COVID-19 and Market History.

We are several weeks into the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The stock market has been is near free-fall as confusion, panic, and dare say hysteria grip the public. We don’t know how or when this crisis will reach the end of its course. The graph below shows the performance of the S&P 500 from January 1980 […]

The SECURE Act Sets a Tax Trap for IRA Beneficiary Trusts.

The newly enacted Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act made major changes to the distribution rules for inherited IRAs. With few exceptions, the SECURE Act replaced the old life expectancy “stretch” IRA distribution rules with a mandatory 10 year distribution rule. This creates a potential tax trap for certain trusts named as […]

Taking a Closer Look – The SECURE Act’s “Eligible Designated Beneficiary.”

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) Act became law on January 1, 2020. The SECURE Act made major changes to the distribution rules governing inherited IRAs (both traditional and Roth) and company sponsored retirement plan accounts. In general, the Act requires a designated beneficiary of an inherited retirement account to withdraw the […]

Considering the Stretch IRA Rules After the SECURE Act.

As a financial and estate planning technique, the “stretch” IRA allowed the beneficiary of an inherited IRA to take distributions from the IRA over her remaining life expectancy, extending the life and income tax advantages (tax-deferred or tax free growth) of the IRA. For a very young beneficiary, this could have been a virtual lifetime. […]

Debtor has Student Loan Debt of $221,000 Discharged in Bankruptcy.

Navy veteran, Kevin Rosenberg, borrowed $116,000 in student loans from 1993 to 2004 to earn a bachelor’s degree and later a law degree. The loan amount ballooned to $221,000 by 2018, when he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New York. Mr. Rosenberg sought to have the student loan debt discharged in the bankruptcy because […]