Financial Ducks In A Row • Independent financial advice: IRA, Social Security, income tax, and all things financial

Posted in: diversify, fiduciary, investing, retirement savings.
Tagged: investing · planning · saving

Tips for Tax Time

Jan 15th, 2016

by sraskie.

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incometaxbyalancleaver_2000_thumb1 Given that it the start of tax season and individuals will be gathering and preparing their 2015 tax return information, I’d thought I’d put together some basic tax tips. Individuals may consider thinking about these items in order to have a smooth and (hopefully) stress-free 2015 tax season.

Additionally, I’ve included a link to our 2015 Tax organizer.

Please feel free to use it at your convenience to get your “tax ducks in a row”. Furthermore, please let us know if you’d like us to prepare and file your taxes for you. Many current clients have found Blankenship Financial to be cost effective and efficient compared to other big-named tax preparation services. As Enrolled Agents both Jim and I are well qualified to handle most tax matters and returns.

And now with the tax tips…

Beware the non-tax man cometh! Each year we field calls from clients and prospective clients regarding calls they get from fraudsters claiming to be the IRS and that the individuals owe the IRS money. Typical phrasing includes a tax penalty owed that can be remedied with a credit card. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION! If it’s a legitimate issue with the IRS you will receive the notice in writing. Of course, feel free to call us to have a look as well.

Consider not procrastinating. Although this can be hard to do, do your best to organize all of your information as soon as possible. Take advantage of the link above and get everything in order well before the tax deadline. This not only reduces stress, it also helps reduce fees and penalties for late filing and payments.

Organize throughout the year. Many folks take advantage of deductions. This means keeping track of receipts, mileage, etc. Instead of stuffing it all into a shoebox until tax time, take some time throughout the year to make files and organize bills, receipts and mileage logs. There are even online apps that can do this for you with a scanner or your smartphone.

Use a bookkeeping/budget system. Many folks cringe at the words bookkeeping or budgeting. It’s just not something they enjoy doing. That being said can take a lot of the work out of it by subscribing to a system such as QuickBooks or Mint.com. Programs such as these can help organize where you’re spending and even categorize budget items.

Review your withholding and retirement plan contributions. By adjusting how much is withheld from your paycheck and or allocating more to your 401(k) you can help alleviate what could be a big bill at tax time. In addition, if you find you’re getting a big refund every year, consider adjusting your withholding so that less is taken for taxes. Instead of giving the government an interest-free loan, put that money to work for you!

These are just some basic items to help get you started. As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for any particular questions or concerns.

Posted on Jan 15th, 2016

by author: sraskie.

Posted in: #noTOP, 2015 tax year, fee-only, fiduciary, income tax, income tax refund, itemized deduction, itemized deductions, tax, tax preparers, tax return, tax scams.
Tagged: fiduciary · financial planning · income tax · income tax credit · tax

Reverse Mortgages Require a Close Look

Jan 13th, 2016

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For many folks in their retirement years, home equity can be a substantial part of your overall net worth. According to recent figures, the equity in your home can amount to roughly 30-40 percent of your net worth, if you’re in the majority. If you and your spouse are both at least 62 years of age and have significant equity in your home, a reverse mortgage can turn that equity into tax-free cash without forcing you to move or make a monthly payment.

If it’s right for you, a reverse mortgage can be a worthwhile financial tool. If not, you could cause some serious problems for your financial future.

A reverse mortgage gets its name because of the way it works. Instead of the borrower making payments to the lender, the lender releases equity to the borrower in a number of forms:

A lump sum cash payment;
A monthly cash payment, like a pension or annuity;
A line of credit which you can draw on in varying amounts as you need the funds (this option tends to be the most popular due to its flexibility);
Some combination of the above.

When the owner dies or moves away (perhaps to a long-term care facility), the home can be sold and the loan paid off. Any leftover equity value can go to the living owner or the designated heirs. Heirs don’t have to sell the house: they can either pay off the reverse mortgage with their own funds or refinance the outstanding loan balance within six months.

There are three basic types of reverse mortgages:

Single-purpose reverse mortgages, which are offered by some state and local government agencies as well as some nonprofit organizations;
Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) are federally insured reversed mortgages backed by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD);
Proprietary reverse mortgages are private loans that cover home values usually over $600,000.

The size of a reverse mortgage is determined by the borrower’s age, the interest rate and the home’s value. The older a borrower, the higher percentage that can be borrowed. The amount of the mortgage is limited to the lesser of the home’s appraised value, sale price, and the federal HECM limit of $625,500.

Reverse mortgages have traditionally been chosen by older Americans who are having a tough time paying for everyday living expenses. Matters such as long-term care premiums, home health care services, home improvements or paying off their current mortgage or credit cards may be greater than their income can support. More recently, though, they’ve become popular with individuals who see them as a better alternative to home equity lines. Some use the proceeds to supplement monthly income, buy a car, fund travel and even to purchase a second home. Review reverse mortgage options with the help of a financial adviser to determine if there are any unique, “outside the box” options for you.

Before applying for a HECM, you must meet with a counselor from an independent government-approved housing counseling agency. Some lenders offering proprietary reverse mortgages also require counseling.

The counselor is required to explain the loan’s costs and financial implications. The counselor also must explain the possible alternatives to a HECM – like government and non-profit programs, or a single-purpose or proprietary reverse mortgage. The counselor also should be able to help you compare the costs of different types of reverse mortgages and tell you how different payment options, fees, and other costs affect the total cost of the loan over time. You can visit HUD for a list of counselors, or call the agency at 1-800-569-4287. Counseling agencies usually charge a fee for their services. This fee can be paid from the loan proceeds, and you cannot be turned away if you can’t afford the fee.

Other things to consider

Cost: Reverse mortgages are generally more expensive than traditional mortgages in terms of origination fees, closing costs and other charges. The basic FHA-backed HECM loan finances these fees into the initial loan balance, and they can often run between $12,000 and $18,000. The loans are based on anticipated home value appreciation of four percent a year, so if the housing market is healthy, those costs are generally recovered in a short period of time. But if the housing market sours, it will definitely take longer to recoup those fees.

There is also the cost of mortgage insurance to consider. You will have an up-front charge for federal mortgage insurance, which will amount to between 0.5% and 2.5%, depending upon the type of disbursement you’ll be receiving. There is also an annual premium for mortgage insurance which will be 1.25% of the outstanding mortgage balance.

Interest rates and costs: As you draw funds from the equity in your home, interest is added to your balance every month. This can result in quite a surprise over time, as the interest costs add up. Reverse mortgages have rates that are typically higher than those charged on conventional mortgages. This interest is not tax deductible while you are drawing funds from the equity.

Your mortgage can be called: The homeowner or estate always retains title to the home, but if you fail to pay your property taxes, adequately maintain your home, pay your insurance premiums, or change your primary residence, the lender can declare the mortgage due or reduce the amount of monthly cash advances to pay those overdue amounts.

Talk to your kids. If your house is your major asset, getting involved in a reverse mortgage may not leave much to the next generation – if it appreciates, there may be some difference that the kids can have. That’s why that in addition to discussing a reverse mortgage with a financial adviser, persons considering a reverse mortgage need to talk with their family.

Posted on Jan 13th, 2016

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: mortgage, remortgage, reverse mortgage.
Tagged: mortgage · reverse mortgage

The Top Income Tax Myth That Can Hold You Back

Jan 11th, 2016

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hold back There are many myths about income taxes that are just plain wrong. But there is one income tax myth that is likely the most hurtful to you financially – and that is the idea that a big refund should be your goal. The actual goal, counterintuitive as it may sound, should be to owe some tax when you file your return.

