A lot of people have aging life insurance policies of various kinds that are no longer needed and/or about to lapse. The normal course is to just let them lapse… end of story. With some planning, this old policy could be used to shield future taxable income.
I always encourage everyone who has yet to claim social security benefits to check their SSA statement at least annually to make sure earnings have been properly credited. Now, there's another very important reason to check this information. Crooks are filing bogus claims for benefits.
One comment I’ve received over the years when working with a new client is, “I want to spend all of my money before I die.” Or said another way by the character Saul Bloom in the movie Ocean’s Twelve, “I want the last check I write to bounce.” This idea sounds very simple and elegant, but the reality is more like the unpredictable, all-over-the-place capers of the Ocean’s gang.
One day, your kids or grandkids will inherit what you leave behind. Or, you may be the one set to inherit from the older generation. In either case, understanding the different tax ramifications between various asset/account types will go a long way toward avoiding mistakes at the time of inheritance and hopefully set the stage for
Just like I hate predicting future investment returns, I also hate talking about proposed tax legislation. The struggle comes from talking about things that may never come to pass, or may change by the time you read this. However, there are a couple of things in the current proposals that call for attention before the end of 2017.
Last month marked the 30th anniversary of Black Monday, October 19th, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 508 points and the S&P 500 saw a one-day loss of -20.5%. The market has certainly come a long way since then, having weathered two more bear markets and continuing to reach all-time highs.
This month marks the fifth anniversary of Vision Wealth Planning. In 2012, I set out to take the best of what I had learned in my previous 20 years of experience to provide a service that is personal, professional and directly addresses the wealth management needs of a select group of individuals and families.
In the midst of two natural disasters in the last two weeks, Equifax announced a man-made disaster that could cause financial issues for years to come. Equifax, one of the big three credit bureaus, has itself been hacked, exposing millions of citizens’ personal identification. We are writing to share some information with you about the breach, Equifax’s current course of action, and, most important, what you can do to protect yourself.