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POAs and other advanced directives are becoming more important. The point of the POA. A power of attorney (POA) is a legal instrument that delegates an individual’s legal authority to another person. If an individual is incapacitated, the POA assigns a trusted party to make decisions on his or her behalf. There are nondurable, springing,…

What to know as markets look forward.  Are you having a tough time keeping track of inflation’s mixed signals? You’re not alone. Consumer prices in July climbed at their fastest rate since August 2008. Worse, producer prices, which can be an indicator of future price changes at the consumer level, rose at the highest rate…

The midpoint of the year is a great time to review your financial position. With June officially behind us, it’s time to face the facts: we’re headed toward the second half of 2021. While there’s still plenty of time to enjoy the rest of summer, we encourage you to slow down and check up on…

Various factors drive used car prices.  Inflation is defined as the general upward price movement of goods and services in an economy. The key word is “general.” Inflation tends to be uneven and affects the price of some items more than others. If you’ve been in the market for a used car, you’ve learned a…

Preliminary estimates call for a 4.7% cost-of-living increase.1 If there is a “silver lining” to all the inflation talk, it may be that Social Security benefits are expected to see a larger-than-normal increase in 2022. Preliminary estimates call for a 4.7% cost-of-living increase (COLA) in Social Security benefits next year, which would be the highest…

There are compelling reasons to adopt a wait-and-see approach. Inflation can be a scary word for people who are retired. It’s code for “prices are going up, but my income may stay the same.” The most recent reading on consumer prices put inflation back into the conversation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.8% in…

The proposal does not yet include any new taxes on individuals. President Joe Biden introduced the much-anticipated American Jobs Plan, which outlines an approach to spend roughly $2.2 trillion on the nation’s infrastructure and other projects. As part of the legislative process, the Biden administration also laid out a proposal for paying for the domestic…

A choice for I.R.A. owners who want to reduce taxes linked to I.R.A. distributions. Do you have an I.R.A.? As you enter your 70s, you may start to look at that I.R.A. not only as an asset, but also as a problem. By law, you must take required minimum distributions (R.M.D.s) from a Traditional I.R.A.…

What role should taxes play in your investment decisions? Will you pay higher taxes in retirement? Do you have a 401(k) or a traditional IRA? If so, you will receive income from both after age 72. However, if you have saved and invested much of your life, you may also end up retiring at a…

Do you know what has changed for I.R.A. beneficiaries? New inherited I.R.A. rules took effect on January 1, 2020. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act became law on that day, altering the regulations on inherited Individual Retirement Account (I.R.A.) distributions. The big change: the introduction of the 10-year rule for beneficiaries.…