How to Optimize Social Security Survivor Benefits as a Widow
Deciding how to claim Social Security survivor benefits as a widow could be a decision worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Deciding how to claim Social Security survivor benefits, while trying to navigate everything else when your loved one dies, is not a straightforward decision. Optimizing Social Security benefits requires you to consider your life […]
Kindness Financial Planning Turns 1 – Reflections from the 1st Year
Kindness Financial Planning, LLC turned 1 on December 9. I have learned many lessons over the past year. Building a fee-only financial planning firm is rewarding, challenging, frustrating, tedious, educational, soul-crushing, and spirit-lifting. People were not lying when they said entrepreneurship is filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows – sometimes in the […]
Tax-Loss Harvesting – Rules and Examples of a Year-Round Strategy
The stock market going down is a natural part of investing. When an investment goes down in value, there are silver linings. One of the silver linings is that you may be able to use a strategy called tax-loss harvesting, where you sell an investment for a loss in a brokerage account. The benefit of […]
Is Long-Term Care Insurance Worth It?
How to plan for long-term care and whether to purchase long-term care insurance is a difficult decision. Most people never plan on living years or decades with health issues, but it is becoming more common, which makes planning for long-term care important. How will you pay for care? Which assets will you use? Do you […]
What I’m Thankful for in 2022
It’s that time of year many people take a moment to reflect and ask themselves, “What am I thankful for this year?” It’s also a time people may want to practice gratitude. Their acts of gratitude may be as simple as keeping a thankful journal or inviting a friend to a meal. Those small acts […]
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) – Tax-Efficient Charitable Giving
For people who donate to charity, qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) are powerful giving tools. QCDs can satisfy your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) and reduce your adjusted gross income, thereby potentially avoiding higher tax brackets and phaseouts of tax deductions. What does this mean for you? Making a qualified charitable distribution can potentially lower the amount […]
4 Ways to Help a Widow
Losing a spouse and experiencing the accompanying grief is heartbreaking. Life changes overnight. What was once easy can become difficult. It could be paying the bills, cooking, eating, getting out of the house, or remembering appointments. Widowhood is unlike anything someone has typically experienced. The brain fog that can come with the death of a […]
2022 Year-End Tax Planning Checklist
Don’t be the person who finds out in 2023 that they paid the IRS too much for 2022! If you haven’t done any tax planning for 2022 yet, now is the time. While many reactively plan for taxes, proper tax planning is not based on year-to-year numbers. Good tax planning looks at your lifetime tax […]
Why the Dow Doesn’t Matter
“The Dow dropped 1,000 points!”, screams the television financial reporter. So, what? I don’t know why financial reporters, analysts, and the financial industry continues to reference the Dow Jones. It’s not relevant for many people. There are more meaningful ways to measure stock market performance and what is happening in the economy than moves in […]
Family or Professional Trustee? Pros and Cons of a Professional Trustee
While people create trusts during their life, estate plans often include the creation of trusts at death. Knowing who you will put in charge of the trust is vital, including backup options. You have to specifically name them in the documents. They will be responsible for carrying out the terms of the trust, making distributions, […]
