jim@blankenshipfinancial.com (Jim Blankenship) | FIGuide

Saving for College

Jun 07 2019

If you’re a parent or plan to be one, chances are you are considering ways to pay for your child’s college education. You may have a goal of sending them to public or private school, with the hope of helping them graduate college with little, if any debt. Whether or not your goal is to fully fund your child’s education or to help as best you can, there are some options to consider saving as much as you can to reach or education savings goal. One option to consider is a 529 college savings plan. 529 plans allow money to be contributed specifically for many of the costs of higher education. Money that goes into the account grows tax-deferred, and money withdrawn for qualified college education expenses (tuition, room & board, books, fees) is tax-free. Many states sponsor their own college savings plans, and some allow a state tax deduction […]

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How To Turn $5,000 A Year Into a $33 Million Legacy

May 13 2019

With a headline like that I bet you’re thinking this is one of those wild & crazy get rich schemes. However, it’s really just a hypothetical illustration of the great benefits of three factors that can work in your favor in building a legacy: compounding interest Roth IRA tax laws (including IRA stretch provisions) time What follows is an example of how you can make those three factors work together to create this $33 million legacy. How It All Started… Once upon a time, there was this guy named Joe. Joe is 20 years old, working part-time making decent money, finishing up college, just generally living large (by a 20-year-old’s definition). On the advice of his father (yes, some 20-year-olds do listen to their fathers!), he opened up a Roth IRA, funding it with $5,000. The account was invested in a fixed 5% yield instrument of some sort (not important […]

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How Property Transfers At Death

Apr 24 2019

When you die, the way in which your property is handled will depend on the type of documents (or lack thereof) you’ve set up before your death. The following is a summary of the ways your property transfers to heirs when you pass away. Life Insurance. At death, life insurance proceeds are passed to your beneficiaries (and in most cases, tax free). For example, if you have a life insurance policy with a face amount of $500,000, when you die, your beneficiaries receive the $500,000 face amount tax free. When you purchase life insurance, you name your beneficiary or beneficiaries – those who receive the death benefit when you die. Most married couples will name each other as beneficiaries on their respective polices, some will name charities, and other will name other relatives, individuals, or trusts. Life insurance contracts generally avoid probate (the legal process of validating a will and […]

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Let It All Go – IRS gives you 11 years…

Apr 08 2019

There’s a time in your life when there are no restrictions on IRA withdrawals, how much or how little you can take.

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Credits and Deductions

Mar 29 2019

Let’s talk a little bit about tax credits and tax deductions. Both can be used to help reduce or avoid taxation but behave differently when it comes to doing so. Tax deductions are beneficial because help lower the amount of your income subject to taxation. Deductions may be either “above the line” or for AGI, or “below the line” or from AGI. The line in the sand in this scenario is of course, AGI (adjusted gross income). Above the line deductions are beneficial because they reduce gross income to arrive at AGI. A lower AGI may result in being able to take advantages of other benefits in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) such as being able to contribute to a Roth IRA and qualifying for additional tax credits (discussed below). Common above the line deductions include pre-tax 401(k) contributions, student loan interest, deductible contributions to a traditional IRA, HSA contributions, […]

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Author - [email protected] (Jim Blankenship)

Saving for College

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How To Turn $5,000 A Year Into a $33 Million Legacy

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How Property Transfers At Death

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Let It All Go – IRS gives you 11 years…

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