Life’s 5 Most Common Financial Hazards
March 30, 2010 | 
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Glass Jacobson’s Christine Schmitz will be presenting at the Maryland Chapter of the American Association of University Women’s spring convention on April 10th.
Her presentation, “Life’s Financial Hazards: Strategies to Overcome Risk” outlines 5 of the most common hurdles people fear and unfortunately face:
- inevitable crises (i.e., the last 2 years!)
- outliving your money
- long-term care costs
- not understanding the insurances you own
- estate tax on your assets
Her presentation discusses how proper planning can calm some of these fears and prepare you should you encounter any unforeseen issues.
The Convention is open to members of the AAUW. For more information on the AAUW, visit www.aauwmd.org.
For more detail on life’s 5 most common financial hazards, please contact Christine at Christine.schmitz@glassjacobsonia.com.
2010 Outlook- Bull or Bear?
March 25, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
One of our top priorities is to bring you current information and forward-thinking insights about our financial markets. Glass Jacobson recently sent our entire financial service team to attend Charles Schwab & Co.’s Regional Investment Conference. We heard many notable speakers, including former Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner, Legg Mason’s Bill Miller, and Charles Schwabs’ Chief Market Strategist Liz Ann Sonders.
Their central message forecasting the path of the 2010 economic recovery outlined two possible scenarios (based on economic and historical precedence). First case: we are on the path to full-blown recovery at this point and entering a Bull Market. The second, and a bit more pessimistic: the recovery from the 2008 collapse will be tempered by another short drop and we are entering a Bear Market period.
For more from the conference, click here: Schwab Investment Outlook 2010
Questions?
Jon.dinkins@glassjacobsonia.com
Need Help Funding Long Term Care Insurance?
March 23, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
There have been important changes in the tax free exchange rules for life insurance and annuities. These changes may help you if you have a need for long term care insurance.
As of January 1st, 2010, the Pension Protection Act has made it possible to use cash from life policies to fund long term care premiums through a 1035 tax free exchange. This means that if you have life insurance policies with cash value that you might not really need any longer, you could fund a long term care policy to protect yourself and your family without reaching into your pocket any deeper.
There is a lot of information coming out to us every day on this change and we are working to keep up to date on how the various insurance companies are utilizing this change.
Submitted by Christine Schmitz
Questions?
christine.schmitz@glassjacobsonia.com
HIRE Tax Provisions
March 22, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act (HIRE) creates 2 important tax provisions for businesses this year.
- Employers who hire unemployed workers this year (after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011) may qualify for a 6.2-percent payroll tax incentive, in effect exempting them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to these workers after the date of enactment. This reduced tax withholding will have no effect on the employee’s future Social Security benefits, and employers would still need to withhold the employee’s 6.2-percent share of Social Security taxes, as well as income taxes. The employer and employee’s shares of Medicare taxes would also still apply to these wages.
- In addition, for each worker retained for at least a year, businesses may claim an additional general business tax credit, up to $1,000 per worker, when they file their 2011 income tax returns.
The two tax benefits are especially helpful to employers who are adding positions to their payrolls. New hires filling existing positions also qualify but only if the workers they are replacing left voluntarily or for cause. Family members and other relatives do not qualify.
In addition, the new law requires that the employer get a statement from each eligible new hire certifying that he or she was unemployed during the 60 days before beginning work or, alternatively, worked fewer than a total of 40 hours for someone else during the 60-day period. The IRS is currently developing a form employees can use to make the required statement.
Submitted by Sam Cohen
Questions?
Should I Itemize or Take the Standard Deduction?
March 15, 2010 | Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Most taxpayers have a choice of either taking a standard deduction or itemizing their deductions. If you have a choice, you can use the method that gives you the lowest tax.
Whether to itemize deductions on your tax return depends on how much you spent on certain expenses last year. Money paid for medical care, mortgage interest, taxes, charitable contributions, casualty losses and miscellaneous deductions can reduce your taxes. If the total amount spent on those categories is more than your standard deduction, you can usually benefit by itemizing.
The standard deduction amounts are based on your filing status and are subject to inflation adjustments each year. For 2009, they are:
- $5,700 for Single
- $11,400 for Married Filing Jointly
- $8,350 for Head of Household
- $5,700 for Married Filing Separately
- $11,400 for Qualifying Widow(er)
Submitted by Sam Cohen
Questions?