Category: Epic Insights

Retirement Planning Birthday Milestones

Sep 30, 2024

Birthdays may seem less important as you grow older. They may not offer the impact of watershed moments such as getting a driver’s license at 16 and voting at 18. But beginning at age 50, there are several key birthdays that can affect your tax situation, health-care eligibility, and retirement benefits.

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Charitable Lead Trusts

Sep 25, 2024

Charitable Lead Trusts
How they work, how they may help you reduce taxes.

Are you concerned about the inheritance taxes your heirs may have to pay? Then you may want to consider creating charitable lead trusts. (more…)

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Taxation of Investments

Sep 23, 2024

It’s nice to own stocks, bonds, and other investments. Nice, that is, until it’s time to fill out your federal income tax return. At that point, you may be left scratching your head. Just how do you report your investments and how are they taxed? With Q4 right around the corner, there may be some capital gains on the horizon. It’s a good idea to know what’s what.

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Financial Tips for Young Families

Sep 16, 2024

Financial Tips
It’s never too late to start.

The hardest part is getting started. Even though more than half of U.S. households have some form of investment in the stock market, many new parents may still find that creating a financial strategy is the last thing on their minds. And who can blame them? After all, new parents have a million concerns to keep in mind on top of any unexpected financial pressure that may arise. A few financial tips here and there can help set the basis for your future. Thus, for young families with discretionary income, creating a financial strategy may be easier than they realize.1 (more…)

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Estate Planning – Protecting Your Assets

Sep 11, 2024

Estate Planning
What you need to know when protecting your assets

You’re beginning to accumulate substantial wealth, but you worry about protecting it from future potential creditors. Whether your concern is for your personal assets or your business, various tools exist to keep your property safe from tax collectors, accident victims, health-care providers, credit card issuers, business creditors, and creditors of others.

To insulate your property from such claims, you’ll have to evaluate each tool in terms of your own situation. You may decide that insurance and a Declaration of Homestead may be sufficient protection for your home because your exposure to a claim is low. For high exposure, you may want to create a business entity or an offshore trust to shield your assets. Remember, no asset protection tool is guaranteed to work, and you may have to adjust your asset protection strategies as your situation or the laws change.

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The Behavior Gap and Your Financial Health

Sep 9, 2024

Behavior Gap Brain Synapses
how might it affect you?

“It turns out my job was not to find great investments but to help create great investors,” writes Carl Richards, author of “The Behavior Gap.” From increasing our budget mindfulness to taking a steadier approach to investing, Richards has drawn attention to how our unexamined behaviors and emotions can be to our detriment when it comes to living a happy and financially sound life. In many cases, we make poor financial decisions when experiencing panic or anxiety due to personal or widespread events. 1 (more…)

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Market Update – A Recovery or Relief Rally in Stocks?

Sep 6, 2024

September is living up to its reputation as a historically bad month for stocks. The S&P 500 fell 2.3% in the first two trading days, with a highly anticipated August employment report on deck tomorrow morning. The sudden change in momentum and jump in volatility has left many investors questioning the sustainability of the recovery from the August lows and if the rebound was simply a relief rally off oversold levels.

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Market Update – What Does a Rate Cut Mean for Stocks?

Aug 30, 2024

With NVIDIA (NVDA) earnings now out of the way, investor focus turns to the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) report and next week’s busy economic calendar, including a highly anticipated August employment report and the Institute for Supply Management Purchasing Managers’ Index manufacturing and services survey data. These data points — especially the September 6 payrolls report — will help write the narrative for the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) next meeting on September 18.

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Health Insurance in Retirement

Aug 21, 2024

At any age, health care is a priority. When you retire, however, you will probably focus more on health care than ever before. Staying healthy is your goal, and this can mean more visits to the doctor for preventive tests and routine checkups. There’s also a chance that your health will decline as you grow older, increasing your need for costly prescription drugs or medical treatments. That’s why having health insurance is extremely important.

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Income Tax Tips for Business Insurance

Aug 19, 2024

Insurance serves many purposes for a business. You’ll need insurance to protect your business from property damage, personal injury suits, and other forms of financial loss. In addition, you may want to provide your employees with certain types of insurance (e.g., group health and life insurance) to attract and retain them. One of the issues you’ll face as a business owner involves the tax treatment of business-related insurance. Just what can you deduct, and how do you handle insurance reimbursements? Here’s an overview of what you should know.

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More Insights

Apr 4, 2025

April showers came a month early as stocks fell in March. Tariffs were the primary cause of the market jitters, although that uncertainty became too much for markets to shrug off once economic data started to weaken.

Apr 2, 2025

A successful investor maximizes gain and minimizes loss. Though there can be no guarantee that any investment strategy will be successful and all investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, here are six basic principles that may help you invest more successfully.

Mar 31, 2025

Losing a spouse is a stressful transition. And the added pressure of having to settle the estate and organize finances can be overwhelming. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to make dealing with these matters less difficult.

Mar 28, 2025

Families are one of the great joys in life, and part of the love you show to your family is making sure that their basic needs are met. While that’s only to be expected from birth through the high school years, many households are helping their adult children well into their twenties and beyond at … Continue reading “Retirement and Adult Children”

Mar 26, 2025

Life insurance can be an excellent tool for charitable giving. Not only does life insurance allow you to make a substantial gift to charity at relatively little cost to you, but you may also benefit from tax rules that apply to gifts of life insurance.

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