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Starting a new job is very exciting, but the transition brings with it a lot of confusion regarding benefits, particularly retirement plans such as a 401k. If you have just recently made a job switch, or are in the process of doing that, know your rights and your options.

First, 401k accounts are portable- you will take the money with you through a process called a rollover. Essentially you take the distribution of your vested balance- the total amount you accrued from your own Read More…

The old adage about turning lemons into lemonade may turn out to be true with investment portfolios. While we all struggle with the down market and the possibility of further decline before it bottoms out, now may be a good time to gift a portion of your assets to beneficiaries, thereby reducing your taxable estate. (This is for federal taxes only. State laws on transfer taxes vary and may or may not apply).

      The key advantages are:

          o Lowering your property transfer taxes (for gifts and estates)
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New York State enacted new rules for hiring retired public employees, reporting attorney information and granting waivers. Public employers, including school districts, should become familiar with the new requirements and carefully review them before hiring retirees.

NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

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Henry Montag CFP, a financial planner in Syosset, New York, upon whom we rely on for insurance information strongly suggests that we address this issue. 

Most insurance sold in the past twenty years has been Universal Life Insurance.  Contrary to most people’s beliefs, this insurance will not last forever.  Unlike Whole Life Insurance, it does expire.  Without an annual review of your policy it is entirely possible that you can be left without life insurance when you’ll need it most, in your late 80s and early 90s.  The reason being that when these policies were created in the early Read More…

Many public corporations issue stock purchase plans for their employees. Others have a match program where for each percentage that the employee contributes, the company will deposit an equal percentage of company stock into their retirement account, sometimes at a discounted rate.

In years past, we have all heard the tall stories about the average Joe getting to retire rich on company Read More…

It is not only students who have much to learn this year. With all of the changes taking place in the world of 403bs, teachers and administrators are going to have to also be very diligent in keeping up with their studies.  With all of the plans and protocols in a state of flux, it has never been more important for you to understand your options as well as have the right tools to evaluate your options.

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Life has become so complicated! How can one make sure that you have done all that you can to protect yourself and your family. We all are concerned about our finances, minimizing taxes, and paying for health care especially long term care. We also want to help our families and our communities.

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As you attempt to build your financial life over the coming months and years, consider that if you are not working with a trusted financial advisor, you should make this priority number one. I have been a certified financial planner for the past thirty years and have always reminded clients that good financial advice doesn’t cost, it pays in more measurable ways than you can imagine.

But today, never has this been more true. Given the current world financial collapse, it has been the watershed event that proves that no one Read More…

If an IRA owner dies and leaves his IRA to a nonspouse beneficiary, that is considered to be an “inherited IRA”.

Example:
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Medicare is an age based health plan that is provided to individuals that reach age 65. It is partially funded by the Federal as well as State Government.   Medicare will pay for 80% of ones health care costs up to various guidelines and then it stops paying all together. It was never intended to pay for all of ones costs .   In order to cover the 20% that medicare will Not pay for people purchase  A Medicare  Supplement plan. these types of plans will not only pay for the 20% Not covered by Medicare but  will also pay for the various deductibles and co pays that are  the patients responsibilities.
 
Medicare and Medicare Supplement plans are very confusing issues that most individuals that become Read More…

There’s no such thing as a perfect investment but if there were it would look a little like this.
  
It would be extremely safe and secure with very little chance of losing any of your principal.  There would be Govt Guarantees to insure that your money would be returned. Remember in today’s investment environment the return OF your money is as important if not more than the return ON your money.
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If you are still doing your taxes once a year, you are losing out on a valuable opportunity to reduce your burden. A smart approach is to do a test run mid-year so that you can take advantage of strategies while there is time for them to make an impact before you submit your actual return. Here are some possible tax-saving ideas that are worth knowing more about, should they apply to you.

If you are a first time homebuyer this year, you will definitely want to look into the tax break that is Read More…

Sam wants to work but he is worried that he would lose his Social Security Disability Income Benefits (SSDI) which provide him with money each month to live on as well as allowing him to receive Medicare benefits for his health care.

Like many others, when Sam applied for SSDI he was denied benefits but was successful in the appeal process to obtain benefits retroactively.  Sam has been doing pretty good and would love to get back into Read More…

Sometimes I think that show “Flip This House” is the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the American public.  What really disturbs me the most that people actually take these things to heart and then apply them to their own life.  As a real estate appraiser I see people putting their heart and soul into upgrading or remodeling their house and then being devastated when they don’t make double their money back when it Read More…

Overeating isn’t the only cause of acid indigestion during this start of the holiday season. The other reason is that investors are examining their year-end statements and seeing the dramatic decline in value in just the past twelve months. This is especially true of those with IRAs and it raises many questions. Should they change the asset allocations? Continue to make contributions? What about switching to a Roth IRA?

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