When I meet with people inquiring about my services, the most common thing that clients want to know is ‘how they are doing.’ This is not a question that I can really answer. Why? Because how someone is doing is relative to the outcome they are hoping to achieve.
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When thinking about taxes in retirement—surprise you still must pay taxes in retirement—most people look at their pay stubs and see how much they are paying in taxes. However, there are some taxes on your paystubs and W-2 that you do not have to pay.
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Inflation is the general increase in price level which corresponds to a reduction in purchasing power. Why do we care about it? We care about inflation because our dollars buy less. For example, remember when you could buy a gallon of gas for $1? Now it’s $3 a gallon. The same amount of money that would fill out tanks up will only fill up one third of a tank now!
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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.
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Intentions & Goals for the New Year – Happy New Year! What are your intentions for this year? Is there something specific you really want to make happen?
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I absolutely love to travel. I even have different folders in my email for reservations and plane tickets. These folders are rarely empty because I love having a trip to look forward to. Travelling is not cheap when you think about hotels, airfare, eating every meal out, car rentals and spending money for sightseeing. People approach budgeting for travel in different ways-some save up and purchase everything at once; others pay for things along the way.
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Over the years I have gained lots of experience in financial planning with seeing so many different scenarios-not one person’s situation is the same. Also, the CFP(R) curriculum consists of an education piece that really lays out a great framework in the Financial Planning process. When you start with a good framework that has pieces that can be replicated and add real life situations to this framework, it becomes second nature.
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You may have seen headlines recently about proposals to crack down on IRA’s with large balances and alternative assets. More specifically, Paypal founder Peter Theil has really been in the spotlight with his ROTH IRA balance of $5 billion due to the appreciation of his Paypal stock and then subsequent investments.
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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.
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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:
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