In a further attempt to expand and promote retirement savings, Congress passed SECURE Act 2.0 as part of an overall spending bill, the 2023 Consolidations and Appropriations Act. President Biden signed the bill into law on December 29, 2022. OVERVIEW The SECURE Act 2.0 is a follow-up bill to the original SECURE Act passed in …
Financial Planning
The Latest Cryptocurrency Executive Order (EO)
This blog assumes you know what cryptocurrency is. The Biden Cryptocurrency EO serves as a high-level homework assignment to the other branches of government. Basically, it highlighted what’s been happening in this area in the past few years: Digital assets are skyrocketing in terms of market cap (going from $14 Billion in 2016 to $3 …
Financial Gift Guide
This is a blog about money and therefore all of the gifts that I’m suggesting are money-related as well. Ok, Jill’s Journal readers, I have scoured the Internet for gift suggestions that have to deal with our favorite topic, money. These are for people who want to learn about money, like money, or want a …
Tax Loss Harvesting
Want to impress your friends with knowledge of reducing your taxes using investment sales? I’m going to teach you. We all know the adage, “buy low, sell high.” Well, sometimes your investments don’t turn out the way you want them to, and you may want to consider selling low. Tax loss harvesting is when you …
Employee Stock Options, Part 2 of 2
Last week, I discussed what a stock option was and how there are two different kinds. When an employer gives you/grants you options, it is not considered a taxable event. It’s only when you DO something with the options that you have to pay attention and figure out if it is taxable or not. There …
Employee Stock Options, Part 1 of 2
What the heck is an employee stock option? Publicly traded companies may offer employees stock options as a form of incentive compensation. These options give you the right to purchase company stock at a specific price. There’s a lot of jargon to share when it comes to employee stock options. The initial price, when you …
FSA’s & HSA’s
In my last blog, I talked about health care open enrollment. A few of the options that many employers offer for benefits are Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) or Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Are you familiar with FSAs/HSAs and how they are used? If not, read on for more information. FSA’s An FSA is an account …
Gifting Limits
All this month, I’ve been talking about debt. So why is this blog talking about gifting? Well, here’s my thought train: let’s say you have some debt and your parents or your grandma or your favorite aunt gives you some money to pay it off. Just, out of the goodness of their heart and because …
Why Do I Need Homeowners’ Insurance?
When I sat for the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM exam I learned way more than I ever wanted to about different forms of homeowner’s insurance (basic form, broad form, etc.) and will now pass the savings onto the consumer! Oh wait, I have listened to too many commercials. But my time loss is your gain as …
IRA Vs. 401(k) Vs. ROTH – Part 2
Last week, we talked about the differences between an IRA and a 401(k). Both are types of retirement accounts, and the 401(k) is typically administered through an employer, whereas almost anyone can open an IRA. Now, we are going to talk about the Roth versions of these same investment vehicles. I described them as different …