Retirement Watch Weekly
Should you make Direct Gifts to Family to Cover Education Expenses Part of Your Estate Planning Strategy?
Giving directly to adult children or to grandchildren might not be the best strategy to help pay for education expenses. Direct gifts might deny your adult children tax breaks that are available to reduce the after-tax cost of education. Many of these tax breaks were created in the last few years, so even professional advisers […]
The Resurgence Of Prepaid Tuition Plans For Estate Planning
Those long-neglected, unsexy prepaid college tuition plans are making a comeback. In recent years they took a back seat to the stock market and Section 529 college savings plans. My state of Virginia announced, however, that over the last year applications to its older prepaid tuition plan soared while contributions to the college savings plan […]
How To Beat The Broker Fee Increases
You need to find the broker most suitable for you. Most brokers are reacting to the bear market by imposing higher fees on some investors. Each broker is seeking a particular type of client instead of trying to please the whole market. Find the broker that wants your type, and the fee increases won’t chip […]
How To Use Safe Deposit Boxes for Estate Planning?
Safe deposit boxes are among the most misunderstood and improperly used tools in Estate Planning. The ways many people use safe deposit boxes can cause more problems than they solve. A safe deposit box usually is not the place you want to keep a will or other valuable documents, especially those that are necessary to […]
Estate Planning Strategies to Make Your IRA Last Longer
Note: This article is an update of the article in the September 2001 Estate Watch and should be read together. Click here. You now can make your IRA last longer than ever. Thanks to final IRS regulations, account owners over age 70 1/2 are required to take less out of their IRAs or other qualified […]
How to Save Money with Prescription Plans?
Prescription drugs are more numerous and more important to health care. Unfortunately, buying them is getting more confusing. Unlike the early days of Medicare, today drugs are the prime treatment for many diseases and conditions. Often, diseases are treated or controlled by taking medication for life. Drugs are a big reason why, despite an older […]
An Easy Way To Beat Most Other Investors
Simplify your investment portfolio and your returns will increase. That’s part of the philosophy behind our investment approach, especially our Core Portfolios. Most investors own too many assets. Many others complicate investing by trying to decide the best time to buy and sell. The result often is that they neither buy nor sell – or […]
Strategies to Reduce Alternative Minimum Tax
This year for the first time Renee and I were hit by the alternative minimum tax. A large capital gain, over which we had no control, triggered this tax and increased our bill. Many of you recently had the same experience, and many others will in the next few years. More people will pay this […]
