Retirement Watch Weekly
The Latest in Long-Term Care Insurance
Turmoil still roils the long-term care insurance industry. Many consumers probably will continue to see steep premium increases as in recent years, and there will be changes in coverage under new policies. But there also is good news, and buyers can take steps to make long-term care insurance more affordable without giving up coverage they […]
New Rules for Donating Used Cars
Plans need to be revised by taxpayers who intended to reap big tax breaks by donating used cars, boats, or planes to charity. Congress rewrote the law in 2004, and the IRS recently issued rules explaining the new law. Under the old law, a taxpayer could donate a used car to charity and deduct the […]
Get a Jump on Charitable Giving
Charitable giving tends to be clustered in the last couple of months of the year. But if you want to maximize charitable giving and your after-tax wealth, begin your charitable gift planning now. Instead of rushing the process in the busy year-end period, take the time today to plan the best way to make gifts […]
How to Maximize Returns in Equity Annuities
Investment dollars are pouring into equity index annuities. These annuities come close to producing what retirees and near-retirees want and need: guaranteed income with safety of principal and inflation protection. We covered EIAs in past visits. They are a hybrid of fixed annuities and variable annuities. An investor pays a premium to the insurer to […]
How to Ensure Your Pension Is Safe
The recent termination of the United Airlines pension plan put pension safety on the front burner. The news quickly was followed in Congress by hearings and reports on the underfunding of both corporate pension plans and the government guarantee agency, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. Most large companies offer some kind of a guaranteed pension […]
Eight Key Estate Planning Questions
Estate Planning is not about reducing estate taxes. That always was the case, but few people realized the importance of the non-tax factors until the 2001 tax law began the phase out of the estate tax. Every estate plan, regardless of the estate’s size, needs to address certain issues. Ignore these issues, and your heirs […]
Real Estate Bubble – Part 4
Are housing prices in the final blow off stage? Talk of the housing bubble is in at least its third year. Yet, home prices still rise at rapid rates in many areas. The recent drop in interest mortgage rates is likely to support current price levels and even higher home prices. A possible new warning […]
Injecting Some Growth to the Portfolios
Investors aren’t making too many mistakes these days. That means we have to search harder to find profitable investment ideas with a margin of safety. The most frequent mistake investors make is to misprice investments. In the typical investment cycle, investors buy whatever has been rising. This pushes the price of that asset to an […]
