Retirement Account

If you haven't done any asset protection planning, your wealth is vulnerable to potential future creditors and, should the worst happen, you could lose everything.

Lawsuits, taxes, accidents, and other financial risks are facts of everyday life. And though you'd like to believe that you're safe, misfortune can befall even the most careful person. What can you do? First, identify your potential loss exposure, then implement strategies that are designed to help reduce that exposure without compromising your other estate and financial planning objectives.

Long term care is the type of care you may need if you have a prolonged physical illness, disability or severe cognitive impairment (such as Alzheimer’s disease) that keeps you from living independently.

Here are some very important things to consider when meeting with your financial advisor and planning you long term care:

• Two-thirds of people over age 65 will need long term care in their lifetime.
  

For many investors, investing typically begins with one stock or mutual fund. Over time, other selections are added because many people understand it may not be prudent to invest everything in a single security, even if it has a “blue chip” reputation. However, just “spreading money around” in a haphazard way may create only an illusion of diversification.

Now that the US Government has issued as much monetary stimulus as it can, I had thought about an alternative to outright distribution of money in order to prevent unequitable distributions of wealth.

Monetary stimulus where direct "forgiving" of taxes owed as a way to stimulate the economy is not economically unsound, but perhaps costs too much even for the government to decide what to do with the money.

It’s 2004 or 2005 – I can’t remember which one. Christmas time was nearing and I had never purchased anything online before. I’ll never forget it…I was on Overstock.com and ran across this really neat copper bowl that was hand made by people in Tibet. You could actually see the marks on the sides of the bowl from the wooden mallets they used. I knew my friend would absolutely love it. The price was right…besides I wouldn’t find one anywhere else, so I bought it on the spot. I also bought one for myself.

A unique opportunity is about to unfold for current IRA owners… In 2010 all clients are eligible for a Roth Conversion with no income limits prohibiting the conversion.

The Roth IRA permits tax-free growth and tax-free income distributions in retirement (assuming you are age 59.5 or older and have held your Roth account for a period longer than 5 years). You may also contribute to your Roth IRA at age 70.5 without having to take mandatory withdrawals. This makes the Roth extremely attractive for younger investors.

When it comes to pursuing the American Dream most of us try as hard as we can to accumulate wealth. We do this so that we can enjoy a comfortable income and retire with dignity. However, what if you were actually wealthy in retirement and at the same time looked poor on your income tax return? How would that impact your retirement years?

Tax Planning is always important to do but even more important now. It generally made sense to defer taxes to future years, but that may not be the case as it appears future taxes could be going up.

2010 Is a Big Sunset Year On-Tax Provisions
Several tax benefits will be going away. For instance, the top tax bracket will be going up from 35% to 39.6%, some talk of it going up to 45%. The minimum tax bracket will go from 10% to 15%. All of us will want to stay abreast of tax legislation. Because of the coming sunset on provisions,