David H. Morgan joins The Daily Two to talk about the ins and outs of tax preparation:

State Rainy Day Funds and the COVID-19 Crisis

From: taxfoundation.org

Key Findings

• State revenue stabilization funds, often called rainy day funds, are better funded now than they were at the start of the Great Recession and can be a valuable tool as states face a sharp pandemic-linked economic contraction.
• The median rainy day fund balance is 8 percent of state general fund expenditures, but several states have little or no…
  
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Why Structured Notes?

From: bluetoad.com

A Unique Source of Yield in a Low-Interest Rate World

The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the monetary policy response has challenged investors searching for yield. Equity dividends are no longer as safe as they once were, and interest rates are near historic lows with the likelihood that they will stay lower for longer. This challenge has investors looking for unique sources of yield. We…

3 Questions to Ask Before You Downsize

From: REAP, LLC. | Retirement & Estate Advisors & Professionals

Homeowners may choose to downsize for a variety of reasons. Maybe you’re tired of maintaining an older home, maybe you don’t need as much space anymore, or maybe you’re just ready for a change.

No matter the motivation, this is a big decision with many financial details involved.

Have you been thinking about simplifying and wondering if…

By Sharon Wagner

As you approach retirement age, you’re crunching the numbers and realizing you’ll be living less comfortably than you hoped in retirement. Are you doomed to pinch pennies through your golden years, or is it possible to boost your retirement income without spending another decade in the office?

If your 401(k) isn’t enough for the retirement lifestyle you’ve been looking forward to, use these strategies to grow your retirement income and put more money…

3 Misconceptions About 401(k) Fees

From: REAP, LLC. | Retirement & Estate Advisors & Professionals

If you have a 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plan, you may be losing money to overpriced investments and hidden costs. The good news? If you understand the fees you’re paying, you may be able to lower them.

If you haven’t looked closely at the details of your plan lately, now is a good time for a checkup.

Here are…

What are your questions about RMDs?

From: REAP, LLC. | Retirement & Estate Advisors & Professionals

You’ve worked hard to save for your retirement. You’ve also carefully built a plan for managing your savings before and after you leave the workforce.

Among other things, this means considering the ins and outs of required minimum distributions (RMDs) for your retirement accounts.

Are you unclear about the rules or any recent changes? Here are some of the…

What Is a Retirement Annuity?

From: money.usnews.com

An annuity is an insurance product that offers guaranteed income. In its simplest form, an annuity involves setting aside a certain amount of money and then receiving regular payments over a designated time period. This might consist of ongoing paychecks that are guaranteed for your lifetime or for the next 10 or 20 years.

There are…

Convertible Bond Issuance Is Soaring

From: www.lazardassetmanagement.com

Issuance of convertible bonds has soared since COVID-19 brought a new driver of volatility to financial markets. Issuance of these fixed income securities, which give holders the option to convert their bonds into a predetermined number of equity shares in the same company, had been relatively low since the global financial crisis, but surged in April and May of this year. In fact,…

Social Security’s Funding Crisis Has Arrived

From: www.fa-mag.com

The Social Security Trust Fund has done quite well in recent years, due to the postwar babies’ surge into the labor force in the last decades of the 20th century while retirees from the low-birth rate Great Depression years were drawing relatively few benefits. The combination of these two forces pushed the Social Security Trust Fund balance from about zero in 1980…