Kiplinger’s State-by-State Guide to Taxes
You may find Kiplinger’s updated tax map surprising: Click on any state in the map below for a detailed summary of state taxes on income, property, and everything you buy. Check out our slideshows below, including our picks for the 10 most tax-friendly and the...FPC 20180123: Inherited IRA Protection
For many families, a large portion of the estate rests in a retirement plan which, on its own and without further planning, is essentially a separate estate plan with assets left completely unprotected. How do you protect and preserve the inheritance of retirement...Where did baby boomers go wrong? This generation isn’t financially prepared for retirement
Baby boomers, or those born between 1946 and 1964, expect they’ll need $658,000 in their defined contribution plans by the time they retire, but the average in those employer-sponsored plans is $263,000, according to a survey of 900 investors by financial...SLATs Provide Flexible Plans for Many Clients
In the current environment of uncertainty, many married clients should consider implementing non-reciprocal spousal lifetime access trusts (SLATs). This strategy can provide a flexible framework for a wide range of clients. The technique can be adapted for more...Tips From The Pros: The Most Difficult Decision of My Career
Hmmm…why wasn’t she allowed to stay in her home with live-in help? Sounds like she had the ability to pay for that, and repairs, too! Lots of history there and it’s all she knew. Rule 1.14 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct1 addresses...Is It Never or Now?
And for those with qualified retirement plans, it may be time to seriously consider charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) planning. In the case of qualified long-term appreciated property, outright gifts can be used to offset other taxable income, while bypassing the...Financial advisors less chickenshit
More advisors willing to speak up — that’s great! But since they have avoided the arena so long, they lack even the knowledge base of the typical low-information voter and most of them are on the wrong side. How could anyone have thought it was a good idea...Is the Passive Indexing Craze the New Tulip Bulb Mania?
Naturally, passive products look good as markets move higher. They’re designed to replicate an index and, therefore, have a symmetrical return profile. Unfortunately, the same symmetry that investors like so much on the way up is what causes the most financial...Six Steps to Help Parents Prioritize Their Paychecks
Parents of young children usually have more places that their money needs to go than they have funds to cover every current and future obligation. You can help them sort out where to put each and every dollar each month so that short-term concerns are...Where Are The Best And Worst States To Retire?
To rank the states according to what people say they want in retirement, we pull together data on these eight criteria:Cost of livingHealthcare qualityCrimeCultural vitalityWeatherTaxesSenior citizens’ overall well-beingThe prevalence of other seniorsTwo of our...New Commodity ETFs Structured to Avoid Need for K-1 Filing
ETF Securities Group, a U.K.-based asset manager, launched three ETFs on the NYSE Arca exchange that track the Bloomberg Commodity Indices, on March 31. The funds are among thousands traded on the exchange but stand out because they are broad-based and...The flexibility of stretch IRAs: Learn how your IRA can benefit your spouse and other beneficiaries
IRA stretch is great in theory, but your beneficiary can withdraw the principal at any time and there is no asset protection. As an estate planning attorney, I can make the stretch real by using an asset-protected standalone IRA Beneficiary Trust, separate from...States With the Highest (and Lowest) Taxes for Retirees
In general, the most tax-friendly states for retirees are, in order, Alaska, Delaware, Georgia, Nevada, and Wyoming, according to the J.P. Morgan report. The least tax-friendly states, in order, are New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Maine, and Vermont. Property taxes...High-Net-Worth Investors Look to Suburban Office Buildings and Transition Assets to Get Yield
HNWI are starting to look hard at suburban office markets again, which we haven’t seen this investor group pursue in quite some time. Industrial space has been very competitive the last several years, so unlikely the HNWIs will go after industrial assets this...Should you use your retirement savings to pay for kids’ college? – MarketWatch
The kids can work their way through college like we did. ‘Should I dip into my retirement account to pay for college?’People do it, but most financial professionals advise against it. At the very least, experts say, you should limit such withdrawals, so as not...To Defer or Not To Defer—How About Both?
“If you look at the conventional advice that’s given, there doesn’t seem to be much acknowledgment of this idea of tax uncertainty,” he notes. “That advice is often based on this idea of ‘compare your income today to your expected income in retirement,’ and our...The Biggest Challenge for RIAs? They All Look Alike
“Competition is the challenge of the future for independent advisors, and as there’s more of them, differentiation is critical,” agreed Jon Beatty, senior vice president, sales and relationship management, Schwab Advisor Services.Asset allocation, rebalancing...Will Republicans Fund Tax Cuts by Tapping Retirement Piggy Bank?
To understand why, it is important first to understand this term: “Tax expenditure.”This is Washington budget-speak for tax revenue foregone due to special tax treatment. The phrase refers to billions of dollars in tax code exemptions, deductions or credits....L.A. To Worsen Housing Shortage With New Rent Controls
Currently, partial rent control is already in place in Los Angeles and landlords there are limited in how much they can raise rents on current residents. However, according to LA Weekly, landlords are free to raise rents to market levels for a unit once that...
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