You may have heard this explanation before: When you have a big refund every year, you’re effectively loaning money to the government throughout the year, and getting nothing for it. And then when you get that big tax refund, what do you do with it? The responsible thing would be to put it in some sort of savings vehicle – but how many folks actually do this? Statistics show that far too few of us think saving first when we have extra money. Too often we use the money to pay off a credit card (which is still a good thing, but perhaps we shouldn’t have built up the credit card balance in the first place) or worse, we use it to treat ourselves.

Let’s examine the situation for a moment. If you have a refund of $2,000 (for example) when you file your tax return, that means every month throughout the year you handed over $166.67 to the US Treasury that should have been in your pocket. The US Treasury is happy to have it: they report the balance to Congress and Congress spends it.

And then, when you get the refund you wind up spending it on something that provides short-term pleasure rather than long-term benefit.

What if, instead of handing it over to the US Treasury, you change your withholding so that you can now receive an additional $166.67 each month? You could put this money into a savings vehicle, an IRA for example. Now, you could actually reduce your taxes even further by deducting the IRA contributions from your income. So if this reduces your overall taxable income from $80,000 to $78,000 (for example), the resulting tax is reduced by $500 (for a single filer, 2015 rates). So not only have you added $2,000 to your savings, you could add a total of $2,500 to your savings (adding another $125 of tax reduction!).

If you did this for 20 years over your working lifetime and earned an average 5% return, you’d have built up an extra $82,000 in an IRA.

Can’t I just do this at the end of the year?

But you may ask – couldn’t I just make the IRA contribution after I get my tax refund, taking the deduction while I’m filling out the return? Of course you could, but how often have you done that in the past?

What I’m suggesting is that you might set up an automatic contribution to an IRA every month. You’ll want to change your W4 on file with your employer so that less tax is being withheld, so that you’ll have the extra money in your take-home pay.

Then by setting up the automatic contribution you don’t have to make the choice to contribute to the IRA at the end of year – you made the choice when you set up the automatic contribution plan. Since you’re already accustomed to living with that same income (the same amount of take home pay), you’re no worse off than you were before, and you will be building up your savings to boot.

So the real goal should be to wind up with a zero tax refund – or possibly even owing some tax at the end of the year. If you owe less than $1,000 when you file your tax return, it’s as if the US Treasury has lent you that money, interest-free, for the year. It’s a reversal of fortunes, all because you realized this is an income tax myth.

If you put that extra $1,000 to work earning 3% (over time), you’ll pick up an extra $375 over the same 20-year period – it’s not a lot, but still money that could be yours instead of going to the government.

Now, there’s the question of how can the US Treasury get by without your loan every year…? I suspect that somehow things will work out just fine, because very few people will do this and the impact will be minimal in the scheme of things.

Posted on Jan 11th, 2016

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: income tax, income tax refund, IRA.
Tagged: income tax · IRA

Why People Don’t Trust Financial Advisers (and Used Car Salesmen)

Jan 8th, 2016

by sraskie.

1 comment

Based on some recent experience I’ve had in trying to purchase a vehicle, I thought I’d spend some time on helping advisers new to the industry trying to build their businesses the right way. Additionally, it may help some advisors who are or were being taught the wrong way to deal with clients and prospective clients.

Perhaps this post will be better understood if I share my recent (and unsuccessful) experience trying to purchase a different vehicle. Over the last month I’ve inquired both private sellers and dealerships regarding certain vehicles they had for sale. Of the many features and benefits available, I’ve made clear (at least to the dealers) what features and benefits are important to me.

Like many car buyers, I am looking for good gas mileage, reliability, and affordability. What I am not looking for is pushy salespeople, sales pitches and closing techniques. Nevertheless, it’s what I’ve encountered at every dealership I’ve visited thus far.

Note to new advisors: Regardless of how you’ve been trained, people HATE to be sold. They also do not appreciate you being fake. They’ve heard all your sales lines and pitches and then some. Be yourself.

One dealership I called in particular asked for my name and information. I winced when they asked for my phone number, but reluctantly gave it to them anyway. However, I specifically requested that they remove my name and not call me for offers, deals, etc. Sure enough a few days later the bubbly receptionist who I made the request to called and completely ignored my request. In fact, she went as far as to only give her name (not the dealership she was with) and vague information on “some great deals’ they had going on. Another dealership ignored my specific request to use email only as I would be traveling. On their website they had a “preferred method of contact.” They never emailed but called me daily for 10 straight days.

Note to new advisors: If a prospective client or client makes a reasonable request, honor it. Furthermore, if a client has a preferred contact method, use it. Little things like this matter and will lead to more trust for the bigger things. Listen to what your clients are saying, don’t just hear them.

Naturally, I’ve done quite a bit of research looking at different vehicles and what I like and dislike about each one. Like many purchases in life there are trade-offs. Sacrificing a bit of gas mileage for an automatic transmission, paying cash for an older vehicle instead of financing a new one, etc. are all things that I’ve considered. The point is I came into the dealerships knowing exactly what I wanted. And yes, you guessed it, the dealerships tried to sell me something way off my radar. I’m all for being educated, but when you want steak and you’re being sold tofu – that’s a problem.

Note to new advisors: There is no one size fits all in financial planning. This means that one or two products will not fill every need. This applies to permanent life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, etc. Diversify your toolbox. You should have more than just a hammer. People also know more than you think and will surprise you with their level of knowledge.

Speak of the devil! As I’m writing this guess who just called? Yep. The dealership I specifically requested to not call me. I digress…

Which brings me to my last point; it’s more of a question really. If people don’t like pushy salespeople, product pitches and lack of professionalism, why do individuals and businesses keep doing it to their prospective clients? Perhaps it’s the industry. Many salespeople are paid based off of what they sell. Naturally, if they don’t sell, they make zero income. Compounding this is that many salespeople figure out very quickly which products and add-ons lead to higher payouts (commissions) and they tend to push those few products and services (a hammer anyone?).

These businesses would be better to rethink their approach and develop a consultative, educational approach to their prospective clients. In addition, they may consider adjusting how their salespeople are paid – weaning them off of commission only income and to more of a hourly or salary based approach. After all, it’s easier to worry and care about the prospect when one isn’t worry about their next paycheck.

Note to new advisors: Be extremely cautious of the phrase “unlimited income potential.” Your income is limited. If the income potential was unlimited, why did your manager accept his or her position? Why on Earth would anyone give up unlimited income for a salaried managerial position? Seek out positions where your income is related to how you help improve and bring value to a client’s life, not what you sell them. It’s a road less traveled, but worth the journey.

Posted on Jan 8th, 2016

by author: sraskie.

Posted in: fee-only, fiduciary, financial planning.
Tagged: fiduciary · financial planning

2016 IRA MAGI Limits – Married Filing Separately

Jan 4th, 2016

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Note: for the purposes of IRA MAGI qualification, a person filing as Married Filing Separately, who did not live with his or her spouse during the tax year, is considered Single and will use the information on that page to determine eligibility.

For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Married Filing Separately):

If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job and your spouse is not covered by a retirement plan, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions.

If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is less than $10,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 55% for every dollar (or 65% if over age 50), and rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200.

If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $10,000, you are not entitled to deduct any of your traditional IRA contributions for tax year 2016. You are eligible to make non-deductible contributions, up the annual limit, and those contributions can benefit from the tax-free growth inherent in the IRA account.

If you are not covered by a retirement plan but your spouse is, and your MAGI is less than $10,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 55% for every dollar over the lower limit (or 65% if over age 50), and rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200.

