Taxes & Benefits

By Elaine Floyd, CFP Retirement income replacement rates are usually based on how much clients intend to spend during their golden years—but that may not be sufficient. A good analysis must also take into account investment risk, longevity risk, and health care costs. How many times have you advised clients that the classic 70% to 80% income replacement ...

  By now almost everyone has heard of the strategy to delay the claiming of one’s Social Security benefits.  Why delay?  Because you will receive a higher monthly benefit if you wait.  In fact, delayed claiming of Social Security benefits until age 70 could mean a payout that is 32% more than you would have received had you started ...

By Helen Modly, CFP, and Sandra Atkins, CPA/PFS Over the next three years, your clients may be able to avoid taxes entirely on certain kinds of capital gains and qualified dividends. You just have to get their income into the 10%-15% tax bracket. Here are some tax and income-shifting strategies to consider. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is about ...

By Peter McDougall A little bit of forethought can make things a lot easier for you financially when you decide to stop working. Planning for your retirement often involves determining how you are going to save enough money to afford the lifestyle you want to maintain. But some forethought about when you’ll withdraw money from your retirement accounts—and which accounts you’ll ...

By Elaine Floyd, CFP Yes, the interest earned on municipal bonds is tax exempt, but investors can still be subject to capital gains tax, ordinary income tax, and even alternative minimum tax. Here’s what you need to know. Wealthy people who want to stash their money in a place where it can’t do much harm (i.e., generate taxable income ...

By Elaine Floyd, CFP Annuity withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income, which should prompt a discussion with clients: Is it better to pay capital gains taxes now or defer taxes until retirement? The answer depends on your client’s retirement tax bracket, insurance, other income streams, and his estate plan. Deferred annuities are often sold to clients on the basis of their ...

In November of 2015, Congress enacted laws that changed a number of claiming strategies to Social Security.  These changes are significant and could reduce the amount of benefits that you would have otherwise received from Social Security over you lifetime. Below is a link to our webinar – Smart Social Security, An Urgent Update, Changes To The ...

This is outrageous!  Without getting into the politics or addressing the real problem government must solve (finding ways to run a government that can live within its means) the idea that people who have paid potentially hundreds of thousands of their earnings into the Social Security system should be unable to receive the benefits they ...