Site search


Post

Why You Should NOT Name Your Estate as IRA Beneficiary

You're allowed to name anyone as the beneficiary of your IRA. You’re also allowed to name a non-person as your IRA beneficiary. Examples of non-persons would include charities, a trust, or your estate. It is generally not a good move to name your estate as your IRA beneficiary.When you die, your estate includes the property that you owned at the time you died. It’s a legal entity that’s created after you die. Your executor must then pay your expenses and liabilities and distribute the balance according to your will.
Read more
Post

Aggregating Inherited IRAs

The question came up recently about combining inherited IRAs. The general rule is that you can combine IRAs that you have inherited from the same person. So if you inherited two IRAs from your Mom, you could combine them into one inherited IRA. But if you inherited an IRA from your Mom and inherited an IRA from your Dad, you could not combine them. Sounds simple, right? Not quite.
Read more
Post

Happy Parenthood! 3 Tax Planning Moves To Consider Making For Your New Child

I’m still having a hard time believing it's true, but by the end of tomorrow, I'm going to become a father for the first time. I am obviously super excited and can't wait to experience all the joys – and even some of the pains – of fatherhood. I know that being a father is nothing to take lightly and there are many responsibilities. Some of the responsibilities are financially-oriented and for a few of those, there are tax efficient ways of achieving one's goals. Now obviously, everybody’s situation is different, but below are 3 tax-planning moves I plan to make as soon as possible once I become a father. Perhaps one or more of them is relevant for you and your planning.
Read more