Ability to Withdraw Money Early from Retirement Plan Without Penalty Expires at the End of the Year

by Staff

If you are experiencing financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic, you may want to consider withdrawing money from your retirement account while you still can. The special exemption allowing early withdrawals without a penalty ends soon. 

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Estate Planning When You Live in Two States

Hand luggage at the airport in front of an airplane

Many people have homes in two states. Legally, you do not need separate estate planning documents for each state, but it may make sense from a practical perspective.

The Constitution of the United States requires that states give “full faith and credit” to the laws of other states. This means that your will, trust, durable power of attorney, and health care proxy executed in New York (Just to pick one state) should be honored in the state where you have a second home. That’s the law.

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What to Do and Not Do with Your Estate Planning Documents

document filing

Creating and executing an estate plan is a process that requires thought and consideration. You must identify the beneficiaries who are going to inherit the assets that you worked a lifetime to acquire, how your beneficiaries are going to receive those assets, and whom to entrust to make decisions on your behalf in the event of incapacity. Once your estate planning documents are created and executed, many clients believe the estate planning process is completed. But, what is often overlooked is where your estate planning documents should be stored.

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The Coronavirus Pandemic Presents Ample Reasons to Reevaluate Your Estate Plan

The Coronavirus health emergency is a reminder that life is unpredictable, and it makes sense to be prepared. Threats to life and finances posed by the pandemic offer ample reason to reevaluate your estate plan — or create one if you haven’t already.

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Caregivers Are Getting Younger, Making Planning for Long-Term Care Even More Important

As baby boomers age, more and more millennials are becoming caregivers. Many are taking on this role while just getting started in their own lives, leading to difficult decisions about priorities. Proper planning can help them navigate this terrain.

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New Law Makes Big Changes to Retirement Plans

Congress has passed and sent to the President a spending bill that contains major changes to retirement plans. The bipartisan legislation is designed to provide more incentives to save for retirement, but it may require workers to rethink some of their planning. 

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act changes the law surrounding retirement plans in several ways:

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IRS Issues Long-Term Care Premium Deductibility Limits for 2020

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the amount taxpayers can deduct from their 2020 income as a result of buying long-term care insurance.

Premiums for “qualified” long-term care insurance policies (see explanation below) are tax deductible to the extent that they, along with other unreimbursed medical expenses (including Medicare premiums), exceed 10 percent of the insured’s adjusted gross income.

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What Is the Difference Between a Living Will and a Do-Not-Resuscitate Order?

It is a very good idea to create advance directives in order to plan for the possibility that you may one day be unable to make your own medical decisions. In doing so, there can be confusion about the difference between a living will and a “do-not-resuscitate” order (DNR). While both these documents are advance medical directives, they serve different purposes.

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Why Choose an Irrevocable Trust?

You can’t amend it, modify it, change it or revoke it. The written terms of an irrevocable trust are much like the iron-clad sides of ship, strong and impenetrable, except in some rare circumstances. Not to be altered for any reason and managed by a trustee, when you place assets in an irrevocable trust, you essentially no longer own them. With all that said, for certain individuals, there are some distinct advantages to having an irrevocable trust.

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ALERT: PENSION BENEFITS FOR VETERANS

We are sending you this alert as there will be a significant change in the qualification requirements for wartime Veterans and surviving spouses of wartime Veterans who are eligible for VA pension benefits. These new rules go into effect on October 18, 2018 and will make it more difficult to qualify for this important benefit that can help defray the cost of care.

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