Category: Thursday Thoughts

The earlier that you make your IRA contributions, the longer they will grow.  So, under that theory, you should have made your IRA contributions for tax year 2017 some 12 months ago! But if you didn’t, it’s still not too late. The IRA was born in 1974, in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).  […]

Frank died in 2012.  His estate elected the deceased spousal unused estate tax exclusion (DSUE), in an amount of $1.2 million—or the “portable” estate tax exemption, as it is more commonly referred to by non-lawyers.  An estate tax return was filed showing no estate tax due, and the IRS sent a closing letter to the […]

How could someone who earned $650 million over 17 years be broke? That’s the question the actor Johnny Depp recently put to a team of forensic accountants and his new business manager, according to a Vanity Fair article (“How Did Johnny Depp Find Himself in a Financial Crisis?,” August 2017).  The team determined that Depp’s […]

With the dramatic increase in the standard deduction in 2018, to $24,000 for married couples, many charities are worried that the tax incentive for donations will disappear, leading to lower gifts.  Because the state and local tax deduction is now capped at $10,000, married taxpayers will need to have at least $14,001 in additional deductions […]

In 2009, Elizabeth Briggs amended her revocable living trust to disinherit her son, Thomas, leaving the trust assets to her daughter, Judith.  The amendment stated that Thomas knew the reasons for his disinheritance. After Elizabeth died in 2013, an attorney for the estate and trust advised Thomas that he had received no property from his […]

Several tax reform ideas affecting retirement planning were bandied about as the recent legislation was being prepared, including limits on deductible 401(k) contributions, elimination of “stretch IRAs,” and requiring minimum distributions from Roth IRAs, similar to the treatment of traditional IRAs. In the end, only one significant change made it into the final legislation, together […]

The tax reform legislation signed by President Trump on December 22 last year included an important change for many wealthier families. As of January 1, 2018, the amount exempt from the federal estate and gift tax has doubled, to $10 million plus inflation adjustments since 2011 (so $11.2 million in 2018, still higher in the […]

Bitcoin, the popular digital currency, went on a tear in 2017, rising in value by 900% in the first 11 months.  More and more investors are taking notice.  On November 30, 2017 The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article, “Bitcoin Mania: Even Grandma Is In.”  On the advice of her grandson, Rita Scott invested […]

The October 9, 2017, issue of The New Yorker included a shocking article titled “How the Elderly Lose Their Rights.”  The author, Rachel Aviv, was interviewed by National Public Radio.  This article should be read carefully by everyone who is 65 or older, and by everyone who has a relative who is 65 or older.  […]