safeharborfina

We’ve been asked a few questions regarding what happens to those portions of your estate that aren’t treated consistently with what you say in your will.  Many people assume wills and trusts are the pillars of a perfect estate plan. However, asset titling–the way you own an asset–is just as critical. Conflict instructions can create

Having just taken a look at your traditional IRA, you may be wondering if the time is now to convert it to a Roth IRA.  Choosing between a Roth and a traditional IRA requires you to estimate what your tax situation will be when you start drawing from the account. This analysis is different from

It’s usually around this time of year, when individuals are preparing paperwork for filing their tax returns, that we are asked what the deadlines for contributions are, and what happens if one spouse is non-working but still wants to make IRA contributions.  As a general rule, you have until tax day to make IRA contributions

What does retirement really, truly mean? What are your plans for after you retire? We’ve been thinking about this recently. Many would define it as “retreating from the ‘busyness’ of life.”  When do you plan on retiring? How old will you be? How long do you think you’ll spend in retirement? Getting away from all

We’ve heard many times that it’s a good idea for retirees to put off receiving Social Security payments, as waiting can allow you to get more out of them than if you were to start as soon as age permits.  One way to make this more feasible is to include annuities in retirement strategies to

Retirement is a new beginning. As a new retiree, you enter a new stage of your life, where your time is now regulated by you and you alone, rather than revolving around your work.  Unfortunately, many new retirees find this isn’t what they’d expected it to be. Many people begin to feel bored, and worry

Starting in 2024, due to the Secure Act 2.0, up to $35,000 of the money in a 529 college savings account to be rolled over to a Roth IRA for the beneficiary of the 529 account. Although funds in a college savings account going unused is rare, it’s not unheard of, and now you may

We thought we’d bring to your attention an article recently published by AARP that discusses seven different ways retirement income will be different this year:  “For most people, retirement finance is a delicate balance between income that’s likely less than what you made while working and expenses that may be lower in some areas (no

Annuities are one way to leverage a sudden influx of cash that may or may not have been expected, such as a bonus, inheritance, or sale of a small asset you had never factored into your financial profile. The reason they can be leveraged is because, unlike traditional tax-advantaged retirement or ‘qualified’ accounts, annuities have