Our Weekly Blog

"Monica"1 came to me after her divorce was final to learn if she was going to be okay financially now that the dust had settled. Monica, a mother of two boys, ages 14 and 16 worked part time in marketing and was also receiving spousal support from her ex who was an orthopedic surgeon. When they were married, they lived a very lavish lifestyle and even though her ex had a very high income, they didn't have much in savings. Private school for the boys, two to three expensive vacations a year, two car leases at over $1,000 each a month. Etc. etc Interestingly, Monica was actually "better" with money than her ex. Higher income doesn't always equate to better financial decisions.

If you have holdings with unrealized losses—as many investors do this year—selling the holdings before the end of the year can result in losses that you can report on your tax returns.

Many employers offer health, life and auto insurance to employees at discounted rates. Often your employer is able to negotiate a lower rate for you because they are bringing a lot of potential customers to the insurance company or other provider. Insurers will often discount their rates because they don’t have to spend a lot on marketing because they have direct access to a large number of employees.

In 2022, we're seeing inflation like nothing we've encountered in decades. It's risen above 8% at times, sending prices of most items through the roof. Inflation is monitored in part by measuring the changes in what consumers pay through the Consumer Price Index against the Producer Price Index, which measures the prices that producers receive for their products.

After the end of 2021 we fielded many calls from clients and others who were surprised by a large tax bill. Many had to raid their Emergency Funds or even sell more securities in order to pay last year’s tax. It was painful for everyone.

If a distribution was required under the SECURE ACT, then we would want to make sure we took that distribution to steer clear of the 50% IRS penalty imposed on those that are required to take a distribution that don’t.