Financial planning

In a divisive 3-2 vote, the Securities and Exchange Commission amended and re-approved a proposed rule requiring the directors of mutual funds to be independent that had been ruled against by a federal court in a lawsuit a little more than a week before.

* FIRM UNVEILS FINANCIAL CONCIERGE PROGRAM FOR PRO ATHLETES: Piascik & Associates, a Richmond, Va.-based CPA and financial planning firm, has rolled out a financial concierge program for its professional athlete clients. The program is designed to keep professional athletes on a managed budget with automatic, on-time bill payment and advice on making high-dollar purchasing decisions on tangibles such as cars, jewelry and houses.

Do you know the best ways you as an investor can get cheated?

Assets in Section 529 college savings plans rose to an estimated $55.4 billion at the end of the first quarter, according to data released by the nonprofit College Savings Foundation. The quarterly asset total was up 6 percent from an estimated $52.3 billion at the end of 2004, and up 38.6 percent from the first quarter 2004 total of $40.0 billion.

Chief financial officers' optimism about the economy and their own companies' prospects is the lowest it has been during the past 12 months, according to a survey of Financial Executives International members.

NASD Fines Raymond James $750K: The NASD has censured and fined Raymond James & Associates Inc. and Raymond James Financial Services Inc. $750,000 for violations related to the firms' fee-based brokerage business.As part of the settlement, the firms will also pay restitution to 190 customers totaling $138,000. The firms neither admitted nor denied the charges.

412(i) plans continue to generate both interest and caution following recent Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department actions to crack down on a handful of abusive schemes that had cropped up in this marketplace.

Taxpayers are generally allowed to deduct the fair market value of property that they contribute to a charity.

Eisner Retirement Solutions, a unit of regional CPA and business advisory firm Eisner, unveiled a free turnkey product to assist plan sponsors in complying with the Department of Labor's mandatory individual retirement account rollover requirements that were laid out in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Act of 2001.

* FPA FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST SEC: The Financial Planning Association filed a petition in a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a Securities and Exchange Commission rule exempting certain broker/dealers from the requirements of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

The laws that govern estate and retirement planning do not change much from year to year beyond adjustments to the relevant tax tables. In fact, the most recent major changes stem from the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.

While individuals are allowed to exclude gain of $250,000 ($500,000 by a married couple filing a joint return) on the sale of property owned and used as a principal residence for at least two years in the five-year period ending on the date of the sale, they should still do everything possible to determine their basis in a principal residence.

FPA SEEKS BOARD NOMINATIONS: The Financial Planning Association is currently accepting nominations for its 2006 board of directors.Members of the FPA's 2005 board will elect the 2006 board from candidates nominated by June 30, 2005. The 2006 board of directors will consist of up to 18 members, including three officers. The new members elected in 2005 will each serve three-year terms beginning on Jan. 1, 2006.

With more than 76 million Baby Boomers moving toward retirement, the need to save more money for a secure financial future is clear.These individuals, who currently constitute 29 percent of the U.S. population, are putting away only one third of the estimated amount that they need to retire comfortably.

Generally, property inherited from a decedent gets a basis equal to the property's fair market value on the date the decedent died. This rule applies regardless of whether a federal estate tax return is filed.However, the fiduciary of the decedent's death can elect to value all the property includible in the decedent's estate on the alternate valuation date, but only if that will result in a decrease in both:

Washington - Nearly three-fourths of workers participating in a retirement savings poll said that employers' matching contributions of up to 5 percent of their salaries would greatly influence their decision to join a savings plan at work.

HIGH COURT RULES CREDITORS CAN'T SEIZE IRAS: In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that creditors cannot seize individual retirement accounts in a bankruptcy filing, thereby classing them with pensions, 401(k)s and Social Security, which are afforded protection under bankruptcy law.

It is common to parody accountants as tightly wrapped number-crunchers oriented more toward dollars than human emotions, religious beliefs, moral debates and political controversies.

For regular income tax purposes, qualified residence interest is deductible as an itemized deduction in computing taxable income.

Employers and their advisors are still trying to puzzle through the creation of health savings accounts.