Happy New Year!!!!

Everyone at Sjoberg & Holmstrom and Your Safe Money Show wish you a Happy New Year!
We look forward to assisting you with your financial concerns in 2020.
The office will be open at 8 a.m. on Thursday January 2nd.
Call for an appointment at 320-679- 5183.

Your Safe Money Show Highlights 12-28-19

 I’ll go over health care documents you need to have. 

Also what NOT to keep in a safety deposit box and the Ten Commandments of retirement. Listen at 95.5 KBEK Saturday mornings at 7:30. They stream live at kbek.com.

Hear recent shows at the podcast page at yoursafemoneyshow.com.

Merry Christmas!

Everyone one at Sjoberg & Holmstrom Financial Services and Your Safe Money Show want to wish you a Merry Christmas!
Our office will be closed through January 1st. We will open at 8 a.m. on Thursday January 2nd.
You can leave a message at 320-679-5183.

Deadline for RMD's

There’s a deadline in regard to required minimum distributions (RMD’s) coming up that can cost you in penalties and taxes.

 RMDs are a minimum amount of money that the IRS requires you to withdraw from most types of retirement accounts each year starting the year in which you turn 70½. The accounts include Traditional individual retirement account (IRA), Simplified employee pension (SEP) IRA, Savings incentive match plan for employees (SIMPLE) IRA, Traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b). Roth IRAs are not subject to RMDs during the original account owner’s lifetime. The deadline for your first RMD — the one for the year in which you turn 70½ — is different. The IRS gives you a little more time to withdraw that first RMD — until April 1 of the following year.

 So, folks who turned or will turn 70½ during 2019 have until April 1, 2020, to take their first RMD. If that’s you, just beware that if you postpone taking your 2019 RMD until 2020, you would end up having to take two RMDs in one year: your first one by April 1 and your second one by Dec. 31, 2020. As a result, you’d likely owe taxes on both of those RMDs in the same year, as RMDs are generally taxable income. And that could hike your tax bill. If you fail to withdraw an RMD in full by any applicable deadline, however, the IRS can penalize you. The agency will tax whatever RMD amount you failed to withdraw on time at 50%.

If you have questions call 320-679-5183 or go to yoursafemoneyshow.com.

Your Safe Money Show Holiday season scams 12 21 19

Taxes and retirement

Gifting

Let’s consider nontaxable and nondeductible giving to friends and family. Every year, you can give up to $15,000 to whomever you want and to as many people as you want. The recipient pays no tax on the gift and you receive no deduction. If you give someone stock, they take over the gains that you had in the stock. When they eventually sell it, they pay the capital gains tax at their rate. If you give more than $15,000, you simply need to file a gift tax return. The gift tax return means that you eat up some of the $11.4 million dollar exclusion that the government gives you before estate taxes kick in (if you’re married, the number is $22.8 million). Those are the facts, but what else is there to consider? First, all gifts to family and friends create an imbalance of power. This is not good or bad, it just is. Some people handle this better than others. So, while the gift is often greatly appreciated, it can also be confusing and affect the nature of the relationship.
If you want more information on gifting call 320-679-5183.
yoursafemoneyshow.com

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Your Safe Money Show highlights for December 14th

Coming up on this Saturday's (December 14th) Your Safe Money Show.
Retirement planning has different phases according to your age, what you do in your 40’s will be different from your 60’s. I’ll have a checklist of what to do and when.
If you’re helping your retired parents financially or in other ways, you just need to be careful your protecting your own retirement plans, I’ll explain.
And there’s some interesting benefits of NOT retiring at the same time as your spouse.
Listen at 7:30 a.m. at 95.5 FM KBEK. They stream live at kbek.com. To hear recent shows go to the podcast page at yoursafemoneyshow.com.

Retirement income

Package scams

There has so far been just over $72 billion spent online since the beginning of November. Obviously with all these online sales that means package deliveries are up and scammers are taking advantage. Here’s a new scam, you receive a call or an email from someone claiming to be your mail carrier or a parcel delivery service saying that they were unable to deliver a package to your home. If you don’t remember ordering anything that needs to be delivered, the caller may try to convince you the package is a gift from a friend or relative. The caller may sound friendly and professional, making the scam harder to spot.
The email messages also look legitimate - containing official logos and using professional language. Email messages may ask you to click on a tracking link for your mystery package. When you click, you may download malware onto your computer that gives con artists access to any personal information and passwords.
The caller will ask you to verify personal information or give them your credit card information to reschedule the delivery.
No matter the method of contact, the package doesn’t exist. Sharing your personal information puts you at risk for identity theft. What to do? Be wary of unsolicited communications. Track your packages. Never give your personal information to strangers. Never click on links in unsolicited emails.

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Highlights for December 7th Your Safe Money Show

For our first Your Safe Money Show in December on the 7th I’ll have year end money strategies for you to do, that will save you money.
Also, I have tips on how to manage your holiday spending. And there seems to be 3 big financial issues that are a concern for Americans, I’ll share what those are and how to deal with them going forward.
Listen at 7:30 a.m. Saturday's at 95.5 FM KBEK. They stream live at kbek.com.
Hear recent shows at the podcast page at yoursafemoneyshow.com. 

Legacy planning

New proposed life expectancy tables for IRA's

The IRS has issued new proposed life expectancy tables to calculate RMDs.
As a reminder a required minimum distribution (RMD) is the amount of money that must be withdrawn from a traditional, SEP, or SIMPLE IRA account by owners and qualified plan participants of retirement age. Participants must begin withdrawing from their retirement accounts by April 1 following the year they reach age 70 1/2.
The new tables take into account longer life expectancy. The current tables stop at age 115+, but the new ones run an extra five years, to 120+. These are the first changes made to the tables since 2002.
What do the new tables mean in practice? When calculating RMDs under the proposed rules, the life expectancy factors would be higher, which means an account owner would take out a smaller amount, leaving more money to grow tax-deferred in the retirement account. For instance, the current factor for someone who is age 71 is 26.5, whereas the proposed rules would set that factor at 28.2. That change means a 71-year-old with a $1 million IRA would be required to take out nearly $2,300 less.
The new tables are not a done deal just yet. The proposed regulations must still go through a few more regulatory steps before they can be finalized. If they stay on track through that process, the new rules would be used to calculate 2021 RMDs.
For now, proceed as usual with the current rules for 2019 and 2020 RMDs.

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