Tax planning for retirement is different from the strategies you deploy to minimize taxes while working. You’ll be using your investments for income, and the way they are taxed is different depending on the type of account you hold assets in. [Read more…]
Avoiding the Medicare Surcharge
Reaching Medicare eligibility solves one of the most expensive retirement problems for many retirees: healthcare. Once you’ve made the adjustment and selected all the various Parts and plans, the convenience and affordability of Medicare are one of the benefits of turning 65. [Read more…]
Are Fed Actions Working?
After April’s downturn, the first two weeks of May have not seen substantial improvement. By Thursday, May 12, markets were dangerously close to bear territory. The Fed enacted a 50-basis point increase in the Fed funds rate at the May FOMC meeting, and we also now have April’s key data. [Read more…]
Understanding Life Insurance
You’ve worked hard, built a career, bought your dream home and started a family. Your income covers your expenses (with some left), you’re maxing out your 401(k) contributions, saving for college and even putting something aside in an investment portfolio. [Read more…]
May 2022 Market Commentary
COVID concerns took a definitive backseat as mask mandates on flights ended, and the concerns about the economy turned to how bad things will get. The concerns over the disruption of the ongoing war in Ukraine, 40+ year record inflation, and the resulting amping up of the Fed’s intentions on rate increases moved distinctly into the foreground. [Read more…]
Benchmarking Your Business For Growth
Building and running a business requires many different skill sets. You’re often the development head, the chief strategist, the head of marketing, and you know every role from the ground up because you created them. [Read more…]
The Great Resignation: Assessing a Career Change
Working from home has proved to be the tip of the spear regarding how employees engage with their employers. The necessity of doing your job from home meant rethinking living/working spaces, finding ways to carve out uninterrupted work time, and balancing a host of new pressures in already busy lives. [Read more…]
A Plan for Managing Stock Sales: 10b5-1s and SEC Rules
Corporate insiders at publicly traded companies are privy to information that can have a major impact on the share price, such as a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approval or rejection of a new drug. As a result, corporate trading policies restrict the number of days corporate insiders can buy or sell shares. [Read more…]
Getting to a Closing in a Red-Hot Real Estate Market
The durability of the now two-year-old housing boom has upended just about everything about the process for buyers and sellers. [Read more…]
March 2022 Market Commentary
Ukraine’s fierce response to and subsequent repulsion of Russian troops surprised everyone, not least Vladimir Putin. As March came to a close, negotiations were beginning to be more realistic, and the evidence on the ground was that Russia was retreating and reassessing. [Read more…]
The Tax Impact of Equity Compensation: The 83(b) Election
Employees or company founders that receive equity compensation often must cope with complex tax rules. Utilizing the 83(b) election is a valuable method of reducing tax liabilities, though there are some important caveats. [Read more…]
The Federal Reserve vs. Inflation: Round One
Wednesday’s long-anticipated announcement by the Federal Reserve that the key Fed funds rate would increase by 25 basis points and the accompanying statement by Chairman Powell had the immediate impact of reassuring the markets. [Read more…]