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Slick TV ads often make financial planning and wealth management sound simple, but it’s usually not. Managing wealth requires knowing a lot about highly technical topics, like taxes, government regulations, and finance as well as history, psychology and how to communicate with loved ones about sensitive issues. This article highlights some of the knowledge needed to manage wealth and why it’s often so daunting without the help of an independent personal financial advisor who is familiar with your situation.
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Understanding The Federal Reserve Mandate To End Inflation
The Federal Reserve System, the nation’s central bank, has a dual mandate to pursue maximum employment and maintain price stability. These two priorities are currently treated equally, but that was not always the case. In fact, the Fed’s bias toward maximizing employment was a critical driver of the stagflation that plagued the U.S. in the late 1960s and 1970s. Recognizing the need to balance price stability and maximum employment, in 1977, Congress revised the Federal Reserve Act.
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Fed Governor Kugler Details Inflation And Economic Outlook
The 12-month inflation rate, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, was 2.6% in December, down from its peak of 7.1% in June 2022, and the six-month rate for PCE inflation was even lower, at 2%, which is the target rate set by the Federal Reserve.
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Why Rates May Not Be Cut Until June
The cost of a loan to buy a home, car, college education, and achieve the American Dream is staying the same for now. As expected, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank did not lower loan rates following the Fed’s Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, policy meeting.
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Practical Suggestions For Achieving Your 2024 Resolutions
New Year’s resolutions usually fail because they‘re often too hard to achieve. After six months, only 10% of people who make resolutions achieve them or remain committed to them, , according to a study by Dr. Mark Griffiths, a Chartered Psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Behavioral Addiction at the Nottingham Trent University. What can you do to make financial, medical, or other personal resolutions more likely to be achieved?
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A Sign Of Progress In Solving U.S. Economic Problems
The Federal Reserve appears to be pulling off a feat most experts did not believe it could: ending its aggressive inflation-fighting campaign of 11 interest rate hikes without tipping the U.S. economy into a recession.
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Fed Keeps Rates Unchanged; Expects Easing In 2024
To promote transparency and free markets, the Federal Reserve System began publishing the opinions of the 19 U.S. central bankers that decide interest rate policy.
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Have You Logged Into Your Social Security Account?
Have you logged in to your Social Security account? Creating an online account at SSA.gov is an important first step in understanding your retirement income situation. However, only about 60 million of the 160 million individuals in the U.S. labor force who have Social Security accounts have created a way to access the Social Security Administration’s website.
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The Great Fake Out Of 2023 Is Poised To Extend Into 2024
All year long, the economy and stock prices have fooled experts and consumers, outperforming expectations month after month.
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Test Your Financial Planning IQ
The five questions below are a challenge meant to allow you to assess your knowledge of investing, tax and financial planning. If you have been following our news stream, this quiz draws on familiar ground. The answers are below.
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Planning Briefs
Qualifying For The New Business Owner Tax Break
Published Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at: 7:00 AM EDT
Under the new tax law, business owners are entitled to deduct 20% of "qualified business income." The test for qualifying for a tax break on 20% of business income is defined in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and summarized here along with a simple illustration.
If you formed your BUSINESS as a sole proprietorship, S corporation, partnership, LLC or similar pass-through entity, you are entitled to the deduction. C corporations don't qualify for the 20% deduction. Only businesses generating income not taxed at the company level, but directly to the owner.
Qualified business income is the business' day-to-day, non-investment income. It's revenue the business generates minus expenses.
QBI doesn't include interest, dividend income or capital gains on a property sale. Nor does QBI include salary or wages paid either as W-2 wages from an S corporation or guaranteed payments from a partnership.
However, the 20% deduction is limited to the lesser of:
- 20% of qualified business income, or
- 50% of the total W-2 wages paid by the business.
A separate limit based on the unadjusted basis of certain business assets could also apply, a rare situation.
More important: The 50% W-2 wage cap kicks in when a couple filing jointly has a total taxable income of more than $315,000 ($157,500 for singles).
Here's an illustration of a couple who owns a business with $200,000 in qualified business income, with no real assets, such as vehicles or real estate, and with one employee who was paid $50,000 in 2018. The couple would be entitled to QBI deduction of $40,000. That's 20% of $200,000.
Because the couple's taxable income is less than $315,000, the wage limitation - 50% of wages paid to their employee - is equal to $25,000 and would not apply.
Some business owners with more than $315,000 in QBI may want to consider reducing their W-2 wages or guaranteed payments to qualify for the deduction, but this requires careful planning and personal consulting beyond this simple illustration. The rules are new and technical, and before changing how your business pays you to qualify for the 20% QBI deduction, it's prudent to contact us and plan properly.
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