Finally, if you are not covered by a retirement plan but your spouse is, and your MAGI is greater than $10,000, you are not entitled to deduct any of your traditional IRA contributions for tax year 2016. You are eligible to make non-deductible contributions, up the annual limit, and those contributions can benefit from the tax-free growth inherent in the IRA account.

For a Roth IRA (Filing Status of Married Filing Separately):

If your MAGI is less than $10,000, your contribution to a Roth IRA is reduced ratably by every dollar, rounded up to the nearest $10.

If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200. If your MAGI is $10,000 or more, you cannot contribute to a Roth IRA.

Posted on Jan 4th, 2016

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: #noTOP, 2016 tax year, IRA, ira contribution limits.
Tagged: IRA · ira contribution limits

2016 MAGI Limits for IRAs – Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)

Jan 4th, 2016

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For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)):

If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job and your spouse is not covered by a retirement plan, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions.

If you are covered by a retirement plan at work, and your MAGI is $98,000 or less, there is also no limitation on your deductible contributions to a traditional IRA.

If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $98,000 but less than $118,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 27.5% for every dollar over the lower limit (or 32.5% if over age 50), and rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200.

If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $118,000, you are not entitled to deduct any of your traditional IRA contributions for tax year 2016. You are eligible to make non-deductible contributions, up the annual limit, and those contributions can benefit from the tax-free growth inherent in the IRA account.

If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job, but your spouse IS covered by a retirement plan, and your MAGI is less than $184,000, you can deduct the full amount of your IRA contributions.

If you are not covered by a retirement plan but your spouse is, and your MAGI is greater than $184,000 but less than $194,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 55% for every dollar over the lower limit (or 65% if over age 50), and rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200.

Finally, if you are not covered by a retirement plan but your spouse is, and your MAGI is greater than $194,000, you are not entitled to deduct any of your traditional IRA contributions for tax year 2016. You are eligible to make non-deductible contributions, up the annual limit, and those contributions can benefit from the tax-free growth inherent in the IRA account.

For a Roth IRA (Filing Status of Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)):

If your MAGI is less than $184,000, you are eligible to contribute the entire amount to a Roth IRA.

If your MAGI is between $184,000 and $194,000, your contribution to a Roth IRA is reduced ratably by every dollar above the lower end of the range, rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200.

If your MAGI is $194,000 or more, you cannot contribute to a Roth IRA.

Posted on Jan 4th, 2016

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: #noTOP, 2016 tax year, IRA, ira contribution limits.
Tagged: IRA · ira contribution limits

2016 MAGI Limits – Single or Head of Household

Jan 4th, 2016

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Note: for the purposes of IRA MAGI qualification, a person filing as Married Filing Separately who did not live with his or her spouse during the tax year, is considered Single and will use the information on this page to determine eligibility.

For a Traditional IRA (Filing Status Single or Head of Household):

Note: These limits are unchanged from 2015.

If you are not covered by a retirement plan at your job, there is no MAGI limitation on your deductible contributions.

If you are covered by a retirement plan at work, if your MAGI is $61,000 or less, there is also no limitation on your deductible contributions to a traditional IRA. If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $61,000 but less than $71,000, you are entitled to a partial deduction, reduced by 55% for every dollar over the lower limit (or 65% if over age 50), and rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200.

If you are covered by a retirement plan at your job and your MAGI is more than $71,000, you are not entitled to deduct any of your traditional IRA contributions for tax year 2016. You are eligible to make non-deductible contributions, up the annual limit, and those contributions can benefit from the tax-free growth inherent in the IRA account.

For a Roth IRA (Filing Status Single or Head of Household):

If your MAGI is less than $117,000, you are eligible to contribute the entire amount to a Roth IRA. If your MAGI is between $117,000 and $132,000, your contribution to a Roth IRA is reduced ratably by every dollar above the lower end of the range, rounded up to the nearest $10. If the amount works out to less than $200, you are allowed to contribute at least $200.

If your MAGI is $132,000 or more, you cannot contribute to a Roth IRA.

Posted on Jan 4th, 2016

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: #noTOP, 2016 tax year, IRA, ira contribution limits.
Tagged: IRA · ira contribution limits

Without Action, Resolutions Don’t Matter

Jan 1st, 2016

by sraskie.

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Given the start of the New Year it seems almost cliché to write a blog post about resolutions to make for 2016. While making resolutions is not a bad thing, I thought I’d spend some time talking about an arguably more important aspect to resolutions; and that is taking action.

To help make some sense with the article I thought I’d share a personal experience. When I was in college I was considerably overweight. Between my junior and senior year I lost quite a bit of weight – about 75 pounds. I was never overweight growing up; I had just let poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle get the best of me.

After the weight came off, several friends and family members asked me what I did and what my secret was. Really, there was no secret. It was simply eating less and exercising more. However, I became infatuated with my diet and exercise and began to research and study more about how to live a healthier lifestyle. As I put what I was learning into my own practice, friends and family members began to ask me if I would put what I learned together in an easy-to-follow format (a written plan if you will) so that they could follow the program and hopefully obtain similar results.

Unfortunately, some of the people that wanted help lost their enthusiasm, stopped following their plan and gave up. Then, at certain times of the year (say, when making a New Year’s resolution) they would come back and ask me to write a new plan for them so they could get back on track and live a healthier lifestyle. My answer, to their surprise, was no.

The reason why wasn’t to be rude or unaccommodating. It was the fact that nothing had changed. In other words, the plan I had given them previously was just as effective and would help them live a healthier lifestyle. The problem was whether or not they would take action and utilize the information in the plan.

The same is true for many other goals and resolutions including personal finance. The best financial plan in the world is completely useless unless action is taken to implement the steps in the plan. A resolution to save for retirement is meaningless unless action is taken to physically have the money from your paycheck invested in your 401(k), IRA or other retirement plan. Resolving to pay off debt without taking action to pay down the debt is useless. You get the point.

So while I’d love to write a post on resolutions for 2016, I think it’s more important to write about taking your same resolutions from 2015 and years past and finally acting on them. So this year, instead of making a list of financial resolutions, make a list of action steps you’re going to take to make those resolutions happen.

Posted on Jan 1st, 2016

by author: sraskie.

Posted in: fee-only, fiduciary, financial planning, goals.
Tagged: fiduciary · financial planning

Retirement Income Requirement

Dec 28th, 2015

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Photo credit: jb

You know how important it is to plan for your retirement, but how do you get started? One of the first steps should be to come up with an estimate of how much income you’ll need in order to fund your retirement. Easy to say, not so easy to do! Retirement planning is not an exact science. Your specific needs will depend on your goals, lifestyle, age, and many other factors. However, by doing a little homework, you’ll be well on your way to planning for a comfortable retirement.

Start With Your Current Income
A rule of thumb suggests that you’ll need about 70 percent of your current annual income in retirement. This can be a good starting point, but will that figure work for you? It really all depends on how close you are to retiring, as well as what you’re planning to do while retired. If you’re young and retirement is light years away, that figure probably won’t be a reliable estimate of your income needs (and let’s face it, over a long period of time it’s not much more than a wild guess!). That’s because many things will change dramatically between now and the time you retire. As you near retirement, the gap between your present needs and your future needs will likely narrow. But remember, you’re only going to use your current income only as a general guideline, even if retirement is well within sight. In order to accurately estimate your retirement income requirement, you’ll have to do some more cipherin’.

