Blog
The Stretch IRA Is Not Dead For Everyone
Eligible Designated Beneficiary What exactly does it mean to be an “eligible designated beneficiary” of a Traditional IRA? Here is the short answer – an eligible designated beneficiary is exempt from the now-infamous stretch IRA killer known as the 10-year distribution rule. For IRA owners dying in or after 2020, the 10-year distribution rule kills…
Read More
Required Insurance Penalty and Reimbursement
Course: Insurance PlanningLesson 6: Commercial Property and Liability Insurance Student Question: Hi Dan – On this review page, the correct answer for Question 2 (below) indicates that insurance will pay only over 97% of replacement cost. However, it says in the chapter that as long as the property is insured for more than 80% of replacement cost, the policy will pay the full cost…
Read More
Retirement Funding Calculation
Erika wants $50,000 a year in today’s dollars in retirement. She anticipates retiring in 10 years and living in retirement for 30 years. Erika can earn 7% on her investments and she expects inflation to average 4%. Approximately how much should Erika have saved by the day she retires to meet this goal? $913,000 $983,000…
Read More
Surrender Cost Index
Course: Insurance PlanningLesson 14: Purchasing and Pricing Life Insurance Student Question: The surrender cost index is so confusing in terms of what I need to know. And could you provide a definition for the annuity due factor? Matt Instructor Response: HI Matt, This can be confusing. Let’s take a full step back for perspective. The purpose of the Surrender Cost Index is…
Read More
Donating Appropriate Stock
Darryl Owens will report an AGI of $100,000 for this year on his federal income tax return. Darryl would like to make a gift to the local hospital of some stock. He would like to donate the stock that will provide the greatest income tax deduction for this year. Which of the following stocks should…
Read More
The Perils of Conduit Trusts for Retirement Accounts
Good to Know Once upon a time in a land not so far away, it was possible to defer (stretch) IRA retirement distributions over multiple generations at the death of an IRA owner. That idyllic time was before 2019 and the land in question is these United States of America. During that pre-2020 period, it…
Read More
Impact of Retirement Timeline
Course: Retirement PlanningLesson 1: Using IRAs to Build and Distribute More Retirement Income Student Question: I am confused about this calculation (question below). If I use 20 years instead of 15 years, my need is now $90,305 from my own savings. The math makes sense but the answer does not. If I have an additional 5 years to save, shouldn’t the required out-of-pocket cash be less…
Read More
Saving for a Retirement Goal
Erika wants $50,000 a year in today’s dollars in retirement. She anticipates retiring in 10 years and living in retirement for 30 years. Erika can earn 7% on her investments and she expects inflation to average 4%. Approximately how much should Erika have saved by the day she retires to meet this goal? $913,000 $983,000…
Read More
CFP Board Removes Compensation Search Function
CFP Board Updates On March 2, 2020, the CFP Board notified all professionals that the compensation search function had been removed from the “Find Your CFP® Professional” tool on the letsmakeaplan.org website. The key decision point, according to the CFP Board, was that based on the new Code and Standards, all CFP® professionals are expected…
Read More