This is a letter that I began composing back in 2008, and I was absolutely surprised at the positive responses received from clients. There are some new items for 2020 (primarily retirement and estate planning issues affected by the recently passed SECURE Act), but I have kept the framework the same because the basics really never change. It’s resolution time, so here we go again!
Financial Planning
The SECURE Act was a certainty early in the year but seemed to die off over the last few months. However, the budget bill did include this act, which was signed into law on December 20, 2019.
The House’s H.R. 1994: “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement” (SECURE) Act has gained a lot of traction and bipartisan support. The Senate’s own version H.R. 1007: “Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act” (RESA) has also made significant progress. As such, much ink has been spilt discussing the changes.
“We become what we think about.” – Earl Nightingale
According to Mr. Nightingale, I must be taxes. As many of you who know me are aware, I became addicted to learning tax law in my senior year of college.
This is a letter that I composed back in 2008, and I was absolutely surprised at the positive responses received from clients. There are some new items for 2019, but I have kept the framework the same because the basics really never change. So here we go again!
“… in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” – Benjamin Franklin
Much has changed in the world of taxes because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), but paying taxes remains (and, of course, we will all die eventually). I have written much over the last year regarding changes to taxpayers’ income tax liabilities, but none related to estates. The main reason? Not much changed, but there is plenty of planning still to do.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was passed in late 2017 making changes to several income tax provisions like brackets, standard deductions, personal exemptions, and corporate tax rates. . A relatively unknown provision included, which garnered bipartisan support (a rare thing, indeed), is Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOF).
Investing internationally has become a standard method of diversifying the return streams of an investment portfolio. Rather than being subject merely to performance of the domestic markets, such as the S&P 500 or Dow, diversifying internationally is supposed to provide investors with a smoother stream of returns over time.
Each year I write about Georgia’s QEE Credit program that allows state citizens to donate to a qualified school in return for a credit against state income taxes. (See this year’s article here).
No, this isn’t some newfangled common core math test! My daughter is 7 years old and, despite her parents’ mathematical abilities, she struggles with math. Addition makes sense, but subtraction is a challenge. 2+2 is most definitely 4 but 4-2 isn’t as clear cut. It reminds me of the accounting joke, “what’s 2+2?” “Whatever you want it to be.” So, at this point you may be wondering why 10 – 2 = 0.28.
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