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Nearly 1 million consumers lost more than $2.3 billion to imposter scams, with a median loss of $1,000. Imposter scams happen when an individual posing as someone else.

Why Are Annuities Considered an Insurance Product? Annuities are financial vehicles that can be sold only by insurance companies. Basically, an annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company, which promises to pay you a future income in exchange for the lump-sum payment or premiums that you pay. The payments specified in the annuity contract will be paid to you during your retirement (or, in some situations, to your beneficiaries after your death).

Distributions from traditional IRAs and most employer-sponsored retirement plans are taxed as ordinary income, except for any after-tax contributions you've made, and the taxable portion may be subject to 10% federal tax penalty if taken prior to reaching age 59½ (unless an exception applies).

What Are Some Tips for Managing My Money? As with virtually all financial matters, the easiest way to be successful with a cash management program is to develop a systematic and disciplined approach. Spending a few minutes each week to maintain your cash management program, can help you keep track of how you spend your money and pursue your financial goals.

Some market sectors — such as health care, consumer staples, and utilities — are considered “defensive” and may be good to hold through a bear market or economic recession because businesses in these sectors tend to remain strong regardless of economic conditions.

IRA Distributions Can Benefit Your Favorite Cause and Your Tax Bill. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled the standard deduction beginning in 2018 and indexed it annually for inflation through 2025 ($12,950 for single taxpayers and $25,900 for joint filers in 2022; $13,850 and $27,700 in 2023).

You may donate money to charitable organizations throughout the year, for no other reason than your heart-felt desire to support causes that you care about. But if philanthropy is important to you, keep in mind that the associated tax breaks could potentially increase your ability to give.

The most important attribute of a cash reserve is its availability in time of sudden need. And even though a federally insured savings account is considered one of the safest places to put money being reserved for emergencies you may want to consider other alternatives when interest rates are low. When selecting ways to invest your cash reserve, you should balance your liquidity needs with potential returns.

The federal gift tax applies to gifts of property or money while the donor is living. The federal estate tax, on the other hand, applies to property conveyed to others (with the exception of a spouse) after a person's death. The gift tax applies to the donor. The recipient is under no obligation to pay the gift tax, although other taxes, such as income tax, may apply.

There are a number of different gifting strategies available for planned giving. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Instead of making an outright gift, you could choose to use a charitable lead trust. With a charitable lead trust, your gift is placed in a trust. The recipient of the gift draws the income from this trust. Upon your death, your heirs will receive the principal with little or no estate tax.

The use of telehealth skyrocketed early in the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of remote office visits and outpatient services, 78 times higher in April 2020 than in February 2020. Usage has stabilized since that extraordinary rise, but as of early 2021 remained 38 times higher than the pre-pandemic level.1

You might think that those who are rich and famous would be way ahead of the curve when it comes to planning their estates properly. Yet plenty of celebrities and people of note have died with inadequate or nonexistent estate plans.

A broader inflation-adjusted index that captures a basket of 26 foreign currencies reached its highest level since 1985.

What Are the Pitfalls of Probate? Have you ever wondered what will happen to your estate after you die? How long will it take for your loved ones to receive the estate you've left them? Will each receive what you'd like them to have? If you're like most people, your estate will go through a lengthy probate process. Probate consists of the court proceedings that conclude all your legal and financial matters after your death.

How Will I Pay Estate Taxes? When it comes down to it, you need to plan how you and your family will eventually pay them. The Estate Tax Dilemma Estate taxes are generally due nine months after the date of death. And they are due in cash. In addition to estate taxes, there may be final expenses, probate costs, administrative fees, and a variety of other costs.

How can I control the distribution of my estate? There are a number of ways your estate can be distributed to your heirs after your death. Each allows a different degree of control over distribution, and each poses different challenges and opportunities.

How Can a Living Trust Help Me Control My Estate? Living trusts enable you to control the distribution of your estate, and certain trusts may enable you to reduce or avoid many of the taxes and fees that will be imposed upon your death.

What Key Estate Planning Tools Should I Know About? Wills and trusts are two of the most popular estate planning tools. Both allow you to spell out how you would like your property to be distributed, but they also go far beyond that. Just about everyone needs a will.

Dividends can be a dependable source of income for retirees and others who want an income stream without selling their underlying investments.

How Life Insurance Could Help Mitigate Taxes in Retirement. Permanent life insurance offers a tax-free death benefit, and a portion of each premium goes into a cash-value account that accumulates on a tax-deferred basis. The policy owner may also access the cash value, if needed, without triggering income taxes.

Unpacking the Inflation Reduction Act: What's in it? The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law on August 16, 2022, is a package of climate, energy, health-care, and tax legislation.

What Are Some Tips for Managing My Money? As with virtually all financial matters, the easiest way to be successful with a cash management program is to develop a systematic and disciplined approach. Spending a few minutes each week to maintain your cash management program, can help you keep track of how you spend your money and pursue your financial goals. Any good cash management system revolves around the four A's; Accounting, Analysis, Allocation, and Adjustment.

A 401(k) plan is a self-directed, qualified retirement plan established by an employer to provide future retirement benefits for employees. Employee contributions are made on a pre-tax basis, and employer contributions are often tax deductible.

