Tag Archive: Financial Planning

How the IRS Taxes Your Retirement Income

2022-03-13

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2022-03-13

Oh, the day you can hang up your career and ease into that status you’ve been working toward most of your adult life, the place that brings a smile to your face, your happy place where you no longer answer to an employer, where you set your own schedule—that magical place called “Retirement.”

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Medicare Eats Up Most of the 2022 Social Security Raise

2021-12-01

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2021-12-01

There was dancing in the streets when Social Security announced that 2022 checks will go up by 5.9%, the biggest Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) in 40 years. But now, the streets are empty and the cheering is gone. Most of that Social Security COLA will be eaten up by increases in Medicare.

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10 Smart Money Moves to Make Right Now.

2021-10-28

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2021-10-28

2021 isn’t over yet. So here are 10 smart money moves to make right now. Saving money should be a year-round endeavor, but life gets in the way just like anything else. So with 2021 coming to a swift, thankful end, take advantage of the fourth quarter to accelerate your financial acumen, bolster your balance sheet and successfully springboard into the new year. Tip One: Max Out HSA Contributions for 2021. A Health Savings...

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Ask Bob – What Do I Do If I Choose The Wrong Medicare Plan?

2021-10-22

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2021-10-22

Alhambra’s Bob Williams answers the question, “What do I do if I choose the wrong Medicare Plan?”.

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Ask Bob: Withholding Taxes From Social Security

2021-07-22

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2021-07-22

Withholding Taxes From Social Security

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Don’t Be the Victim of These 20 IRA Mistakes

2021-04-06

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2021-04-06

Hey! It’s just an IRA. What is there to know? You put money in and it’s a tax deduction, you get to take it out after 59 ½ without paying a penalty, and at 72 the IRS makes you take some out. What else could there be? In reality, there’s a lot more.

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4 Social Security Planning Steps BEFORE You’re Ready to Retire

2021-03-10

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2021-03-10

Social Security is an important part of almost every retirement plan, whether you’ve saved enough or not. That’s why it’s important to know as much about your Social Security situation as possible. And you don’t want to wait until you’re about to retire to gather the facts and take appropriate steps. Social Security planning needs to start 5 years before your target retirement date.

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The Insatiable Appetite to Tax Social Security Benefits

2021-02-09

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2021-02-09

First, it was 10%, then 20%, and today more than 50% of U.S. retirees pay taxes on their Social Security benefits, and the number is expected to go even higher. The cause seems to be that one government hand doesn’t know, or care, what the other government hand is doing.

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Take Advantage of These COVID Estate Planning Opportunities by the End of 2020

2020-12-07

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2020-12-07

May you live in interesting times. Although that sounds like an ancient blessing, it’s believed to be a Chinese curse casting instability and uncertainty on the person who hears it. Blessing or curse, it’s a great description of the year we’ve just come through, and in spite of all the turmoil, there are some things you can do before the end of 2020 to take advantage of all the madness.

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How Much Taxes Will Retirees Owe on Their Retirement Income

2020-11-10

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2020-11-10

Planning for retirement. We spend most of our working career preparing for it, saving for it, covering every contingency. When you finally wave goodbye to the company, you’re ready for all that planning to take over. But does your planning take into account the taxes you’ll have to pay on your retirement income? It’s one of the biggest retirement planning mistakes people make.

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17 States that Charge Estate or Inheritance Taxes

2020-11-03

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2020-11-03

State Estate & Inheritance Tax Rates & Exemptions in 2020
Death tax, inheritance tax, estate tax—call it what you will, they all mean that some government entity wants to put its hand in your pocket or your heirs’ pockets, after your demise.

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5 Estate Planning Myths That Can Derail Your Estate Plan

2020-10-18

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2020-10-18

You spend a lifetime earning, saving, acquiring. But the old adage is true—you can’t take it with you. So, what do you do with your assets when you’re gone? How do you want them distributed? That’s where a good estate plan comes in.

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Retirement Income Planning Truth with Jim Otar. Part 1.

2020-10-11

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2020-10-11

Index Value Over Time
Income is the lifeblood of retirement.  In Part 1, wisdom from the early chapters of Jim Otar’s new book about retiree income challenges is explored. A one-person revolutionary.

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12 States That Keep Retirement Dollars in Your Pocket

2020-09-18

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2020-09-18

Map courtesy AARP
“Will I outlive my money?” That’s one of the biggest concerns for most retirees. There’s the high cost of medical care, which gets more expensive all the time. There’s inflation, which raises the cost of goods and services, eating into your retirement budget.

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Medical Reimbursement Accounts

2020-09-17

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2020-09-17



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5 Tax Strategies to Help you Hold on to Your Money in Retirement

2020-08-05

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2020-08-05

What is retirement, really? We think we know. So, we do our best to prepare for both current circumstances and as many surprises as we can conjure up.  After all, with people living longer than ever before your money has to last longer than ever before.

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Is this the Beginning of a Recession?

2020-03-10

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2020-03-10

As I sit here Monday evening with the Dow having closed down 2000 points and the 10-year Treasury yield around 0.5%, the title of this update seems utterly ridiculous. With the new coronavirus still spreading and a collapse in oil prices threatening the entire shale oil industry, recession is now the expected outcome. Most observers seem to question only the potential length and depth of the coming downturn.

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Red Flags Over Labor

2019-11-10

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2019-11-10

Establishment Survey; Payrolls 2010-2019
Better-than-expected is the new strong. Even I’m amazed at the satisfaction being taken with October’s payroll numbers. While you never focus too much on one monthly estimate, this time it might be time to do so. But not for those other reasons. Sure, GM caused some disruption and the Census is winding down, both putting everyone on edge. The whisper numbers were low double digits, maybe even a negative headline estimate.

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