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This Sunday’s The Ethicist column in the New York Times contains two questions and answers which, to me, each dealt with the same theme.   The first question involved whether a doctor should [...]

Guaranteeing Loans to a Company Owned by One’s IRA is a Prohibited Transaction       Sec. 408(e) of the Internal Revenue Code states that if an IRA engages in a prohibited [...]

A common debate among financial planners when discussing life insurance is whether one should buy term insurance or insurance that provides a cash value. Among the points of discussion on the [...]

by Barry C Picker, CPA/PFS, CFP   Paperless, paperless, paperless. It’s all the rage. We have to get rid of paper. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for it. I would love to get all the stuff in [...]

The Supreme Court decision in Windsor v. US has effectively struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act retroactively. As such, anyone affected can file amended joint returns for all [...]

It’s been a good year for the stock market; many portfolios are showing a decent gain. This is true for mutual funds also.But mutual funds have a little tax quirk – they must [...]

Executive Summary Mother paid medical expenses directly to provider, and also paid daughter’s real estate taxes. IRS denied deduction to daughter since the daughter did not pay the expenses. Tax [...]

Before they inherited $3 million in retirement accounts from their father last year, the three middle-aged siblings didn’t know it was possible for heirs to stretch out the tax benefits of such [...]

Later retirement could mean different IRA options. Be sure to explore them all. 

As of January 1 of this year, even upper-income Americans can have a Roth IRA.