The Financially Savvy Woman- Winter 2010 Issue
Articles include: “The Key to Investor Success: Behavioral Finance & Women’s Habits” and “Read All About It: Retiring Well in New York”
Archive for February, 2010
Death and Taxes? Perhaps Not This Year!
Monday, February 22nd, 2010By Dawn Brown, CFP®
It is said that in life, two things are certain: death and taxes. But this year—in an unexpected anomaly—death incurs no estate taxes. Surprisingly, Congress—perhaps too busy working on health care reform—failed to act by the end of last year to extend the estate tax into 2010. Many estate attorneys anticipated that the law would be extended because, as it stands, there is zero estate tax due if you die in 2010. However, there is a limited step-up in basis for those who inherit assets in 2010: An exemption of $3 million for spouses and $1.3 million for non-spouse inheritors. Assets in excess of these amounts are to be inherited at their original cost basis.
Speak Out!
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010You may have something to say that other seniors want to hear!
By Nancy Mandell, guest blogger
With 1.3 million residents over the age of 60, you probably know that New York City runs hundreds of senior centers. But if you think the centers are only a place to get a free lunch that you don’t need, it’s time to re-evaluate.
That’s what Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn did last year when they joined New York Academy of Medicine President, Dr. Jo Ivey Boufford, to outline a series of 59 initiatives aimed at making New York a more livable city for its growing senior population.
Asset Allocation: Reports of its Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010By Ross Wolfe
Following the market turmoil in 2008, it has become a doctrine among skeptics that asset allocation is no longer a valid theory for reducing risk in a portfolio. On the surface, you could easily argue this point since almost all asset classes that are normally non-correlated fell substantially in 2008. However, if you dig deeper below the surface, you could also make the argument that asset allocation did work after all.
That Wonderful Town
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010When it comes to street scenery, you can’t beat New York.
By Nancy Mandell, guest blogger
You don’t have to be a New Yorker to appreciate the pleasures of retiring in the Big Apple. If you don’t believe me, take the word of the New York Times, which recently ran a feature story (“Attracted to Walkable New York”) about a retired Florida couple who decided to buy an Upper East Side apartment because they were thinking “about redesigning our lifestyle a little bit.”