Planned Solutions

Welcome to the⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ @plannedsolutions ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Incorporated Podcast. In this episode we discuss Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a popular investment trend in 2024. The excitement around AI is centered around its potential to change the business world and daily life in the future. However, there is still no defined path to generating sufficient revenue and profits from the large investments. In a...

Welcome to the⁠⁠ ⁠ @plannedsolutions ⁠ ⁠⁠Incorporated Podcast. In this episode we discuss how the Social Security system can be very complex. Yet, Social Security often represents a large percentage of the average retiree’s income in retirement. Therefore, it is important to understand how Social Security benefits are calculated and the issues that should be considered when assessing different cla...

Welcome to the⁠⁠  @plannedsolutions  ⁠⁠Incorporated Podcast. We discuss how when it comes to home improvements there may be some tax implications that homeowners should be aware of. These include the deduction of interest on loans to finance improvements, the need to track the tax basis of a property, and some tax credits that may be allowed for energy efficient home improvements. Some of these be...

Welcome to the⁠⁠  @plannedsolutions  ⁠⁠Incorporated Podcast. Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) are a common form of employee compensation as stock options and cash bonuses have become less and less common. RSUs can be a great way for an employee to build wealth by sharing in their company’s success, but they also come with some complex tax and investment planning considerations that can complicate the...

Welcome to the⁠⁠  @plannedsolutions  ⁠⁠Incorporated Podcast. A new AARP study shows that many people in their 50s believe they will never be able to retire as they struggle to pay for day-to-day living needs, much less save for the long-term. This finding highlights the importance of creating a retirement plan as early as possible. However, even those who start retirement planning later in life ar...

Welcome to the ⁠ @plannedsolutions ⁠ Incorporated Podcast. The increase in interest rates over the past several years has created some financial planning opportunities and risks that should be considered. These include the benefit of creating a cash management plan to increase earnings on low-risk investments and implementing more creative borrowing strategies to reduce the overall cost of debt. A...

Welcome to the  @plannedsolutions  Incorporated Podcast. The US economy is estimated to have increased by just a 1.6% annualized rate in the first quarter. The most important categories of personal consumption expenditures and investment expenditures reported reasonably strong growth rates of 2.5% and 3.2%, respectively. However, government spending, especially in national defense, fell in the fir...

Welcome to the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast. On this episode we discuss some reports claiming that the US labor market is turning for the worse. However, most of the data cited has been anecdotal data that does not seem to be indicative of the entire market. Taking a close look at the national labor market data such as the unemployment rate (backward looking) and initial claims for unemp...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, One year after the mini financial crisis sparked by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the financial stress index is at its lowest level since before the 2008 financial crisis. There are some areas of the financial system that have thrived in the last year, such as the nation’s largest money center banks, while some regional banks hav...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, the US tax system is complex with many moving pieces that can lead to tax surprises. Changes in income, deductions, credits, or tax withholding can all lead to a taxpayer owing more tax than expected. Some of these changes can be anticipated by taxpayers so that they can plan to increase their tax withholding, make estimated payments,...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, In a real-life case study, we explore just one way that a financial advisor can use strategic timing along with the integration of investment and tax planning to increase the long-term financial benefits from a savings and investing strategy. Here we explore the intersection of long-term investing (the compounding of returns), counteri...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, Interest rates are often referred to generically when referencing the Federal Funds Rate (the overnight lending rate between banks that the Federal Reserve manages). However, many interest rates are impacted by the term of a loan and the risk that the loan will not be paid back. To fully understand the bond market investors must unders...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, The IRS charitable contribution rules are complex. The rules differ depending on the type of property donated (cash, check, credit card, or in-kind), the amount donated, the taxpayer’s income or other tax deductions, whether the taxpayer receives goods or services in return for the donation, and how the donations are made. Therefore, t...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, Mortgage rates have declined recently from very high levels. This has caused some homeowners who purchased a new home last year during the higher interest rate environment to consider refinancing their mortgage to capture the lower rates. While mortgage interest rates are a big factor in determining whether it makes sense to refinance...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, The Magnificent Seven (the seven most valuable companies included in the S&P 500 index) increased in value by 75% in 2023, whereas the remaining 493 stocks in the index increased by 12%. This has captured the attention of investors and the financial press. However, what is often ignored is the large losses these stocks reported in 2022...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, There is a discrepancy between the official government price data for shelter (rents) and the data reported by multiple private data providers. The US government numbers show rents increasing 6.5% over the past year while private data reports a 2.1% decrease in rents. Many economists and investors believe the private data to be more ac...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, The federal tax code offers several tax credits for the purchase and/or installation of energy-efficient property. These credits generally fall into three categories: Residential Clean Energy Credits (credits for clean energy generation), Clean Energy and Vehicle Credits (credits for buying electric or fuel cell vehicles), and Energy E...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, As the last several months have demonstrated, the future path of interest rates is unknown. However, the expected path of interest rates can be discerned by examining the futures markets where investor thinking is reflected in prices and expectations for rate changes. Currently, the market is predicting that the current interest rate c...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, The official inflation rate ticked down to 3.2%, the same level as the July report, and the lowest inflation rate in several years. All the major categories, including food, energy, and shelter declined over the past twelve months creating hope that inflation will now continue its downward trend that started over a year ago. This is al...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, The US Treasury is becoming a larger and larger focus of Wall Street as the US Government has been borrowing very large amounts from the private sector. With the current large federal deficit, the need to roll over short-term borrowing, higher interest rate costs, and reduced lending from foreign entities have caused the US Government...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, Trend following is often used by investors in an attempt to profit by predicting market price trends. The effectiveness of this is unproven at best. However, trend following may be used as an effective risk management tool by highlighting time periods when investors may benefit from reducing investment risk or investing more cautiously...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, Interest rates have increased sharply in the past 18 months as the Fed attempts to slow the economy and bring inflation down to its 2% target. However, several areas of the economy have reacted in unusual ways as the job market has remained strong and single-family home prices remain elevated, while commercial real estate prices have d...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, The annual inflation rate ticked up to 3.7% in August which is a 0.5% increase from the 3.2% in July and up 0.7% from the 3.0% reading in June. The primary cause of the increase in prices in August was that energy deflation appeared to be subsiding while shelter prices declined but at too slow of a rate to offset the monthly increase i...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, Student loan payments and interest charges are set to start once again on September 1st. However, the new SAVE Plan has expanded the rules for income-based student loan payments to reduce the payment amount for many borrowers. The definition of low-income borrowers has been expanded so more borrowers will qualify for zero payments unde...

In this episode of the Planned Solutions Incorporated Podcast, Central banks have increased interest rates around the globe in an effort to bring down inflation. Now the Federal Reserve may be at the end, or getting close to the end, of its interest rate hiking cycle. However, the impact of higher long-term interest rates is not fully reflected in the financial or economic data, which will only oc...