TIAA Traditional – Interest Rate Renewals
Many clients have employer sponsored plans with TIAA-CREF which offers various investment options including TIAA Traditional, its flagship fixed annuity product. This type of financial product guarantees a minimum rate of interest while you save, and if you annuitize your retirement plan, it provides a minimum monthly amount of income during retirement like Social Security […]
Cash Management In A Declining Interest Rate Environment
Over the last two years, interest rates have risen at a historic clip. As a result, Rockbridge has dedicated moretime helping clients manage cash reserves to take advantage of the current market environment. In previous years, “high yield” savings accounts were (and some still are) paying less than 1%. Now, it is easy to find […]
Qualified Charitable Distributions
Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) allow taxpayers age 70 ½ or older with traditional IRAs (not including active SEP or SIMPLE IRAs) to make charitable contributions directly from their IRA to a qualified charity (not a donor advised fund or private foundation) that will be excluded from their taxable income. This is especially beneficial for those […]
Bonus Depreciation Phase Out
When businesses purchase eligible property such as equipment, there are two options available to allow them to accelerate book depreciation, rather than write the asset off over the useful life. Under Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), the business may expense the entire cost of that piece of property in the year of […]
Advisor-Managed vs Outside-Managed Accounts
Most clients have investment accounts in each of the three major tax buckets: tax-deferred (ex. 401(k)), tax-free (ex. Roth IRA), and after-tax (ex. Brokerage account). Due to the different tax statuses, each account type “behaves” differently. When investors save adequately across these accounts, there are a myriad of benefits. From a tax management standpoint, a […]
Maintaining Equity Exposure in the Current Interest Rate Environment
In today’s interest rate environment, some investors are tempted to lock in “guaranteed” returns through fixed income instruments yielding 5% or more. However, investing solely in fixed income would be a mistake for most long-term investors. Discussed below are a few reasons why that is the case: Higher Long-Term Returns Over the past 90 years, […]
Changes for Unused Funds from 529 Plans Beginning in 2024
To address investor concerns related to 529 Plan savings going unused, a provision of SECURE ACT 2.0 allows the opportunity to rollover unused 529 education savings into a Roth IRA in the beneficiary’s name, penalty free. As a result, investors should feel a sense of relief about leftover 529 savings that weren’t used for education. […]
Estate Planning Awareness Month
October is Estate Planning Awareness Month, which serves as an important reminder for all of us to take time to review our estate plans or create one if we haven’t already. Estate planning is not just for the wealthy or elderly – it’s important for everyone to have a plan in place to protect your […]
Commentary from Fed Meeting (September, 2023)
Each month, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) issues its position on the current economic conditions and outlook on future forecasts and projections. The main areas of focus are inflation, unemployment and interest rates. Here are a few takeaways from Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference: As predicted, the FOMC voted to hold the federal […]
SAVE – Student Loan Repayment Program
With over 28 million borrowers of Federal student loans resuming payments following a multi-year hiatus, the Biden-Harris Administration released a new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. Known as the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, this IDR approach calculates monthly payments according to a borrower’s income and family size, ultimately forgiving any outstanding balances after […]