New Tax Reduction For Some IRA Owners

New Tax Reduction For Some IRA Owners

It’s always nice to get a tax break. Starting in 2022 required minimum distributions (RMDs) by seniors from qualified retirement plans such as IRAs and 401(k)s will be reduced, courtesy of a change to life expectancies instituted by the IRS. Here’s an example to illustrate the change. Suppose Mary Taxpayer, born on March 1, 1950,…
Read more

Dealing With Sudden Wealth

A young tech employee recently wrote an article in New York Magazine about her experience becoming a multi-millionaire after her company went public (see https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/04/confessions-overnight-tech-millionaire.html.) Not surprisingly it involved equal measures of anxiety and jubilation as she movingly described how both large and small aspects of her life have uncontrollably changed. Psychologist & author Stephen…
Read more

How To Increase Your Tax-Free Savings

Probably most everyone is familiar with a company 401(k) retirement savings plan. Employees age 50 or older can defer up to $26,000 of their salary in 2021. The employer can additionally add contributions based on a matching formula or some percentage of company profits. In the majority of plans today employees can even choose to…
Read more

Which Is Better: Medicare Advantage or Original Medicare Insurance?

It’s Medicare open enrollment time again so I thought I’d address a question that comes up a lot, especially for those reaching age 65: which is better, Medicare Advantage or original Medicare? First, a brief review of original Medicare: Part A, also known as hospital insurance, covers in-patient hospital stays, surgeries, and post-hospital skilled nursing…
Read more

Your Retirement Account May Not Be As Safe As You Think

Many people don’t even think about experiencing a lawsuit or a bankruptcy. That’s understandable since for most of us these are highly unlikely events. Unfortunately in the time of COVID the prospect of bankruptcy has become unexpectedly real for many small business owners. And the risk of being sued is no farther away than fumbling…
Read more

What Investment Mistake Did 30% of Seniors Make This Year?

According to data from Fidelity Investments, over 30% of investors aged 65 and above sold all their equity holdings this year. By comparison, less than 20% of all investors made the same mistake. Although the data doesn’t pinpoint exactly when most of the transactions occurred, it’s likely it was sometime when the market was at…
Read more