Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. It's Graduation Season again. If your child is graduating from high school or college, you have reason to celebrate. But what should you give to your newly minted diploma holder? You might want to consider offering a combination of financial gifts and tips, which, taken together, could set your graduate on a path toward a successful, independent life. What sort of gifts and tips should you consider?...
Trusts have been used as an integral part of sophisticated tax and financial arrangements for centuries. Exactly how they are used depends on a person’s particular goals, current tax rules, and other factors. Hopefully this article helps you to understand some ways a trust may help you. A trust is an arrangement in which title to property is held by someone for another’s benefit. The trust can be established to benefit the person creating it (the grantor), or to benefit another (the beneficiary). Trusts can operate during the grantor’s life,...
4. When should you begin receiving retirement benefits? Should you begin receiving benefits early and receive smaller payments over a longer period of time, or wait until your full retirement age or later and receive larger benefits over a shorter period of time? There’s no “right” answer. It’s an individual decision that must be based on many factors, including other sources of retirement income, your marital status, whether you plan to continue working, your life expectancy, and your tax pic...
There’s a new survey out by ClosingCorp telling us that last year more than 50% of lender’s loan estimates to borrowers had to be revised before the close of escrow. Buyers complained that closing costs and fees were adjusted due to something about them or the loan. Hold the phone: That shouldn’t happen. We aren’t giving you a Loan Estimate until we’ve taken your loan application. You’ve told us everything we need to know so we can place your loan. There’s no reason for a surprise after that. U...
Extensions Whether you file a tax return by the April due date, or obtain an extension to file, filing an annual tax return is mandatory if your income is above a certain level, which will vary depending upon your filing status. Reasons to file an extension include waiting for an important document such as a late 1099 or K-1 form showing income which needs to be reported, you may be overseas and unable to file by the April deadline, or you may just be a habitual procrastinator. Whatever the...
3. What will your retirement benefit be? Your Social Security retirement benefit is based on the number of years you’ve worked and the amount you’ve earned. Your benefit is calculated using a formula that takes into account your 35 highest earnings years. If you earned little or nothing in several of those years, it may be to your advantage to work as long as possible, because you may have the opportunity to replace a year of lower earnings with a year of higher earnings, potentially res...
It’s pretty easy to go on-line and get figures about your next home loan. Does what you see on the screen actually end up being what you get? It’s not always a matter of bait and switch; it’s a matter of the intricacies of loan pricing. Here’s what to consider when you are comparing loan offers. Right off the bat, I can think of at least 19 factors that affect your home loan interest rate. For a more complete discussion, see the article on my web site. Point being, if all 19 things are not bro...
Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone uses a taxpayer's stolen Social Security number and name to file a tax return to claim a fraudulent refund. Often the taxpayer doesn't know this has occurred until they try to file a legitimate tax return and have their return rejected with an error code stating that a return has already been filed using that name and Social Security number. This article discusses the steps to take when a taxpayer's identity has been stolen, along with helpful...
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. It’s tax time again – which for many Americans means that a tax refund is on its way. If you’re going to get a refund this year, how can you use the money to your best advantage? Of course, it’s always tempting to spend the check from Uncle Sam on something fun. But a tax refund could be sizable – the average amount in 2016 was $2,857, according to the IRS – so putting this money to work could help...
Ever since a legal secretary named Ida May Fuller received the first retirement benefit check in 1940, women have been counting on Social Security to provide much-needed retirement income. Social Security provides other important benefits too, including disability and survivor’s benefits, that can help women of all ages and their family members. 1. How does Social Security protect you and your family? When you work and pay Social Security taxes, you’re paying for three types of benefits: ret...
Twice this week my local quote was beat an online/mail lender. Once was for a reverse mortgage, and once for a plain refinance. Be sure you are talking to a local mortgage advisor before you latch on to a solicitation for your home loan business. In both cases mentioned, the structure offered was of much greater benefit to the bank than it was to my clients. For the reverse mortgage, the mailed plan offer was at a low up-front cost and a full draw of the available benefit. It looked great if...
Proving tax deductions without cancelled checks There is a growing trend toward remote deposit of checks. Because of the increasing sophistication of smartphones, you can now photograph a check written out to you and digitally send it to your bank for deposit. All this and more became possible after the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (Check 21) became effective in 2004. As a result of this act most banks discontinued the practice of retaining a paper version or copy of your checks....
How much income will you need? Another important piece of the puzzle is to look at how much retirement income you’ll need, based partly on an estimate of your retirement expenses. If there is a large gap between your projected expenses and your anticipated income, waiting a few years to retire and start collecting Social Security benefits may improve your financial outlook. If you continue to work and wait until your full retirement age to start collecting benefits, your Social Security m...
