Creating your estate plan isn’t just something for people who live in palatial estates. An estate simply means a collection of all of the assets that a person intends to leave to heirs after they pass away. Even people with modest estates need to make sure they can maximize their assets, reduce death tax burdens,Continue Reading
Inheritance taxes and estate taxes are both called death taxes; however, they aren’t exactly the same thing. An estate tax gets levied against the owner’s assets before they are distributed to heirs. An inheritance tax is actually levied against some heirs after they are distributed and need to be reportedContinue Reading
Most people understand that average lifetime incomes for women are lower than those for men. However, some still argue that this is because of women’s choices to accept lower paying jobs. The issue isn’t really this simple, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps statistics that demonstrate this gap in payContinue Reading
Baby Boomers have benefitted handsomely from dramatic increases in their home equity over the decades and generous pension plans. But that does not mean they’re riding comfortably into the retirement sunset. Quite to the contrary, Baby Boomers feel the same financial fears as the rest of the population – exceptContinue Reading
If your kids aspire to attend college one day, they’re no doubt focused on maintaining their grades – as they should be. But with the astronomical (and continually rising) costs of a college education, grades really will be the least of their worries over the long term. When they graduate,Continue Reading
Most Americans think of inflation as a demand-vs.-supply problem. If demand outpaces supply, then prices will rise. In an economic environment in which market forces dominate, that is generally how inflation happens. But that is not what happens in the United States, and it’s all due to the meddlesome influenceContinue Reading
If you are committed to building meaningful wealth and securing your financial future, the first thing you need to know is that investing on Wall Street is not a smart path forward. Wall Street is inherently volatile and risky. What you really need is to find a secure place toContinue Reading
In the traditional U.S. banking system, you will never achieve any measure of financial privacy. Before you can complete almost any financial transaction, banks will demand that you provide a detailed financial history, run credit checks that pry into every aspect of your financial history, deny you for credit linesContinue Reading
If you’re like most Americans who are contemplating retirement, you’re probably wondering how much you need to have saved up to retire. You want to be able to live comfortably in retirement, and to not have to constantly be worrying about whether you’re withdrawing your savings too fast. These fearsContinue Reading
When you started saving for retirement, you probably did some rough math and sought advice from Wall Street financial advisers. You figured out how much money you’ll need to withdraw per year, how many years you expect to live in retirement, and how much you need to set aside duringContinue Reading