Asset Planning, Inc Blog

In a recent study by deVere Group, one of the world's largest independent financial consultancy groups, they asked clients with investable assets over $1,000,000 what was their number one financial regret. The top 3 answers:

1. Not putting in place a regular reviewed personal financial plan earlier in life. (57%)
2. Not consistently scrutinizing personal investments (18%)
3. Taking on too much unnecessary debt. (13%)

While this survey only surveyed high-net worth families, I think middle-class families would answer the question with similar results.  It is clear the benefits of long-term financial planning and routinely reviewing or revising the plans help keep families on-track to reach their financial goals. 

It is interesting to note that all those surveyed have done well financially, but the regret is that it might have been less stressful if they had a plan in place and were monitoring it consistently.

It is never to early to begin planning for next year's tax return. Planning ahead can save you time and money in 2014. Here are six simple steps to take to make your next tax return easier.

1. Adjust your withholding
Now is a good time to review your withholdings to make the taxes withheld from your pay closer to the taxes you will owe for this year. You can use the IRS Withholding Calculator at IRS.gov to complete a new Form W-4.

2.Store your return in a safe place.
Doing so can facilitate locating it in case you need to refer to your return. For example, you may need a copy of your return when applying for a home loan or financial aid.

3. Organize your records
These record include your receipts from big purchases, mileage logs, and other deductable expense.

4. Hire a tax professional
If you already have a tax professional  consult with them now to tart your tax planning for next year.

5.Consider itemizing deductions
If your itemized deductions typically fall just below your standard deduction you can bundle your deductions. If you usually claim a standard deduction, you may be able to reduce your taxes.

6.Keep up with changes
its always good to keep  up with changes in the law especially taxes. For helpful tips, and IRS announcements, visit the IRS website, www.IRS.gov

Deciding how to manage one's digital legacy has turned into one of the trickiest estate-planning tasks. Facebook status updates, blogs posts, tweets, digital music libraries and other digital remains may have significant financial or personal value to the families. Failure to plan ahead may prevent loved ones from recovering these digital items of personal value and information pertaining to bills or other financial liabilities. It could also leave your estate vulnerable to identity theft.
The first step to start navigating through this new world of digital estate planning it is important to recognize the obstacles one faces, such as all the legal terms of use and service of each online service provider. Providers differ in how one can handle accounts of deceased users. Yahoo for example, will terminate your account upon your death if a certificate is submitted. Google recently introduced a new feature allowing users to specify the termination of account data should the account be inactive for a certain period or passed along to specific individuals.
Some accounts that you access online do not pose an estate-planning challenge. Financial institutions do have clear procedures an account holder's death. Always check the terms of use and inquire what will happen to your account in case you pass away.

Retrieved from Kiplinger's Retirement Report

Need money from your IRA or Trust accounts? No problem; securities, mutual funds and bonds can all be sold on the same day and the cash is settled into your account in approximately four business days; however, giving your financial advisor prior notice can get you more money from the sale of your investments.

If you need more than $15,000 in cash, it is advisable to give your advisor a one month notice to take advantage of market sales. This means your advisor tries to sells the investments when markets hit a high price in order to get the greatest amount of cash from the sale of from a stock, bond or mutual fund. Once the investments are sold it does take time for the cash to settle into your accounts. Mutual funds for example, can be sold on the same day but the cash doesn't settle into your account until the next business day. Stocks can too be sold on the same day; however, the cash takes three days to settle. Bond sales are unique since they are placed on a bond trading desk and wait for a reasonable bid. In our case, we would wait for the highest bidder.

Giving your advisor a month's time notice not only facilitates the selling process, but also allows us to search for the best selling prices for your investments, providing you with more cash.

Every time you apply for a personal credit card your average time length of your credit accounts decrease and in turn decreases your credit score. It is sad news if you were looking to open a new personal credit card account; however, applying for a business card will not reduce the average time length of your credit accounts. The personal credit bureaus do not receive reports on the amount you spend on a business credit card, as well as your credit line.

For Example, theoretically speaking if one was to use up an entire credit limit from a business credit card, it would have no impact on a personal credit score. In contrast, if the same was done a personal credit card, it would dramatically reduce your score even if the balance was paid in full when the statement arrives.