Project Your Retirement Expenses
As with any budgeting exercise, annual income during retirement should be enough (or more than enough) to meet your retirement expenses. That’s why estimating expenses is a big piece of the retirement planning puzzle. It’s bound to be difficult identifying all of your expenses and projecting how much you’ll be spending in each area, especially if retirement is still a ways off. To help you get started, here are some common retirement expenses:

Food and clothing
Housing: Rent or mortgage payments, property taxes, homeowners insurance, property upkeep and repairs. These may change dramatically – often the mortgage is paid off, or you may be looking to move and/or downsize. These changes can increase or decrease the figures needed to cover housing.
Utilities: Gas, electric, water, telephone, cable TV
Transportation: Car payments, auto insurance, gas, maintenance and repairs. Often in retirement auto expenses decrease dramatically since you’re not driving to the job daily. However, you may be travelling more (to see the grandkids, for example!), so plan accordingly.
Insurance: Medical, dental, life, disability, long-term care. Again, these expenses may change dramatically, with the addition of Medicare to the mix, plus the inevitable “new” ailments you may acquire in your later years.
Health-care costs not covered by insurance: Deductibles, co-payments, prescription drugs
Taxes: Federal and state income tax, capital gains tax. Keep in mind that many states don’t tax retirement income – this could help you make decisions on relocating in retirement as well.
Debts: Personal loans, business loans, credit card payments
Education: Children’s or grandchildren’s college expenses
Gifts: Charitable and personal
Recreation: Travel, dining out, hobbies, leisure activities. These expenses tend to increase a bit when you have more time on your hands in retirement, but then after a few years begin to level off. Planning for higher outflows earlier in your retirement than later is a wise plan.
Care for yourself, your parents, or others: Costs for a nursing home, home health aide, or other type of assisted living. This expense can be all over the board, depending on your own family, experience, and location. This also works just the opposite of recreation expenses (above) – less early on, more expense later in life.
Miscellaneous: Personal grooming, pets, club memberships

Don’t forget that the cost of living will go up over time. The average annual rate of inflation over the past 20 years has been approximately 3 percent. And keep in mind that your retirement expenses may change from year to year. For example, you may pay off your home mortgage or your children’s education early in retirement. Other expenses, such as health care and insurance, are bound to increase as you age. To protect against these variables, build a comfortable cushion into your estimates (it’s always best to be conservative). Finally, have a financial professional review your estimates to make sure they’re as accurate and realistic as possible. Don’t forget to factor in insurance benefits (especially medical) as your out-of-pocket costs are likely to be much different in retirement than when you’re working.

Decide When You’ll Retire
To determine your total retirement needs, you can’t just estimate how much annual income you need. You also need to figure out how long you’ll be retired. Why? The longer your retirement, the more years of replacement income you’ll need to fund it. The length of your retirement will depend partly on when you plan to retire. This important decision typically revolves around your personal goals and financial situation. For example, you may see yourself retiring at 50 to get the most out of your retirement. Maybe a booming stock market or a generous early retirement package will make that possible. Although it’s great to have the flexibility to choose when you’ll retire, it’s important to remember that retiring at 50 will end up costing you a lot more than retiring at 65 because there will be many more years’ worth of expenses you’ll need to cover. Plus in your earlier years you’ll likely be more active (spending more money) than you will later in life when you may become more sedentary.

Estimate Your Life Expectancy
The age at which you retire isn’t the only factor that determines how long you’ll be retired. The other important factor is your lifespan. We all hope to live to an old age, but a longer life means that you’ll have even more years of retirement to fund. You may even run the risk of outliving your savings and other income sources. To guard against that risk, you’ll need to estimate your life expectancy. You can use government statistics, life insurance tables, or a life expectancy calculator to get a reasonable estimate of how long you’ll live. Experts base these estimates on your age, gender, race, health, lifestyle, occupation, and family history. But remember, these are just estimates. There’s no way to predict how long you’ll actually live. With life expectancies on the rise, it’s probably best to assume you’ll live longer than you expect. To be conservative, you might project out to age 100 (or longer, if longevity is in your genes!).

Don’t Forget to Inflate!
But you can’t just come up with an expense figure and simply multiply it by the number of years you’re planning on living… remember that little factor mentioned earlier: inflation? Not considering the impact of inflation can cause your plan to run off the rails – and soon you’d run out of money altogether. As we sometimes morbidly joke in this business, you may want to increase your bacon intake to match up with your portfolio’s longevity!

It’s a fairly simple matter to project out the future value of your retirement income requirement, using the average inflation rate of 3% (or higher to be more conservative), to give you a pretty good picture of the amount of money you’ll need when you retire. There are many calculators available on the internet to help you with this process – just go to your favorite search site (Yahoo!, Google, etc.) and search for “retirement calculator”. As an alternative, a financial advisor will be happy to work with you to come up with a reasonable figure for your own circumstances.

Identify Your Sources of Income
Once you have an idea of your retirement income requirement, your next step is to determine just how prepared you are to meet those needs. In other words, what sources of income will be available to you in retirement? Your employer may offer a traditional pension that will pay you monthly benefits (although this is becoming increasingly rare, especially in the private sector). In addition, you can likely count on Social Security to provide a portion of your retirement income, although many younger folks are making their plans without factoring in Social Security, just in case it’s not there in the long run. You can get an estimate of your Social Security benefits by visiting the Social Security Administration website (www.ssa.gov) to download a copy of your statement.

Other sources of retirement income may include a 401(k) or other retirement plan, IRAs, annuities, and additional investments. The amount of income you receive from those sources is dependent upon the amount you invest, the rate of return on your investments, the internal costs of the investments, and other factors. Finally, if you plan to work during retirement, your job earnings will be another source of income.

Make Up Any Shortfall
If you’ve been diligent about saving, or are fortunate enough to have a funded traditional pension plan, your expected income sources may well be more than enough to fund even a lengthy retirement. But what if it looks like you’re going to come up short? Don’t run screaming down a hallway (it doesn’t help) – there are always steps that you can take to bridge the gap. A financial professional can help you figure out the best ways to do that, but here are a few suggestions:

Try to cut current expenses (in your working years) so you’ll have more money to save for retirement. This will have the added benefit of teaching you to get by on a little less both now and in the future, as well. Think of it as a “practice” retirement.
Shift your asset allocation to increase the potential returns on your portfolio (always keeping in mind that a portfolio that offers higher potential returns most likely involves greater risk of loss).
Lower your expectations for retirement so you won’t need as much money (no beach house on the Riviera, instead maybe you’ll plan to buy a Buick Riviera to drive to the rental beach house once a year!)
Work part-time during retirement for extra income. Many folks are doing this nowadays, as the “kick back and relax” style of retirement is not their cup of tea. Staying active tends to maintain your health as you age, both physically and mentally.
Consider delaying your retirement for a few years. Instead of a big fat “I QUIT” at your planned age, consider shifting gears and pursuing a different career, something that you’re passionate about that you always dreamed of doing.

I hope the above discussion helps you to be better prepared as you plan toward your retirement. Too often, I talk to folks about their goals for retirement, and they’ve never considered the income side – the primary aim they have in mind is a particular age. By focusing on the retirement income requirement, you can be much better prepared for a long, happy, restful vacation from “work”.

Posted on Dec 28th, 2015

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: budgeting, financial planning, IRA, retirement plans, retirement savings.
Tagged: 401k · budgeting · IRA · retirement

Three Year-End Financial Moves

Dec 28th, 2015

by sraskie.

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As 2015 comes to a close here are a few things to consider so you can make the most of your money for 2015.

Take full advantage of your IRA contributions. For those age 50 and over, you’re allowed $6,500 and if you’re under age 50, $5,500. It may also be of benefit to see if you qualify for a deductible IRA contribution or if contributing to a Roth IRA makes sense.

