Guest Post from Bill in Arizona The Senior Citizen tax relief in the "Big Beautiful Bill", passed by the House, is an additional Standard Deduction increase for Seniors over 65 of $4,000 (singles) and $8,000 couples.  The attached video and Tax Foundation link...

I Love Social Security! I know, I know, I can't be a right-winger by saying that. But facts are facts, and until Social Security started Americans didn't have a retirement system at all. Hardly anyone talked about retirement planning.  In fact, if...

  Charlotte and I were at a Veterans Day breakfast a few years ago held at our Town Hall.  Many local politicians were there, our mayor, town council members and even a couple state reps too. It was a very relaxing event held solely to honor the town's...

You never know where life will take you and how you will get there but my job, and some divine intervention gave my wife and I an adventure we could have only imagined.  My job has brought about some amazing opportunities, including:  Working on some cool...

Will Tariffs Cause a Recession? Maybe, maybe not. We don't know. Oddly, we did have a recession under Sniffy Joe which wasn't caused by tariffs and yet no one wants to talk about that one. It wasn't a "real" recession, we're told. What? Recessions have always and...

By: Bill Brettner BACKGROUND: There is a proposal to eliminate taxeson Social Security Benefits in 2025. The typical savings for a "single filer" would be $5,500.00 in 2025.  A typical "married filer" would save $9300.00 in...

Good afternoon, Josh, I know you prefer shorter emails, but here goes anyway.   In case you don't remember me, we had a planning session on July 1, 2023.  At that time, I had bought into the prevalent opinions of most retirement "experts."  I...

Have You Seen This Video? This is where I break down the benefit of the Trump proposal to end taxes on Social Security.  In an odd turn of events, many of my fellow travelers on the right for some reason think this is a bad plan. I don't get it. I thought...

May 25, 1997 was the last time I ever drank alcohol. And while many of you might be saying "what's the big deal?" well for me it's huge because there is no way on God's green earth, I'd be here if it weren't for this day  Now, that doesn't mean I'd be dead or...

By: Amar Shah, CFA, CFP®, Clientfirstcap.com How can you best benchmark your retirement investments? Investment planning for retirement is a complex process that requires careful financial decision-making. A crucial part of this process is assessing whether your...