The Happy Ending? Congress May Be Getting Ready to Pass Secure 2.0
Did you ever get the feeling you’d said everything there was to say? Like you’ve seen it all and heard it twice over, shown people...
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Mind the Cliff – Bringing New York’s Fuzzy Estate Tax Rules into Focus
I’ve fallen off plenty of cliffs in my time, and I’m not speaking metaphorically. There was that time back in 1979, climbing the...
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Rumors of Expiry Greatly Exaggerated – Estate Tax Exemptions Remain High in 2022
Our headline refers to a well-known quote from Samuel Clemens – Mark Twain to his readers – a common occurrence in American...
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Give My Creature Life – Democrats Search for Ways to Resuscitate Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the horn-locked struggle between President Joe Biden and his party compadre Senator Joe...
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The Unusual Suspects: Death Rates Skyrocket in Indiana and Insurers Are Worried – and Mystified
I’ve never cared much for the state of Indiana and right now, someone out there in Flatland is spreading disquieting news around...
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Hey Not-So-Big Spender – Is Senator Manchin Ready to Rumble on Biden’s BBB?
I wouldn’t call Joe Manchin good lookin’ or particularly refined, even for a US senator. He does possess a noirish backroom...
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Join Together – Two House Committees Lay the Foundations for SECURE Act 2.0
I keep telling everyone who’ll listen: if you want to be heard in America, you need to do more than vote. You need to be a...
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How I Learned to Stop Worrying – Wise Ways to Respond to the Covid-Linked Life Expectancy Decline
In the year 2020, the life expectancy of the US population dropped by 1.8 years, measured against 2019. This decline was the worst...
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Steady As She Goes – Despite Historic Payouts, Life Insurance Industry Weathers the Covid Storm
Over the past year, the life insurance industry paid out more in death benefits than in any year since the 1918 Spanish influenza...
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Naught Quiet on the Tax Planning Front – Making Last-Minute Moves in a Most Uncertain Environment
The last year or more, I’ve been writing about President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party’s efforts to raise taxes on the...
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It’s a Family Affair – Mastering the Trials of Family Business Succession
Our theme for today is eternal, a concern shared by tradesmen and kings. You expand and enrichen your realm, landed or commercial...
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‘I Was Serenely Independent and Content’ – Do Workers Want to Return to the Post-Pandemic Office?
Managers of my fair acquaintance are rip-roaring to get their staffs back to the nearly virus-free office and start making hay...
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While the Getting Is Good – Insiders Cashing Out Stock Holdings as Tax Hikes Threaten
On the first of this merry month of December, reports said that some of America’s flashiest – and savviest – CEOs, market insiders...
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Summit in Sight – House Finally Passes the ‘Build Back Better’ Act
If you’re looking for insight into America’s legislative process, consider the wisdom of the Three Rules of Mountaineering. “It’s...
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Farewell to a Friend, Act 2 – House Votes to Eliminate ‘Backdoor’ Roth IRAs
I wrote a few weeks ago that Congress was preparing to limit the use of Roth IRA accounts, particularly for wealthier taxpayers. I...
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Washington State Addresses the LT Healthcare Crisis – With Interesting Results
There was a time, before last year’s election campaign, when we could discuss issues unpolitical in nature, though only a little...
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