Make the maximum contribution to your employer sponsored retirement plan. Granted, there may not be much time left in the year to do this, but there is plenty of time to do so for 2016. Many companies have access to their plans online and employees can change contribution amounts when necessary. If you’re not already doing so, consider saving at least 10 percent of your gross income. Aim for 15 to 20 percent if you can. Pay yourself first and live off of the rest.

Consider starting or contributing to a 529 college savings plan. Many children received gifts of money this Holiday season. Parents can help compound that gift by saving for college. Contributing to a 529 plan allows money to grow tax-deferred and qualified education expenses taken from the plan are tax-free. Some states allow tax deductible contributions.

Come soon we’ll have a great list of financial things to consider for a prosperous and financially sound 2016.

Posted on Dec 28th, 2015

by author: sraskie.

Posted in: #noTOP, 401k, 403 b, 457, 529, 529 plan, fee-only, fiduciary, financial planning, IRA, Roth IRA, roth ira, roth ira contribution.
Tagged: 401k · 403b · financial planning · IRA · roth ira

2016 IRS Mileage Rates

Dec 23rd, 2015

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auto The IRS recently announce the standard rates for business mileage deductions, along with the rates for moving, medical travel and charitable travel.

There were reductions in the primary categories, as you will see in the list below. This is reflective of the reduction in fuel costs over the past year, and is part of a study done annually to determine the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile.

As of January 1, 2016, the following standard rates apply for operating a car, pickup, van, or panel truck, for the various categories:

54¢ per mile for business (was 57.5¢ per mile in 2015)
19¢ per mile for moving purposes (was 23¢ in 2015)
19¢ per mile for medical purposes (also was 23¢ in 2015)
14¢ per mile for charitable purposes (unchanged)

The standard mileage rates are used by anyone who keeps a log of miles for the various categories to be used as deductions against income. The taxpayer always has the option of using actual costs instead of the standard rates.

However, if you use the actual costs method and claim depreciation using an accelerated method of depreciation (including MACRS or Section 179 expensing), you cannot switch back to the standard mileage rate on that particular vehicle later. Plus, you cannot use the business standard mileage rate for more than 4 vehicles simultaneously.

Posted on Dec 23rd, 2015

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: #noTOP, 2016 tax year, income tax, irs.
Tagged: income tax · irs

Charitable Contributions from Your IRA

Dec 21st, 2015

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contributed cat Once the PATH Act (Protecting Americans Against Tax Hikes) is signed into law, at long last the ability to make a direct contribution from an IRA to a qualified charity will be permanent.

For background – a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) is when an individual (age 70 1/2 or older and subject to Required Minimum Distributions from his or her IRA) makes a distribution from his IRA directly to a qualified charity. This distribution can be used to satisfy the Required Minimum Distribution for the year. The distribution is limited to $100,000 for each year per individual.

The real advantage of this option is that the owner of the IRA doesn’t have to claim the distribution as taxable income on his or her tax return. Any other distribution of pre-tax dollars typically must be claimed as ordinary income, increasing taxes because of the additional income.

In addition, having the increased income can cause other tax credits and deductions to be reduced (since the Adjusted Gross Income is greater). Medical expense deductions, limited to the amount above 10% of your AGI, is one such deduction that is impacted this way. For example, if you had deductible medical expenses in the amount of $10,000 for the year and your AGI is $75,000, you are allowed to itemize $2,500 in medical expenses ($10,000 minus $7,500, 10% of your AGI). If you took a distribution from your IRA to satisfy RMD in the amount of $10,000, your AGI would increase to $85,000 and therefore reduce your deductible medical expenses to $1,500 ($10,000 minus $8,500, 10% of your AGI). Because of this differential, since the QCD is not counted as income at all, this is much preferred to taking a distribution, counting it as income and then making the deductible contribution.

This QCD has been available for several years, but has always been limited to a year or two and renewable by Congress (it has always been renewed, sometimes retroactively). Most recently the provision expired at the end of 2014 and has not been available in 2015 (until the law is signed). Because of this late extension of the provision, often taxpayers don’t know whether the provision will be allowed until very late in the year, and have often already taken their RMD earlier. The PATH Act takes the action of making this option permanent. Now you can plan and make the QCD at any time in the year and know that it’s going to be available.

If you already took your RMD for the 2015 tax year there is no way to undo this fact, but you could still make another distribution directly to a qualified charity if you like. Or you could donate your RMD in cash to the qualified charity, increasing your income by the distribution and then taking the charitable contribution deduction on your tax return.

Posted on Dec 21st, 2015

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: #noTOP, 2015 tax year, IRA, QCD, required minimum distribution, rmd.
Tagged: IRA · QCD · required minimum distribution · rmd

The Power of Compounding

Dec 18th, 2015

by sraskie.

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Many individuals understand the power of compound interest. They understand that compound interest means money or interest earned on interest received. That is, if I earn 5 percent interest annually on one dollar, in one year I’ll have $1.05, but in two years, I’ll have $1.1025, not $1.10.

Granted, this may not seem like a lot; and it isn’t. But on several thousand or hundred thousands of dollars it really starts to add up. This post is mainly for those individuals who haven’t heard of this concept or haven’t started utilizing it to their advantage. Mainly, I’m addressing millennials and college students.

Those individuals in the cohort I’m address have one powerful thing on their side: time. We’ve written before on this blog about the power of time and starting to save early. We showed the comparing of someone starting right away either during or right after college and another start 20 years after college – perhaps in their 40s.

The post showed that the individual that started early, ended up having to save less, but earned more in the long run as compared to the late starter – due to starting early and the power of compounding.

So if you’re in college or consider yourself a millennial, consider starting to save today in an IRA, your employer’s 401(k), or a non-qualified investment account. Additionally, there’s also another way to take advantage of compounding – and that is continuing to invest in your human capital.

Investing in your human capital means continuing education such as a designation, advanced degree or personal development through reading books or taking courses in an area of study. This compounding of knowledge can help boost your income which will then allow you to save more and have more both now and for retirement.

To get started, consider exploring your employer’s plan. Try to save at least 10 percent of your gross income, and aim for 15 to 20 percent. The sooner you start and the higher percentage you choose the better. You won’t miss it. From there, consider opening and contributing to an IRA. In addition, explore options that may increase your human capital such as a Master’s Degree, PhD or other coursework.

However, carefully consider if the expense of such a degree or coursework will compound for you. What I mean is it’s important to analyze whether or not the advance degree make sense financially. If the advanced degree will cost five to six figures, but return very little in regards to financial increase, you may consider another route. While I am in favor of education, the last thing an individual wants to do is wind up six figures in debt without a significant financial return on that investment.

Finally, consider giving of your time and resources to others. Your generosity and advice to others compounds in ways you may not see physically (such as monetary or other rewards) but it will reward you holistically and potentially spiritually. After all, is anyone really self-made? I would argue no. They had help from others along their journey – both seen and unseen. And with some luck as well, they were able to make the most of what they were given. So will you; and then it will continue to compound.

Posted on Dec 18th, 2015

by author: sraskie.

Posted in: fee-only, fiduciary, financial planning, investing, saving.
Tagged: financial planning · investment · retirement savings

6 Strategies for Social Security Benefits That Are Still Available

Dec 16th, 2015

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Earlier this fall the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 was passed. This was important to folks looking to maximize Social Security benefits because two of the primary strategies for maximization were eliminated with the passage of this legislation. You may be wondering if there are any strategies left to help maximize benefits – and as it turns out, there are still a few things you can do. Four of these strategies apply to anyone, while the last two only apply to married couples. (Note: if you were born in 1953 or before, you have more options available to you as a result of the grandfathering of some rules. See The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details.)

