When considering the creation of a will or a trust, one usually thinks about pre-death planning. However, the beneficiaries have an opportunity where post-mortem planning comes into play. Let’s look at an important post-mortem planning tool – the disclaimer. A disclaimer is a refusal to accept an interest in or a power over property – Read the full article…
If your family relies on your income, it’s critical to consider having enough life insurance to provide for them after you pass away. But too often, life insurance is an overlooked aspect of personal finances. In fact, according to a 2019 study conducted by Life Happens and LIMRA, which closely follows life insurance trends, nearly Read the full article…
The SECURE Act, which became effective on January 1, 2021, changed the rules for inherited IRAs. Prior to that, the rules were very beneficial to non-spousal beneficiaries. The act upended the “life expectancy” rule for distributions and, in its place, created the 10-year rule for non-spousal beneficiaries. The act establishes a time period of 10 Read the full article…
A trust is a legal agreement between two parties: the trustee and the trustor (sometimes called the settlor or grantor). The trustor is the person who establishes the trust and transfers assets into it. The trustee is the person or entity responsible for managing those assets according to the trustor’s wishes. Often the trustor will also be the trustee, Read the full article…
In this quarter’s letter, I keep thinking about the difference between familiar and normal. In so many areas of our lives, the normal has given way to the familiar. What was once not normal has become familiar, ie. wearing masks, schools and restaurants closing, hand-washing stations. Also, the opposite is true that what was once normal Read the full article…
The three horsemen of the retirement apocalypse. Dramatic, yes. Accurate, yes. Scary, maybe. I consider the most significant risks to a healthy and well-planned retirement: Low-Interest Rates Inflation Healthcare Costs The 2nd quarter of 2021 was marked with expansive growth in both GDP and, more importantly, inflation. As communicated in the Quarterly Economic Update, “According Read the full article…
Many times, I sit down and write these letters with a clear understanding of what items I want to cover because they are newsworthy or something remarkable has happened. This is not one of those times. Compared to last year at this time, this letter would be about as boring as they get. No massive Read the full article…
COVID-19 vaccine prospects should make 2021 a year of Global Economic Recovery. As I sit here in my home office in early January, thinking about topics to add to this 2020 review and quarterly letter, my monitor is a constant reminder of how our world has changed, as I would normally be writing this letter Read the full article…
Happy campaign season! I hope everyone is as tired of political ads as I am, and if you are not, good news, there’s one more week! I rarely and with good reason, discuss politics in these letters. However, I recently wrote a piece comparing the two tax plans from the major presidential nominees and the Read the full article…
This last quarter saw violent fluctuations in the capital markets, which have shaken the very core of retail investing for private clients as well as created massive stimulus actions by the federal government. Good thing we didn’t have anything else going on at the time! Oh, wait. COVID-19 has blanketed our country for a second Read the full article…
