by oakcrestuser | May 16, 2023 | Investing, Personal Finance, Retirement Planning, Uncategorized
When our parents retired, living to 75 amounted to a nice long life, and Social Security was often supplemented by a pension. The Social Security Administration (SSA) estimates that today’s average 65-year-old woman will live to age 86½. Given these projections, it...
by oakcrestuser | May 9, 2023 | Personal Finance, Retirement Planning
The federal estate tax threshold rose to $24.12 million in 2022 for married couples and $12.06 million for individuals, as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Like several TCJA provisions, the higher estate tax limit is due to sunset in 2025. Barring...
by oakcrestuser | May 2, 2023 | Investing, Personal Finance
If you live in or have visited a big city, you’ve probably run into street vendors – people who sell everything from hot dogs to umbrellas – on the streets and sidewalks. Many of these entrepreneurs sell completely unrelated products, such as coffee and ice cream. At...
by oakcrestuser | Apr 25, 2023 | Personal Finance
Have you ever had one of those months? The water heater stops heating, the dishwasher stops washing, and your family ends up on a first-name basis with the nurse at urgent care. Then, as you’re driving to work, you see smoke coming from under your hood. Bad...
by oakcrestuser | Mar 21, 2023 | Personal Finance, Tax Planning
The reason withdrawals from a Traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) prior to age 59½ are generally subject to a 10% tax penalty is that policymakers wanted to create a disincentive to use these savings for anything other than retirement.1 Yet, policymakers...
by oakcrestuser | Jan 27, 2023 | Personal Finance, Retirement Planning
In the final days of 2022, Congress passed a new set of retirement rules designed to facilitate contribution to retirement plans and access to those funds earmarked for retirement. The law is called SECURE 2.0, and it is a follow-up to the Setting Every Community Up...
