Financial Planning Just do it - plan now and stop worrying! You can take the following steps to help reduce your worries: Put aside a set amount regularly in savings or other investments.  The compounding of earnings can be substantial.  The longer your investment period, the greater the beneficial effect of compounding. Invest in what you know.  The better informed you are, the better your investment decision.  If you don't have time to learn about investments, consider hiring a professional well qualified to help you. Diversify your investments.  "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is excellent investment advice.  Keep part of your investment in cash for emergencies and opportunities. Prepare an annual balance sheet.   Determine your net worth.   Plan where you want to be financially by retirement age.  Retire in comfort don't be on of the over 90% of Americans who must rely on the government of others for assistance during retirement.   Pay off your credit card balance every month.  Your credit card should be used for your convenience, not as a source of long-term financing.  Credit card interest rates are much too high.

Investment Review Maximize your after-tax return. We can review your investment ideas with you and your investment advisor and make recommendations to maximize your after-tax return. Don't ignore the impact of taxes on your investments.  While taxes should not drive your investment strategy, understanding how taxes affect your earnings will help you minimize taxes and maximize your return.  Consider these items: Long-term capital gains and dividends carry a favored tax status.  Consider putting more dollars in investments that give you dividend income and long-term capital gains. You can deduct a limited amount of capital losses in excess of capital gains.  Consider balancing your winners and losers to maximize this deduction each year. Investments which produce high taxable annual income can be given to family members who are in lower tax brackets, thereby saving taxes for the overall family group. Depending on your tax bracket, you may benefit from investing in municipal bonds. Another area where taxes make a difference is in deciding which investments to keep in your tax-deferred accounts, such as a regular IRA or 401(k) plan, and which to keep in taxable accounts.

Estate and Gift Planning A little planning can save thousands of dollars! You can't take it with you, but failing to plan for your estate can mean that the government, rather than your heirs, may get the major portion of your hard-earned money. Over the coming years, the tax law gradually reduces estate and gift tax rates, and the exemption amount increases.  The estate tax will be repealed in 2010, but the gift tax will be retained.  Ironically, the estate tax will be reinstated in 2011 unless Congress acts to make changes once again.  In the midst of these phase-in and phase-out provisions, a little planning can save thousands of dollars. You may be surprised what your estate is worth.  Add up the value of all your assets.  Don't forget life insurance which may fall into your estate.  If your total value exceeds the exemption amount, you should look into what a few simple planning techniques can save your family at estate time.  In addition, there are some very effective estate planning ideas that can also cut your income tax bill. Some planning possibilities: Gifting.  Current tax law allows you to give away $ 12,000 per year per recipient.  (This amount is adjusted annually for inflation.)  Your spouse may join in the gift even if he or she is not an owner in the transferred asset.  This means that you could transfer up to $ 24,000 per year to each of your heirs.  To double the annual exclusion yet again, you may want to include spouses of your children.  The person receiving the gift does not need to be related to you.  These annual gifts do not reduce your once-in-a-lifetime estate tax exclusion. Unlimited gifts.  You can make unlimited gifts to pay for another individual's medical expenses or school tuition as long as your payments are made directly to the institution. Property transfer.  If you have property which is not needed for your retirement, maybe it is a large income-producer, the future income will be taxed to the new owner and not to you, plus the property will be out of your estate. Spousal transfer.  You can generally make unlimited transfers to your spouse either during your lifetime or through your estate.  There are generally no taxes on spousal tranfers, regardless of size.  But leaving everything to your spouse may not be a good idea, since doing so fails to utilize the lifetime exclusion amount in the estate of the first spouse to die.  Planning will allow you to use the exclusion in both estates, and you'll be able to transfer twice as much to your heirs free of estate tax. Life insurance proceeds.  With proper planning, certain life insurance proceeds can be kept out of your estate.   Your Initial Consultation - FREE! Call us for an appointment 704.341.9611 or toll free 877.891.8226.