FINANCIaL
FIELd NOTES
Lightening the Executor Load for Your Adult Child
It's natural to want to ease the burden on our loved ones when we pass away. One crucial aspect of this preparation is selecting an executor for your estate. While it's common to appoint a family member, particularly an adult child, to this role, it's equally important to consider how to lighten their load during a challenging time.
Here are some key strategies to consider…
Understanding the Primary Home Tax Exclusion
One question I hear from many pre-retirees planning to move after retirement is what the taxes will be when they sell their home. Many have lived in the home for 10, 20, or even 30+ years and are sitting on a substantial gain. Fortunately, the answer is often that there will be little to no taxes due to the primary home tax exclusion.
This provision in the U.S. tax code allows homeowners to exclude a portion of the capital gains from the sale of their primary residence from their taxable income…
How to Invest With Patience
With the stock market reaching all-time highs, some investors may be tempted to wonder when the next meltdown is coming. While the media will print scary headlines, the truth is that nobody knows. While you may have heard investment mantras like “be patient,” it’s an entirely different thing to actually be patient once volatility strikes.
So how can we be more patient? James Clear in Atomic Habits says “disciplines people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control.” Put more simply, they remove temptations…
The Future of Social Security
Will there be anything left when I retire? Will my benefits get cut? These are some of the most frequent questions I get when it comes to someone’s retirement plan. And the media loves to talk about the Social Security problems.
Fortunately, there is data to answer these questions. Every year the Board of Trustees for Social Security reviews the financial status of the trust fund that pays out Social Security benefits. Recently, the board released its 2024 report, and below is my summary…
Popular Financial Fraud Tactics in 2024
With the rapid advancement of technology in the financial landscape, financial fraud has unfortunately kept pace with innovation. The financial fraud that was common just 5 or 10 years ago has taken a back seat to more creative and destructive tactics. It’s critical to remain vigilant against the new tactics being employed by fraudsters.
Below are some of the most prevalent fraud tactics that have been making headlines this year…
Why I’m Cashing Out My I-Bonds
In January 2022 and January 2023, I purchased I-bonds to replace part of our family’s cash savings. In 2022, when I-bond rates were over 7%, I wrote about how if you had cash that you could afford to tie up for a year, I-bonds were a good option. Rates then peaked in the middle of 2022 at nearly 10% before starting to come back down. Last year around this time, I wrote about how I still thought I-bonds offered a reasonable rate over alternatives.
In 2023, inflation came down and I-bond rates linked to inflation continued to decline. However, late last year and early in 2024, inflation stopped its downward trend and I-bond rates stayed elevated – over 5%. For this reason, I opted not to cash out my I-bonds. However, the Treasury just announced the new I-bond rate of 4.28%…