Category Archives: Reminder

Did You Buy a New Primary Residence Last Year? – Homesteading Your Property – Most States are January 1st Residence Requirement – Possible Property Tax Savings –

Because of the various state rules and regulations, we want to remind you that this post is not meant as a guide, but only as a reminder, if you are in the appropriate state, and in the appropriate situation, you may be able to Homestead your home, saving your property taxes (property tax exemption.)

If you hit up Homestead on your favorite search engine you’re likely going to get an article about moving to the country somewhere and building a log cabin home to retire.

That’s not what this is about.

landscape-3417201__480 homestead

We want to remind those especially that live in Texas who may have moved into a new home on last year on or before January 1st to be sure in Homestead their home in order to have a significant savings on your taxes.

Those living in other states should check their central appraisal district website to see the rules and regulations – this is likely a timely reminder as most just paid the property tax … or are about to pay them.

Not all states offer Homestead exemptions and many states do offer them but do no good because of the tax structure of their states, thereby making it important that you check each situation.

All of the above being said, using our home state of Texas as an example, there is a significant tax savings by homesteading your home.

From Wikipedia

In many states, including Texas once again, there are very special exemptions for those age 65 and it’s likely the January 1 residence date may not apply for those turning age 65. Special tax considerations are given for those 65 and older to school, property, other taxes with frequently freezes in escalations as part of the exemption … In order to qualify, you most likely will need to raise your hand (fill out another form) …notifying your taxing authority of your new tax saving age.

Property tax exemption

A homestead exemption is most often on only a fixed monetary amount, such as the first $50,000 of the assessed value. The remainder is taxed at the normal rate. A home valued at $150,000 would then be taxed on only $100,000 and a home valued at $75,000 would then be taxed on only $25,000.

The exemption is generally intended to turn the property tax into a progressive tax. In some places, the exemption is paid for with a local or state (or equivalent unit) sales tax.

Examples

  • California exempts the first $7,000 of residential homestead from property taxes.
  • Colorado allows a 50% deduction for up to the first $200,000 (equivalent to a $100,000 exemption if the property is valued at $200,000 or above) for seniors (over age 65) who have lived in their property for ten consecutive years.
  • Georgia allows a 1% HEST only in a few counties.
  • Florida‘s homestead exemption allows an exemption of 160 acres outside of a municipality and one-half an acre inside a municipality.[5]
  • Kentucky, for 2019 and 2020, the exemption has been set at $39,300. Once it is approved, homeowners who are 65 or older do not need to reapply for the homestead exemption each year.[6]
  • Louisiana exempts the first $7,500 of residential homestead from local property taxes.[7]
  • Michigan exempts the homeowner from paying the operating millage of local school districts.
  • Mississippi exemption from all ad valorem taxes assessed to property; this is limited to the first $7,500 of the assessed value or $300 of the actual exempted tax dollars.[8]
  • New York‘s School Tax Relief (STAR) program exempts the first $30,000 of a primary home’s assessed value from school district taxes; the exemption is limited to owners with incomes under $500,000. Additional exemptions are available for people over 65 with a limited income. The STAR program applies only to school taxes; no homestead exemption exists for taxes levied by other municipal entities. New York prevents a New York resident claiming this exemption if the New York resident owns property in another state and claims a similar exemption in that other state.
  • Oklahoma allows a $1000 deduction of the assessed valuation, about $75 to $125 of savings per year, if owners file for homestead exemption with the local county clerk.
  • Rhode Island exempts the first 20% of the home value from property taxes.
  • Texas allows a deduction, with additional exemptions available for county taxes, people over 65 and people who are disabled. It also requires school districts to offer a $25,000 exemption (but not other taxing districts, such as cities and counties).[9] Texas further limits the assessment increase on a homestead to 10% of the prior year’s value.

In most cases, there is a deadline for filing your Homestead Exemption, so do not dilly dally around or you may lose that tax savings at the end of this year or early 2024!

Just a friendly reminder to jog your memory, and maybe give you a nice tax savings!

Have a Great “Homesteaded Tax Savings” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
jkfinancialinc
street-cents

YEAR END REPLAY REMINDERS – 8.7% Social Security COLA, Peripheral Effects, Pension COLA Reminder, SSA Neat Fact Sheet …

Last year we penned the following … in this post

HUGE Social Security COLA … 5.9% to Be Exact, Wow…. COLA Pension Recipients Check Your Benchmark

Looks like that was just the dress rehearsal… here is this years release…

Dall – E

With much talk of Inflation costs this year, the SSA (Social Security Administration) release this week of an 8.7% COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) was not a huge surprise..

