Mortgage Insurance Tax Deduction Reinstated?
UPDATE: On January 1st, 2013, the mortgage insurance tax deduction was extended - Click here to see the update A proposed bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee on August, 2nd 2012 is asking for reinstatement of the mortgage insurance deduction that was discontinued as of January 1st, 2012. Enacted in 2006 as part of a legislative stimulus plan, homeowners with an adjusted gross income of less than $100,000 could write off 100% of their mortgage insurance premiums. This tax deduction was reduced...
Top 10 Celebrity Estate Planning Mistakes
Don’t feel like reading? Listen to this article instead! I have been writing about Living Trusts for the past several weeks, and I just recently came across an article from BusinessInsider.com that I found interesting. The article featured Trial & Heirs' Top 10 Celebrity Estate Planning Mistakes. I found them interesting and thought I would share the article with you. The point of all this is to recognize the mistakes of others so that we won’t repeat them. 1. Jimi Hendrix's Critical Error: Doing Nothing If...
Steve Jobs Had a Living Trust
For the past couple of weeks, I have been writing about Living Trusts, which is why I found the below article very interesting. As I’m sure you’re very aware by now, Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011. Shortly after his passing, Forbes.com had an article titled, Steve Jobs Appears To Have Protected His Estate With Living Trusts. What follows below are excerpts of what I found interesting in the article. _____________________________ Soon after the tragic news broke of the passing of Steve...
Living Trust Keeps Home Out of Probate?
For the last few weeks, I have been discussing the importance of having a Living Trust. One of the major reasons people chose to establish a Living Trust is to avoid probate. Probate can be a very time-consuming and costly experience for your beneficiaries. What happens to someone’s home when he/she/they pass away all depends on how title is held. ______________________________ If you own title to your home and don’t have a will or a Living Trust, then your home will go through the probate...
How to Protect Minor Children with a Living Trust
A Living Trust can protect minor children by giving you the power to make important decisions. As a financial advisor, one of the topics that comes up a lot when meeting with people is death. Nobody, including myself, wants to dwell on the topic of death, but for better or worse, it is going to happen to most of us someday. My hope for all of us is that it happens after a well lived life, but tragically however, most of us know...
Living Trust: Why it’s so Important to Have
A Living Trust is important to have for many reasons. One of the most important reasons to have a Living Trust is to avoid probate. Probate proceedings are legal proceedings, that are a matter of public record, and are used to wind up a person's legal and financial affairs after death. In California, probate proceedings are conducted in the Superior Court for the county in which the decedent lived. A “normal” probate process without any glitches can take about eight months. Some...
What is a Legal Document Assistant?
Having completed all the requirements under the California Business & Professions Code section 6450, I am now a Legal Document Assistant under California Law. ____________________ What is a Legal Document Assistant? Formerly called Independent Paralegals, beginning January 1, 2001, California Law redefined “paralegal” to mean only those that work for and are supervised by attorneys. A Legal Document Assistant (LDA) is an experienced professional who is authorized under California law to prepare legal documents for consumers. However, an LDA is not an attorney and...
Update Your Beneficiaries
When was the last time you checked/updated the beneficiary information on your retirement accounts, pension plans, and life insurance policies? If it’s been a while, now may be a good time to go through some of your records and double-check to make sure that the beneficiaries listed on your accounts are the ones you want. In case you were wondering: Pension companies, retirement accounts, and life insurance companies have no idea when people pass away. This is why it’s a good idea for...
Stock Market Myths
To say the stock market is going through a time of uncertainty right now would be a serious understatement. Just looking over the returns over the past week would make anyone feel anxious and nervous about what’s to come. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is how the Dow Jones closed the week of August 9th: Monday Down 634 points – 6th worst point decline in stock market history. Tuesday Up 429 points Wednesday Down 519 points – 9th worst point decline in stock market history. Thursday Up 423 points Friday Up 125...
Stock Market Mayhem!
The stock market is once again going crazy! If you have been listening to the news at all lately, you will have heard about how the US debt rating has been downgraded for first time in our history. On Friday, August 5th, the S&P announced that it was reducing its credit rating for long-term U.S. government debt from AAA, the highest rating, to AA+. To make a long story short – this is not good. To give you an idea of what this...
