A comprehensive financial plan covers all financial areas of your life. You must know where you are now before you can figure out where you are going.
Continue readingWhat is a Comprehensive Financial Plan?
Capital Gains Distributions
As we are approaching the end of the tax year, you may start seeing some capital gains distributed by some of the investments you hold-mainly mutual funds.
Continue readingCharitable Giving
If you are charitably inclined, what is the most tax efficient way to give to those charities?
Let us start with standard deduction versus itemized deductions. Your itemized deductions must exceed your standard deduction for any tax benefit. There is a caveat for 2021, cash donations up to $300 for single filers and $600 for Married Filing Joint are allowed as above the line deductions.
Continue readingYear End Planning
Wow, I cannot believe it is November already. This means the winter holidays are approaching, cooler weather is coming and so is the end of the tax year. Following is a list of items to consider when wrapping up the year:
Continue readingWhat Do Women Want In Finance?
According to the Forbes article, “The Four Things Women Want (in Financial Services),” women want the following: – more confidence with their finances, more convenience, better communication, and better collaboration.
Continue readingWhat is Tax Planning?
Tax planning is considering your whole situation and making any necessary changes or decisions before the tax year is complete. Think of it as forward looking. When you prepare your tax return, you are looking backwards at things that have already happened and figuring out any credits or deductions that you can take based on things you cannot change.
Continue readingWhat Happens if you Die without a Will?
Many of our clients don’t know what probate is, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’ve never had a loved one die, you may never have experienced it. Probate is the legal process by which a will is validated. If there’s no will, it’s the legal process of settling a person’s affairs. In other words, if you didn’t write your own will, the state has one for you.
Continue readingHSAs as a Supplement to Retirement Savings
Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s) are not a new thing, but many people still are not that familiar with how they work. Flex Spending Accounts (FSA’s) are still around and there is still confusion between the two because they do have similarities. One of the biggest differences between the two types of accounts is that the HSA does not have to be used by a specific time. (With FSA’s you have specific time to use the money for medical expenses or you lose it).
Continue readingIRA Beneficiary Designations
As you may know, the Secure Act put an end to the Stretch IRA. The stretch IRA is the ability to stretch the IRA distributions over the beneficiaries’ lifetime. Let us look at the new rules to see how this may impact your current situation.
Continue readingFee Only vs Fee Based
You’ve probably heard of fee-only financial advisors. But what does this mean? When you invest with a fee only advisor, you can be confident that your best interests are their priority because there’s no incentive to push products or services just to make money.
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