Another casualty of the “fiscal cliff” may be municipal bonds. Municipal bonds currently have a tax free status, but industry experts believe lawmakers could limit how much income investors could deduct.  If that were to happen, it would obviously make muni bonds less attractive and the cost of borrowing for entities that use municipal finance [...]

Variable Annuity Sales have declined 8% to $36.6 billion, driven down during the 3rd quarter by a low interest rate environment.  Fixed annuity sales also fell by 13% in the 3rd quarter to 17.7 billion. That’s the lowest since 2007.    The uncertain economic environment is causing companies to reevaluate their risk management strategies, becoming [...]

The American Research Group says Americans will spend an average of $850 on Christmas gifts. And although the Ferbie may be fun, it hardly inspires your kids to think about the pennies in their piggy bank. Here are a few gifts for kids that could inspire a future finance professional: Children’s ATM: uses real currency [...]

According to John Olsen, president of Olsen Financial Group, and author of a number of books on annuities, including “Index Annuities: A Suitable Approach,” “both immediate and deferred annuities have been shown to have a very positive role in an overall retirement-income strategy, but the deployment of these instruments is often hampered by some very [...]

Today’s baby boomer and retiree has a myriad of things that they can be worried about.  From high health care costs, running out of money in retirement, and changes to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare just to a name a few.  Well the recent study from the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and [...]

Found  a good piece on 10 tax moves you should or could make before years end.  Here are a few short examples and a link to the full article.   Accelerate Gains and Income into This Year   Because your tax rates are likely to rise, selling appreciated investments held in taxable brokerage firm accounts [...]