Retirement Watch Weekly
Choosing a Trustee for a Winning Estate Planning Strategy
Trusts are an important component of many estate planning strategies. Once used only by the wealthy to reduce taxes, trusts now meet a variety of needs for estates of all sizes. A trust can be used to avoid probate, hold life insurance, preserve assets for beneficiaries, and meet a range of other goals. The unfortunate […]
Buying Only One Fund for Long Term Estate Planning for Grandchildren
Setting money aside for a grandchild, or helping a grand-child who is starting to save without proper Estate Planning, presents a problem. Usually the initial savings are relatively small. Few grandchildren begin with portfolios of $100,000 or more. A portfolio of a few thousand dollars or less presents a problem when you are trying to […]
Navigating the New Broker Reporting Rules
Brokers and mutual fund companies soon will be reporting to the IRS and to you the cost basis of assets sold during the year. You soon will have to make a decision that will affect these reports. In 2008 Congress passed the requirement, and phased it in. The first reports occur on Form 1099-B in […]
Taking RMDs for 2010 and Later
Required minimum distributions are back for 2010 and later years. Congress waived RMDs for 2009 only. You have to take yours by the end of 2010 if you haven’t already and continue taking them in the future. RMDs are required after age 70½. You must take your first RMD by April 1 of the year […]
IRS Cracking Down on IRAs
Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs) hold trillions of dollars. These dollars are sheltered from taxes, for the most part until the owners decide to take distributions. The IRS discovered, however, that IRAs are a rich goldmine of unpaid taxes and penalties, because taxpayers are not following all the rules. Recently the IRS studied a sample of […]
IRA Conversions and the Five-Year Waiting Period
I continue to receive a lot of questions about the five-year waiting period for taking distributions after Roth IRA contributions and conversions. There’s a lot of confusion about the rules. It is slightly different for conversions and for contributions. It also is different for income taxation of distributions and the 10% early distribution penalty on […]
Adding Life Insurance Trusts to Your Estate Planning Strategy
Life insurance used to be a standard part of almost every Estate Planning Strategy. In recent years, insurance moved to the back burner or completely off the menu of many estate planning strategies. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the very wealthy make up the bulk of current permanent life […]
Evaluating a Codicil vs. a New Will for your Estate Planning Strategy
When an Estate Planning Strategy needs updating, there’s always one key question. Should an entire will be written and executed, or is a simple amendment sufficient? An amendment to a will in lawyer talk is a codicil. It’s an important question, and not one to be taken lightly. The advantage of a codicil is you […]