Important Items Associated with this Adjustment

Pensions – Folks with Pensions that have COLA adjustments should also watch for a similar increase – Your benchmark and adjustment will likely differ from SSA as they use the CPI-W three month average as noted here in our pre-post last year

Pre-Retirees – Those nearing Social Security, according to this neat fact sheet,

Maximum Social Security Benefit: Worker Retiring at Full Retirement Age goes from $3,345/mo. to $3,627/mo.

New Social Security Tax Base – Those still working, understand this COLA also filters into the SSA base income tax rate, again as mentioned in the press release

“Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $160,200 from $147,000.”

Have a Great “COLA Reminder” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

RMD’s not taken can be taxed at 50% … Nope not kidding … Yikes … More IRS agents hired … And if missed you have to file special tax forms … Yikes X 2 … Many Financial Institutions are Mandating a December 1 Completion … Take them Now Before the Rush!

Many of you may be wondering why we are so firm of completing RMD’s in what may seem like “Early” Calendar Fashion…

This year marks the first year of full force RMD’s since the new age 72 (recall it was 70.5 a couple of years ago)

Let’s not forget the following headline from just a few months ago too!

From the IRS statement on RMD’s here:

Consequence for failing to take required minimum distributions

If you do not take any distributions, or if the distributions are not large enough, you may have to pay a 50% excise tax on the amount not distributed as required.

Financial Institutions are Mandating an Early Completion or Going Best Efforts

In addition to the full force of participants … Many institutions are Mandating a December 1 completion or it will be “A Best Efforts Basis” …

Bottom line, the consequences are too large in delaying your RMD – if you have not, take them NOW before the rush ….

Have a Great “RMD’s taken now” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

8.7% Social Security COLA, Peripheral Effects, Pension COLA Reminder, SSA Neat Fact Sheet …

Last year we penned the following … in this post

HUGE Social Security COLA … 5.9% to Be Exact, Wow…. COLA Pension Recipients Check Your Benchmark

Looks like that was just the dress rehearsal… here is this years release…

Dall – E

With much talk of Inflation costs this year, the SSA (Social Security Administration) release this week of an 8.7% COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) was not a huge surprise..

Important Items Associated with this Adjustment

Pensions – Folks with Pensions that have COLA adjustments should also watch for a similar increase – Your benchmark and adjustment will likely differ from SSA as they use the CPI-W three month average as noted here in our pre-post last year

Pre-Retirees – Those nearing Social Security, according to this neat fact sheet,

Maximum Social Security Benefit: Worker Retiring at Full Retirement Age goes from $3,345/mo. to $3,627/mo.

New Social Security Tax Base – Those still working, understand this COLA also filters into the SSA base income tax rate, again as mentioned in the press release

“Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) will increase to $160,200 from $147,000.”

Have a Great “COLA Reminder” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

August 2022 Financial Planning and Capital Market Review – YAY …. Holiday Party Location Revealed – 401k Run Rate – Wall Street Mistake to Our Advantage, Bloated Inventory – Slowdown Contra Bounces and Pivot Narrative Reminder – By John Kvale CFA, CFP

Hello and Welcome to our August 2022 … Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast audio format as well as Video!

Break In: Holiday Venue Announced –

Thanks for the tease jabs last week… deserved…haha

Dallas Museum of Art

Details to Come – Saturday Afternoon November 19th before Thanksgiving Weekend

Newbies –

We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets thoughts and current events!

Hope you enjoy!

August 2022 Video

YouTube

Financial Planning Tip(s)

Check that 401k Run Rate – Are we hitting our contribution goals?

Here in this post we remind everyone now is a good time to check the run rate for your 401k contributions….

The reason now is a good time is we have time to make up any shortcomings, should they be discovered…

Bloated Inventories – Wall Street Woes = Main Street Savings

With large public companies fessing up that they have accidentally over inventoried and will be slashing prices to move said bloats….

Now may be a good time for a MANDATORY purchase….

As we mentioned in our post here, we have done some spiffing up of the office in conjunction with our new lease signing… Maybe too many people took our post to heart…. options are greatly reduced on some of our updates…yikes

Capital Market Comments

Hill Street Blues Reminder – Let’s be Careful Out there

In our post here, we highlight as a reminder that slowing/recession markets can have interesting contra bounces… but as our Hill Street Blue’s Chief always stated….

Let’s be careful out there…

Jackson Hole – No Pivot

Along with contra bounces comes a narrative that usually gets some traction…

Sure enough, this bouncing narrative was the Jerome Powell was already Pivoting to a slower hand (Economically not important as the cards have been dealt- digressing) …

Jerome Powell announced in his last weekend speech …. not only NO PIVOT but get ready for some Pain….Wow….

Care to guess when the announcement occurred?

Not to worry we are most definitely …… Being Careful Out there!

Have a Great Day, Talk to You at the End of September!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Great Time of the Year to Check Run Rate of Contributions to Retirement Plans or the Like

With a pending holiday week coming up in the next several and as mentioned before many on Wall Street seem to be getting their kids back to school. We thought it a timely time to remind everyone to check those retirement contribution run rates….


