Oh, the day you can hang up your career and ease into that status you’ve been working toward most of your adult life, the place that brings a smile to your face, your happy place where you no longer answer to an employer, where you set your own schedule—that...
“Hey, when am I going to get my money?” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard beneficiaries ask that question when they’ve been named in a Will or Trust. It’s not uncommon for the beneficiary to put pressure on the executor or trustee to speed up the...
It seems like you just finished filing your tax return and now it’s almost time to step into the ring with the IRS again. But as you contemplate gathering receipts and tax records for 2021, the IRS is at work adjusting tax brackets for 2022. The U.S. tax system uses...
You’re thinking about retirement. In fact, you’ve been thinking about it and planning for it a long time. One of the questions you have to answer is how much will it cost, not just to live, but to live the retirement lifestyle you’ve dreamed about. If you’re looking for the...
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...
The IRS wants its tax money and it wants it now. Even if you pay all the taxes you owe when you file your tax return for the year, you’ll be charged an underpayment penalty if you didn’t pay enough taxes during the year. The provision to hire 87,000 new...
Worried about saving enough for retirement? You can put away more next year. The IRS has just announced the new retirement plan contribution limits for 2023.   The contribution limit for employees who participate in 401(k), 403(b), most 457 plans, and the federal government's Thrift Savings Plan increases to $22,500, up...
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...
Student loan debt has become one of the largest classes of consumer debt in the country. In fact, it affects as many as 43 million Americans. According to a report from Forbes, student loan debt reached almost $1.5 trillion in early 2019, with the average borrower from the class of...