Do you own a cash value life insurance policy that you bought a number of years ago? Perhaps someone you care about does? Whether it is paid-up or not, you can usually benefit from a life insurance “audit” to make sure that your policy is not going to lapse… before you do! Or maybe you’d like to have a new one with a BIGGER death benefit, more guarantees or a long-term care (LTC) benefit added at no out-of-pocket cost. There are lots of potential benefits for you and your … Continue reading
Is a BIG problem lurking inside your life insurance policy?
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2014 Market Index Chart Update
The market didn’t give us the traditional end of year “Santa Clause” rally and 2015 hasn’t exactly started out with a bang (the worst start since 2008). About 3 weeks ago, I sent out an email entitled something like “Is the market REALLY at all time highs?” Basically what I wrote and showed with an attached chart is that only the S&P 500, DOW and Nasdaq really had a great 2014. These indexes are dominated by a few mega cap … Continue reading
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Mutual fund owners to get BIG tax hit!
Many of you who have mutual funds in a brokerage (taxable) account are about to get a nasty surprise – a big 1099 which will result in your having to pay taxes. In mid December many mutual funds “paid out” taxable gains to shareholders (this does NOT apply to IRA’s, 401(k)’s and other tax-deferred accounts). You didn’t get a check – but you DID get a taxable distribution. And you may even get a tax bill on “gains” — even if your fund lost money in 2014. … Continue reading
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Tagged 3rd party private wealth managers, mutual fund distribtutions
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Is the market really at all time highs?
If you have a portfolio, you might find this message and the accompanying chart (SEE BELOW to view) interesting. Yes, the S&P 500 has made a number of new all-time highs in recent weeks and has earned 11.27% year to date (YTD) But most folks don’t invest ONLY in the S&P 500. They also invest in various types of bonds, small US stocks, international stocks, commodities (gold, oil, etc.) and so on for a diversified portfolio. I’ve attached an image YTD comparison of various index returns … Continue reading
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Tagged diversified portfolio, YTD S&P 500 returns
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Updated 2015 Tax Brackets and Rates
I am updating my Social Security book for 2015 and am using this new tax chart as part of the revisions, and thought you might like to see it as well. If you CLICK BELOW, you can see the 2015 tax chart. You might also want to know that that the personal exemptions have increase $50 to $4,000 and that the standard deductions (for those of you who do not itemize) have risen slightly to $6,300 and $12,600 for single filers and married filing jointly respectively) too. For … Continue reading
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