The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump in 2017. The TCJA expires in 2025, which means one of three things: Congress and the President could work together to develop a new law, act to extend the current law, or let it expire, meaning the tax laws would revert to their 2017 levels. With tax day behind us, I thought… Read More
I remember listening to one of my parents’ friends talk about retirement. He was proud that his tax-free income was covering all of his expenses. Although I was in a pretty low tax bracket at the time, I liked the idea of not having any deductions from my paycheck. I didn’t know it then, but he was saying that his entire portfolio was in municipal bonds, which are generally exempt… Read More
President Joe Biden outlined his tax proposals in his address to Congress on April 28th and issued an 18-page fact sheet, which can be found by clicking here. There are many proposals, but here are some of the items of note for individual investors: The top tax bracket would increase to 39.6 percent from 37.0 percent. In 2021, the top bracket began at $523,601 for single individuals and $628,301 for… Read More
Following the election last November, I outlined what we could reasonably expect from the Trump administration (you can find the article here). The article may have been a little tough to follow because I was trying to meld what Trump had said on the campaign trail and two proposals floating around the House. At this point, the picture is a little more clear as President Trump and GOP leaders outlined their… Read More
One of the immediately obvious results of the election is that the tax code is going to change. Republicans have had several plans in the works for years that differ from what Trump has proposed on the trail, so the final result won’t be known for a little bit even though changes are a priority for the President-elect and both houses of Congress. Income Taxes For the sake of simplicity,… Read More
Although we all know that ‘tax day’ is April 15th, a holiday in Washington DC pushed back the due date until today. Here are some fun facts from efile.com to help ease the pain: In 1705, Russian emperor Peter the Great taxed beards in the hopes that more men would adopt a clean shaven look. Playing cards and dice were taxed in England going back to 1710 and rose to… Read More
I visit Morningstar’s home page almost every day. I love their data and like about one-third of their qualitative written commentaries. Despite being a daily visitor, I noticed for the first time yesterday a ‘Chart of the Week’ and decided to check it out. Since I was unable to get a copy of the image, I strongly urge you to click here to check out the chart yourself. Essentially, the… Read More
One of the questions that we get from time to time is why one spouses account is outperforming the other. It’s kind of a funny question because it reveals some sort of mild competition between a husband and wife, who are presumably on the same team. When there is a discrepancy, it almost always has to do with what type of investment we put in certain accounts. For example, imagine… Read More