Delay

Delaying benefits beyond age 62 or your full retirement age (FRA) continues to provide a strategy for increasing your benefits. In fact, this strategy alone is likely the most beneficial of all strategies dealing with maximizing benefits. The chart below represents the increase in benefits that you can expect by delaying from one age to the next.

Age	Increase Year-over-Year
Age	FRA=66	FRA=67
62	–	–
63	6.67%	7.14%
64	8.34%	6.67%
65	7.68%	8.34%
66	7.15%	7.68%
67	8.00%	7.15%
68	7.41%	8.00%
69	6.90%	7.41%
70	6.45%	6.90%

You may be wondering why the increase is less than 8% in the years following Full Retirement Age. This is because when you earn the 8% per year delay credit, that credit is applied to your Full Retirement Age amount. If you compare the amount you’d receive at 66 with the amount you would receive at age 70, the increase is 32% – 8% per year for four years. But each year-over-year increase is being compared to the prior year, not the FRA year.

Do-Over

Another option that has undergone a change over the years is the “do-over”. This is where you file for Social Security benefits and then change your mind and withdraw your application. In order to do you, you must pay back all benefits received to-date, and you can only do this within the first 12 months of receiving benefits. You also are limited to enacting this strategy only once in your lifetime.

Even with the limits, the do-over might be useful. For example, if you are delaying your benefits to age 70, and you have reached age 69. If you wanted to, you could apply for Social Security benefits now, and receive benefits for just less than a full year, having the money available to you to do as you wish during that time. Then, assuming nothing has changed about your life (health outlook is still good, no reason to believe you wouldn’t live a long, full life), you could pay back the money that you’ve been receiving for the past 11 months and withdraw your earlier application. Then you could re-apply for benefits as of your 70th birthday, with an increased amount.

On the other hand, if something happened during the intervening year and you decided you wanted to keep the benefits you’ve received for the year, just keep them and continue receiving benefits at the same level.

The example uses the ages of 69 and 70, but you could enact this strategy at any age from 62 onward. For example, you could file at age 65, wait 11 months, then withdraw your application and pay back the benefits. Then you could re-apply immediately, wait a year, two years, or four more years to re-apply.

Earning More Than the Limits

When you are receiving Social Security benefits and you are younger than your Full Retirement Age, earning more than certain limits can result in Social Security’s withholding some benefits – potentially even eliminating the current benefits you’re receiving. But the other thing that happens when these benefits are withheld is that you will eventually receive credit for those withheld months. This means that your filing date will be reset when you reach Full Retirement Age – increasing your available benefits. This strategy only applies while you are younger than FRA. After FRA you can earn as much as you like and no benefits will be withheld.

For example, if you started receiving Social Security benefits at age 62 and earned enough during the four years prior to reaching FRA to have four months’ worth of benefits withheld each year, a total of 16 months’ benefits were withheld. When you reach FRA, your filing date will be re-set from your age 62 to age 63 and 4 months (16 months later). This would have the effect of increasing your benefit by 9.49% from the age 62 amount. So if you were receiving $750 per month, the increase would bring your benefit to $821.

If your own benefit is being withheld due to over-earning, any other benefits paid on your record (such as spousal or other dependent’s benefits) will also be withheld. Unfortunately those withheld benefits are not credited back to your dependents later – they are gone for good.

Suspending

Although the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA15) made major changes to the “suspend” option, it can still be a viable strategy for some folks. In the past, suspend was usually considered a complement to “file” – you only heard of “file and suspend”. But in the new world after BBA15, you might find it advantageous to use a suspend strategy under certain circumstances. This is often referred to as “start-stop-start”.

For example, Steve is about to reach age 62, his wife Janice is 59, and they have an adopted son Joel, age 13, who is in their care. Steve’s PIA is $2,000. Steve can start his Social Security benefits at 62, which will make both Janice and Joel eligible for benefits based on Steve’s record. Janice can receive $762 monthly as a mother’s benefit, Joel can also receive $762 (these are less than 50% due to the family maximum limit). Steve will also receive $1,500 for his own benefit. The household total will be $3,024.

When Joel reaches age 16, Janice’s mother’s benefit will cease, and Joel’s dependent benefit will increase to $1,000. Steve is now age 65. When Joel reaches age 18, his dependent benefit will cease as well. Steve, now at age 67, could suspend his benefit, delaying for 3 years to pick up the delayed retirement credits. If he does this, his benefit at age 70 would have grown to $1,860 (from his reduced $1,500).

At the same time, when Steve suspends his benefit, Janice could start her benefit, providing some additional income during that period of time. The only thing that could not be done at that stage is for Janice to take a Spousal benefit, since Steve’s benefit is suspended.

This way Steve has maximized benefits for his own family circumstance early on, and then increases his benefit for later in life via suspending. As long as Steve isn’t working and earning more than the minimums (see above) this should work out just fine.

Adding Spousal Benefits Later

Another option that might be helpful for a couple is to time the filings so that one spouse can delay receipt of spousal benefits until later.

Taking the case of Steve and Janice above – when Steve suspends his benefits at age 67, Janice is age 64. Her PIA is $800, and so if she starts her benefit at exactly age 64 she could receive $693, a reduction of just over $100 from her PIA. Then, when Steve reaches age 70 and files for his own benefit again (Janice is now 67), Janice can add the Spousal Benefit to her reduced benefit.

The Spousal Benefit for Janice would be calculated as: 50% of Steve’s PIA ($1,000) minus Janice’s PIA ($800) which equals $200. This is the Spousal Benefit “excess” that will be added to Janice’s reduced benefit of $693, for a total of $893.

Maximizing Survivor Benefits

For a couple with similar PIAs and close ages, it may make sense to take one benefit earlier and the other later. This is to maximize the Survivor Benefit while receiving the most benefits early on in the process.

Take for example Beth, age 62 and Samantha, age 60, married for 3 years. Beth has a PIA of $2,200, and Samantha’s PIA is $1,800. Since their PIAs are fairly close in amount to one another, it is likely that neither would ever receive a spousal benefit based on the other’s record. Therefore we are mostly looking at two separate individuals’ records, with the difference being that one of the benefits will continue on in the event of the death of the first member of the couple.

Since Samantha’s PIA is smaller, it may make sense for her to file for her Social Security benefits at the earliest age, 62. This will result in a reduction of her benefits to approximately $1,300, but she will receive this benefit right away, and will receive it (with annual COLAs applied) until either she or Beth dies.

Beth, on the other hand, having the larger PIA, should delay receipt of benefits as long as possible in order to maximize her own benefit and the amount of benefits available as a Survivor Benefit to Samantha in the case if Beth should die first. Beth would receive approximately $2,904 if she delays to age 70 – and upon her passing, Samantha would receive this amount as well (Samantha’s benefit would cease at that time).

Posted on Dec 16th, 2015

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: Social Security, social security benefits, Social Security spousal benefit, social security survivor benefits.
Tagged: Social Security · social security spousal benefit

How to Take a Loan from Your 401k

Dec 14th, 2015

1 comment

loan You have this 401k account that you’ve been contributing to over the years, and now you’ve found yourself in need of a bit of extra cash. Maybe you need to cover the cost of a new furnace, or possibly you have some extra medical bills that need attention, and you don’t have the extra cash to cover. Whatever the reason, a loan from your 401k might be just the ticket.

A 401k (or other employer-based plan like a 403b, 457, etc.) is unique from an IRA in that you are allowed to borrow against the account. An IRA can never be borrowed against, any withdrawals are immediately taxable.

