Retirement Watch Weekly
Key IRA Decisions for 2007
IRA owners can squeeze significant additional after-tax dollars out of their accounts – if they plan carefully. In addition to the usual planning strategies, there are new IRA opportunities available in the next few years. The Pension Plan Protection Act of 2006 created a charitable giving opportunity for some IRA owners. We covered this after […]
How Annuities Can Extend a Portfolio
Annuities received a bad name over the last few decades, with some help from this newsletter. But there are different types of annuities, and they are not all bad investments. For example, the greatest fear of most retirees is outliving their portfolios. The right kind of annuity can reduce the probability of running out of […]
The Surge in Reverse Mortgages
Reverse mortgages suddenly are booming. The number of reverse mortgages insured by the federal government surged by 77% in 2006. Areas with high home prices and a high percentage of older people see the greatest number of the mortgages issued. Several factors are behind the increase in reverse mortgages. The aging population increases demand, as […]
Essential Tips and Strategies for Family Businesses
Business owners have unique concerns along with the usual estate planning issues. Business owners fear that the heirs might have to sell or dismantle the business and that the wrong people might run it. Those results can be avoided, but the owner must plan carefully and implement the plan. The first major estate planning issue […]
How to Find the Best State to Place Your Trusts
Trusts today often are key to providing for the futures of grand-children. Trusts even can protect assets so that they last for multiple generations. Traditionally, a trust would be set up in the trust creator’s state of residence or in the state where the key beneficiaries reside. Sometimes, the creator favored a particular trustee and […]
The Basics of Building an Estate Plan
Estate Planning is coming back on radar screens. Uncertainty over the direction of estate taxes and the probability that the estate tax would be eliminated caused many people to ignore their plans the last few years. They did not want to spend time and money on a plan that might be unnecessary or need major […]
On Having Unconventional Investments in IRAs
Many of us have a large percentage of our investment assets in IRAs. We can choose between traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs. But most IRAs can be invested only in traditional assets, such as stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. The trend for investors now is to add non-traditional assets to their portfolios. With the right […]
