Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
Since 2009, I have typically given at least 40 talks per year and thousands have attended my financial seminars. Many have seen me for a consultation on their taxes, investments, and retirement planning and I’ve noticed that no more than 2% have more than $30,000 in a Roth IRA account. The main reason is that Americans love getting the immediate tax deduction when they contribute to a traditional IRA or 401(k) account. The earnings are tax-deferred, but then all withdrawals (with the bulk taken during retirement) are taxed as ordinary income. This is only fair because traditional IRA or 401(k) contributions come from either wage earnings from a job or profits from one’s business.
Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
The coronavirus pandemic shutdown of most of the U.S. was devastating. However, the economic is now slowly coming out of the previous mandatory lockdown orders and many predict that we will have a strong 4th quarter in 2020 and strong economic recovery in 2021. For many upper middle-class families, income taxes are one of the two highest single expenses, along with housing expenses. It’s the highest expense once your house is paid off. Let’s examine several major tax-savings options.
Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
On March 7, 2020, all schools within the Elk Grove Unified School District in the Sacramento, CA area shut down after a case of the virus appeared in the city. On March 19, CA Governor Gavin Newsom issued a state-wide “stay at home” order, shutting down all non-essential businesses. CA was the first state to take this measure and it affects 40 million people.
Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
On Wednesday March 18, 2020 the Dow-Jones stock market index had a steep drop briefly pushed the 30-stock index below the level where it closed on Jan. 19, 2017, the day before President Trump took office.
Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
I’m submitting this article on morning, March 6, 2020 and the last 2 weeks have seen the U.S. stock market gyrate up and down with extreme volatility due to fear about the impact of the Coronavirus.
Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
In an October, 2019 opinion piece in the Orlando Sentinel, four MDs and former U.S. Surgeon Generals (Richard Carmona, Joycelyn Elders, Antonia Novello, and David Satcher) called dementia the “top public health crisis” in an effort to call attention to the rapid rise of the disease. “Its scale is unprecedented, and its numbers, already tragic, are growing rapidly.”
Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
AZ is the #3 biggest state in terms of cumulative amount of solar electric capacity installed through Q3 2019. CA is #1; NC is #2; Texas is #4; and Florida is #5. The ranking is based on the equivalent number of homes supplied by solar energy. #1 CA has 26,232 Megawatts (MW) and 6,828,939 equivalent homes supplied by solar energy; #2 NC has 5,662 MW and 683,648 homes; #3 AZ has 3,913 MW and 578,323 homes; #4 Texas has 3,421 MW and 408,234 homes; and #5 Florida has 3,414 MW and 411,269 homes.
Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
A “gray divorce” is when adults ages 50 or over get divorced. According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, the divorce rate for those 50 and up has doubled since the 1990s and tripled for those 65 and older since 1990.
Ahwatukee Foothills News by Dr. Harold Wong
Wall Street makes money either by commissions on the investments they sell or a percentage of the total assets they manage.
