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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Stop the Presses, Again – New ‘Build Back Better’ Draft Reincludes IRA Constraints for Wealthy
Stop the Presses, Again – New ‘Build Back Better’ Draft Reincludes IRA Constraints for Wealthy We work hard to keep our clients up...
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Send Snow Shovels to Hades – Democrats Propose Major Tax Benefit for the Wealthy
You read that headline correctly. Joe Biden, still president, campaigned like a wild thang on big public spending, to be funded by...
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Woes for the Wealthy – If Grantor Trusts Fall, Life Insurance Could Become Part of Taxable Estates
It’s an issue that will touch only the wealthiest taxpayers. Yet I feel the hit; how much can they take? New Englanders ever...
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Thermopylae on Capitol Hill – Democratic Holdouts Force Revisions to Biden’s Tax Plans
The Democratic Party is all about taxes these days. These words sound acclaim or rebuke – it depends on who’s speaking. Yet two...
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