by capital gains if you sell your investment – whether at a gain or loss. Understanding capital gains may help with your overall investment strategy and the potential to preserve your wealth. Below are a few insights into capital gains [...]
Erick, can I contribute to my 401k AND a Roth IRA? Yes, tax payers can max out their contributions to both 401ks and Roth IRAs, assuming their income threshold is below the amount that would prohibit contributing to the Roth. Filing Status 2022 or 2023 Income range Maximum Annual Contribution Married filing jointly [...]
Do you know how long it will take you to get out of debt? When will you be debt-free? There was a time in my life when I had debt. In my mind, it was ok because I was paying on-time each month. I was “playing by the rules”: No late payments and my [...]
Taxes can be a scary word. For many of us, tax is our largest expense. It’s a BIG number. We are taxed on the money we earn AND the money we spend. And the politicians still want us to pay more. Yikes! "If we’re going to find an area to cut, taxes would be [...]
Can I Defer and Lower My Taxes with a Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund? Recently, we learned that a Lebron James rookie card sold for $1,600,000! Assuming the owner paid $1 for the card, that’s a big windfall! But that could also be a large tax liability. Well, maybe not. Depending on the decisions of the [...]
The SECURE Act - Top 10 Key Provisions to Provide Retirement Savings Benefits for Employees and Employers Open Multiple Employer Plans / Pooled Employer Plans – The SECURE Act allows unrelated small employers to band together in “open” 401(k) multiple-employer plans (MEPs; also referred to as pooled employer plans (PEPs)). This reduces the costs and [...]
Welcome news: As of 2016, if you die with less than $5.45 million in assets — or $10.9 million if you’re married — your estate won’t owe federal estate tax. Surprised? Most people are. As a financial planner, I come across many people who list avoiding estate tax as a top priority in their financial [...]
A new IRS program set to take effect next spring may make it harder to tell which of those dubious phone calls many people get about outstanding tax bills are actually fake. The agency announced this week that it’s hired four private debt-collection firms to search America’s couch cushions for overdue federal taxes: ConServe, based [...]
You likely aren’t interested in raising your tax bill, but if you use bad judgment or make a serious error on your tax return, that’s exactly what will happen when the IRS hits you with a penalty. But hey, at least you won’t be alone: The federal agency imposed almost 32 million civil penalties amounting [...]
