Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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Buyers! Sellers! Realtors! Lend me your ears! Unless it's a cash transaction, the success of your home buying or selling rests quite firmly on the lender. If the loan doesn't fund, nobody moves, and nobody gets paid. How can a Buyer be sure they are working with an experienced lender? How does the Seller know the pre-approval letter from their Buyer is worth the paper it's written on? You have the means to know lots about your lender in just a few keystrokes. The Nationwide Mortgage Licensing...
You know how important it is to plan for your retirement, but where do you begin? One of your first steps should be to estimate how much income you'll need to fund your retirement. That's not as easy as it sounds, because retirement planning is not an exact science. Your specific needs depend on your goals and many other factors. Use your current income as a starting point It's common to discuss desired annual retirement income as a percentage of your current income. Depending on who you're...
The answer is maybe! Only tax law is strange enough to have three different answers to the same question. Let us wade through the murky water together and I will give you some examples of different answers to the same question. The first factor to consider is, did you own the property you sold for more than one year? Exception#1- Tax law differentiates between property held more than a year and property held a year or less. If you held the property more than a year, it is taxed at a more...
Tax deferred is not the same as tax free. "Tax free" means that no income taxes are due at all. Some employer-sponsored savings plans, like Roth 401(k)s, Roth 403(b)s, and Roth 457s, can generate tax-free income during retirement. When you contribute to a Roth account, you don't receive a current tax benefit like you would with a traditional pretax savings account, but your earnings can still grow without having to pay taxes on them each year. Then, qualified withdrawals are tax free....
The answer depends on your filing status, your age and the type of income you earn. Each person is allowed to earn a certain amount of income before they are required to file a tax return. Each individual is allowed a personal exemption of $4,050 and a standard deduction of $6,350 for 2017. Hence an individual can have $10,400 of taxable income before being taxed if under age 65. If age 65 or over, an additional $1,550 standard deduction is allowed, so the filing threshold increases to $11,950...
Got kids? We know that sometimes they can be jokingly referred to as "our little tax deductions", so let's begin at the beginning. When little Susie is born, her parents (you) must apply for a social security number (SSAN) for her before you leave the hospital. In the case of a home birth, you must apply and receive a SSAN before you can claim her as a dependent on your tax return. The IRS requires you to list a social security number for each dependent you claim on your tax return. Susie now be...
Buying long-term care (LTC) insurance is an option. While premiums may be costly, having LTC insurance may allow you to elect where you receive your care, the type of care you receive, and who provides care to you. Many LTC insurance policies pay for the cost of care provided in a nursing home, assisted-living facility, or at home, but the cost of coverage generally depends on your age and the policy benefits and options you purchase. And premiums can increase if the insurer raises its overall...
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. With the arrival of the New Year, many of us will pause and ponder the age-old question: "Who knows where the time goes?" And, as is always the case, none of us really do know. However, wherever the time goes, it will usually be a key factor in your success as an investor. Time can affect how you invest, and the results of your investing, in different ways: Growth potential – Contrary to myth, t...
At any age, health care is a priority. But when you retire, you should probably focus more on health care than ever before. That's why it's particularly important for women to factor in the cost of health care, including long-term care, as part of their retirement plan. How much you'll spend on health care during retirement generally depends on a number of variables including when you retire, how long you live, your relative health, and the cost of medical care in your area. Another important fa...
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. As the year draws to a close, it's a good time to review your progress toward your financial goals. But on what areas should you focus your attention? Of course, you may immediately think about whether your investments have done well. When evaluating the performance of their investments for a given year, many people mistakenly think their portfolios should have done just as well as a common market...
It's generally a good idea to review your employer-sponsored retirement savings plan at least once each year and when major life changes occur. If you haven't given your plan a thorough review within the last 12 months, now may be a good time to do so. Have you experienced any life changes? Since your last retirement plan review, have you experienced any major life changes? For example, did you get married or divorced, buy or sell a house, have a baby, or send a child to college? Perhaps you or...
Take advantage of dollar cost averaging One of the benefits of participating in your workplace savings plan is that you're automatically using an investment strategy called dollar cost averaging. With dollar cost averaging, you acquire shares of an investment by investing a fixed dollar amount at regularly scheduled intervals over time. When the price is high, your investment buys less; when prices are low, the same dollar investment will buy more shares. A regular, fixed-dollar investment...
