COVID-19. No one has seen anything like it before and hopefully we’ll never see anything like it again. As the pandemic swept across the United States, it swept millions of people onto the unemployment rolls creating the highest level of unemployment among Americans since the Great Depression.
Congress passed the...
The government giveth, and the government taketh away. And so it is with the Stretch IRA. For years, the stretch IRA has been a financial planning strategy used to extend the tax-deferred status of an IRA by passing it on to a non-spouse beneficiary, such as children or grandchildren,...
I’m FREEZING! And that’s a good thing. I was recently notified by a large financial institution that someone was trying to open a credit card in my name. And even though I don’t have an account with the institution, there were red flags that made them put the application...
The times they are a-changin’. It was true when Bob Dylan wrote those words more than 55 years ago, and it’s just as true today. The black-and-white analog world becomes a distant memory as we travel further into the digital portal. And just like Ozzy Osbourne, many of us...
Estate planning. It’s such a noble phrase. It conjures up images of passing on to your loved ones a lifetime of hard work and success—leaving a legacy. But the road to distributing your estate is filled with potholes that may hijack your good intentions.
Pothole # 1. Probate Court.
If you...
My dad always said, “Son, don’t borrow money unless you absolutely have to.” Dad was a depression-era baby and he saw people who financially crashed and burned when the U.S. economic system crashed and burned.
But today, credit is king. According to Debt.org, total U. S. consumer debt is $13.86...
By Rafael A. Perez, Esq., Partner at McArdle, Perez & Franco P.L. and Chief Compliance Officer at Alhambra Investments
Introduction: Over the past several decades of practicing real estate law I have had many clients, both domestic and foreign, ask me to apply for an extension of a like-kind exchange...
When the 2017 Tax Cuts and
Jobs Act (TCJA) was passed it changed the rules about deductions for charitable
giving. Under current law the only way to deduct charitable gifts is to itemize
on your tax return. Because of that, giving to charities has fallen
substantially.
In 2018 almost 32 million
Americans made charitable donations....