Before we go into the specifics of taking a loan from your 401k, since I’m a financial planner I have to put a word of warning out: Borrowing from your 401k should be considered a “last resort” option, when you’ve exhausted all other options. This is because when you take a loan from your 401k you are side-tracking your retirement savings due to the fact that you have to divert income toward paying back the loan. The end result is that instead of growing steadily via your payroll deductions, after the loan is paid back you’ll be pretty much where you were before.

The good news is that taking a loan from your 401k may be one of the most cost-effective loans available, since you’re effectively borrowing from yourself. The downside mentioned above should be factored into the cost, but if you’re really up against the wall and have no other options, you can do much worse than a loan from your 401k.

Taking a loan from your 401k

All 401k (and other qualified retirement plans) have the option of allowing participants to take a loan against the account. (Some administrators restrict the option, so you’ll want to check with the rules of your plan.) The way this works is that you determine the amount you want to borrow (there are limits, see below) and then complete the paperwork to arrange the loan.

At the time of the loan, you also must make arrangements for the payback. Typically this is handled the same way as your normal contributions to the account, via payroll deduction. There will be a particular interest rate applied to the loan, often referred to as tied to a rate index, such as “Prime plus 2%”.

Then your loan repayment period of time is set as well. The longest you can spread out your repayments is five years from the loan origination. You could choose a shorter period of time if you like.

In addition, if you are unable to complete the loan repayment schedule as planned, you may have to recognize the loan withdrawal (or remaining balance) as a distribution of taxable income. Plus, if you’re under age 59 1/2 this could also require a 10% penalty for early withdrawal, unless you meet one of the other early withdrawal criteria.

Loan repayment may be suspended for up to one year in the event of the employee’s taking a leave of absence, but the original loan repayment schedule will remain intact.

If you leave your employer, typically you are required to either pay off the loan completely (immediately). If you are unable to do so, you will have to recognize the outstanding balance as a distribution as described above.

What are the limits?

I mentioned earlier that there are limits to the amount that you can borrow in a loan from your 401k. The maximum amount that can be borrowed at any one time is 50% of your vested account balance, or $50,000. This means that if your 401k balance is $200,000, the most you can borrow at any one time is $50,000. On the other hand, if your account balance is $50,000, you can only borrow $25,000 (50%).

If your 401k balance is less than $20,000, you are permitted to take up to $10,000 or 100% of your vested 401k balance, whichever is less. So if your vested account balance is $7,500, the most you could borrow is 100%, $7,500. If the account balance is $18,000, the most you could borrow would be $10,000.

Posted on Dec 14th, 2015

by author: jblankenship.

Posted in: 401 k, 401k, qrp, qualified retirement plan.
Tagged: 401k · 401k loan · 403b · qrp · qualified retirement plan

Your Year End Financial Checklist

Dec 11th, 2015

by sraskie.

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As 2015 winds down it may be an ideal time to consider wrapping up (pun intended) some loose ends regarding your finances and getting ready to welcome 2016 financially prepared. Here’s a list of things to consider as 2015 comes to an end.

Have you made your maximum IRA contribution for 2015?

If you have yet to contribute the maximum to your IRA there’s still time. Individuals under age 50 can contribute $5,500 while those 50 and over can contribute $6,500. Individuals have until they file their 2015 taxes or the 2015 tax deadline (whichever comes first) to make their 2015 IRA contributions. Expecting a Christmas bonus? Your IRA is a good place to put it.

Consider increasing the amount you contribute to your 401(k).

If you’re not already maxing out your employer plan contributions ($18,000 if you’re under 50 and $24,000 if you’re 50 or older) consider increasing the amount you contribute. Many individuals get annual raises yet fail to give themselves a raise for retirement. An easy way to do this is simply save a set percentage (such as 10, 15, or 20 percent) and your contributions will automatically increase with raises.

Are you taking advantage of all your employer’s benefits?

Take some time to look at all the benefits your employer offers. This may be health and fitness plans, flexible spending accounts, and other benefits. Very often employers will provide these benefits at significant discounts as well as tax savings to employees.

Pay it forward.

For years you’ve read about us ranting about paying yourself first. But also consider looking back at your year and what you’ve accomplished and been blessed with. Then consider paying it forward. Give to others in need, volunteer to an organization that needs it, bring happiness to someone’s life.

Set financial goals.

Take some time to sit down and write sown some financial goals you’d like to accomplish in 2016. This could be becoming debt free, or simply paying down one debt at a time. Other goals may be to establish an emergency fund, save more for retirement or start a college savings plan. Goals aren’t goals until they’re written down and acted on.

Review your risk management.

This is a great time of year to review your auto, home, life, health, and disability insurance. Check to make sure your liability limits are high enough on your auto and home insurance. Look into your deductibles. If you have an older vehicle not worth much, consider raising or eliminating your deductibles to save premium. Take some time to do a video inventory of your home. In case of a total loss, you’ll have access to a video file of all of your belongings, making it easier to inventory those items if lost due to fire.

Review your life and disability insurance. In the event of your death, will your family have enough to keep living comfortably? Consider disability insurance if you don’t have it. Statistically, you’re more likely to become disabled during your working lifetime than you are to die prematurely. Hedge this risk with disability insurance to protect your income.

Talk with a financial professional.

Some of the items mentioned above may be confusing or even daunting to undertake. That’s where you can leverage the knowledge of a competent financial professional. An independent, fee-only fiduciary advisor can provide guidance on many if not all of the above issues while remaining legally bound to act in your best interest. A few hours and a few hundred dollars can set you up to meet 2016 with the confidence to achieve your financial goals.

Posted on Dec 11th, 2015

by author: sraskie.

Posted in: #noTOP, budgeting, fee-only, fiduciary, financial planning.
Tagged: fiduciary · financial planning · retirement plan

Social Security Ground Rules

Dec 7th, 2015

4 comments

(In celebration of the release, here is an excerpt with some extras, from A Social Security Owner’s Manual, 4th Edition.)

There are certain rules that will be helpful to fully accept as facts while you learn about your Social Security benefits. If this is your first reading of the list, skim through before moving on. Don’t expect to fully understand these rules on the start – but keep in mind you may need to refer back to this list of Ground Rules from time to time so you can keep things straight.

Basic Social Security Rules

The earliest age you can receive retirement benefits is 62.
The earliest age you can receive Survivor Benefits is 60 (50 if you are disabled).
Filing for any benefit before Full Retirement Age will result in a reduction to the benefits.
Your spouse must have filed for his or her retirement benefit in order to enable you to file for Spousal Benefits. This benefit may be suspended if the “suspend” is or was done prior to April 30, 2016.
File & Suspend and filing a Restricted Application are two distinctly different things. *Both of these options were curtailed significantly with the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA15).
- File and suspend to allow another person (spouse or dependents) to receive benefits based on your record is only allowed by April 30, 2016.
- Restricted Application is only available if you were born before 1954.
- See The Death of File & Suspend and Restricted Application for more details on each of these.
The earliest age you can File & Suspend is your Full Retirement Age. This applies whether you are suspending under the new rules (after BBA15) or the old rules.
The earliest age you can file a Restricted Application is your Full Retirement Age. *This option is only available if you were born before 1954. See the article referenced above for more details.
You cannot File & Suspend and file a Restricted Application at the same time. For some reason, many folks I hear from believe that in order to file a Restricted Application they must first File & Suspend. This is not true, if you File & Suspend you will not be eligible to file a Restricted Application. Read on for more details.
While technically allowed, there is very little accomplished if both spouses File & Suspend. Typically one spouse will File & Suspend and the other will file for Spousal Benefits based upon the first spouse’s record.
Only one member of a married couple can file a Restricted Application. The exception to this rule is for divorced spouses who remain unmarried – and are both over Full Retirement Age.
If you have filed for your own benefit prior to Full Retirement Age and are therefore receiving a reduced benefit by filing early, when you file for a Spousal Benefit you will never receive the full 50% of your spouse’s Primary Insurance Amount. This is due to the fact that the reduction to your own benefit from filing early continues to apply to your total benefit when the Spousal increase is added.
For every month after Full Retirement Age you delay filing for your own retirement benefit, you will accrue Delayed Retirement Credits, increasing your future retirement benefit when you file for it.
There is no increase to Spousal Benefits if the spouse delays filing for Spousal Benefits beyond his or her Full Retirement Age.
There is no increase to Survivor Benefits if the surviving spouse delays filing for the Survivor Benefit beyond his or her Full Retirement Age.

