R.J. Fichera Law Firm

Although you might not be required to file a tax return, it might be wise to file one anyway. Here are a few reasons why.

The most effective way to exercise your rights can vary, largely depending on your state’s laws. Nevertheless, there are generally three statutory solutions that have emerged from states’ efforts to protect incompetent individuals’ decision-making abilities. Living Will. A living will addresses the situation where you are in an end-stage medical condition or permanently unconscious. In either case, a living will can serve as your advance written directions as to the kinds of ...treatment you want to be withheld or withdrawn, or the treatment you always want to be provided, if you are not able to communicate your own wishes at the time. Health Care Durable Power of Attorney. A health care durable power of attorney has a broader scope than a living will, because it will cover health care decision-making in all situations when you cannot make or communicate your own decisions. With health care durable power of attorney, you can appoint one or more agents to make health care decisions for you, which they would base on their personal knowledge of what decision you would likely make if you were able to speak, or in the absence of such knowledge then what would be in your best interests. Health Care Representative Laws. The third statutory solution is based on the recognition that most people have not signed a Health Care Durable Power of Attorney or a Living Will prior to their becoming incompetent. These statutes are intended to fill that gap by authorizing certain family members to step forward to act as an incompetent person’s health care representative and make health care decisions for them. What Are the Duties for Financial Powers of Attorney? Such statutes are best seen as a solution of last resort, and clearly are not the equal of a well-drafted health care durable power of attorney or living will. First, they let the state not you decide who can make important health care decisions on your behalf. Second, the multiple persons chosen by the statute can cause serious problems. For example, the statute might authorize all the patient’s children to act as health care representatives, with each child having an equal voice, whereas the patient may have wanted only one child to act. A tie vote among the children on a particular treatment issue would result in a deadlock, which means that none of them could act.

Ensuring that your wishes on your medical care are followed is up to you. Take action now while you’re well, or you could lose a say in the matter during a crucial time later.

New rules help seniors save If you’re planning to keep working into your seventieswhich is no longer unusualprovisions in the 2019 Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act will make it easier to increase the size of your retirement savings or shield what you’ve saved from taxes. Among other things, the law eliminated age limits on contributions to an IRA. Previously, you couldn’t contribute to a traditional IRA after age 70. Now, if you have earne...d income, you can contribute to a traditional IRA at any age and, if you’re eligible, deduct those contributions. (Roth IRAs, which may be preferable for some savers because qualified withdrawals are tax-free, have never had an age cut-off as long as the contributor has earned income.) Don’t Have a Pension? The SECURE Act Could Help The law also allows part-time workers to contribute to their employer’s 401(k) or other employer-provided retirement plan, which will benefit older workers who want to stay on the job but cut back their hours. The SECURE Act guarantees that workers can contribute to their employer’s 401(k) plan, as long as they’ve worked at least 500 hours a year for the past three years. Previously, employees who had worked less than 1,000 hours the year before were ineligible to participate in their employer’s 401(k) plan. Delayed RMDs. If you have money in traditional IRAs or other tax-deferred accounts, you can’t leave it there forever. The IRS requires that you take minimum distributions and pay taxes on the money. If you’re still working, that income, combined with required minimum distributions, could push you into a higher tax bracket. The Benefits of Working Longer. New rules help seniors save. Congress waived RMDs in 2020, but that’s unlikely to happen again this year. Thanks to the SECURE Act, however, you don’t have to start taking them until you’re 72, up from the previous age of 70. Keep in mind that if you’re still working at age 72, you’re not required to take RMDs from your current employer’s 401(k) plan until you stop working (unless you own at least 5% of the company). One other note: If you work for yourself, whether as a self-employed business owner, freelancer or contractor, you can significantly increase the size of your savings stash. In 2021, you can contribute up to $58,000 to a solo 401(k), or $64,500 if you’re 50 or older. The actual amount you can contribute will be determined by your self-employment income.

The Benefits of Working Longer Delaying retirement for a couple of yearsor even a few monthsis the most effective way to improve your retirement security .Do the math... For every additional year (or even month) you work, you’ll shrink the amount of time in retirement you’ll need to finance with your savings. Meanwhile, you’ll be able to continue to contribute to your nest egg (see below) while giving that money more time to grow. In addition, working longer will allow you to postpone filing for Social Security benefits, which will increase the amount of your payouts. For every year past your full retirement age (between 66 and 67 for most baby boomers) that you postpone retiring, Social Security will add 8% in delayed-retirement credits, until you reach age 70. Even if you think you won’t live long enough to benefit from the higher payouts, delaying your benefits could provide larger survivor benefits for your spouse. If you file for Social Security at age 70, your spouse’s survivor benefits will be 60% greater than if you file at age 62, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Liz Windisch, a CFP with Aspen Wealth Management in Denver, says working longer is particularly critical for women, who tend to earn less than men over their lifetimes but live longer. The average woman retires at age 63, compared with 65 for the average man, according to the Center for Retirement Research. That may be because many women are younger than their husbands and are encouraged to retire when their husbands stop working. But a woman who retires early could find herself in financial jeopardy if she outlives her husband, because the household’s Social Security benefits will be reducedand she could lose her husband’s pension income, too, says Andy Baxley, a CFP with The Planning Center in Chicago.

If you believe that tax breaks are only available for hedge fund managers and companies with offshore subsidiaries, you're probably paying too much to the IRS. The fact is that lawmakers have enacted dozens of tax incentives targeted at middle- and lower-class families. If you're not taking full advantage of them, it's probably because you're not aware of them. Take a look at these 11 tax breaks for ordinary Americans and make sure you're not missing out. Some of these deductions and credits can literally save you thousands of dollars. That's a nice chunk of change that you don't want to pass up.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently announced that the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for benefits will be 1.3 percent. That's a small but important increase for millions of beneficiaries who will see a raise in their monthly payments starting in January. But the benefits increase isn't the only change coming next year. Here's a closer look at some of the biggest changes affecting Social Security recipients in 2021.

1. Harvest your investment losses. If you have some stocks or funds in a taxable account with losses, consider selling. You can use an unlimited amount of losses to offset taxable gains. And you can generally deduct up to $3,000 in additional losses and carry forward additional amounts to future years. You'll have to wait at least 31 days to buy it back or the IRS will consider it a tax wash sale. 2. Harvest your investment gains. This is pretty much the opposite of the previ...Continue reading

Claiming Social Security benefits at the right time means more money in your pocket. Here's a guide to everything from knowing your full retirement age to taking Social Security spousal benefits -- and much more.

The widespread use of face masks keeps the coronavirus reproduction number below 1.0, and prevents further waves when combined with lockdowns, new research suggests. A modelling study from the universities of Cambridge and Greenwich indicates that lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of COVID-19. Researchers say even homemade masks with limited effectiveness can dramatically reduce transmission rates if worn by enough people, regardless of whether they show symptoms.