Tax Planning Starts Now: 8 Things To Do Now to Lower Your 2024 Taxes - Part 1

It might seem a bit early to think about your 2024 taxes, but as the time for paying 2023 taxes comes to a close, it's the perfect time to take a closer look at your financial situation and make some strategic moves that can help you minimize your tax liability for this year.

Year-end tax planning isn't something you do at the last minute; it's a series of thoughtful steps you can start taking right now. In two segments, we’ll explain eight key actions you can take during this year to save money on your 2024 taxes.

Let’s get started.

FinanceStephen PennerApril 2, 2024Taxes, Income Tax

What the National Debt Ceiling Extension Means for Your Family

You’ve probably heard about the national debt ceiling and its recent extension, but you might wonder what it has to do with your everyday life as a family. While it may seem like a distant matter, the national debt ceiling extension can have a significant impact on your family's financial well-being and future planning.

So what exactly is the national debt ceiling extension?

The national debt ceiling is a legal limit set on the amount of money the government can borrow to finance its operations and meet its financial obligations domestically and around the globe. When the government reaches this limit, it cannot borrow more money unless Congress raises or extends the country’s debt ceiling. If the ceiling isn’t raised and the United States can’t pay back its debts, the country’s global creditworthiness is affected as well as financial security abroad and at home.

The National Debt is currently at the tune of $32 trillion with no current substantive or reasonable plan of paying it back. Instead, Congress raised the national debt ceiling on June 3, 2023, which means the United States will not default on its loans. This is good news in one sense but bad news in another. It’s certainly important to understand how the extension of the debt ceiling can still affect the economy and your family.

Here’s how the national debt ceiling extension can affect the economy, and your family, and what you can do to mitigate the impacts.

Economics, Finance, Estate PlanningStephen PennerJuly 14, 2023Debt, Family Governance, Recession, Taxes

Six Tips For Finding a Lost Old 401(k)

Unfortunately, for many it is now true that the days of working for a single employer for decades until you retire are over. Today, you are much more likely to change jobs multiple times during your career. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, today’s workers have held an average of 12 jobs by the time they reach their 50s.

Since people change jobs so frequently, it is easy to see you might lose track of an old 401(k) or retirement account, especially if you only worked in a position for a short time. In fact, forgetting plans is quite common: it’s estimated that roughly 900,000 workers lose track of their 401(k) plans each year. And when you forget to cash out your 401(k) upon leaving a job, your former employer might no longer have control of your account.

Even if the company you worked for is still up and running, businesses terminate 401(k) plans all the time, especially during economic downturns. The company is required by law to contact you if they terminate the plan, but if they can’t locate you, the money can be transferred to a bank, rolled into an IRA, or even sent to the state’s unclaimed property fund.

If you’re looking to increase your retirement savings, one way to start is to make sure you haven’t lost or forgotten about any old accounts. Here are six tips for tracking down a missing 401(k).

Finance, Estate PlanningStephen PennerJune 6, 2023Family Wealth Inventory, Retirement, 401(K)s

Why Seniors and Their Families Should Be Wary of Reverse Mortgages - Part 2

In the first part of this series, we discussed the dangers of reverse mortgages for senior homeowners. Here, we’ll look at how these complex loans can negatively impact your family and estate plan.

For decades, reverse mortgages have been touted as an easy way for seniors to access extra money during retirement. Indeed, there was a time not too long ago when it was nearly impossible to watch TV without seeing at least one commercial extolling the benefits of these unique mortgages.

Yet, reverse mortgages turned out to be a financial disaster for many senior homeowners and their families. Tens of thousands of retirees lost their homes to foreclosure after defaulting on what was promised to be a “risk-free” way to convert the equity in their homes into cash.

Moreover, reverse mortgages were aggressively marketed mainly to low-income homeowners, who possessed minimal financial assets outside of the equity in their homes—the very people most likely to default. And though the federal government has recently enacted new laws to better protect seniors, reverse mortgages are still being hyped as a safe way for retirees to obtain much-needed cash.

Estate Planning, FinanceStephen PennerJune 6, 2023Reverse Mortgages, Your Home

Why Seniors and Their Families Should Be Wary of Reverse Mortgages - Part 1

You may have seen the ads touting the benefits of reverse mortgages. These commercials over the years have typically featured famous actors like Henry “Fonzie” Winkler, Robert Wagner, and former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson telling elderly homeowners how they can dramatically improve their retirement with a reverse mortgage.