Posted on Dec 7th, 2015

by author: jblankenship.

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Posted in: Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, Social Security, Social Security Owner's Manual, social security retirement, Social Security spousal benefit, social security survivor benefits.
Tagged: BBA15 · Social Security · social security spousal benefits

5 Ways to Avoid Overspending for the Holidays

Dec 4th, 2015

by sraskie.

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Tis the season! With just over three weeks until Christmas day arrives there’s still plenty of time to get your Christmas shopping done and be able to do so without breaking your budget. To help individuals manage their Holiday spending, here are five tips to keep your Holidays budget from exceeding your limits.

Set a budget. This can be done by setting a budget per family you are giving to, or per child in your home. In addition, you could also set a budget regarding how much you’ll give to charity as well.

Stick to your budget. A budget is not any good if it’s not adhered to.

Avoid using credit cards to make your Christmas purchases. This gets a lot of folks into trouble and is truly the gift that keeps on giving in the form of excessive interest on the credit card balance. Only use your credit card if you know you’ll be able to pay it off at the end of the month. Another option is to be proactive. Many banks and credit unions have “Christmas Accounts” allowing money to be set aside to plan for Holiday expenditures.

Consider giving your time. This could be donating your time to a charitable cause, or investing more time to your family. Additionally, consider giving the gift of experiences. This could be mentoring a young person or new business owner.

Consider making your gift. Ideas could range from a photo collage of fun experiences with loved ones to more formal crafts if you’re so inclined. Stuck about an idea? There are several areas to look such as the Internet and Pinterest.

These are just a few ideas to help reduce the stress of overspending this Holiday season.

Posted on Dec 4th, 2015

by author: sraskie.

Posted in: #noTOP, fiduciary, financial planning, spending.
Tagged: financial planning

Our Investment Philosophy

Nov 30th, 2015

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Photo credit: nan

One of the most important parts of your overall financial plan is the investment plan. The investment plan is made up of three distinct parts: present value, projection of future inflows and outflows, and allocation. It is allocation that we’re most interested in with this article.

Allocation is the process of determining the “mix” of your investment assets: stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. as well as domestic and international categories. Allocation is determined by the philosophy that you choose to follow with regard to investment management. Our philosophy is summed up as follows:

Diversify
Reduce Costs
Pay Attention to Economic Signals
Maintain Discipline – Stick To Your Plan

Now, there are three primary schools of thought that are often relied upon to develop an Investment Philosophy: technical analysis, fundamental analysis, efficient markets hypothesis.

Technical Analysis is the review of charts of stocks and funds, with the belief that patterns within the action of a stock can provide insight into the future actions that the stock will experience. The theory is that investor behavior can be predicted based upon volume and stock price fluctuations, and given the prediction of this behavior, Technical Analysts purportedly take advantage of “knowing” what the future will bring. I’ve always likened Technical Analysis to palm reading…

Fundamental Analysis is where the data about a stock – the price-earnings ratio, expected growth rates, earnings projections, etc. – is studied in order to determine the “correct” price intrinsic within the stock. This intrinsic value is then compared to the trading value (present price) of the stock, and if the intrinsic value is higher than the trading value, this represents a buying situation; a selling opportunity exists if the intrinsic value is lower than the current price.

The third school of thought, Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH), explains away the benefits supposed by the Fundamental Analysis theory. With EMH, as the name implies, it is assumed that the market itself is very efficient with regard to the dissemination of information. In other words, when a piece of new information is made available about a stock, that information is quickly and efficiently spread to all interested parties, allowing for little, if any, opportunity for arbitrage. In today’s connected world, this spreading of information occurs at the speed of light.

For example, let’s say that Acme Motor Company is coming out with a new model of car, widely expected to be the savior for the company. As a result, Acme stock is highly valued, compared to recent history, in anticipation of this new model. During the testing of this new model, it has been determined that there are serious flaws in the design – turns out using aluminum foil for the engine block wasn’t such a good idea – and now the new model will not only be drastically delayed, it may be canceled altogether. If this new information were known only to a select few (outside the company), then those folks could take advantage of the situation, and short-sell the stock in anticipation of it’s expected fall in value. The Efficient Markets Hypothesis takes the stance that this kind of information is spread SO quickly that the opportunity for arbitrage is effectively wiped out.

So that explains how EMH addresses Fundamental Analysis – how does this help build our investing philosophy? How does the investor take advantage of the marketplace to their benefit? To answer these questions, we first need to take a walk – a Random Walk, specifically. “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”, by Burton Malkiel, first published in 1973 and now in its Ninth Edition, describes the activity of the stock market as a “Random Walk”. This is due to the observation that short-run changes in stock prices cannot be predicted, but rather are quite random.

Let me say that again: Short-run changes in stock prices cannot be predicted, but rather are quite random. It is for this reason that I often don’t pay much attention to the day-to-day fluctuations in the Dow or the S&P 500 – what I’m more interested in is the long-run direction of the market, which is illustrated by some very sound statistics. Specifically, I pay attention to the broad views of the domestic and world economies, including manufacturing, GDP, and jobs information; interest rates and inflation; as well as money supply and market valuations (for example, the forward view of price-earnings ratios of the broad indexes), among other things.

Against this backdrop of factors, the present momentum of the markets is also considered, since it is more likely that the market will continue in the direction that it has maintained over the previous 18 to 24 months than not.

So, how does all of this fit together? Let’s look at the four points of our investment philosophy again:

Diversify – by utilizing broad market indexes, covering all points of the marketplace both domestic and international as well as fixed income and equities, we are automatically diversifying across market capitalization, company, industry, and country. It just doesn’t make sense to choose a narrow band of investments when you can take part in the success of the overall economy – the global economy.
Reduce Costs – index mutual funds are the most cost-efficient investment vehicle in the industry. Expense ratios are well below 0.5% for most of these investments and often is less than 0.1%. In addition, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are also the most tax-efficient investment options available that invest in the unrestricted equity and bond markets.
Pay Attention to Economic Signals – when viewing forward-looking economic conditions, it is necessary to context the various signals together, considering the impact on your present investment elections. As indicated previously, short-run trends are difficult if not impossible to predict, but longer-run trends tend to have certain signals that indicate they’re on the horizon. Paying close attention to these signals can help with long-term decision making with regard to your investments.
Maintain Discipline – Stick to Your Plan – this goes hand-in-hand with the view that short-run trends cannot be predicted. In addition, short-run trends typically have little impact on the overall investment plan, provided that you maintain discipline and do not stray from the plan. The worst thing you could do is panic in a short-run market action and abandon your plan. The whole point of having a plan is to help you to get through those panicky times with confidence.

Posted on Nov 30th, 2015

by author: jblankenship.