Posts by Bruce Starks, CPA, CFP®
CFP® Certificants in the News: Women’s Initiative (WIN)
CFP® Certificant in the News According to the CFP Board, “the percentage of women CFP® professionals has remained flat at 23 percent for at least a decade.” Based upon CFP Board commission researched aimed at increasing that percentage, the “WIN Council” and “WIN Advocates” were created by the Board. Key information follows: “WIN Council Following…
Read MoreExpanded Annual Exclusion Amount
Course: Estate Planning Lesson 5: Transfer Taxation II – Lifetime Transfers Student Question: Hi Bruce, I’m reading about the “expanded Annual Exclusion Amount of $155,000.” Just so I’m clear, is this an expansion from the “regular” $15,000 Annual Exclusion Amount? And what is it for? Thanks! Kevin Instructor Response: Hi Kevin, You are correct. The…
Read MoreGood to Know: Dangerous Mistakes In Retirement – Excessive Annual Withdrawal Rates
Good to Know Six of every ten Americans fear running out of money in retirement more than death. This is the first of three blogs addressing financially dangerous and avoidable retirement mistakes. Today’s focus is upon avoiding excess withdrawal rates from one’s retirement portfolio. Before we begin, let’s address the common phrase “safe withdrawal rate.”…
Read MoreQTIP Marital Trust
Course: Estate Planning Lesson 10: Application of Estate Planning Concepts Student Question: HI Bruce- Can you help clarify for me seemingly contradictory information in the two sentences below regarding “disinheriting children”? The first sentence seems to imply that the surviving spouse could disinherit children. However, the second sentence states that QTIPs are often used to…
Read MoreHow To Protect Your Digital Assets
CFP Board’s November 2019 “Let’s Make a Plan” newsletter addresses digital security and more There’s never been a time in history when it was more important to keep online financial records private. For example: A 2019 Pew Research Center FACTANK report indicates 9 in every 10 Americans use the internet for online shopping and social…
Read MoreContingent Business Interruption versus Extra Expense Insurance
Course: Insurance Planning Lesson 6: Commercial Property and Liability Insurance Student Question: Can you please provide an example of contingent business interruption and extra expense insurance? Laura Instructor Response: Hi Laura, Good question. Here’s how contingent business interruption insurance might apply. You own a nationwide chain of jewelry stores that specialize in gold/palladium alloys. Your…
Read MoreThe Loss of One-Half of Marital Assets in a Spousal Application for Medicaid Long-Term Care Insurance
Good to Know Married clients could lose one-half or more of their jointly owned countable assets when a spouse applies for Medicaid Long-Term Care insurance (LTCi). Countable assets1 include cash, publicly traded investments and other assets. Today, we’ll focus on creating the awareness needed to potentially avoid the loss of countable assets. But first, let’s…
Read MoreMaximum Family Benefit
Course: Insurance Planning Lesson 10: Social Security Student Question: Does the maximum family benefit apply to a husband and wife that are both fully insured if the combined total between the two exceeds the maximum family limit? If I understand correctly, the maximum family limit only applies if there are beneficiaries within the family receiving…
Read MoreCrummey Powers
Course: Insurance PlanningLesson 16: The Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust Student Question: Must Crummey powers always be in effect to apply the annual gift tax exclusion in order to transfer to an Irrevocable Trust? Or is it the case that as long as it was done once, will all transfers be eligible for the annual gift…
Read MoreGood to Know: Lesser Known Ways To Qualify for Medicaid Long-Term Care Insurance
Good to Know In our last blog, we identified three ways to manage the risk of long-term care expenses: Self-insurance for wealthy clients Private long-term care insurance for the middle class Medicaid for the desperately poor Today, our focus turns to a deeper understanding of Medicaid. Conventional wisdom holds that most Americans cannot qualify for…
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