Suffice it to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed every aspect of our lives – hand-washing best practices, shopping on phones, school at the dining table, and sporting events in empty stadiums (I sincerely hope that the latter are only temporary). From a personal financial-planning perspective, there are three “COVID changes” that I believe […]
The Biden Tax Proposal: Three Trillion, Two Magic Numbers, and One Seismic Wave
By the time you are reading this, we are about two weeks away from what is expected to be the most contentious (and even potentially controversial) presidential election in recent history. Polls are pointing to a victory for Joe Biden, along with a “blue wave,” but as we have learned over the last few years […]
IRA Planning in the New Era: Things Account Owners Should Be Aware of When Naming Beneficiaries
Passed and signed into law in last December, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, or SECURE Act, fundamentally changed how qualified account owners should approach naming beneficiaries. What are qualified accounts? Most of us have at least one type of qualified account, which provide us with certain tax advantages and […]
The Piggy Bank Series: Education Trusts
In previous piggy bank series articles, we touched on the two most common savings vehicles for education needs – custodial accounts and 529 college savings plans. While both of them offer simplicity, low costs, and valuable tax savings, they lack the flexibility desired by certain families. For example, parents may prefer their child to have […]
The Piggy Bank Series: 529 College Savings Plans
When it comes to saving for college, it feels like no matter what we do, the cost of tuition seems to be out of reach. As evident in Graph 1 below, over the past forty years, college tuition has risen more than twice as fast as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), averaging about 6.6%, compared […]
Digital Asset Planning 101: What You Need to Know and Do
Just a few decades ago the world seemed a lot simpler. You may own a house, a car or two, cash, some investments, and perhaps a boat or even a vacation home. These things could be divided into two categories: real (or tangible) assets and intangible assets. Then came the advent of the internet when […]