Capital Gains Strategies for High-Income Investors Before the Year Gets Away From You
For high-income investors, capital gains planning is one of the few year-end exercises that can move the needle on a tax bill by tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the window for action narrows quickly as December approaches. The federal long-term capital gains rates of 0%, 15%, and 20% sound straightforward on paper, but layered on top is the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax, state-level taxes, and the...
How to Align Beneficiary Designations With Your Estate Plan (Avoid These Mistakes)
A well-drafted will or trust can take months to finalize. You work with attorneys, weigh every scenario, and spell out exactly how you want your assets distributed. Then a single outdated beneficiary form on a retirement account quietly overrides all of it. That one form, often filled out years ago during a rushed HR onboarding session, may carry more legal weight than every carefully considered provision in your estate plan. This...