Secure Act 2.0: What You Need to Know
The Secure Act 2.0 was signed into law on December 29th, 2022. SECURE stands for “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement”. While the bill itself is not easy reading, it is important to understand the direct ways in which the legislation affects TWG clients. Below are a few provisions from the bill that impact […]
Part 4: Tax Planning
Tax planning is one of the most misunderstood areas of financial planning. From the complexity of how income taxes, Social Security taxes, and various investment taxes are calculated, to the fact that the tax code changes in some capacity almost every year, it’s no wonder that people are confused when it comes to this subject. […]
What the CARES Act Means to You
On Friday afternoon, March 27, President Trump signed the $2 trillion “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” (CARES Act) into law. You can read the full 880-page bill here. Much of the news coverage around the CARES Act has applied to the “Recovery Rebates” (i.e. cash to taxpayers). According to estimates by the Tax Foundation, over […]
Marginal Tax Rate
People talk about taxes all the time. (Especially during times of tax reform in Congress.) Income tax, property tax, sales tax, payroll tax, excise tax, investment income surtax, Medicare tax…..the list goes on and on. The most widely discussed and most prevalent is the federal income tax. Important pieces of that tax code are the marginal […]
Good News on Minnesota Estate Tax Law
The majority of these United States (32 of them) do not charge a state-level estate tax (or inheritance tax). Minnesota is currently one of 18 states that does levy an estate tax beyond the Federal estate taxes imposed upon citizens. The Republican majority MN legislature pushed for and attained higher estate tax limits in this year’s state […]
The State of Our State’s Finances
Did you know that our beloved state of Minnesota is $51 billion in debt? I hear a lot about “surpluses” in the media, as though a one-year surplus is some indicator of financial health. And our state’s debt balance is increasing as we speak, not decreasing. The debt balance per state citizen is now at $9,316. […]
Digging Deeper on Where to Retire
Here at The Wealth Group, we have a number of retired clients that maintain residency in warm-weather states with lower income tax burdens than Minnesota. Florida is by far the most common state to which our Minnesota clients transplant, but we also see clients establish residency in places like Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and Tennessee. For […]
A Short History Lesson on Income Taxes
Quiz question: when did the US Government begin taxing individual American citizens on their earned income? Answer: just over 100 years ago, with the passage of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution in 1913. The 1913 tax rates started at 1% and topped out at 7%. That first tax bracket of 1% ran all the […]
