A Secure 2023 New rules for a new era of investing Happy new year! Just before the end of 2022, Congress passed a package of retirement-planning revisions known as SECURE Act 2.0. The moniker is an homage to the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019, which was designed to help working Americans save for retirement. Like its predecessor, SECURE Act 2.0 contains many parts. Some key takeaways: It allows people age 50 and up to add an extra $7,500 per year to their retirement accounts. Those [...]

Teetering tech A darling asset allocation faces a reckoning And we thought November would be about the election. Layoffs have slammed Big Tech--formerly a darling of many investors' portfolios--as some of the sector's biggest names have cut thousands of employees due to market contraction, along with speculative bubbles bursting. After at least a decade of expansion, tech companies have been rattled by inflation, along with a slowdown in advertiser spending. In recent weeks, the "FAANG" stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) have, essentially, been de-fanged. [...]

Silver linings Strategies for wrapping up a volatile year In a year that has presented extraordinary volatility, we have found some some silver linings.Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of 8.7%The biggest increase to Social Security checks since 1981 was good news, and not just for retirees. With the stock market down 25% over the past year and Social Security payments rising to a maximum benefit of $4,485 in January, even clients with substantial income are starting to pay much closer attention.Simply put, rising benefits gives investors more options when creating an [...]

Secure Document Upload PortalAn encrypted data vault to share information. For clients wishing to send us important data, we use ShareFile, an encrypted, electronic data vault from Citrix Corporation. ShareFile is a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that enables us to exchange confidential business files easily, securely and professionally.Bank-level data encryption secures your files in transit and upon our receipt. This encryption also gives us the ability to recover lost data, and prevent leaks. Use the button below to access the portal. Access Our ShareFile Portal Scheduling a Consultation, [...]

How low can it go? Finding opportunities in turbulent markets. The recent selloff in stocks and bonds was a brutal reminder of the need for professional money management and financial structures that avoid unnecessary taxes and risk. 2022 crushed one of the most popular strategies for "do-it-yourself" investors. The "60/40" portfolio — a mix of 60% stocks and 40% bonds — was down 19.4% year-to-date by the end of August, and despite a brief resurgence, may be on track for its worst year since 1936. An "inverted yield curve" -- a bellwether [...]

Roth Conversion AnalyzerFree your assets from unnecessary taxes As the country continues to deal with rising federal budget deficits, underfunded entitlement programs, and turbulent markets, increased taxes on forced portfolio withdrawals in retirement are one of the greatest risks and uncertainties for our clients and the investing public. Accordingly, successful doctors take advantage of a Roth conversion of money in their qualified accounts (401k, IRA) to remove this uncertainty and lock in tax-free growth. There are no income limits for a Roth conversion and, while they may trigger a taxable event, successful [...]

Destabilizing DebtStandoff in Congress threatens markets; runaway spending poses tax risk The U.S. government has again reached its statutory borrowing limit, commonly known as the “debt ceiling.” Extraordinary cash management measures by the Treasury Department allow the government to pay all its bills through early June (potentially even into Q3), at which point the world's biggest economy could be at risk of failing to meet its obligations, including on its debt securities. This momentarily turns “safe” investing on it's head, placing US treasuries and government bonds with a maturity date coinciding [...]

An FERS-CSRS benefits consultation that makes sense. Whoever set up the retirement training for federal professionals doesn't understand their needs. Professionals employed by the Federal Government simply don't have time to sit through the normal retirement classes that are offered. Yet somehow federal employees are supposed to make critical decisions themselves regarding their retirement benefits and hope they don't make mistakes. The problem is that mistakes can be costly (and permanent). The good news is that VA and other Federal personnel qualify for an annual 1-hour retirement consultation. Get your questions answered, [...]

Protect your retirement from Uncle Sam and Wall Street. Several strategies can grow your money and safeguard it from these twin threats to your financial stability. Inflation. A hawkish Fed. War in Ukraine. Tensions in Taiwan. Energy cost spikes in Europe. Continued supply chain disruptions. Labor shortages. Sounds like a new verse of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Unfortunately, this is not history or entertainment, but our modern economic landscape. Who can stomach these ups and downs in the market when it comes to their retirement nest egg? And [...]

Premium refund disability is back. Risk protection can be deducted as a business expense; premium is later returned while protection remains. We have used non-cancellable, guaranteed renewable disability income insurance with 80% of premiums refunded every 10 years for our clients, and have been delivering refund checks for over 20 years. That's right. The premium you pay is refunded to you later on, while your risk protection remains in place. Disability insurance companies stopped offering the return of premium feature (or offered it with a prohibitively expensive premium) after the financial crisis in [...]