US Has More Spare Bedrooms than Ever Before …. From Apartment List … Why and who has them too…

Apartment List Research Department hit our in box earlier this week with an interesting statistic…with Copyright permission from earlier, we are gladly sharing…. Hope you find it as interesting as we do!

From Apartment List – More Spare Bedrooms than EVER before

This neat article By Chris Salviati hit our inbox this week and we wanted to share…

Anytime EVER is mentioned we take note…as EVER is a long time….

From the Article:

Using this definition, we find that 62 percent of all U.S. households had at least one spare bedroom in 2021, while 26 percent had exactly the required number of bedrooms, and 12 percent had too few bedrooms.

Who has all those bedrooms?

A lot of seniors aging in place …

Also, homes are just darn bigger!

Some great ideas on how this may be greatly productive in multiple ways…in the essence of time, will let you read the authors points near end of the article…good stuff…

Have a Great “Spare Bedroom Explained” 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

IRS Releases Federal Income Tax Rate Inflation Adjustments for 2024 – New Tax Rates

Late last week the non work research email received the following update from the IRS…..

This announcement is more directly related to Federal income related tax rates/levels not as much retirement or gifting and again….is not in a great format…. With such good responses from last year, we plan on highlighting these levels again here on our blog as well as in our Q1 2024 Newsletter!

Given the aforementioned formatting ….and length… highlighted areas cover the vast majority of importance!

This from the announcement:

The tax year 2024 adjustments described below generally apply to income tax returns filed in 2025. The tax items for tax year 2024 of greatest interest to most taxpayers include the following dollar amounts:

  • The standard deduction for married couples filing jointly for tax year 2024 rises to $29,200, an increase of $1,500 from tax year 2023. For single taxpayers and married individuals filing separately, the standard deduction rises to $14,600 for 2024, an increase of $750 from 2023; and for heads of households, the standard deduction will be $21,900 for tax year 2024, an increase of $1,100 from the amount for tax year 2023.
     
  • Marginal rates: For tax year 2024, the top tax rate remains 37% for individual single taxpayers with incomes greater than $609,350 ($731,200 for married couples filing jointly).The other rates are:
  • 35% for incomes over $243,725 ($487,450 for married couples filing jointly)
    32% for incomes over $191,950 ($383,900 for married couples filing jointly)
    24% for incomes over $100,525 ($201,050 for married couples filing jointly)
    22% for incomes over $47,150 ($94,300 for married couples filing jointly)
    12% for incomes over $11,600 ($23,200 for married couples filing jointly)The lowest rate is 10% for incomes of single individuals with incomes of $11,600 or less ($23,200 for married couples filing jointly).

     
  • The Alternative Minimum Tax exemption amount for tax year 2024 is $85,700 and begins to phase out at $609,350 ($133,300 for married couples filing jointly for whom the exemption begins to phase out at $1,218,700). For comparison, the 2023 exemption amount was $81,300 and began to phase out at $578,150 ($126,500 for married couples filing jointly for whom the exemption began to phase out at $1,156,300).
     
  • The tax year 2024 maximum Earned Income Tax Credit amount is $7,830 for qualifying taxpayers who have three or more qualifying children, an increase of from $7,430 for tax year 2023. The revenue procedure contains a table providing maximum EITC amount for other categories, income thresholds and phase-outs.
     
  • Estates of decedents who die during 2024 have a basic exclusion amount of $13,610,000, increased from $12,920,000 for estates of decedents who died in 2023.
     
  • The annual exclusion for gifts increases to $18,000 for calendar year 2024, increased from $17,000 for calendar year 2023.

Have a Great “Federal Tax Rate Update” 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

REMINDER – RSVP for the 27th Annual Party – One Week from Tomorrow -YAY- DAC – 3-5 PM … Whew that was close, New Blog Website Briefly Stops our Current…. Veteran’s Day!

Happy Friday and Happy Reminder for our 27th Annual Party!!!

