Retirement Watch Weekly
New Estate Exemption Amount Finalized for 2018
The exact amount of the estate and gift tax exemption for 2018 was in limbo until just recently. You know that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the individual estate and gift tax exemption for 2018. Not everyone realized that the method for inflation indexing the amount also was changed in the law, and […]
Proving Your Residence: More Important after Estate Tax Reform
Some states will go to extraordinary lengths to keep from losing you as a legal resident. Unfortunately, that’s not a good thing. They aren’t going to heap inducements and incentives on you as they do to entice companies to stay. Instead, sometime after you think you’ve moved, they’ll argue that you or your estate still […]
Trade Talk, Actions Roil The Markets
President Trump directed a lot of his attention so far in 2018 at trade policies, and the markets noticed. Trade policies were always a key part of the president’s campaign talking points and agenda, but they were in the background through the first year of the administration. A few modest moves on trade were taken, […]
What’s Happening To Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) ?
Master limited partnerships (MLPs) have done poorly the last few years. The decline during the commodities bear market was somewhat understandable. Then, the industry began some restructuring. At the start of this year, the bad news seemed to be behind it. The restructuring and distribution reductions largely were over, and energy prices were recovering. At […]
Those Stock Valuation Models – The Fed Model and the Shiller CAPE Model
I’ve long argued that stock valuations can be good long-term predictors of returns, but they don’t do much good in the short term. A stock, or an index of stocks, can be extremely undervalued or overvalued for an extended period. This article dives into the details of two models, the Fed Model and the Shiller […]
Digital Currencies and Taxes
It’s hard to tell what causes the price of bitcoin to rise and fall, because there are no fundamentals attached to the currency. This article explores the idea that capital gains taxes are the major reason for bitcoin’s recent decline. It says many bitcoin investors didn’t realize that the IRS will tax their profits as […]
The Tax Smart Way to Sell Stock & Fund Shares in Retirement
Far too many investors give the IRS far too much of their money. Why? Because they don’t know a few simple rules. Chances are, you already know the basics of computing capital gains taxes when you sell shares, stocks and mutual funds. You have a gain or loss that is determined by subtracting your tax […]
Listening To The Markets
The markets are sending us interesting messages. A lot has happened in the markets so far in 2018. U.S. stocks had strong returns and record highs throughout January. That was followed by a brief correction and a rebound. Global markets generally have been correlated with the U.S. indexes, but there has been a lot of […]
