Dear Liz: My question is regarding spousal Social Security. My husband and I have been married for close to 20 years. My husband’s first wife has never remarried. Could she be claiming my husband’s Social Security? If so, without us knowing it? And, how will that affect my Social Security when that time comes? Should mine […]
Recent Blog Posts
Q&A: Is there a tax break for paying a child’s student loans?
Dear Liz: Our daughter took on substantial student loan debt to get her master’s degree. She owes about $60,000 and so far has only been able to work a minimum wage job. If my wife and I were to pay off the loans, would there be any tax advantages or other benefits we could use to […]
Q&A: Is switching brokerages a taxable event?
Dear Liz: Just moving your holdings from one broker to another should not trigger any capital gains implications if you journal over your stocks, bonds and mutual fund holdings without liquidating anything. Right? Answer: Right, unless you’ve been sold a proprietary investment that can’t be moved to a competitor. Some brokerages create their own funds that have […]
Q&A: Is a QLAC a good idea?
Dear Liz: I read in a recent column that you mentioned qualified longevity annuity contracts (QLAC). I have heard about them before but don’t know the pros and cons about them. Is that something that you could write about in a future column? Answer: QLACs are complicated enough to be beyond the scope of this column, but […]
Q&A: Can I avoid capital gains by buying another house?
Dear Liz: We are in our 70s and have owned a home in the San Francisco Bay Area for 30 years, so as you might imagine we have a sizable capital gains issue. We are starting to think about a “next step.” While I understand we would have a $500,000 exclusion and can “back out” any […]
Q&A: What you can expect from a fiduciary advisor
Dear Liz: This is concerning the couple in their 70s who were persuaded to move their nearly $2-million retirement portfolio to a different broker, resulting in a capital gain of $184,000 and a capital gain tax bill for $50,000. The question I wonder is whether the $184,000 capital gain also kicked them into a higher Medicare premium bracket […]