Tech Sector Turmoil and the Bear Market During the intensely volatile first 100 trading days of 2022, the stocks of companies in the S&P 500 index delivered their worst performance since 1970.The S&P 500 continued to tumble, and the benchmark index descended into a bear market.

529 Lesson Plan: High Scores for 529 Plans Looking for a tax-advantaged college savings plan that has no age restrictions and no income phaseout limits and one you can use to pay for more than just tuition? Consider 529 savings plans, a popular way to save for higher-education expenses.

In general, Americans are not sufficiently prepared to pay for long-term care. Many of them go through their lives simply hoping that they won't ever need it. Unfortunately, in the event that you or a loved one does need long-term care, hope won't be enough to protect you from potential financial ruin. Self-insurance as an option To self-insure,that is, to cover the cost yourself, you must have a sufficient income.

Why Small Businesses Should Pay Attention to Accessibility The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which passed more than 30 years ago, made it illegal to deny job opportunities to people based on their disabilities, mandated reasonable accommodations to make buildings accessible, and required most private businesses to offer equal service to disabled customers. About 61 million people in the United States & one in every four adults live with a disability.

Are You Ready to Cancel Your Cable TV? An explosion in the number and variety of streaming services, coupled with the high cost of cable and satellite television packages, might have you wondering whether it’s time to cut the cord. But streaming costs money, too, and you may have to subscribe to multiple services to access all your favorite programs. You might also need to buy a streaming device and pay for a pricey high-speed Internet connection.

Homebuyers braving the hot U.S. housing market have run headlong into a striking transition. The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage jumped from around 3.2% at the beginning of 2022 to 5.3% in mid-May, the highest level since 2009.

BNPL plans are more popular with younger consumers trying to stretch their paychecks, partly because they are more comfortable shopping online (and particularly on smartphones). At first glance, it may seem like a worthwhile convenience, but there are good reasons to think twice before committing to installment purchases.

Are you saving for retirement? For your children’s education? For any other long-term goal? If so, you’ll want to know how inflation can impact your savings. Inflation is the increase in the price of products over time. Inflation rates have fluctuated over the years.

An estimated 102.5 million investors — representing almost 46% of U.S. households — owned mutual funds at the end of 2020 (most recent data). These individual retail investors held about 89% of the $23.9 trillion in assets invested in U.S. mutual fund companies.1

Since your home is one of your greatest assets, you should make sure it is adequately protected. That's where homeowners insurance enters the picture. Homeowners insurance protects against liability (in case someone is injured on your property), damage to the structure of your home and/or personal belongings, and theft.

When Two Goals Collide: Balancing College and Retirement Preparations You've been doing the right thing financially for many years, saving for your child's education and your own retirement. Yet now, as both goals loom in the years ahead, you may wonder what else you can do to help your child (or children) receive a quality education without compromising your own retirement goals.

What's the Difference Between Medicare and Medicaid? It's easy to confuse Medicare and Medicaid, because they have similar names and are both government programs that pay for health care. But there are important differences between the programs. Medicare is generally for older people, while Medicaid is for people with limited income and resources.

Is the Russia-Ukraine War a Threat to the Global Economy? Before Russia stunned the world by invading Ukraine, it was widely believed that the economic ties formed through globalization would help promote peace. But the war is testing that assumption and drawing attention to the vulnerabilities in far-flung supply chains, which were already under pressure because of the pandemic and recovery.

Colliding Forces: Russia, Oil, Inflation, and Market Volatility The Russian invasion of Ukraine has drawn condemnation and punitive sanctions from the United States, Europe, and their allies. The humanitarian cost of war cannot be measured, and the long-term economic effects could take months or years to unfold. However, the early stages of the conflict pushed oil prices upward and sent the U.S. stock market plunging, only to see stocks bounce back and drop again.

In Season 1 of Ken Burns documentary series on the Vietnam War entitled, “The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (Vietnam: Burns and Novick),” his narrative helps illustrates mistakes the United States made in managing a war we intentionally provoked...

Inflation, in the basic sense, is a rise in price levels. Economists believe inflation comes about when the supply of money is greater than the demand for money. Inflation is viewed as a positive when it helps boost consumer demand and consumption, driving economic growth. Inflation is one of the greatest threats to a healthy economy. Inflation eats away at our standard of living if our income doesn't keep pace with rising prices over time.

I am writing today, during this turbulent and historic time, to try to provide an objective perspective on some of the effects current major geo-political events are having on the “market’s” performance, and how we are trying to address these concerns for our clients over the balance of this year...

What Tax Deductions Are Still Available to Me? Tax reform measures are enacted frequently by Congress, which makes it hard for U.S. taxpayers to know which deductions are currently available to help lower their tax liability.

The Fed Pivots to Fight Inflation On December 15, 2021, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve System made a significant shift in monetary policy in response to rising inflation.

Help Wanted: Why Can't Businesses Find Enough Workers? The headline U.S. unemployment rate fell from 6.7% at the end of December 2020 to 3.9% in December 2021.

Frank Deptola was recently notified by Five Star Professional that he has again been selected as a 2022 Five Star Wealth Manager - one of the top financial advisers and wealth managers in Orange County, CA.