Tax

When California insurance broker Chris Thorndike awoke on Friday morning, he was besieged with an unusual amount of voicemail and inbox messages with the ominous title “Wildfire Updates”. From that moment on, Thorndike, who is President of NorthStar Risk Management & Insurance in Walnut Creek, California worked to help 15 of his clients under mandatory evacuation in the Malibu and Thousand Oaks area understand how their insurance would help them as the fires played out.

by Megan Gorman, Forbes 

How do you prepare your children to receive an inheritance?  What can you do now to make them better money managers?  Passing your legacy to your children requires acknowledgement of family values and fiscal preparation, early on.  

Cryptocurrency is the latest financial innovation for exchanging assets.  What is it?  How is it acquired?  Can you incorporate into your estate plan?  

Starting a business entails understanding and dealing with many issues—legal, financing, sales and marketing, intellectual property protection, liability protection, human resources, and more. But interest in entrepreneurship is at an all-time high. And there have been spectacular success stories of early stage startups growing to be multi-billion-dollar companies, such as Uber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Airbnb, and many others.

by Richard Harroch, Forbes . . .Read the full Article here.

Estate planning is dead. Gone are the days of creating legal structures to hold your assets, pass your fortune on to the next generation and, of course, avoid paying estate taxes. Gone are the days of planning for your death. It’s time to plan for your life. 

Link to Original Article by Daniel Scott, Forbes, July 26, 2018

Understanding the Probate process emphasizes that proper estate planning is vital!  This week, we give you an introduction to Probate, what it is and what it entails.  

Aretha Franklin's recent passing brought to light another celebrity estate lacking the proper protection planning to avoid probate.  We have provided a reminder checklist to prevent this from happening to you and your family...

by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle, August 25, 2018 

People who own just one or two rental properties might not qualify for the new 20 percent federal deduction that big-time real estate investors and other pass-through entities will get starting this year.

The federal tax law passed in December lets many pass-through entities such as partnerships and sole proprietorships deduct 20 percent of their “qualified business income,” with some limits. 

Link to Original Article

PLEASE NOTE- THIS INFORMATION IS AGED- PLEASE REFERENCE UPDATES TO THE LAW NECESSITATED BY CA PROP 19, WHICH BECAME EFFECTIVE ON FEBRUARY 16, 2021, AND SEVERELY LIMITS THE PARENT / CHILD EXCLUSION.

WASHINGTON — Architects and engineers are still in. Accountants, doctors and lawyers remain out — mostly. New rules floated by the Trump administration lay out what kinds of businesses can take a 20 percent deduction against income taxes under the new tax law. 

by Marcy Gordon, Associated Press | August 10, 2018, USA Today