Articles on Wealth Management Topics

The Tax Policy Center estimates that recent changes to the tax code in the form of last year's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) "... will cut individual income taxes for 65 percent of households overall, but raise taxes for about 6 percent of households." Even so, why not resolve to improve your financial situation even more in the New Year. Depending on your circumstances, there may be a variety of moves to make to reduce your tax bills (or to offset them by saving money in other ways).

457(b) plans are retirement plans for government workers and for highly-compensated employees of non-profit organizations. As such, 457's are offered by some of Utah's largest employers, including Intermountain Healthcare and the University of Utah. These plans are analogous to 401(k)'s and 403(b)'s, but they differ in one critical way.

Luckily, even the worst annuities don't have to be "roach motels" - there is often a way out of them without having to sacrifice an arm and a leg. The best escape route depends on a variety of factors, i.e. the annuity's surrender charge schedule, whether or not it's held in a tax-qualified account, the fine print of the annuity contract, the client's financial situation, etc. A provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) offers another possible way out.

There was a lot of hoopla when the rules were changed a few years ago to allow any taxpayer, regardless of income level, to convert IRA's and retirement plans to Roth accounts. So much so that you would think Roth conversions were "no-brainer" decisions. But in reality, a Roth conversion probably only makes sense for a small minority of investors. Here are some of the major factors to consider in deciding whether to convert your IRA or retirement plan account to a Roth IRA.