Addressing Opportunity Costs with Clients

by | Jul 5, 2019 | Comments Off on Addressing Opportunity Costs with Clients

Opportunity Cost

Rarely do people enjoy thinking about opportunity costs—but factoring those costs into our daily lives is the key to making more meaningful decisions. In our personal lives, we can relate opportunity cost to the cost of doing one activity over another. Our time is valuable, so how do we make the most out of each moment? In finance, opportunity cost is measured in choosing one investment over another, or choosing a typical savings account over a whole life policy…or any number of decisions. This subject can be hard to broach with

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Truth Tip, IRAs in Asset Flow

by | Jun 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Truth Tip, IRAs in Asset Flow

In the Tax Advantaged section of Asset Flow, the “IRA Account” button is used to keep IRA accounts for spouses separate. This is largely for tax purposes because the cost basis of all assets, for each spouse in an IRA, are considered in the cost basis determination. If there is no cost basis, check the “Tax Deductible Contributions” box. Otherwise, the account will use all contributions in the first few years as a cost basis to offset the distributions, rather than spreading them out. Turning the button on will divide

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Truth Tip, “Old Money” in Asset Flow

by | Jun 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Truth Tip, “Old Money” in Asset Flow

All Present Value dollars in our calculators are assumed to be old money—dollars that the client already has access to when beginning an illustration. If an asset is then added as a Present Value, without that money being pulled from existing dollars, data will appear skewed. When illustrating a client’s money being pulled into a new asset, make sure that money exists elsewhere in the illustration. First, you’ll want to ensure that the money being shifted into a new asset is accounted for in the initial Ordinary Taxable Account. When

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Truth Tip, State Taxes in Asset Flow

by | Jun 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Truth Tip, State Taxes in Asset Flow

When state tax is entered into Asset Flow, the calculator assesses a tax on Social Security. This tax is based on the benefit amount that is subjected to tax on the Federal Side. If you don’t want this to occur, leave out the state tax rate. Currently, the calculator adds the state tax to anything that is also taxed federally (after those federal deductions). Then there is an offset for the tax paid. This offset is taken off of the Federal Income Tax Basis, up to the SALT limits ($10,000).

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Truth Tip, Calculating for COLA in Asset Flow

by | Jun 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Truth Tip, Calculating for COLA in Asset Flow

When using the Asset Flow calculator, it is important to calculate for COLA (cost of living adjustment) when determining Social Security income. The Future Value calculator is a handy tool in this case. To set this up properly, fill in the fields as such: Present Value; the annual payment (multiply the monthly payment by 12). Rate; the annual interest rate. Time Frame; the difference between current age and distribution age.   If you use the resulting number in Asset Flow as the benefit for Normal Retirement Age, the value will

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