Retirement Watch Weekly
Putting RMDs Back in Your Plan
Required minimum distributions (RMDs) from traditional IRAs were suspended only for calendar year 2009. Congress did not extend the suspension, and doesn’t appear to have any interest in extending it. You must return to pre-2009 rules and take RMDs in 2010. The first RMD is due by April 1 of the year after you turn […]
Knowing When Long Term Care Insurance is for You
Insurers and insurance agents often are mystified at the numbers. Despite their efforts to sell long-term care insurance policies, only a small percentage of the potential buyers own LTCI. I’m not bothered when insurers miss profit opportunities. But I am concerned when people don’t protect themselves by purchasing insurance they should have. Let’s take a […]
More Planning Tips for IRA Conversions
We covered a lot of ground on IRA conversions in recent visits. We’ve been thorough but there are a few more angles that you should consider before deciding whether to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. Early is Best You can convert your traditional IRA to a Roth IRA any time during the […]
Knowing When to Convert an IRA
Should you convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA? How do you decide? The answer is not the same for every IRA owner. The strategy that puts the most after-tax wealth in your pocket is determined by several variables. Is your tax rate higher or lower now than it will be in retirement? How […]
Avoiding State Tax Hike Surprises
Most of the headlines are about federal taxes, but you need to stay follow state and local taxes. This is where the big changes are being made, and they could be big enough to change where you want to live in retirement – or change your retirement spending plan. The recession put many state and […]
January 2010
January 24, 2010 02:00 p.m. Tough Week for the Markets One of the difficulties of investing is we never know what will trigger a correction or even something worse in the markets. If these things were obvious, then investors would react before they occurred. The past week is a good example. Just a week or […]
Adding Flexibility with a Disclaimer Trust
It’s tough to keep your estate plan in tune with the rapid pace of change. The estate tax changes. Your family situation and the value of your assets also change. Any of those factors can trigger a need to change your will or other elements of your estate plan, and the pace of change seems […]
Timing is Right for Transferring a Business
The economic decline doesn’t have many positive effects, but it can increase the benefits of estate planning strategies, especially for business owners. The current environment allows you to transfer business interests to your loved ones at a low estate and gift tax cost. Business owners should meet with estate planners and consider accelerating plans to […]
