A 401(k) is a retirement savings plan that is usually employer-sponsored. This means you, as an employee, elect to have part of your earnings placed into an individual 401(k) account, which is managed by your employer. Generally, you can select from among a variety of different investment options for your account, usually a mix of… Read more »
Posts By: Stephanie A. Lord, Estate Planning Attorney
HOW TO ENSURE YOUR INSURANCE MONEY GOES TO THE INTENDED BENEFICIARY
Many people assume that the beneficiaries named in their estate planning documents are the same beneficiaries that will automatically receive the assets in their estate. But not all assets are treated equally when the estate is distributed. Insurance policies for example, as well as annuities or retirement accounts such as a 401k or an IRA,… Read more »
THREE COMMON RETIREMENT INVESTMENT ERRORS
When you create a financial plan for your retirement, saving is essential, but investing your savings is equally significant. As your retirement plan takes form, watch out for these common investment errors. Not Diversifying Diversifying your investment means putting your capital into a variety of money making opportunities. If you prefer safe investments, focus on… Read more »
Census Statistic of Interest to Elder Law Community
The baby boomer generation is getting older, and people who are part of this group are reaching retirement age in droves. There are about 10,000 people applying for Social Security every day, and analysts tell us that this volume should stay in place for the next 20 years. Because of this, the population as a… Read more »
Fiscal Cliff Fallout
The question of whether or not the United States was going to fall over the “fiscal cliff” dominated the news in the weeks and days leading up to the new year. If we would have plunged over the cliff the estate tax parameters would have been quite dramatically affected. The exclusion would have gone down… Read more »
Answering a Common Tax Question
People often ask San Diego estate planning lawyers about the taxes that must be paid when gifts are given. A common question involves reporting a cash gift as income when you are filing your tax returns. The fact is that you do not have to include cash gifts that you receive because they are not… Read more »
TWO TRUSTS TO CONSIDER
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap… Read more »
Taxes
Congress did it! The Bush tax cuts have been extended, which means that no one should get a tax increase come Jan 1st..In fact, if you’re working, your social security withholding will be decreased (but it may take til 1/31 to see the results). Most significantly, we have the Obama tax cuts for estate taxes…. Read more »
Tax Update
The Obama-Republican tax deal (an extension of the Bush tax cuts) have enough votes in the Senate. Even better, it includes a $5 million estate tax exemption and 35% tax on the excess. But, like all good things, it comes to an end..this time in two years. The difference is that this time the $5… Read more »
Taxes
President Obama and the Republicans agreed today to extend the Bush tax cuts for all and to set the estate tax exemption amount at $5 million. Now the Democrats have to be convinced. Extending jobless benefits is one carrot, wouldn’t be surprised if the compromise reduces the exempt amount to $3.5 million…