The festivities are One week from Tomorrow … 3-5 PM – November 18th at Dallas Athletic Club

Let Jen know at jen@jkfinancialinc.com as we will be happily tallying the final headcount soon!

Look forward to seeing you there!

Whew that was close – This Website Vanishes from the Designer side!

Upon arrival at a state just north of our residence…. Oklahoma…. after settling in on Wednesday the intent was to write this post (creations usually a day or so ahead, especially during the week)

Boom… No Website…. WHAT?? Not kidding…

YIKES…. Lots of finger pointing…. at 11 PM last night everything was back in order, better nights rest…. this of course all stems from a new website in process…. Careful guys….

Veteran’s Day- Honored Today!

Best Wishes to all for Veterans Day! Thank you !

Have a good Friday and weekend- thankfully talking to you today and happily next week!

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

Quick Update on Treasury Yields…. 2 Year and 10 Year Treasury Yield Down, Price Up, Good for Stocks at the Moment but ….

With a road trip happening as you read this…. was a bit short on time for our mid-week post…. links in this post explain a lot….

Wanted to draw your attention to the move in US Treasury yields/bonds (and show off our new Koyfin technology too) …. this is the 2 and 10 year (still inverted- more to come on this- digressing) ….more importantly, the sudden drop, commenced by an FOMC meeting and then reinforced by weaker Employment data has bond interest rates down, bond prices up…..

This move down in yields has initially pushed Stocks up, and bond portfolios UP… we are cautious to call a victory lap on this bond and interest rate movement, but again worth noting…..

More importantly, bonds go up and rates down, under this circumstance because the smart guys in the room… are pricing in a slowing of the economy…. NOT usually good for Stocks…. after the candy wears off!

Have a Great “Quick Deeper Dive/Second Level Thinking on Rates” 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

Eight Weeks left in 2023… Wow… That was Fast …. Great Time of the Year to Check Run Rate of Contributions to Retirement Plans or the Like, Here are the Numbers of where we should be!

Today is November 6, 2023….Would you believe there are only EIGHT full weeks left in the year? In some ways we do, others it seems like we just turned the calendar….digressing…


Great time to review your contribution levels

Now 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 catchup 401(k) levels.


Ideally your year to date (YTD) contribution levels for your 401(k) regular withholding by yourself should be at least $19k in order to meet the $22.5k regular filing maximum by the end of the year and if our goal is to achieve the $30K catchup for those 50 and older we should be at least at the $25k 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 $22,5k regular maximum and $30k catch-up maximum. Catch ups are the usual problems, so make sure if you are 50 or turning 50 this year, your employer knows you want to do a catch up contribution!

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…

There are variances in certain situations, most of which we have already discussed, but the above covers the great majority of plans …. Reach out if you are in the middle for some reason!

This is your friendly reminder!

Reach out if Question… We got you!

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

2024 Preview of New contribution limits (Tiny Increase?) … Clients/Clients Only Post Merger RMD’s … Time Change We think ?? YEP!

What inflation? According to the IRS… Certainly not going to argue with a raise, but WOW is it tiny!

From this IRS press release on Nov 1, 2023:

Highlights of changes for 2024

The contribution limit for employees who participate in 401(k), 403(b), and most 457 plans, as well as the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan is increased to $23,000, up from $22,500.

The limit on annual contributions to an IRA increased to $7,000, up from $6,500.

Those of us watching…. that is a total $500 increase…. oh well… will plan accordingly…. but expect more from us on this as we dig deeper….

Clients/Clients Only RMD Reminder Confusion from the Merger

Post Merger, our new vendor Schwab does not know the RMD taken prior to the merger…. just ignore the information for this year from them… we have your back on this and have planned accordingly!

Time Change? Maybe…..Yes…. No …. Yes?

Did any of you hear rumblings of no future dumping of daylight savings last year? And even some legislation….

Ahhhh HA! From the Sleep Foundation: YEP they are changing!

