On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, containing a section known as SECURE 2.0, became law. It builds on the SECURE Act passed in 2019, revising existing rules around retirement saving. The legislation included considerable changes to improve the use of both ABLE and 529 accounts as well as paying off student […]
Simplifying the Investment Strategy Debate In the world of investing, the 60/40 portfolio has long been hailed as a tried-and-true strategy for achieving a balanced and diversified approach. It typically consists of allocating 60% of the portfolio to stocks and 40% to bonds. However, as the financial landscape evolves and new investment opportunities emerge, questions […]
For the past 20 or more years, Cathy and I have been rising early twice a week to join a 6:30 a.m. aerobics class. The participants have become like family over the years — to where we must know your date of birth before you can join. This is because the fellowship of gathering to […]
The reason so many of us love watching the holiday special It’s a Wonderful Life is the main character, George Bailey. Through George, we learn of the importance of sacrifice and redemption, small-town values, and, yes, the virtues of small banks. In a critical moment in the film, George hopes to prevent a run on his family’s […]
Hello again, and welcome to our fourth and final addition to our blog series called, Tax Planning 101. In our last three blogs, we provided a high-level overview of: How gross income is adjusted through the use of deductions (click here to read); How tax brackets apply to your taxable income (click here to read); […]
Hello again, and welcome to another addition to our four-part series called, Tax Planning 101. If you read our last two blogs, you learned about the income tax equation, tax deductions, tax brackets, tax filing statuses, etc. If you haven’t read the previous two blogs just click here to read the first one and click […]
We are back with another addition to our four-part series called, Tax Planning 101. If you remember our last blog, we walked through the how certain adjustments to your gross income are used to calculate your adjustment gross income, and then we took a stroll through both the standard deduction and itemized deductions. In today’s […]
Most people have at least a general understanding of how the U.S. income tax system works, being that the infamous Form 1040 (the U.S. Individual Income Tax Return) was created back in 1913. Whether you have filed your own taxes for the past 30 years, or all you know is that something happens on April […]
In 2022, we watched the former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his FTX cryptocurrency exchange collapse. With investors’ concerns it may result in another Bear Stearns moment, that collapse dealt a catastrophic blow to cryptos reputation and the plans and aspirations of many in this unique industry. The question now is, is this the end […]
With 2022 in the rearview, it’s tax-filing season. Below you’ll find an overview of changes in tax law for 2022 as well as a brief checklist of documents to gather when preparing to file. The first thing you should know is that the due date for your 2022 Form 1040 is April 18, 2023, instead […]