What could that money do for you? Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP® CIMA® CLU Is a tax refund coming your way? If you have already received your refund for 2012 or are about to receive it, you might want to think about the destiny of that money. Here are some possibilities. Start (or add to) [...]
How does the President want to modify tax rates? Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP® CIMA® CLU The wealthiest taxpayers could be hit hard if the tax hikes in President Obama’s 2013 federal budget proposal become law. The good news is that the tax changes outlined by the President in mid-February may be softened by eventual [...]
What kind of drag are they exerting? Will they soon fall, or not? Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP® CIMA® CLU By March 16, retail gas prices were up 16.94% YTD. This major climb is leading some economists to wonder if the leap in gas prices is powerful enough to stall our economic momentum.1 In February, [...]
Is there much we can do besides wait? Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP® CIMA® CLU Could $5 gas arrive with summer? As of April 6, U.S. retail gasoline prices were up 20.15% YTD; on that date, AAA’s national survey had the price of regular unleaded averaging $3.94 per gallon. So what happens this spring and [...]
Meeting your obligations & finding some opportunities. Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP®CIMA®CLU After you turn 70½, the IRS requires you to withdraw some of the money in your retirement savings accounts each year. These withdrawals are officially called Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).1 While you never have to make withdrawals from a Roth IRA, you must [...]
President Obama’s envisioned tax reforms could hurt wealthy retirees. Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP®CIMA®CLU On Capitol Hill, a rough consensus is starting to emerge: a feeling that the corporate tax rate should be reduced to help U.S. firms stay globally competitive. At the same time, President Obama’s 2013 federal budget proposes a massive tax hike [...]
A noted economist disputes that generalization Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP®CIMA®CLU True or false? You may have heard this claim before (or something like it): “Many Americans are being forced to retire later because their savings and investments took a hit in the Great Recession.” Recently, a big-name economist disputed that belief. In a commentary [...]
What kind of relief will it offer? Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP®CIMA®CLU Big news, but will it make a big difference? On February 9, the Justice Department announced it had struck a settlement approaching $26 billion with the major U.S. mortgage servicers. This is the biggest multistate settlement of any kind since the Big Tobacco [...]
The frenzy is building. Should you care? Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP®CIMA®CLU Anticipation is high. Facebook filed an S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 1, taking its first big step toward going public. It aims to raise $5 billion through its upcoming IPO. Some of the details from the S-1 form: [...]
Interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages hit a record low. Presented by Peter Miralles, CFP®CIMA®CLU Mortgages are cheaper than ever. Economists and real estate analysts who predicted lower interest rates were not disappointed; the earliest numbers from 2012 have reached an all-time low, leading a number of homeowners to consider their options. On January 12, [...]