Haven't I told you to shop around? Just this weekend a past client contacted me about a mortgage transaction. They are moving out of state and the paperwork didn't look right. They had told the online lender they wanted a loan with no points and low fees. The Loan Estimate I was shown not only had over $3,000 in points, but also had five line items of junk fees that add to over $1,200. It looks to me like the "Lender Beginning with the 17th Letter of the Alphabet" was trying to pull a fast one....
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. You may spend decades contributing to your IRA and 401(k). But, eventually, you'll need to use this money. Before that day arrives, you'll want to be familiar with the rules governing withdrawals – and you'll want to know just how much you should take out. To begin with, withdrawals from traditional employer-sponsored retirement plans like these fall under the Internal Revenue Service's "required m...
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. Retirement--your changing health insurance needs If...
What is long-term care? In general, long-term care refers to a broad range of medical and personal services designed to assist individuals who have lost their ability to function independently. The need for this ongoing care arises when you have a chronic disability or when physical/mental impairments prevent you from performing certain basic activities, such as feeding, bathing, dressing, transferring, and toileting. What are the three levels of long-term care? Because some long-term care...
The caller wanted to learn how to get ready to buy his first house. "I just paid cash for my business, and I have no credit." Nice, a clean slate to work with! After the mortgage meltdown, Congress was really interested in making sure folks have the means to repay the money they borrow. For traditional financing these days, you'd need to file two years federal income tax returns before we can count the income from your new business. As before, we're looking at the "net" income you claim. Even...
On September 7, 2017, Equifax, one of the three main credit reporting agencies, announced a massive data security breach that exposed vital personal identification data- including names, addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers- on as many as 143 million consumers, roughly 55% of Americans age 18 and older.1 This data breach was especially egregious because the company reportedly first learned of the breach on July 29 and waited roughly six weeks before making it public (hackers...
This article is taken in its entirety from www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2017/09/equifax-data-breach-what-do. If you have a credit report, there's a good chance that you're one of the 143 million American consumers whose sensitive personal information was exposed in a data breach at Equifax, one of the nation's three major credit reporting agencies. Here are the facts, according to Equifax. The breach lasted from mid-May through July. The hackers accessed people's names, Social Security numbers, bir...
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. Mother's Day and Father's Day may get more attention, but National Grandparents Day, observed on Sept. 10, has gained in popularity. If you're a grandparent, you might expect to receive some nice cards, but if you want to make the day especially meaningful, you may want to consider giving some long-lasting financial gifts to your grandchildren. What might come to mind first, of course, is helping your...
Your chances of requiring some sort of long-term care increase as you age, and long-term care insurance (LTCI) can help you cover your long-term care expenses. Although tax issues are probably not foremost in your mind when you buy LTCI, it still pays to consider them. In particular, you should explore whether your premiums will be deductible and your benefits taxable. You may be eligible for an income tax deduction You may be able to deduct all or part of the LTCI premiums you pay for...
We're short and sweet this week, since something big is happening in the world of reverse mortgage. On Aug. 29, 2017 the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program. This speaks to all federally-insured reverse mortgages, and is important because right now there is no other kind of reverse. Borrowers will see higher mortgage insurance premiums, and reduced reverse benefits, with case numbers issued on or after Oct. 2, 2017....
Did you know that in a real estate transaction, the seller usually pays for the Realtors? A buyer asked about this last week, so let’s spend a few minutes discussing it. When a property is for sale, the seller signs a listing agreement with a real estate broker. Most often it spells out the total amount, as a percentage of the sale price, the seller will pay to sell the house. The listing broker usually splits the amount with the Realtor who brings the final buyer. In our area, the common compen...
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. Mother's Day and Father's Day may get more attention, but National Grandparents Day, observed on Sept. 10, has gained in popularity. If you're a grandparent, you might expect to receive some nice cards, but if you want to make the day especially meaningful, you may want to consider giving some long-lasting financial gifts to your grandchildren. What might come to mind first, of course, is helping your...
Whether you've had a long-term care insurance (LTCI) policy for years or you're thinking of buying one, it's critical to understand exactly what set of conditions will trigger coverage. This information is the bread and butter of any LTCI policy. In addition, you should know how to file a claim, preferably before you're on the verge of needing care. What determines if you're entitled to benefits? LTCI policies differ on how benefits are triggered, so it's crucial to examine your individual...
