Time’s almost up to make those savvy tax moves and lighten your bill for next year! At 20West Legal, we’ve got your back with a guide to the top tax credits for 2024 and the steps you need to take *now* to maximize your savings before December 31. Don’t let the year end without taking control of your finances—read more and get ahead!
Read MorePicture this: You’re in your twenties, completing a form at your job, and designating your partner as the beneficiary of your retirement account. Fast forward 28 years—you’ve moved on, experienced life to the fullest, and then passed away, leaving your former partner with your now-million-dollar retirement savings. Sounds unbelievable? Think again. Read on to find out more.
Read MoreIn the first part of our series on practical steps for ensuring a comfortable retirement, we covered estate planning, passing on a legacy, and preparing for long-term care. This week, we continue with five more steps, including adapting your home for comfort and safety and leveraging technology for independence. Implementing these steps will provide you with greater peace of mind in your later years. Read more.
Read MoreRetirement marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in life, far beyond just the end of your working years. Thoughtful preparation and strategic planning are essential. During this Older Americans Awareness Month, discover five practical steps you can take now to ensure a comfortable and fulfilling retirement. Read more.
Read MoreMay is Senior Citizen’s Month, a time to reflect and appreciate all the things the seniors in our lives have done for us. Whether they are our parents, grandparents, or elderly friends, our seniors have given us so much over the years. While no one can predict how many more years we’ll have with our elderly loved ones, there is an easy way to capture their stories, wisdom, and love for future generations. Read more …
Read MoreWhether it’s called “The Great Wealth Transfer,” “The Silver Tsunami,” or some other catchy-sounding name, it’s a fact that a tremendous amount of wealth will pass from Baby Boomers to younger generations in the next few decades. In fact, it’s said to be the largest transfer of intergenerational wealth in history.
Because no one knows how long aging Boomers will live or how much money they’ll spend before they pass on, it’s impossible to accurately predict how much wealth will be transferred. However, studies suggest it’s somewhere between $30 and $90 trillion. Yes, that’s “trillion” with a “t.”
Read MoreAlthough the end of the year can be a hectic time, it’s also the deadline for your family to implement a number of key tax-savings strategies. By taking action now, you can significantly reduce your tax bill due in April, but with just a few weeks left in 2022, you better act fast.
While there are dozens of potential tax breaks you may qualify for, here are 4 of the leading moves you can make to save big on your 2022 tax return. However, there may be other opportunities for saving, so meet with us, your Personal Family Lawyer® to make certain you haven’t missed a single one.
Read MoreThe road to retirement is a long one, and as with any journey, it helps to have a few key milestones along the way to help gauge your progress. While your individual retirement plan and goals will be unique to your income, family situation, and desired lifestyle, most Americans share a number of common retirement milestones.
These milestones are based on your age, along with important dates and deadlines related to Social Security benefits, Medicare, and tax-advantaged retirement plans. Although you should work with us, your Personal Family Lawyer®, and financial advisor to develop a comprehensive retirement strategy as part of your overall Life & Legacy Plan, we include several of the key milestones here.
Read MoreAlthough many strategies to save on your income taxes must be locked in before the end of the year, there are still numerous ways you can reduce your tax bill right up until the filing deadline, which has been pushed back to Monday, April 18th due to a holiday on April 15th.
Some of these strategies are time-tested and available every year, but with all of the legislative changes made during the past two years to deal with the pandemic, there are also a few opportunities that won’t be around much longer, with some only available this year. While there are dozens of potential tax breaks you may qualify for, here are 7 of the leading moves you can make to save big on your 2021 tax return.
On September 13, 2021, Democrats in the House of Representatives released a new $3.5 trillion proposed spending plan that includes a wide array of changes to federal tax laws. Specifically, the Democrats have proposed a number of significant tax increases and other changes to funding the plan, including increases to personal income tax rates and the capital gains tax rate, along with a major reduction to the federal estate and gift tax exclusion and new restrictions on Grantor Trusts that would basically eliminate such trust’s ability to be used as planning vehicles.
While the proposed legislation is still under consideration and far from being finalized, given the broad-reaching impact these changes stand to have, we strongly encourage you to take action now if you would be affected by the proposed legislation if it does pass. With the exception of the capital gains rate increase, which could go into effect on transactions that occur on or after Sept. 13, 2021, most of the proposed changes would be effective after December 31, 2021, meaning that you have time to plan now.
Read MoreBob's philosophy in both painting and life was that there "were no mistakes in life… just happy little accidents." Sadly, as detailed in the recent Netflix documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed, Bob's failure to coordinate his business agreements with his estate plan was anything but happy, leaving his only son largely unable to benefit from his father's fame and fortune.
Bob's planning failures led to an ugly court battle between his former business partners and his family, who were fighting for control of the lucrative intellectual property rights to the Bob Ross brand. And while Bob's son Steve ultimately lost his fight to benefit from the business empire built on his father's persona and painting skills, here in part two, we'll explain the steps you can take to ensure that your loved ones don't suffer the same fate and are able to fully benefit from all of your business assets following your death
Read MoreThe days of working for a single employer for decades until you retire are over. Today, you are much more likely to change jobs multiple times during your career. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, today’s workers have held an average of 12 jobs by the time they reach their 50s.
Since people change jobs so frequently, it is easy to see you might lose track of an old 401(k) or retirement account, especially if you only worked in a position for a short time. In fact, forgetting plans is quite common: it’s estimated that roughly 900,000 workers lose track of their 401(k) plans each year. And when you forget to cash out your 401(k) upon leaving a job, your former employer might no longer have control of your account.
Read MoreRetirement planning is one of life’s most important financial goals. Indeed, funding retirement is one of the primary reasons many people put money aside in the first place. Yet many of us put more effort into planning for our vacations than we do to prepare for a time when we may no longer earn an income.
Whether you’ve put off planning for retirement altogether or failed to create a truly comprehensive plan, you’re putting yourself at risk for a future of poverty, penny pinching, and dependence. The stakes could hardly be higher.
Read MoreIf you or your parents have a retirement account, (or any investment accounts for that matter) now is the time to get connected to how those accounts are invested. While you may have outsourced all of this to a broker in the past, you can no longer afford to allow your investments to be made without your clear understanding of exactly what you are investing in, how and whether your investments align with your plans for the future.
Read MoreIn the first part of this series, we discussed the potential ramifications the SECURE ACT has for your estate and retirement planning.
Here, we’ll cover the SECURE Act’s impact on your financial planning for retirement, offering strategies for maximizing your retirement account’s potential for growth, while minimizing tax liabilities and other risks that could arise in light of the legislation’s legal changes.
Read MoreOn January 1, 2020, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) went into effect, and it represents the most significant retirement-planning legislation in decades.Indeed, the changes ushered in by the SECURE Act have dramatic implications for both your retirement and estate planning strategies—and not all of them are positive. While the law includes a number of taxpayer-friendly measures to boost your ability to save for retirement, it also contains provisions that could have disastrous effects on planning strategies families have used for years to protect and pass on assets contained in retirement accounts.
Given this, if you hold assets in a retirement account you need to review your financial plan and estate plan as soon as possible. To help you with this process, here we’ll cover three of the SECURE Act’s biggest changes and how they stand to affect your retirement account both during your lifetime and after your death. Next week, we’ll look more deeply into a couple of additional strategies you may want to consider.
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