Retirement

By Lazetta Rainey Braxton, Next Avenue As a “preacher’s wife” (so vividly portrayed by Whitney Houston in a cinematic classic), I have witnessed many funerals where confusion and animosity clouded a celebration of life due to the proper lack of estate planning. Specifically, when there is no will in place, all hell tends to break

By Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell, Next Avenue Jane Coloccia is no stranger to moving long distances, having moved in 2014 from New Jersey to southern California. When she picked up the phone to hire a moving company earlier this year to relocate from California to northwest Oregon with her husband, Victor Teixeira, and their small dog, Sophie,

By Andrea King Collier, Next Avenue When I started this series at the beginning of 2021, my husband and I were preparing ourselves for our “big” 65th birthdays in November and December. It was all straightforward. We made a list of things we needed to tackle and went after it. And now, just like that,

The difference between a big tax bill at the end of the year and a rebate often comes down to two very important steps. For the self-employed, rebates require proper planning throughout the year, making sure you’re paying (without overpaying) the IRS every quarter. Second, it demands that you’re taking the right exclusions, deductions and

In May 2021, psychologist Anthony Klotz coined the phrase “The Great Resignation” to describe the record amounts of workers quitting their jobs after reevaluating their roles during the pandemic (cnbc.com, January 2022). Last year, on average, 3.98 million workers quit their jobs each month, the highest average on record since the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Some people who are still working after age 72 can delay required minimum distributions (RMD) from their 401(k)s, but there are important limitations. RMDs from your company’s 401(k) can be delayed until April 1 of the year after “the calendar year in which you retire from employment with the employer maintaining the plan,” according to

Parents often want to be fair with their adult kids and may want to appoint them together on legal documents when they do their estate planning. That means that the adult children will have “equal decision-making ability” on things like the Power of Attorney for finances or the Advance Healthcare Directive (aka power of attorney

Women may think about retirement as not working, rather than focusing on what it means to be financially free in retirement. Many women have thought about a day when they would not need to work a nine-to-five job but hold on to traditional ideas about retirement planning. For example, they ask themselves: Shouldn’t I take

Introduction to the Roadmap A recent Tax Court case gave a resounding victory to the taxpayer who had pursued what some might view as an aggressive split-dollar life insurance plan to minimize estate taxes. Estate of Marion Levine v. Commr. 158 T.C. No. 2, February 28, 2022. This follows prior cases that held pretty strongly

First a pint. Then a round, or two, or a few – add an order of fish & chips – and you have the makings of a fun evening with friends at the local pub. This is pub life. Pints and fish & chips aside, place matters. Where we live, and the nearby neighborhood places

The IRS issued IR-2022-69 on March 25, 2022, in which they reminded owners of retirement accounts that some must take their 2021 required minimum distributions (RMDs) by April 1, 2022. The language in IR-2022-69 referred to reaching age 72 after June 30, 2021, which caused some confusion. The confusion was because the new rule of

If the past few years have taught us anything, it is that if you put something off for too long, you may not have the chance to do it in the future. Many people are heeding that advice these days by changing jobs, getting divorced and buying homes. It is no different with estate planning.

Most of us know someone who has memory loss issues. Maybe we know someone who has cognitive impairment or dementia. What we don’t always see is how these issues affect the spouse of the impaired person. The caregiver role can turn into something no one anticipated. At the earlier stages of diseases that show up

For the first time since 2012 the IRS has updated the life expectancy tables that serve as the basis for calculating the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) for retirement accounts. The new tables reflect a longer life expectancy, and therefore have extended the distribution period which will lower the annual required minimum distribution. The actuarial calculations

Higher prices returned with a vengeance in 2021. During such bouts of inflation, commodities tend to do well. Last year the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI) earned 37.1%, far exceeding the S&P 500 and all other equity indices. It was the third best-performing asset class in 2021. Indeed, only Bitcoin (59.8%) and WTI Oil

“You don’t just have to want what you want,” a good friend of mine told me more than 20 years ago, “you have to want what your wants lead to.” Please let that sink in for a moment. It’s the simplest definition of second-order thinking I’ve heard, and it applies to wise decision making in

Most of us have been quite obsessed with our physical health these last two years. Like me, you can probably list all the possible symptoms of Covid, the signs of long-Covid, the possible reactions to the vaccines, the rates of illness among older adults, and the reasons why some people should be extra cautious about

In 2018, Fiona Frills, then 14, was interviewed for the book From Cradle to Retirement: The Child IRA. In that interview, she told the following story (page 143 of the book): Like many her age, Fiona Frills of Saratoga, California, loves YouTube. In fact, she loves it so much she started her own YouTube channel

By Nancy Collamer, Next Avenue Women of Color (WOC) are one of the fastest-growing demographics in corporate America. Yet despite their growing presence, many still struggle to flourish in the workplace. As the first Indian American woman to make partner at global services firm Deloitte, Deepa Purushothaman knows how challenging it can be for “the

During the working years, you pay a lot of taxes for Social Security and Medicare, but you later receive a lot of benefits. Over a lifetime, do your benefits equal or exceed the taxes? Your Social Security and Medicare taxes don’t go into separate accounts in your name the way 401(k) contributions are. That makes