Great time to review your contribution levels

Midway through the third-quarter, is a good time for all of us to review our retirement contribution levels. If our intent is to max out your 401(k), or other retirement plan, take a peek and see if you’re on track to achieve this goal.



If you have any questions certainly shoot us your latest paycheck and we can do the calculations, but here are roughly where we should be on our contributions to the regular and ketchup 401(k) levels.


Ideally your year to date (YTD) contribution levels for your 401(k) regular withholding by yourself should be about $13,500 in order to meet the $20,500 regular filing maximum by the end of the year and if our goal is to achieve the $27K catchup for those 50 and older we should be at about the $18,000 level today. Both of these should be our individual YTD withholding amounts. We know there are matching and employer contributions … but the rules are set for us as an individual at the $19,500 regular maximum and $27,000 catch-up maximum.

Two quick reminders… if you have changed employers it is our job to keep up with the maximum amounts as mentioned here because our new employer will not know our prior contributions… Lastly we like to max fund early our contributions if we know we are not going to be at our employer the full year…. Especially if we may be going to another place that may not have a plan or may have a mandatory waiting period..

There are variances in certain situations, most of which we have already discussed, but those that we have not recently …

  This is your friendly reminder!

Have a Great “Retirement Run Rate” Reminder Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

April 2022 Financial Planning and Capital Market Review – By John Kvale CFA, CFP

Hello and Welcome to our April 2022 … Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast audio format as well as Video!

Newbies –

We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets thoughts and current events!

Hope you enjoy!

April 2022 Video

YouTube

Financial Planning Tip(s)

Back to Basics Series – Educational Funding

In our continued fun “Back To Basics” Series here we discuss Educational Funding…

Here is one very important item to remember from the post:

Did you notice we put Retirement Planning BEFORE Education planning? Do you recall in Part 3 in Debt Planning we said one of the few good debts are educational related debts ….We of course are not advocating Student debt/loans… but they are available in abundance and again not a bad debt. There are not retirement planning loans…. just saying!

Proxy Vote Reminder

In this post we remind you to please reach out if you have fallen off the list for us to proxy vote for you!

If you are getting those pesky Proxy Notices (some can be small books- oh the trees that are destroyed- digressing) reach out to us, we not only vote the Proxies for you, but we get one single notice for everyone, and Jen has done an excellent job in getting a great deal of those electronically…. Did we say how Green this is?

Capital Market Comments

The Slowdown is Here

We first started speaking of the slowdown in our Q 1 2022 Newsletter here in our “Anatomy of a Slowdown” main aricle actually released in December of 2021….

And then again, here in our Q 2 2022 Newsletter ….

Then again here, here, here, here, and again here.… among a few other times…

Last week the BEA “Officially Released” a negative GDP print as noted here in our post and in this chart….

Never get the timing exactly, but we are not surprised and have been waiving the flag here in our talks and are prepared!

Have a Great Day, Talk to You at the End of May!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

March 2022 Financial Planning and Capital Market Review – By John Kvale CFA, CFP

Hello and Welcome to our March 2022 … Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast audio format as well as Video!

Newbies –

We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets thoughts and current events!

Hope you enjoy!

March 2022 Video

YouTube

Financial Planning Tip(s)

Homestead Reminder – New Primary Residence in 2021

In our “Reminder to Homestead” Post found here, we discuss/remind anyone who has established a new primary residence in 2021 to check out the Homesteading laws of your state.

Using our home state of Texas as an example, there are ample tax savings and no downside to homesteading your home!

Annual Credit Score Reminder

In this annual reminder post, we direct everyone their free annual credit report, with instructions on how to review your report and why it is a good idea to check that credit…….

From the post….

Why Do I need to Know or protect my score?

While you may not owe anyone, anything i.e. have a loan with anyone … well done by the way….. A bad credit score can still affect items such as your automobile and your homeowners premiums… no kidding (see this  Forbes article.) We cannot blame them, there is data to check and it is their responsibility and ability to review it.

Bottom line a bad credit score or report may be costing you more money.

Capital Market Comments

CPI – Consumer Price Index Further Analysis

More hard comparables come in the form of inflated CPI numbers from last year..

In this post we discuss the large stimulus infusion this time last year and why it will be a giant headwind to further CPI increases….

Have a Great Day, Talk to You at the End of April! Still Going fast this year!!!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

Why you need to know your Credit Score and where to get your Annual Free Credit Report – Annual Reminder

Knowing your credit score and your credit report has become increasingly important. With updates in technology and increases of consumer related fraud, we all need to keep an eye on our credit and our credit score for protection.

