When planning to save for future college expenses, you may run across several options – including insurance policies, savings bonds, retirement accounts and specific education accounts, such as Coverdell Education Savings and Section 529 plans. Among the options for Section 529 plans are two types of account: savings and prepaid tuition. Following is a brief [...]
Posts from ‘February, 2010’
Choosing a Beneficiary for Your IRA
One of the very important tenets of estate planning is to ensure that you’ve made an appropriate choice, or set of choices, for beneficiary(s) of your IRA account(s). The title of this article could be a bit misleading – the point of this article is to list some of the consequences of various choices for [...]
Social Security Eligibility
In order to be eligible to receive Social Security benefits – retirement, disability, or survivor benefits – a worker must earn eligibility to receive the benefits. The general rule of thumb is that for full benefits, the worker must earn at least 40 quarters of credit within the system. Social Security Credit Generally speaking, a [...]
Missing a W2? Here’s What to Do…
So – you’re all set to do your taxes. And then… you realize you’re missing something. One of your W2’s hasn’t shown up in the mail. Maybe it was a short-term or a part-time gig, or maybe the business changed hands – or maybe it just got lost in the mail. Whatever the reason, you’re [...]
Eligible Rollover Distributions (ERDs)
So what funds can be rolled over from your retirement plan into another retirement plan or IRA? Interestingly, the IRS doesn’t specifically tell you what can be rolled over – but rather, what can not be rolled over. Let’s look at the definition from the IRS… Definition Only Eligible Rollover Distributions, or ERDs, can be [...]
A Little-Known Social Security Spousal Benefit Option
Most everyone is familiar with the concept of Social Security Spousal Benefits – if not, click this link for a complete explanation. In this article, we’ll be discussing an option that is available to all married recipients of Social Security retirement benefits – but you might not have thought of it. For most all married [...]
Coming Soon: No Change For the Financial Services Consumer If FatCats Get Their Way
We talked about this issue of the accountability standards for financial professionals some time ago (click here to get the background). Unfortunately, it seems that the big money and best interests of the large brokerages, banks, and insurance companies is turning the tide against the proposed fiduciary standard for all financial professionals. The fiduciary standard [...]
Understanding the 2010 Estate Tax Repeal
The start of a new year often signals a time for change–especially when it comes to taxes, and 2010 has brought some major changes. As of January 1, the federal estate and generation-skipping transfer (GST) taxes are repealed, and the step-up in basis rule is modified for 2010. While it’s possible (and some believe very [...]
What Hath Congress Roth?
… or better yet, what will they Roth in the future? You’re right, terrible attempt at a pun. In case you aren’t a retirement and financial planning geek like myself, there has been a proposal put forth by the current administration to require all employers to automatically enroll employees in a retirement plan. I find [...]
Ah, Sweet Procrastination!
It’s usually best, for most things in the financial world, to act now rather than waiting around. The notable exception is with regard to applying for Social Security benefits. We’ve discussed it before (in fact part of this article is a re-hash of an earlier post) but it is an important point that needs more [...]
And if you've come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed "advisor's advisor".