But what the ads don’t show is that reverse mortgages have actually caused heartbreak and financial devastation for thousands of elderly homeowners and their families. In fact, a USA TODAY review of government foreclosure data between 2013 and 2017 found that nearly 100,000 reverse mortgages failed during the years following the recession.

As a result, thousands of elderly citizens ended up losing homes that had been in their families for generations. In other cases, adult children, who expected to inherit the family home, were forced to sell the property (often below market value) or sign it over to the lender a few months after their parent’s death.

FinanceStephen PennerJune 5, 2023Reverse Mortgages

Frequently Asked Questions About Long-Term Care Insurance

Our nation’s population is aging at a faster rate than ever before, and collectively we are living much longer than in the past. In fact, by 2034, seniors (age 65 and older) will outnumber children under age 18 for the first time in U.S. history, according to Census Bureau projections.

With the booming aging population, more and more seniors will require long-term healthcare services, whether at home, in an assisted living facility, or in a nursing home. However, such long-term care can be extremely expensive, especially when it’s needed for extended periods.

Moreover, many people mistakenly believe that their health insurance or the government will pay for their long-term care needs. But the fact is, traditional health insurance doesn’t cover long-term care. And though Medicare does pay for some long-term care, it’s typically limited (covering a maximum of 100 days), difficult to qualify for, and requires you to deplete nearly all of your assets before being eligible (unless you use proactive planning to shield your assets, which we can support you with if that’s important to you and your family).

Estate Planning, FinanceStephen PennerJune 2, 2023Long-Term Care Insurance

Four Warning Signs of a Financial Scam

Nobody likes to admit they’ve fallen for a financial scam, but the fact is, it’s easier than ever to get caught up in one. This is especially true in today’s all-digital world, where practically every shred of data related to your personal and financial background can be found online.

While no one is forcing you to use the Internet to manage your financial accounts, purchase goods and services, or communicate with the outside world, these days it’s nearly impossible to live your life without the web. This net-based existence can feel somewhat unnerving for those of us who came of age while the tech revolution was already underway, but for the elderly, who lived the vast majority of their lives offline, it can be absolutely overwhelming.

Given their lack of tech experience, coupled with the fact that many of them are undergoing varying levels of cognitive decline and sometimes live lonely, isolated lives, scammers view seniors as easy targets. And many of today’s con artists are so sophisticated, even the most intelligent and educated can be duped.

To protect your aging loved ones (and yourself) from such predators, it’s critical to know the warning signs of financial exploitation. The following are four big red flags to watch for:

FinanceStephen PennerJune 1, 2023Financial Scammers, Stock Market, Savings, Investments, Index Funds

Want to Grow Wealth? Warren Buffet's Unexpected Investment Advice

If you are going to take investment and estate planning advice from anyone, Warren Buffett is likely one you want to consider. As one of the most successful investors in history, his track record speaks for itself. However, his wisdom goes beyond picking stocks and making money.

At this year’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting, Buffett shared several pieces of financial advice but also provided insights on the importance of personal growth and estate planning when seeking to grow wealth. While many of us may feel overwhelmed by the thought of estate planning or building our wealth, Buffett's advice reminds us of two key but simple steps we can take to create financial and generational wealth.

Should You (Or Your Parents) Be In the Stock Market Now?

If you or your parents have a retirement account (or any investment accounts for that matter), now is the time to get connected to how those accounts are invested. While you may have outsourced all of this to a broker in the past, you can no longer afford to allow your investments to be made without your clear understanding of exactly what you are investing in, how, and whether your investments align with your plans for the future.

A colleague shared a story that hit home with us, and it may for you as well.

After our colleague’s grandmother died, her grandmother’s retirement and investment accounts went directly to her mom, due to the estate planning they had set up. No court process. No intervention. No conflict. Great!

But our colleague’s mom then never looked at the investments in those accounts. She just let them stay as they were for four years, until finally, her daughters convinced her to look.

FinanceStephen PennerApril 25, 2023Investments, Index Funds, Stock Market, Retirement, 401(K)s, IRAs

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