Retirement Watch Weekly
Bailout Cash for Your Home
The government is encouraging you to upgrade your home. Undertake the right renovations, and the govern-ment will pay at least part of the cost through tax breaks. Some of the incentives are significant. The incentives are for energy efficient or renewable energy improvements and changes. Some of the incentives are new, and some are expansions […]
When It Pays to Mix IRAs and Annuities
There are many strategies to consider when it is time to take distributions from an IRA. In this visit we are going to cover two unique strategies that combine annuities with IRAs. Generally it is not a good idea to mix annuities and IRAs, because the annuity and IRA both have tax deferral. There often […]
Evaluating Investment Life Insurance
The bear market in traditional assets has investors in search of different ways to invest their savings. One strategy investors are trying, if sales figures are an indication, is to invest through life insurance policies. Investment life insurance is nothing new. It was widely-used from after World War II through the 1980s. As the stock […]
Taxes and Gold Investments
All the money the Federal Reserve has pumped into the economy is not leading to higher prices yet. Fed officials say they will be able to withdraw the excess liquidity before it leads to inflation. If so, it could be the first time a central bank successfully made such a reversal. Investors are concerned the […]
The Four Goals of Legacy Estate Planning
Over the years we stressed to our members that Estate Planning is about much more than taxes. For many decades, people believed estate planning and estate tax planning were the same thing. That was understandable when the lifetime estate tax exemption was $600,000. Many “modest millionaires” who considered themselves middle class would be hit by […]
Critical New Trends in Long-Term Care
Many people do not realize that long-term care insurance has been a mainstream product only since the 1980s. It still is evolving, and insurers are learning more all the time. Also, there are dramatic changes occurring in the population and in medical care that affect the pricing and terms of long-term care insurance. In this […]
The Coming Wave of Scams
The headlines seemed to be filled with investment frauds and scams. Bear markets tend to reveal Ponzi schemes and other frauds. But do not get the impression the scams are only a product of the bull market. Tough times tend to produce more scams than good times, because people are more desperate for help. The […]
Making the Business Last Generations
What is the key to making a family business last beyond the first generation? If you are a business owner you likely are familiar with the statistics that only a small percentage of businesses last much beyond the first generation, and a tiny percentage make it through the second generation to the third. The fate […]
