Good to Know

Does Personal Auto Policy (PAP) insurance follow the car or the driver? The answer is… it depends! Let’s face it. This is can be a confusing topic. It’s no wonder there’s confusion – an online search of this simple question returns dramatically different opinions; some are correct, some partially correct, and some are incorrect.  But even the…

Conventional wisdom would have us believe that after-tax Roth IRA contributions only make sense if we expect higher taxable income and higher income tax rates in retirement than now. Is conventional wisdom wrong? Not completely but it is woefully simplistic in a complex financial world. Especially for client-facing advisors, the client implications of the Roth…

At one time in the not so distant past, the sky was the limit (where have investors heard that before?) for cryptocurrency. Back then, it seemed like all of the cool kids had cryptocurrency and subsequently, despite ups and downs, its popularity continues. But what is the attraction of this phenomenon? Three potential explanations follow.…

Today, we conclude our 4-part series with insights into tricks, traps and planning opportunities in the 20% Qualified Business Income Deduction (QBID) under Internal Revenue Code Section 199A, brought to us courtesy of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But first, here’s an uber quick refresher of key concepts from the previous three QBID blogs:…

In our most recent blog on this topic – Part 2 of a 4-part series – we explained how Congress denied or restricted the 20% Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction to owners of Specified Trades or Businesses (SSTBs) that earned more than an indexed amount. Today, in Part 3 of our 4-part series, we will…

In Part 1 of this 4-part series, we introduced the extraordinary power of the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction to slash your business owner client’s taxes by as much as 20%. We ended Part 1 with a heads-up that restrictions apply. We’ll take a close look at a key restriction in this article – Part…

We lost the deduction for personal and dependency exemptions starting in 2018 under the Tax Cuts and Job Act. With the loss of the deduction, many taxpayers rightly ask, “Should I even bother documenting and claiming my dependents on my tax return?” That a reasonable question and the answer is… YES for many taxpayers. Claiming…

Conventional wisdom says that sole proprietorships, partnerships, Sub-S Corporations and certain LLCs (“pass-through” business structures) should strongly consider converting from their present business form into a C Corporation (C Corp). Why? The 21% C Corp income tax rate from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act can be seductive, especially when personal income tax rates can…

The Financial Planning profession is expected to grow dramatically in the near term according to a recent CFP Board newsletter. The Board expects the need for personal financial advisors to shoot up by some 41% in the near term and continue leading the average occupation growth through 2020. If you are currently practicing as a…

It would be a mistake to consider the Roth IRA (or Designated Roth account) merely for the income tax-free qualified distributions. There’s more, much more, to the Roth and we’ll reveal a condensed thumbnail of just three commonly overlooked benefits. 1) Minimize the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) Because the NIIT is based in…