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Protect Yourself from Affordable Care Act Scams
Even though the Federal government is currently shut down, as this country moves toward the changes brought forth by the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, you should beware of the potential for the theft of your personal information. Remember, whenever a natural disaster or tragedy occurs or a new law goes into effect, scammers […]
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The Fiscal Cliff Deal: Things You Should Know
A recent article in Forbes discusses ten facts about the fiscal cliff deal that all Americans should be aware of. The Bush tax cuts were made permanent for most taxpayers. As to the federal estate tax, the exemption will remain at $5.12 million per person and indexed for inflation, with a tax rate increased from […]
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Estate Planning for Your Digital Assets
We live in a digital world. With every year that passes, more and more of our lives are moving into the digital ealm. This includes friendships, networking, business and banking. Many people would now consider their Facebook password to be just as secret and sensitive as a credit card or social security number! We all […]
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The Year of Gifting
The year 2010 was the perfect year to die. The estate tax had expired and Congress could not get itself together in time to reinstate it for that year. Smart people like George Steinbrenner took advantage of the situation and departed this earth with no worries about the federal estate tax. It seems, however, that […]
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Changes in Estate Tax Law Require Regular Review of Estate Plans
The past few years have seen a number of significant changes in estate tax law; so much so that estate planners—as well as anyone with a will, trust, or estate plan themselves—have had to stay on their toes! The most significant event in recent estate tax history was the lapse of the estate tax in […]
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Should Zombies Pay Estate Taxes?
How dead do you have to be before the government can tap your estate for estate taxes? Do you have to be only kind of dead, or do you have to be fully dead-dead? This is the subject of a new law review article by Adam Chodorow of the Arizona State University law school, as […]
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Do You Know How Much Your 401(k) Is REALLY Costing You?
Do you know how much your 401(k) is costing you? Are you sure? What most people don’t know is that many employees with “free” retirement plans through an employer actually pay a number of hidden fees. According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, “71 percent of plan participants don’t think they pay any […]
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Facebook Founders Use GRATs to Avoid Excessive Taxation; You Can Too
News sources recently revealed that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg—as well as other Facebook top brass—use Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts to protect their assets and investments from excessive taxation. Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (more commonly called GRATs) are a perfectly legal—and very efficient—way to protect and pass significant assets from one person to another without incurring […]
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Planning for Death Can Be a Celebration of Life
October and November is the one time of the year when not only is it ok to think about death, it’s expected! So it seems like the perfect time to bring up the subject of funerals—specifically your own funeral. It has been said that funerals and memorial services are for those who are left behind […]
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Death of Steve Jobs Saddens the World
The recent death of creative visionary and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs saddened the world. News of his death traveled like wildfire, and had the online social networks humming with tributes, memorial posts, and sentiments of grief. Mr. Jobs was very private about his personal life, but through his public appearances and his support of various […]
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