What Should You Keep?
Even with less itemizing, there are still tax documents you want to retain for years to come.
Fewer taxpayers are itemizing in the wake of federal tax reforms. You may be one of them, and you may be wondering how many receipts, forms, and records you need to hold onto for the future. Is it okay to shred more of them? Maybe not.
Tax Efficiency in Retirement
How much attention do you pay to this factor?
Will you pay higher taxes in retirement? Do you have a lot of money in a 401(k) or a traditional IRA? If so, you may receive significant retirement income. Those income distributions, however, will be taxed at the usual rate. If you have saved and invested well, you may end up retiring at your current marginal tax rate or even a higher one. The jump in income alone resulting from a Required Minimum Distribution could push you into a higher tax bracket.
Are the days of itemizing over? Not quite, but now that H.R. 1 (popularly called the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act) is the law, all kinds of itemized federal tax deductions have vanished.
In the realm of financial planning, time is our most valuable asset. It’s available to all of us, providing each individual with the same opportunity to optimize its value in building wealth. It’s the only resource we all have over which we have some degree of control.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why 60 is considered retirement age? Some public services - like the police force in certain countries - require you to stop working at 60.
If you’re a fan of political dramas on televisions, you’ll know that the turbulent world of politics has an affect on the global financial markets. But what about in real life? How much does art - if you can call shows like Scandal, Veep, and House of Cards art - imitate life, and vice versa?
Summer’s finally here. The sun is out, it’s warm, the days are longer, and your worries seem just a little bit further away. But, folks, I’m sorry to say, sometimes storms roll in on the sunniest of days.
An increasing number of people are starting to understand that their real risk exposure is not in the costs associated with repairing or replacing their car or home, rather it is in the far more costly liability risk. Yet, most people drastically underestimate their personal liability risks.
Business owners, by their nature are creatures of optimism. The last thing that business owners want to think about is what can go wrong. If they have the right kind of insurance coverage, they may not have to think about it. It takes a thorough assessment of all of the possible risks and the business’ exposure to them to construct the right kind of insurance coverage.
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