Bottom line, not only do business credit cards provide more sign-up bonuses, they also have less of an impact to your personal credit score. You don't need an established business to get approved for a business credit card and you can often get approved for existing businesses which you run as the sole owner or which you are thinking of starting. It is advisable to be cautious of what you apply for, the interest rate and any penalties that come with any credit card including business credit cards.

President Obama's budget proposal would cap multimillion-dollar tax-favored retirement accounts. The budget plan would prohibit tax payers from accumulating more than $3 million over all IRA accounts. The proposal would generate $9 billion in revenue for the Treasury over the next decade.

According to Ed Slott, an IRA specialist and certified public accountant, IRAs have evolved from a retirement-planning technique into an estate-planning tool for some wealthy families because tax laws allow the accounts to be passed onto heirs. The cap would apply to the total of all of an individual's tax-favored retirement accounts.

The plan was unveiled on April 10 as part of the proposed budget for 2014.

Congratulations to Sandra C. Field and Carol Somoano for being the recipients of the 2013 Orange Coast Five Star Wealth Managers. This was published in the April issue of Orange Coast magazine.

They were among 2,293 award candidates considered in the Orange Coast area of which only 19% of the candidates received the award. The award candidates were identified and considered by one of three sources: firm nomination, peer nomination, or prequalification based on industry standing. Self-nominations are not accepted.

Our two award recipients satisfied a 10 objective eligibility evaluation criteria associated with quality service providing wealth manager split into two parts, eligibility criteria and evaluation criteria.

The required eligibility criteria are as follows:

Credentialed as an investment advisory representative (IAR), a FINRA-registered representative, a CPA or a licensed attorney.
Actively employed as a credentialed professional in the financial services industry for a minimum of five years.
Favorable regulatory and complaint history review.
Fulfilled their firm review based on internal firm standards.
Accepting new clients.

Evaluation Criteria:

One-year client retention rate
Five-year client retention rate
Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered
Number of client households served
Education and professional designations

It is very easy to want to sign up for credit cards that offer miles and points for purchases you make, especially with sign-up bonuses offering 50,000 miles or points when you apply and receive the credit card. Yet, you should take into consideration how this might impact your credit score.

You should think twice on getting these kinds of credit cards if:

1. Interest rates on these are especially high.

2. You shouldn't apply for them unless you know you can definitely pay off the entire balance each month

3. You are having trouble budgeting or you can't resist making unnecessary purchases just for the sake of increasing your points or miles.

4. You have a score lower than 700

5. Don't apply for these kinds of credits cards if you seek to increase your credit score, especially if you are thinking of taking out a home loan in the near future.

In the short-term your score could decrease; however if you are strict with yourself, make considerable purchases and pay your balance off in full each month, then the score will increase and also you will be able to redeem points and miles.

Your credit score is determined by the following:

-35% payment history

-30% amount owed

-15% length of credit history

-10% new credit

-10% types of credit.

The percentages are based on the importance of the five categories for the general population. For particular groups; for example, people who have not been using credit long, the relative importance of these categories may be different.

PAYMENT HISTORY is considered the most important variable. The next most important variable to watch are the AMOUNTS OWED. Having debt doesn't mean you are a high-risk borrower. Keep in mind that if a high percentage of your available credit has been used, it may suggest that you take on more debt than you can probably handle. This might reflect as a risk of you not being able to pay back your loans.

It is important to not max out your credit cards and keep a low credit utilization rate. Example:

If your credit limit is $5,000, don't charge more than a $1,000 if you want to keep your utilization rate below 20%.

Spend healthy and keep that payment history a priority!

First: What is a credit score?

In the U.S, a credit score is a number used to predict the likelihood of you not paying back loans. There are three main credit bureaus in the US A and they are Equifax, TransUnion and Experian; however Fair Isaac Corporation dominates the US credit score business and issues FICO scores ranging from 300 to 850.

The higher your credits score the better; however there is a limit. A score of 650 is always better than a score of 550 and a score of 750 will get you access to lower interest rates than a score of 650. Here is the catch, after a gaining a score of 760 you won't necessarily get lower interest rates than someone with a score of 830. As long as you maintain a score above 750 you will be in great shape.

Please stay tuned for our weekly series on credit cards and FICO. Next week I will post on what your FICO score is, what it means and how it is calculated. Feel free to share with other family and friends!