Long Term Care Costs Leave Healthy Spouse Destitute

Long-term care costs leave healthy spouse destitute. Don't let this happen to your family or friends. There are legal ways to protect your spouse. The options are complex but with skilled guidance you may be able to preserve assets for the healthy spouse or leave funds for your heirs. In our planning process we not only look at these issues for you but for all those you care for. Our Professional Alliance member, Sean Bleck, is a recognized expert in this area and is a frequent speaker on elder care issues. His latest article can be found in the February 19th edition of the Puget Sound Business Journal in the Estate Planning and Charitable Bequests section.

You can register for Sean's seminars under the Professional Alliance heading on the right hand side of the blog.

Free Golf Carts

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal the IRS has ruled that golf carts qualify for the electric vehicle credit that provides a federal tax credit from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric car. Although the purchase of a free golf cart is a pretty cool thing we recommend you talk to your accountant before committing to purchase.

Key Numbers for 2010

The Key Numbers table summarizes all the important tax planning numbers you'll need for 2009 and 2010. Areas covered include:

• Individual income tax planning and marginal tax rates
• Investment planning
• Education planning
• Retirement planning
• Business planning
• Estate planning
• Protection planning
• Government benefits

The file can be downloaded from our website: Key Numbers 2010

You can contact us for help with any of your planning needs.

Qualifying 2010 Donations for Haitian Relief Efforts May Be Deducted on 2009 Returns

On January 22, 2010, the President signed into law HR 4462 (Public Law No: 111-126), establishing special rules that apply to charitable donations made for Haitian relief efforts.
An individual who makes a qualified charitable contribution after January 11, 2010 and before March 1, 2010 for relief efforts associated with the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti can treat the deduction as if it were made on December 31, 2009. As a result, individuals who itemize their deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A, can elect to claim the deduction for their Haitian relief contribution on their 2009 federal income tax return. To qualify, the contribution must be made in cash.
Except for the ability to treat the contribution as if it were made in 2009, normal rules and limitations associated with charitable deductions apply. It's important to note that, to qualify for a deduction, donations must be made to a domestic charitable organization.
The legislation also specifies that a telephone bill showing the name of the charitable organization, and the date and amount of the contribution, will satisfy the charitable deduction recordkeeping requirements. This provision was added to facilitate charitable donations made via text messages.

Economic Dashboard

Assessing where we stand in the economic recovery is complicated and filled with conflicting information. Russell developed a simple to understand economic recovery dashboard that we thought you might enjoy.

http://www.russell.com/helping-advisors/markets/economicrecoverydashboard.asp

The dashboard shows you whether or not the economy is returning to more typical behavior. It is a snapshot of current conditions in the market relative to their typical-long term ranges. You can also click on each of the economic indicators for a more detailed perspective. It is not meant to serve as a direct prediction regarding the future performance of any economic or financial market, but it is a useful tool in illustrating the extremes that many of the indicators reached in the last few years and their return to normalcy.