In 2012, the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) established, for the first time, a permanent estate tax and gift tax exemption. The exemption is the amount an individual can pass on at death without paying estate taxes. The legislation set the exemption at $5 million per person, indexed for...
Here we are again in the final quarter of the year when thoughts turn to Thanksgiving and Christmas and… reviewing your financial house. Oh, that’s not on your list? Well, let’s put it there because financial issues cannot be on automatic pilot. Things change and you need to keep...
If you’ve been gifting money each year to people you love, or using gifting as a planning tool, it’s about to get even better. In 2023, the amount you can give away takes a healthy jump and as long as your generosity doesn’t exceed the limit, you should stay...
Over the years, I’ve told you about lots of celebrities who died without an estate plan and how much their heirs lost because of estate taxes; Aretha Franklin-$27.5 million; Prince-$60 million; Elvis-73% of the estate at the time of his death. Now, another celebrity has died with no estate plan...
Woe to the person who inherits a Health Savings Account. Alhambra's Bob Williams describes the pitfalls and what to watch out for.
For those of us who’ve lived a while, we remember the “little black book”—the place you kept important contact information before the technology revolution. If you’re caring for elderly parents or you think that’s a possibility, encourage mom and dad to keep a little black book, not for dating...
Alhambra’s Bob Williams dispels 4 common myths that can have a negative impact on estate planning.
Let me ask you a question. When your time on earth is over, who do you want to benefit from your estate? Who do you want to get the results of all your years of hard work, saving, and planning? Most people would probably choose family, and rightly so....
The Health Savings Account has been a wonderful addition to the financial landscape of people who are eligible for one.  They’re often thought of as a way to pay for qualified medical expenses with pre-tax money during your working years for things like deductibles, copays, and non-covered items—in other...