Um, no, you can’t. But this was said by someone holding themselves out as a lender, to a friend of mine. He heard, “If you put 20% down, you can have any loan you want!” First, a check of the NMLS Consumer web site shows the lending experience of the speaker. The Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System will tell you if a person is fully licensed in lending, or is just registered, how long they have worked in lending, and who they have worked for. In this case, the speaker is registered as a lende...
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. In your life, you will want to take many journeys. Some are physical – perhaps you’ll finally visit the French Riviera or the Caribbean. Others involve personal growth – one day, you’ll finally become fluent in that foreign language you’ve been studying. But of all the destinations you can identify, few will be as important as retirement – specifically, a comfortable retirement. And that’s why...
I have noticed confusion in the people I talk to regarding tax credits and tax deductions. A tax deduction reduces the amount of income that is subject to tax. The itemized deductions for mortgage interest, real estate taxes, contributions, etc are examples. If you earn $60,000 but have $15,000 in itemized deductions, you pay tax on $45,000 of income. If you are in a 15% federal tax bracket, a $15,000 tax deduction reduces your tax $2,250 ($15,000 x 15% tax rate). A tax credit reduces your tax b...
We got a great surprise from FHA this week: They’re lowering mortgage insurance premiums! Good news for buyers and refinancers alike. Since interest rates have moved over the last quarter, it’s time for the briefest look at what affordability feels like right now in the 93561. These figures are rough estimates for the “most perfect” of buyers, and lots of things can affect who qualifies for similar terms and who doesn’t. At the very least, it gives us the flavor of what’s happening now. The re...
File for one benefit, then the other To file a restricted application and claim only spousal benefits at age 66, you must be at least age 62 by the end of December 2015. At the time you file, your spouse must have already claimed Social Security retirement benefits or filed and suspended benefits before the effective date of the new rules. If you were born in 1954 or later, you will not be able to use this strategy because under the new rules, an individual who files a benefit application will...
Happy New Year. Have you been getting a bunch of mailers about refinancing your current home loan? Me, too. Is it really a good time to refinance? Only “maybe.” Many factors come in to play when evaluating a mortgage financing offer. Rate is only one of them, but in recent months it’s become a biggie. Let’s have a quick look back to see what has happened since Fall. The Freddie Mac weekly interest rate survey is flawed in that it only considers a perfect borrower with 20% equity and no other l...
“I’ve never worked with someone like you before when buying houses … it makes me wonder how many times I’ve been swindled or made bad decisions – thank you for walking us through everything!” This note came from a repeat home buyer who works as an engineer. Buyer A spent a lot of time with me analyzing their family finances to choose the best financing structure for their move out of the area. They spent over $30,000 less than they originally might have spent due to our strategic planning ar...
If you’re behind on your mortgage payments, or worried about how you’ll make the next one, join the more than 1.5 million families who have been helped so far. Fannie Mae has a great resource at KnowYourOptions.com. This web site teaches consumers about their options if making a house payment becomes a struggle. The program most people know about is the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. HAMP is designed to lower your monthly mortgage payments, making them more affordable and sus...
If you’re retired or close to retiring, then you’ve probably got nothing to worry about--your Social Security benefits will likely be paid to you in the amount you’ve planned on (at least that’s what most of the politicians say). But what about the rest of us? The media onslaught Watching the news, listening to the radio, or reading the newspaper, you’ve probably come across story after story on the health of Social Security. And, depending on the actuarial assumptions used and the political...
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. We’re just about ready to open the door to 2017, so you might be thinking about some New Year’s resolutions. What’s on your list this year? More visits to the gym? Learning a new language? Mastering the perfect beef bourguignon? All worthy ambitions, of course, but why not also include some financial resolutions? By reviewing your needs and goals, you can identify some resolutions that are parti...
After you’ve done a new home loan, your mailbox gets stuffed with all kinds of mail. Anything you receive from your lender would be important, of course, as would anything from the local county tax assessor or recorder. But what about all the other stuff? It sure looks official, with pictures of seals and barcodes. Here is just one example of mail that looks like it needs attention, but is really best shredded. “Recorded Deed Notice”! “First Documents recommends that all CA homeowners obtain...
This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor. During your working years, you are (hopefully) putting money into your IRA and your 401(k) or similar employer-sponsored retirement plan. But once you’ve retired, how can you maximize the benefits you get from these plans? First of all, you need to be aware of the rules governing withdrawals from your retirement plans. If you are older than 59½, you can withdraw money from your traditional IRA wi...
