Retirement Watch Weekly
Avoiding the Estate Planning Personal Property Molehill-to-Mountain Track
Small items often cause the biggest Estate Planning problems. Anyone experienced with estates knows the worst disputes among heirs often are over what seem like trivial items. Even in a large estate, heirs might aggressively contest the disposition of a few pieces of furniture or personal mementos. Those small, personal items are the most likely […]
Two Estate Planning Tax-Wise Ways to Shift a Business
Many business owners scrambled to sell their businesses before the end of 2012 to avoid potential tax increases. If you didn’t sell, don’t worry. There are a couple of other Estate Planning tax-wise ways to transfer business ownership that don’t require you to rush. In one recent case, a taxpayer owned 100% of a corporation. […]
Avoiding Major IRA Beneficiary Mistakes
Most IRA owners plan for their loved ones to benefit from at least part of their IRAs. Many of them would be disappointed if they knew what would happen to their IRAs and how easy it would have been to avoid the problems with simple, low-cost actions. Reviewing your beneficiary designations is an important part […]
Defusing Time Bombs in Universal Life Insurance
Your permanent life insurance policy could be a ticking bomb. The Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy increases the likelihood the bomb will explode soon if it hasn’t already, costing you thousands of dollars. Owners of universal life insurance policies face this risk. There are two main types of permanent life insurance. Traditional whole life […]
Reducing Medicare Premiums, Social Security Taxes and More
Retirees face the highest marginal tax rates. They use the same tax tables as everyone else, but there are nuances in the tax code that can trigger higher marginal rates for seniors. For retirees in what I call the marginal rate trap zone, reducing gross income or taxable in-come can have powerful benefits. The marginal […]
Coming Changes in Reverse Mortgages
Reverse mortgages help older homeowners stay in their homes by letting them spend home equity without selling the homes or writing monthly repayment checks. The number of reverse mortgages issued increases each year, and most of those mortgages are insured by the FHA. If the banks or other lenders misprice the mortgages and lose money, […]
The Expanding Asset Bubble in Art and Collectibles
Recently I was talking to a friend who spends a lot of time with wealthy people, primarily trying to raise money from them. He said that when he asks them what they’re doing with their money these days, many saying their eschewing financial assets (stocks and bonds) and buying things: land, timber, art, wine, etc. […]
Why to Ignore Stock Market Forecasts
In my book, Invest Like a Fox, Not Like a Hedgehog, I devote some space to the futility of using forecasts to make investment decisions. In that portion, I refer to the work of Philip Tetlock on political forecasting. For the latest on that work and an update on what Tetlock’s been doing, read this […]
