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
I don’t have any real reason to be sad about Queen Elizabeth’s passing, but I felt a little down about it anyway. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I think I just loved the performances of Claire Foy and Oliva Colman in the Crown and Helen Mirren in The Queen, even if the portrayals could be tough. In any case, I read several articles from our press, but I… 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
People frequently ask me if they should use contribute to their ‘regular’ IRA or their Roth IRA. I’m usually wishy-washy in my answer because it depends on a variety of factors, including things that are simply unknowable. Before getting into whether you should or shouldn’t consider the Roth option, let’s review the basics. A ‘regular’ 401k (as people often refer to it when talking to me), is the traditional savings… Read More
There’s apparently plan floating around Washington that would dramatically change capital gains taxes, in my opinion, for the better. I try to be impartial about political matters (not always successfully, according to some readers), so for now, I want to leave aside the debates about whether the plan only benefits the rich, inappropriately adds to the deficit or whether it should be an act of Congress or a rule change… Read More
My wife and I were both very fortunate to have inherited some money. When we got married, almost 19 years ago, we found out that about 10 percent of our combined net worth was in General Electric (GE) stock. It was the largest position for both of us, actually. I received the stock when my grandfather died, which was right around the time that Jack Welch took over as the… Read More
If you’re writing a check to the government tomorrow for tax day, you’re probably not too happy about it. At least you’re not suffering like John Paulson, the hedge fund manager, who is writing checks to the Fed and state for over $1 billion – on top of the $500 million that he paid in estimates last year. I know, I know: it’s a high class problem that we would… Read More
One of the key elements of the new tax law is that it nearly doubles the standard deduction from $12,700 to $24,000 for joint filers (for simplicity, I’m not addressing individuals or heads of households, although the same concepts apply). Historically, about 70 percent of people used the standard deduction and that number is expected to jump to 90 percent under the new law. For the 20 percent that will… Read More
Late Friday evening, Congressional Republicans released the final version of their tax reduction and simplification plan. Although many elements match the House and Senate versions, there are some differences worth noting. I should point out, though, that the following is a broad summary – I haven’t read all 1,100 pages of the proposed law. Furthermore, this summary only covers the changes for individual filers, not corporations or partnerships. Lastly, you… Read More
