January 2022

You have several events to plan for in the near future.  Starting with the estimates due in January for the last payments of 2021 taxes.  Check your income and expenses one last time to see if you need to raise the number due this month.  It is always better to be higher than lower when the surprises pop up on the actual return filing.

Then there are the W2s and 1099s due out by the end of the month for all you employers.  Don’t miss that deadline.  It is much harder to cope with disgruntled employees or contractors than the government agencies.

If you are going to do extensions, do not hesitate. Give yourself a window of lower penalties if necessary.  For those of you that we file the extensions for each year, I will contact you with 1; the fact… Read more Share: Facebook ∗ Twitter

December 2021

Tis the season….

We are celebrating the end of another year.  With Christmas upon us and New Year’s around the corner, looking back for the complete year there are s0 many events to view.  It has been a year of denial, slow progress and many upsets over health issues.

For those who do not remember Polio, Small Pox and Measles, you have to be included in the non believer column.  Yet it was because your older generation’s belief in those cures and remedies that you are here today.

We of the older set remember wondering how our parents in their later years got to be so wise.  Now we know.  They survived so much more than we have been exposed to today.  So far.

As you enjoy the company of friends and family at this time of the year, thank our first responders, regardless of their beliefs, for getting so many people through… Read more

February 2018 Newsletter

So, keeping it simple, Valentine’s Day is the beginning of Lent this year. Just a small factoid. The markets are not caring either way. The interest is in rising interest rates and burgeoning debt limits. The combination raises inflation fears, and there goes the markets. It is a little more complex than that. But you have to admit, since we raised interest rates recently and Congress pumped $1.5 trillion debt into the market place, things have moved.

So, here is a strategy that you might want to look at regarding income tax. If you are making less than $157,000 as a single or $315,000 as married filing jointly as a small business owner you may benefit from kinder tax treatment under the new law.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act offer a 20 percent deduction for qualified business income from so-called pass-through entities, which include S corporations and limited liability companies.

Under… Read more

January 2017 Newsletter

Newsletter January 2017

November Newsletter

So….

It begins. Worldwide economy. Actually, the economies of several countries have been affecting our local economy for decades. But now pundits are finally admitting that places like the Federal Reserve and Washington are not the only factors in how things work.

Interest rates are going up. Count the number of times that phrase has been repeated in the past several years. It has taken on an “OJ in the white Bronco” flavor. The fact is that rates will go up. And yes, the Federal Reserve will be the instrument of change when it happens. But waiting for it to happen is like watching paint dry. Move on, already!

Two important timelines for you to watch. If you are over 65, you have until December 7th for Medicare open enrollment. Actually, the words are Medicare Supplement Insurance open enrollment. In case you haven’t been watching the TV commercials that are all over the… Read more

May Newsletter

The numbers are looking rocky. Federal Reserve numbers are due out next month on interest rates. Geopolitical battles are still happening. The 2016 political campaigns are starting.

Our review of account performances for the first quarter showed that indexed accounts stayed close the respective index. Long term holdings did the same. The higher percentage of returns versus the respective index showed up in accounts with activity in ETFs and dividend paying stocks. Cash must have been a good thing to have for the first quarter.

Buried in 1040: Chance for Advisers to Shine

By: Darla Mercado InvestmentNews

With the April 15 deadline for tax filing past, it is time to take a hard look at that form, Form 1040.

Though the individual income tax return is a window on the past, what it reveals also can shape future savings as well as add future value to the upcoming returns.

“Taxes are… Read more

April Newsletter

A good month for color. Flowers, grass, rabbits, etc.

Also a good month to finalize that annual event, tax date. I call it an annual reunion, since the person(s) only come around once a year. Very interesting the events that happen in one’s life in just one year.

So, remember to send in extensions by April 15th, if you are not ready to file. It cuts down the amount of penalty and interest that may occur. Efile if all possible. This year, the state programs were late coming online and there is a mixed bag of refunds getting out the door at the IRS and state. So have patience with the agencies.

Did you know that the IRS can keep your refund if you don’t file within three years? You have three years to claim a refund. If you don’t claim your refund within three years, the money becomes property of the… Read more

June Newsletter

Summer has arrived in the Midwest…..

Brace yourself. The U.S. economy looks like it went on a roller-coaster ride at the start of the year.

Revised numbers released Thursday show the economy shrank in the first quarter, marking the first downturn since early 2011. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic growth, fell at a 1% annual pace, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

A slump was entirely expected, and economists aren’t too worried. They forecast a bounce back in the spring.

Take for example Joseph Lavorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank. He predicts the economy will rev up, growing at more than a 4% pace in April through June. In a note to clients this week, he cautioned investors not to worry if the first quarter numbers were lousy.

The January through March period tends to be the slowest for growth, he noted, and… Read more

May Newsletter

So…

Simply put, it is spring somewhere in the U S.

We are overdue on that topic. The markets are slowing down, the Fed Reserve is cutting back its activity in the

market, and Congress is out campaigning for money.

The past month was bumpy and ended like this…

 Federal Reserve results.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of America’s biggest bank, says it’s time to stop worrying about the Fed. After all, he’s not worried.

In his annual letter to shareholders, which was released on Wednesday afternoon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) said there is “little question” that the Federal Reserve’s signature stimulus program boosted the economy and hastened the recovery. What’s more, he says the Fed’s exit from QE, which is expected to happen this year, isn’t likely to reverse that.

That’s not a universally held view, particularly on Wall Street. Last year, Warren Buffett said he was worried about what will happen… Read more

February Newsletter

January did not turn out to be such a “Sweetheart” month. Winter was all over the Midwest and East Coast. Markets lost over 5%.

Last year was painful for emerging markets and 2014 is shaping up to be even worse.

Among the hardest hit are Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkey, and South Africa — dubbed the ‘Fragile Five’ by Morgan Stanley last August.

Those countries have seen their currencies tumble 15% to 20% over the past year. And that plunge has continued this month, despite a series of aggressive and, in some cases, unexpected interest rate rises aimed at stopping the rot.

So after years of rapid expansion, and relative calm, what’s going wrong?

For one, economic growth has slowed. As a group, emerging and developing economies grew on average by 6.4% over the past decade. Last year, that number was 4.5% and its forecast to rise only modestly in 2014.

And signs of instability in China’s huge… Read more