Each year, individuals over 70.5 have to satisfy year end required minimum distributions (RMDs) from the IRA accounts. A great strategy to help reduce taxes, if the withdraw is not needed for income, is to direct the money from your account to your favorite charity.
It’s early April, the first quarter just ended, spring (pollen) is in the air and The Masters is on television. Last week, Augusta National played host to eighty-seven of the best golfers in the world. Eighty-one of these are professionals and six are amateurs invited by Augusta National to compete in one of the most prestigious events in golf. Sitting back watching the tournament, it occurred to us that there are tremendous similarities between investing and golf.
The Triangle Business Journal and the National Association of Board Certified Advisory Practices NABCAP recently honored Carolina Wealth Management, Inc. as one of a select group of Premier Wealth Advisors in the region. This independent review evaluated advisory practices representing many companies from the region before choosing the selected practices to be designated as Premier Wealth Advisors and listed in the Triangle Business Journal and designated to the Top Area Wealth Managers/Advisors List*.
The National Association of Board Certified Advisory Practices (NABCAP) is a nonprofit organization created to establish mutually understood standards and practices among both investors and advisory practices. Their primary mission is to educate and inform the investing general public with reliable, unaffiliated, unbiased and completely objective educational resources and information. Given the chaos and uncertainty of our current economy and the Financial Services Industry, we believe investors can benefit from a trusted resource to help guide their financial well-being.
You may have heard that the Social Security system is broken. In fact, the trustees of the system have been reporting that the social security trust fund will be depleted by the year 2034 and the system will only be able to payout 79 percent of the promised benefit in the future.*
That's the current asset allocation of a portfolio that was 50% stock/50% bond at the outset of the current market rally—which stretches back to March 9, 2009. If the hypothetical investor had added more money to stocks during this period, as investors are often inclined to do when stocks are going up, the equity allocation would be even more lofty.
It is nice to see leaders like Brian Graff, CEO of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), express what Carolina Wealth has always believed - "American investors should not be treated like children. Labeling all advisors “fiduciaries” even though they operate under different sets of rules will not magically make the existing misunderstandings go away. Instead, let’s tell investors clearly and honestly what is going on. Sometimes the simple approach is indeed the best one."
