News & Updates
BENEFITS OF BECOMING A CFP® PROFESSIONAL
CFP® Certificants in the News Successfully passing the CFP Board exam and meeting the other certification requirements is cause for celebration, especially for intrepid career changers. Certification in hand, the next challenge for many is building a career. CFP Board recognizes this challenge and offers a starting point. According to CFP Board’s resource entitled WHY…
Read MoreHow to Avoid Paying An Extra $2.4 Million in Gift and Estate Tax.
Good to Know A married couple, both U.S. citizens, can jointly gift or bequeath as much as an astounding $24,120,0001 in 2022 without paying gift, estate, or generation-skipping transfer taxes. Each spouse has a $12,060,000 exclusion for gift and estate tax plus a generation-skipping transfer tax exemption of that same amount for 2022. These exclusions…
Read MoreGuide to Careers in Financial Planning
CFP® Certificants in the News CFP Board’s CENTER FOR FINANCIAL PLANNING publishes an intriguing series of insights into career paths for the new certificant, career changer, and even experienced certificants. These insights can be found in the GUIDE TO CAREERS IN FINANCIAL PLANNING. The GUIDE identifies over six career paths, helps clarify the types of…
Read MoreNot All Christmas Presents are Welcome: Four Potential Tax Changes to Monitor
Good to Know Let’s face it—it may be easier to handicap who’ll win the Presidency in 2024 than to forecast how, or even if, your taxes will change over the next few months. This blog will point out a select few areas that could change your tax landscape dramatically, including: Paying more capital gains tax,…
Read MoreRecent Surveys Indicate High Satisfaction Among CFP® Professionals
CFP® Board Updates A recent survey of CFP® Professionals indicates continued high satisfaction with their career choice as a financial planner. In addition, the survey revealed CFP® Professionals continue to see positive impact in their career from having achieved the certification. A few of the key findings, which highlight just a small portion of the…
Read MoreHow to Correct a Faulty Claiming Age Decision
Good to Know You may find yourself advising clients and prospects that were either misinformed or unaware of the consequences of claiming Social Security benefits too early. A potential, if not common, client angst is the realization that age 62 was NOT a wise claiming age decision. A client could face three unwelcome results from…
Read MoreCFP Board Imposes Public Sanctions On 22 Individuals
CFP® Certificants in the News This blog’s title confirms that it’s not always good to have one’s name in the news. According to CFP Board’s November 22, 2021 release, “Certified Financial Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board) announced today public sanctions against 22 current or former CFP® professionals or candidates for CFP® certification, effective immediately…
Read MoreThe 2021 Crystal Ball: Year-End Tax Strategies for Individuals
Good to Know Year-end tax planning for 2021 depends in large part on proposed legislation, such as the “Build Back Better Act.” Without a reliable crystal ball, the ultimate passage of the Act and other legislation is hard to handicap. However, the passage of the Act could hit many upper-middle-income and high-income taxpayers squarely in…
Read MoreHOW TO REDUCE CYBER RISKS IN CLIENT ACCOUNTS
CFP® Certificants in the News CFP Board’s recent background and disclosure review project resulted in a higher-than-expected number of reviews, investigations, and disciplinary actions taken against CFP® certificants. Solely in the author’s opinion, the scope and depth of the disclosure violations, when coupled with the CFP Board’s strategic goal of utmost public trust, may have…
Read MoreIs the Stretch IRA Dead for Everyone?
Good to Know The answer posed by the blog title is no. That’s good news. The bad news is that only a short list of beneficiaries is eligible for stretch IRA treatment at the death of the original IRA owner. Only an eligible designated beneficiary can stretch distributions from Traditional IRAs where the original owner…
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