Finding the Right Fiduciary Financial Planner to Suit All Your Financial Needs
Not sure how to choose a financial advisor? It’s a big decision! Our guide on how to find a good CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner can help you ask the right questions and select someone able to help you reach your personal financial goals and find financial freedom. Do You Need a Financial Advisor? Depending upon where […]
Using a Donor Advised Fund to Reduce Taxable Income
WHAT’S A DONOR ADVISED FUND? A donor advised fund (DAF) is a relatively new tool that helps both taxpayers and charities reduce taxes now while providing planned donation strategies to continue in the future. Much like a deductible IRA, assets contributed to these donor accounts produce tax savings based on specific IRS guidelines. For taxpayers […]
Tax Planning for Rollovers
Why you might not want to rollover that old 401k Many people overlook tax planning when rolling over old employer retirement plans when switching jobs For high earners, it may be better not to rollover these assets into personal IRAs Special attention needs to be paid to “Rollover” IRAs and “Traditional” IRAs; the correct use […]
How the South Carolina 529 Plan Works
As financial planners, we meet with many parents concerned about how they will pay for their child’s college education. These parents often ask about the Future Scholar program, the 529 college savings plan for residents of South Carolina. We created our educational savings guide below to explain how a 529 program works, the benefits of […]
Backdoor Roth IRA Contributions Explained
How High Earners Can Diversify the Taxability of Their Retirement Assets Our fee only financial advisors often recommend executing a backdoor Roth IRA contribution strategy for high earning clients who max out their tax-deferred and/or after-tax employer sponsored plans and are seeking additional tax favorable approaches to save and grow assets. These clients often accumulate […]
Solutions to the SECURE Act Stretch IRA Problem
What’s the Problem? IRAs that will be inherited by anyone except a spouse, minor children, beneficiaries with disabilities, and anyone who is ten years or less younger than the IRA owner, are now to be completely distributed over 10 years, rather than the lifetime of the heir. Why is this a Problem? With a shortened […]
Year End Tax Planning
With the end of the year approaching, now is the time to look for opportunities to save on income taxes. Here are some items you should look for: Determine whether bunching deductions into 2019 or 2020 will enable you to itemize. Maximize the $15,000 per donee annual gift tax exclusion if estate taxes are a concern […]
How to Keep the Premium Tax Credit While Making Over $100,000
In Charleston and Myrtle Beach, clients and potential clients often assume the Affordable Care Act (ACA) only helps low earning individuals and families. This is far from the case. When using proper financial planning strategies, some families can make up to $239,000 and still qualify for the healthcare subsidy. Over 10 million Americans utilized Affordable […]
Do I Need Long-Term Care Insurance?
With nursing home care running north of $68,000 per year, many families who have a “comfortable retirement” could find themselves facing the prospect of spending down a large chunk of their savings and investments should the need for nursing home care arise. Without long-term care insurance some will find their only option may be to […]
What is My Social Security Widow’s Benefit?
Often, navigating the Social Security Administration’s rules can be complex and confusing. None more so than trying to determine a surviving spouse’s social security benefit. Nearly every couple will face this problem at some point. Timing is everything regarding social security surviving spouse benefits. The filing date alone—when you decide to claim social security and […]
