I turned 59½ this year. As we get close to the end of the 2025, that means we now have a green light into our 401Ks. With paid corporate board work behind me, our income has dropped sharply—in a good way. No W-2s, no consulting, just modest interest and dividends. We’ve been living off cash from selling our rental property, which has pushed our federal … Continue reading End of the Year Roth Conversion
I’m home visiting Minnesota for a few days and helping my Mom get her taxes pulled together (and our own taxes). It’s funny to be working on this stuff when the headlines are filled with articles talking about cuts to IRS and SSA staff, amid accusations of widespread waste & inefficiency. Here’s our situation. My Mom gets Social Security every month. It always arrives on-time … Continue reading Tax Time Troubles
Amid all of the rapid-fire tax proposals during election season, I missed one that would affect us: Trump flip flopping on his own SALT (State & Local Tax) deduction cap. When they put together the Tax Cut & Jobs Act (Trump Tax Cut), during his first term, Trump supported capping the deductibility of SALT at $10,000 annually. At the time, it was viewed as a … Continue reading Flip Flop On SALT Deduction
With tomorrow being Election Day, what’s your likely exposure to a new administration in Washington DC in January? I know we all have our favorites and we are often breathlessly told that “it is the most important election of our lifetimes!” Still, I’m struggling to think how my wife & I will be directly impacted by any of the changes that have been discussed. Please … Continue reading Election Impacts?
The news has been full of economic policy proposals from our two major candidates. I’ll tell you that I’ve been reading them with interest, but cannot make sense out of either of them. They are both promising big economic windfalls to their favored protected classes and paying very little attention to the country’s current $35T debt (123% of GDP, up from just 56% in 2000). … Continue reading Confusing Candidates
The so-called, “Trump Tax Cuts” from 2017 are in the news as Democrats argue that they benefited only the richest Americans. This recent chart from the Tax Foundation shows that in the 4 years following the 2017 tax law change, the wealthiest households paid a greater share of Federal taxes. Their share went from below 40% to over 45% – about an 600bps increase. This … Continue reading Trump Tax Cuts
Bernie says it. Biden says it. Our state governor says it all the time: “We need the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes!” What’s fair? They never say. A great sound bite, with little actual substance. A few years ago, I posted an analysis of what “Seizing The Rich” actually looks like. My goal was to put into context how small the wealth … Continue reading Seize The Rich!? (2024 Update)
Well, today is Income Tax Day 2024. We came home from snowbirding three weeks ago and rushed to get our paperwork to the accountant so that they could get the forms properly filled out by 4/15 this year. We successfully filed them on Saturday. We didn’t pay much in taxes for 2023 as we usually do, since we mostly lived off cash we had in … Continue reading Income Tax Day 2024
Our home state of Minnesota regularly shows up at the top of the list of states with the highest taxes in the USA. A few years ago, Kiplinger’s named Minnesota – not California or New York – as the country’s “Least Tax Friendly State”. As many Minnesotans have left the state for low taxes & warm weather in Florida, many have suggested we join them. … Continue reading Department of Residency
Mr. FireStation has been tied up with a family emergency over the last week. Coincidentally, regular reader, “Klaus” Wentzel offered to step in with a post, which was great. Klaus and I have never actually met in real life, but he often shares very insightful comments. This post is based on one of his observations from a couple years ago that is relevant today. Thanks, … Continue reading What is Your Household’s Largest Budget Item?
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