Our Commentary

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama introduced a new retirement plan called myRA which is shorthand for ‘my retirement account’. The goal is to encourage middle to low income individuals to get in the habit of saving for retirement. The plan rules are styled similar to the rules for the Roth IRA including no […]

Reader question: How much money can I contribute to my Roth IRA? My W-2 income is zero.  My taxable income comes from Required Minimum Distributions from rollover and contributory IRAs (I am over 70.5 years old), interest, dividends, capital gains from investments, and royalties from mineral rights. B.L. Answer: In order to be eligible to contribute to […]

Obamacare will, I believe, be recorded in history as the most sweeping social program of our time. How will it impact you and your finances and what adjustments should you be begin making now to prepare for your financial future? For sake of discussion, I’ll skip past the disastrous roll-out of the healthcare.gov web site even […]

Hackers breached Target’s security system and stole credit information from an estimated 110 million customers. Just this past week, upscale retailer, Neiman Marcus reported that their security systems had been breached and customer credit information was also stolen. I predict that these incidents will turn into a trend and become one of the biggest financial news stories […]

January is a great time to re-set your financial compass so you are headed towards success for the coming year. Here are the favorite tips from the advisors within my companies: Secure this tax credit…while it lasts. Under the Alabama Accountability Act, our state has set aside $25 million in state income tax credits to be used […]

It’s the start of a new year. What will the future bring and how can you best take advantage of the opportunities it holds? This is the time of year when there are lots of prognostications about what the stock market and economy is going to do over the next year. First, let me be clear: no one […]

  After thirty-something years working with individuals and families on their personal finances, I’ve developed the uncanny ability to predict their financial futures, often after spending just a few minutes with them. You see, financial success, or lack thereof, comes down to a mindset…a decision to succeed followed by an implemented plan of action. Today I’m going […]

  Many years ago we purchased two $100,000 fixed annuities from Vanguard. One increased with the CPI and the other increased its payouts by 5% per year. We were in good health then, and are now in our eighties and they have proved to be good supplements to our income. However, during the 2008 disaster, we learned that […]

  Reader Question: Could you speak to the tax consequences of a minor’s earnings? My two-year-old son recently inherited $5,000 for which I opened an investment account. I earn a six-figure income. Will any dividends and other earnings that he accrues be taxed in my bracket, or in his? If the latter, this seems like a perfectly […]

  Reader question: My husband and I will be taking our Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from our IRAs for the 1st time this year and were planning to set up 529 accounts for our 6 grandchildren.  So long as the amounts do not go over the gift limit for each child, is there any other thing […]