Why Do I need to Know or protect my score?

credit-40673__340

While you may not owe anyone, anything i.e. have a loan with anyone … well done by the way….. A bad credit score can still affect items such as your automobile and your homeowners premiums… no kidding (see this  Forbes article.) We cannot blame them, there is data to check and it is their responsibility and ability to review it.

Bottom line a bad credit score or report may be costing you more money.

How do I get a copy of my credit report?

After you get your score, you may want to get a detailed copy of your credit report. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com, which is a free service offered for your own protection by the three agencies. There are tons of sites out there that are not free and try to seduce you into paying an unnecessary monthly fee, this site has been checked and is safe.

You may request all three services or just use one and keep the other two available at a later time. This may be handy as you only get one free report per agency per year. If you stagger the reports you can inquire at different times, keep later dates open for inquiry.

If your report is good, there is likely no reason to get more than one agency report.  If your report has deficiencies you may protest from the site as it is reported.

Taking time to review your credit and credit score is easy and may save you angst and money!

Have a great “Safe Credit” day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
www.jkfinancialinc.com
www.street-cents.com

Did You Buy a New Primary Residence Last Year? – Homesteading Your Property – Most States are January 1st Residence Requirement – Possible Property Tax Savings –

Because of the various state rules and regulations, we want to remind you that this post is not meant as a guide, but only as a reminder, if you are in the appropriate state, and in the appropriate situation, you may be able to Homestead your home, saving your property taxes (property tax exemption.)

If you hit up Homestead on your favorite search engine you’re likely going to get an article about moving to the country somewhere and building a log cabin home to retire.

That’s not what this is about.

landscape-3417201__480 homestead

We want to remind those especially that live in Texas who may have moved into a new home on last year on or before January 1st to be sure in Homestead their home in order to have a significant savings on your taxes.

Those living in other states should check their central appraisal district website to see the rules and regulations – this is likely a timely reminder as most just paid the property tax … or are about to pay them.

Not all states offer Homestead exemptions and many states do offer them but do no good because of the tax structure of their states, thereby making it important that you check each situation.

All of the above being said, using our home state of Texas as an example, there is a significant tax savings by homesteading your home.

In many states, including Texas once again, there are very special exemptions for those age 65 and it’s likely the January 1 residence date may not apply for those turning age 65. Special tax considerations are given for those 65 and older to school, property, other taxes with frequently freezes in escalations as part of the exemption … In order to qualify, you most likely will need to raise your hand (fill out another form) …notifying your taxing authority of your new tax saving age.

In educating ourselves on the various state homestead tax savings, we found the following information the best coverage:

This From Wilkipedia

Examples

  • California exempts the first $7,000 of residential homestead from property taxes.
  • Colorado allows a 50% deduction for up to the first $200,000 (equivalent to a $100,000 exemption if the property is valued at $200,000 or above) for seniors (over age 65) who have lived in their property for ten consecutive years.
  • Georgia allows a 1% HEST only in a few counties.
  • Florida‘s homestead exemption allows an exemption of 160 acres outside of a municipality and one-half an acre inside a municipality.[5]
  • Kentucky, for 2013 and 2014, the exemption has been set at $36,000. Once it is approved, homeowners who are 65 or older do not need to reapply for the homestead exemption each year.[6]
  • Louisiana exempts the first $75,000 of residential homestead from local property taxes.[7]
  • Michigan exempts the homeowner from paying the operating millage of local school districts.
  • Mississippi exemption from all ad valorem taxes assessed to property; this is limited to the first $7,500 of the assessed value or $300 of the actual exempted tax dollars.[8]
  • New York‘s School Tax Relief (STAR) program exempts the first $30,000 of a primary home’s assessed value from school district taxes; the exemption is limited to owners with incomes under $500,000. Additional exemptions are available for people over 65 with a limited income. The STAR program applies only to school taxes; no homestead exemption exists for taxes levied by other municipal entities. New York prevents a New York resident claiming this exemption if the New York resident owns property in another state and claims a similar exemption in that other state.
  • Oklahoma allows a $1000 deduction of the assessed valuation, about $75 to $125 of savings per year, if owners file for homestead exemption with the local county clerk.
  • Rhode Island exempts the first 20% of the home value from property taxes.
  • Texas allows a deduction, with additional exemptions available for county taxes, people over 65 and people who are disabled. It also requires school districts to offer a $25,000 exemption (but not other taxing districts, such as cities and counties).[9] Texas further limits the assessment increase on a homestead to 10% of the prior year’s value.

In most cases, there is a deadline for filing your Homestead Exemption, so do not dilly dally around or you may lose that tax savings at the end of this year or early 2023!

Just a friendly reminder to jog your memory, and maybe give you a nice tax savings!

Have a Great “Homesteaded Tax Savings” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
A Dallas Texas based fee only
Financial Planning Total Wealth
Management firm.
jkfinancialinc
street-cents