Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and Life Insurance Policies

A doubled estate tax exemption makes life insurance policies less necessary, while more
favorable basis rules decrease gain on their sale. The law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
(TCJA for short), approximately doubled the individual exemption from estate tax, which
increased from $5.49 million in 2017 to $11.18 million in 2018.

Life insurance is often employed to reduce the estate tax's financial impact. The doubling of the estate tax exemption diminishes the need for certain estates to use life insurance to cover the
estate tax. Life insurance owners whose assets are now sheltered by the increased exemption
may consider selling policies that are no longer necessary. Those who sell will also benefit from
more favorable basis rules.

The TCJA allows the seller of a policy to include all premiums paid in cost basis when
calculating taxes due on a settlement transaction. Thus, sellers of life insurance are now … Read More

Boost Retirement Savings!

Retiring rich is definitely harder these days than a few decades ago. Wages, which had increased without fail for nearly 30 years, began to stagnate in the mid-1970s.  Jobs with employee pensions have all but vanished, severely limiting available means of income for today’s retirees.  Thus, there are major forces beyond your control that are making retiring rich harder. So, don’t make it worse by neglecting what you do have control over.

Treat Your Retirement Savings Like A Business
A strategy to make saving more appealing is to treat your personal finances like a business.  Many people struggle to manage their household finances, but at the same time, many people have no trouble running a profitable business.  What if, they treated their personal finances like a small company?  This shift in mindset can make a huge difference.  Stop viewing saving as sacrifice, changing your mindset can make saving a pleasure instead … Read More

Medicare and Social Security Update

Medicare
The main trust fund behind Medicare, the U.S. health-care program for the elderly and disabled, will be exhausted in 2026, three years earlier than was projected a year ago.  Medicare’s Board of Trustees blamed the earlier depletion forecast on expectations of lower payroll taxes and less revenue from taxing Social Security benefits, both the result of the tax overhaul signed by President Donald Trump last year. Medicare is also expected to spend more than projected last year, the report said.  “As in past years, the Trustees have determined that the fund is not adequately financed over the next 10 years”.  Each year, the trustees project the long-term finances of Medicare, which covers about 58 million Americans. Medicare spent $710 billion in 2017, making it the single biggest purchaser of health services in the U.S.  The long-term solvency is also affected by lawmakers’ repeal in February of a controversial Obamacare effort … Read More