In today’s blog post, learn 3 reasons why it may be advantageous for you to start converting some of your IRA to a Roth IRA (known as a Roth IRA Conversion). Doing so could significantly improve your net worth and protect you from an uncertain political future.
This week’s Articles of Interest is a continuation from last week’s article. Last week I shared an article that discussed the tax reform plan released by the House. This week, the Senate unveiled a plan of their own which differs from the House plan. Today’s article from WealthManagement.com is titled Everything You Need To Know About The Senate GOP Tax Proposal. In the article, Erik Wasson and Sahil Kapur discuss the differences between the House and Senate Plan.
While there are some major differences, it appears that neither plan effectively helps small businesses. Large corporations are the real benefactor here. They get a top tax rate of 20% while many small businesses will still see top tax rates of up to 39.6%. This is unfortunate as small business drive the majority of employment in our country.
Stay tuned as I’m sure this tax reform bill will continue to change. We will be sure to keep you informed. Read more “Articles of Interest: [Breaking News] Tax Reform Part II”
On Thursday, the House GOP released an outline of their proposed tax reform bill known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. In today’s Article’s of Interest, I am sharing an article from ThinkAdvisor titled GOP Tax Reform Bill Unveiled: A First Look.
This article provides an overview of what is being proposed. Included are significant changes to income tax brackets, standard deductions, child tax credits, among other things.
Note that this bill is not finalized and still must be voted on. As more details become available we will be certain to share them with you. Read more “Articles of Interest: [Breaking News] Tax Reform”
I’m very happy to report that I’ve recently been published on ThinkAdvisor.com. The article I wrote for them is titled An Unconventional Approach to Asset Location.
Asset location is when you strategically place certain asset types (i.e. stocks and bonds) into certain account types (i.e. IRAs and taxable accounts). If done properly you could end up with a higher portfolio value due to the tax savings.
The traditional advice with asset location strategies is to invest tax-inefficient investments (i.e. bonds) in tax-deferred or tax-free accounts and to invest tax-efficient investments (i.e. stocks) in taxable accounts.
However, this is not always the best advice.
If you are eligible to but are not taking advantage of itemized deductions on your tax return, then you could be missing out on thousands of dollars in tax savings. Many people do itemize but are capped because they make too much money. And if you’re in this camp, maybe you’re wondering what you can do to shelter more money from taxes.
If you work for a company that has a 401k, 403b, or any other tax deferred retirement plan, then you should be contributing. There really is no better tax shelter than this, especially if you are in a very high tax bracket.
This advice may sound basic, but often times that is the best advice possible. Read more “The Ultimate Tax Shelter”
As a business owner you have a tremendous opportunity that your employees do not have. You have the ability to set up a 401k plan.
Employees don’t have a say in what type of retirement plan, if any, their company offers.
But for you, as a small business owner, you get to choose whether or not to implement a 401k plan (or some other type of plan). And you get to choose how to set this plan up which can dramatically impact the amount of money you are able to save and shelter from taxes.
In my last blog, Should You Set Up A Small Business 401k, I discussed how a business owner can use a retirement plan, such as a 401k, to fund their personal retirement.
But today, before I discuss the benefits of setting up a 401k, I want to address a thought that many small business owners have: Read more “4 Secret Benefits of Setting Up a 401k”
401k plans are a great tool for small business owners to achieve their retirement goals. But let’s not put the cart before the horse.
The first question to ask is:
The answer to this question is “it depends”.
Every small business owner has different goals. Maybe their goal is to provide a benefit for their employees. Maybe it’s to provide themselves with a vehicle to fund their personal retirement. Maybe it’s to minimize taxation. Or maybe it’s a combination of all three.
Other goals revolve around when a business owner will retire (if at all), their desired standard of living, and how much they need to save (if any at all).
It’s these types of issues that need to be addressed in order to determine if you should set up a 401k. We’ll discuss more about this in a moment. Read more “Should You Set Up A Small Business 401k?”
Many people don’t truly know what comprehensive financial planning is.
They don’t understand that it is a process whereby a Financial Planner helps them to: (1) increase cash flow, (2) minimize taxation, (3) protect their assets (think cars, homes, investments, income, etc.), (4) be proactive and minimize risks, (5) pass assets efficiently and cost effectively to heirs, (6) and many other items. Read more “What Does A Comprehensive Financial Plan Look Like?”
Tax efficient investing is likely something that has crossed your mind. After all, who doesn’t want to save money in taxes.
There are two strategies that I want to discuss today that you can use to make your investments more tax efficient and put more dollars back into your pocket.
CAPITAL GAINS STRATEGY
If you invest in mutual funds then it is likely that you are incurring unnecessary taxation. Read more “Tax Efficient Investing”
If you’re still using Mutual Funds and haven’t explored ETFs, then shame on you. Okay, okay….. That may not be completely fair since you may have never even heard of ETFs. So, let me back up and tell you what an ETF is.
An ETF is an Exchange Traded Fund. But what does that mean? If you are familiar with mutual funds then understanding ETFs will be easy. An ETF is simply just a bucket of stocks or bonds, just like a mutual fund is. However, that’s really where the similarities end.
We’ll talk more about ETFs vs Mutual Funds in just a moment. Read more “ETFs vs Mutual Funds | Which is Best?”