Financial Planning

Whether you’re saving, investing, spending, bequeathing or receiving wealth, there’s scarcely a move you can make without considering how taxes might influence the outcome. No wonder people get nervous when there’s lots of talk about higher taxes, but little certainty on what may come of it, and who it might affect. 

In our last piece, we covered the recent uptick in inflation, and what to make of it in a historical context. For investors, it’s important to take a step back and look at the big picture before acting on breaking news, but what if inflation does get out of hand, and stays that way for a while? 

When employees think about what it means to have enough money to retire, more than likely they are unsure how to translate their lifetime savings into income. For their entire working life, these employees receive regular paychecks; from this income, they generally construct a budget to cover their basic expenses.

What job does your 401(k) perform? Why do workers "hire" your 401(k)? Why does the "customer" sign up for your 401(k)? Remember, 70% of workers live paycheck to paycheck,¹ so why would they allocate precious take-home pay to your plan? 

By Jeff Drew at Journal of Accountancy
Updated: December 27, 2020

President Donald Trump on Sunday night signed into law the $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill passed Dec. 21 by Congress.

Key provisions in the bill include:

As the end of the tax year approaches, it is worth spending a few minutes reviewing some of the changes that have been made in the tax laws surrounding donations to charities. In some cases, this guide will serve as a refresher regarding revisions made over the last few years, while in other cases there have been COVID-related changes that you may not be aware of.

On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law the Appropriations Act of 2020, which included a number of tax law changes, including extending certain tax provisions that expired after 2017 or were about to expire, retirement and IRA plan modifications and other changes that will impact a large portion of U.S. taxpayers as a whole.

What a year it’s been. Remember December 2018? As The New York Times reported at the time, “Stocks plunged in December [2018], posting their worst monthly loss since the financial crisis and the worst December since 1931 and the Great Depression.”

One of our favorite writers on common sense investing is Ben Carlson. We’ve always enjoyed his blog. This is a recent one that we felt was worth sharing:

There’s never been a better time to be an investor.

Do you picture yourself owning a new home, starting a business, or retiring comfortably in the near future? These are a few of the financial goals that may be important to you; however, each comes with a price tag attached.