Key Takeaways

  • Clocks will “fall back” one hour at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, November 5, 2023.
  • Federal law still prohibits states from enacting permanent daylight saving time (DST).
  • Proposed legislation to change federal law, such as Senator Marco Rubio’s Sunshine Protection Act, has stalled in 2023 despite gaining momentum in 2022.
  • Dozens of states continue to consider proposals to adopt either permanent daylight saving time or permanent standard time. Yet, no states have adopted a legislative change in 2023.
  • Without new movement on proposed changes, Americans should expect clock changes to continue into 2024.

More fun travels next week…. Happy Friday and have a good weekend – Talk Next Week!

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

2600 Office Buildings in 138 Cities…. Current Occupancy is Exactly 50% … Kastle Back to Work Barometer …. Likely the new norm?

Kastle a nationwide security provider….. obviously with their hands on some of the most interesting data:

Office Occupancy

With 2600 buildings in 138 cities…. the current occupancy rate is 50%!

Check out the 2020 Comps versus 2023 broken down by day of the week! WOW

Not sure what the future looks like, but likely not the same as a just a few years ago….

Have a Great “Back to Work Update” 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

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) Q3 2023 Advanced Release … Headline Versus Second Look of Release…. Defense Spending …

On Thursday, October 26, 2023, the BEA (Bureau of Economic Analysis) released the Advanced Estimate aka first try at the Q3 2023 GDP for the US Economy….

As a quick reminder, GDP is one of the broadest measures of US Economic growth …. heck two consecutive negative GDP prints is the basic definition of a recession….back to the print…

The most followed headline number was a 4.9% increase…. at first blush a very positive number and a bit of a head scratcher…. especially given Capital Market’s recent crankiness…..

Government defense spending was (thankfully under current Geo Politics) up huge due to defense spending. Defense spending is not the same as organic Economic growth… it just does not filter through the system the same…still VERY important under current circumstances….

Have a Great “Now you Know the rest of the GDP Report” 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

“Don’t just do Something…. Stand there!” … Back from the skies …. Charity Event …. Friday Before Halloween …. Be Careful Out there!

With the conclusion of a fast and furious, but VERY fun trip over the last 36 hours…. Back in the saddle … kinda for the last day of the week…. an interesting topic occurred while on the trip….

Early am catch up yesterday with “Donald The Brain” … we both casually commented on how hard it is sometimes to take the ball rather than swing for that bad pitch (baseball on the mind with big game tonight) but hopefully you get the point….

“Don’t just do Something…. Stand there!” … NOT EASY!!!

More on this on a non Friday/Pre-Halloween day!

Charity Event later Today ,,,,

Happy to attend an annual event sponsored in part for the Wounded Warrior organization…. mother nature allowing….

Friday Weekend Before Halloween – Careful

With a touch of fatigue and hopefully an afternoon event today if Mother nature allows…. wanted to remind everyone to be careful this weekend as the Halloween Celebrations are unofficially on Saturday, but little ghosts and goblins will be around all weekend, Saturday and Tuesday for sure….

Have a good Friday and Spooky weekend if the shoe fits… Talk next week!

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

Spam Calls and Texts AGAN…. New Tools …Enter Active Armor and Call Filter …

After a family member upgraded her cell phone from an Iphone 8, yikes, tech could not believe it was still working ……no names mentioned (the Mrs. would not be happy) … But it gave the subject of this post… so shhhh..

The new phone garnered a ton of spam/robo calls and false texts right out of the gate…no idea of coincidence or something to do with the upgrade….

The search was on for help and being an AT&T Family we found Active Armor, left screenshot…. Verizon looks to have a similar app.,… right screenshot…

If you only get half the results we have, it will be a success….

Be very careful to download the correct app as there are a lot of similar apps and we are comfortable only with what your carrier suggests…. May be bringing a Trojan horse to your device with others…

Short post as this is being completed the night before and pretty sure our friends doing a major update for us, are also working on the site as freezing is the situation and with an early AM flight out tomorrow… No way to get this to you on time otherwise…

Enjoy, be careful with what you download – hope your experience is as good as ours!

Have a Good “Spam Filter App” 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