Wealth management

There is no question that most people appear quite serious about preparing an estate plan that can get passed along to future generations. The intention is all there but too many people still seem to find ways to mess it up entirely.

You hear over and over again that your money has to outlive you, even for an hour. When I talk to friends and family about various financial planning aspects, the most feared one is exactly that...outliving money.There is this woman, age 91, that I know. She is a widow, in relatively good health, has a house that is fully paid (no mortgage), has a Social Security check that comes in each month for some $1,800 and a small pension amount from a prior job of about $110 a month. She buys very little food because she goes to a senior center almost every day and they load her up on free food.

The Government Accountability Office recently released a report on detailing some of the conclusions gleaned from a recent forum on engaging and retaining older workers.

Everybody knows that taxes are a drag on performance, but I am constantly surprised at the number of investors who blithely pay taxes each year on their investment earnings without considering the impact on accumulation or the alternative strategies that they could employ.It's never a good idea to let the tail wag the dog, of course - a rational investor shouldn't seek tax avoidance, or tax minimization per se. But it makes sense to pursue the highest after-tax return.

ONLY 51% READY FOR FISCAL CRISISResults from the fourth annual "financial fitness" survey conducted by Quicken revealed that only 51 percent of consumers were prepared for a financial emergency or had an emergency fund in the event of accident or illness.

Investment research firm Morningstar Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire Standard and Poor’s mutual fund data business for $55 million in cash.

For most of my life, I have been a fairly liberal, loose-swinging person. I generally went against the mainstream and was comfortable seeking my own level and being relatively nonconformist. It served me quite well career wise.

Raymond James Financial will pay $2.75 million to a brokerage firm regulator for poor supervision of its more than 1,100 branch managers who manage their own offices.

The Connecticut Society of CPAs is very, very good at disseminating specific financial planning and tax tips not only to CPAs but also to the general public. Some of those recently caught my eye as being particularly easy to understand and right to the point.The society sent out a notice on its Web site about how the public could get their money matters in order after popping champagne corks, tossing confetti, and making New Year’s resolutions.

Retirement is the No. 1 personal financial planning concern, regardless of age, according to an informal survey at the American Institute of CPAs’ 2007 Personal Financial Planning Conference.The AICPA said that it was a surprised to see that retirement planning is a major concern for career builders -- classified as those between the ages of 25 and 34 -- who also have the seemingly more immediate pressures of education, home buying and debt management following close behind.

Mutual funds have something for everyone - at least Michelle Smith of the Mutual Fund Education Alliance thinks so."The industry has adjusted to the public's demand for choice," said Smith, who is managing director of the alliance, a nonprofit association that provides education to investors on mutual funds. "The public wants investment options, simplicity, low cost. They want help and advice and, in many cases, they want somebody to make it as simple for them as possible. It's a complete cafeteria of options."

Time is such a valuable commodity - it's a shame when investors squander it. Yet many waste a resource that can't be recovered.Time is an investor's most valuable ally. Returns increase exponentially over time, which is as close to magic as most of us will ever see. Putting time on your clients' side is a key element to financial success.

NASD RULES AGAINST AMERIPRISEAn NASD arbitration panel ordered an Ameriprise Financial Inc. subsidiary to pay out as much as $9.3 million to three former pilots for American Airlines who charged that a broker for the financial services' subsidiary, Securities America, squandered their retirement savings on mutual funds that contained high fees and trading costs.

There is this guy I see on the train Monday to Friday going to work. He must weigh at least 450 pounds, give or take a kilo. Where do you think he works? No, change that, what kind of store do you think he owns? You’re right. It’s a sandwich/pastry shop.Now plunking a fellow like that down into handling food all day doesn’t seem very rational but let’s look at it from the other end of the telescope. I haven’t decided yet what this has to do with financial planning but it certainly will have something to do with wealth accumulation. Besides, my wife tells me my columns are getting boring because they’re all about the same subjects: financial planning, estate planning, retirement planning. Sorry, that’s what I do.

Companies don’t believe broad-based tax reform is coming anytime soon, though they do think that the change of control in Congress will have a significant impact on tax policy, according to a survey conducted by a Washington law firm.

A provision in the president's budget proposals could shelter 529 college-savings plans from being counted in determining federal student financial aid.

In 2006, the U.S. personal savings rate hit its lowest level since the Great Depression, according to the Commerce Department.The agency said that the country’s savings rate for all of 2006 was a negative 1 percent -- meaning that not only did people spend all the money they earned throughout the year, but that they also dipped into savings, or increased borrowing to finance purchases.

I was at a children’s store the other day to buy a birthday present for one of my grandchildren (I only give clothes, no toys) and the manager presented me with the offer of a sizeable discount if I opened a credit card. It was one I couldn’t refuse but should have. So I did. I later learned that the card was issued after a credit report was pulled. I didn’t give it any thought until I just happened to check my credit report (as I do annually) to see what, if anything, it was saying. Now, I wasn’t refused that credit card but I did find a slew of mistakes on the report I reviewed, so much so that I decided to check into this rather carefully.First of all, I found that according to a study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, 25 percent of the population has at least one mistake on their credit report. I’m obviously now in that group. I began to wonder how such mistakes could cost people in the way of rejected credit, and even jobs.

In today's financial services landscape, it is becoming more important for accountants to evaluate the health of their current practices and to implement certain necessary changes to remain competitive. With consolidation happening almost on a weekly basis, financial services firms are becoming the one-stop shop for clients. And if you poll your clients, you'll find out that that's exactly what they want - one trusted place to have all of their financial matters attended to.Accountants are also seeing pressure from the proliferation of low-cost accounting software, companies that are giving away tax preparation services for free or at an extremely low cost, and the fact that the Internet is providing clients access to information that was once the private domain of accountants.

TSCPA FINANCIAL EDUCATION WEB SITE GARNERS AWARDThe Texas Society of CPAs received an Award of Excellence in the 2007 Associations Advance America Awards competition. The TSCPA received the award for its consumer financial education Web site, www.valueyourmoney.org. The site gives users access to free personal finance information for 11 specific stages in life, such as high school, couples and marriage, life crises, and retirement and estate planning. Resources available online include worksheets, quizzes, podcasts, a personal finance calendar, and materials for companies to use in educating employees about money matters.