Every fall, millions of retirees look forward to an announcement that can affect their household budgets for the year ahead: Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment, commonly known as the COLA. The adjustment is designed to help benefits keep pace with inflation, but the percentage increase announced in the headlines does
The policy you bought for the kids did its job. You probably bought term coverage in your thirties so a mortgage and two tuition bills would never land on one income. Now the kids have jobs, the mortgage balance shrinks every month, and the premium notice looks like a bill
If your estate is worth less than $15 million, you might assume estate planning has become a nonissue. For most families, federal estate taxes probably are not the primary concern, but that does not mean you no longer need an estate plan. In 2026, the federal estate tax basic exclusion
A guide to the safe harbor 401(k) notice deadline, which plans still need an annual notice, and how amendments change the timing. Why December 1 Gets Employers’ Attention It is early fall, and the owner of a growing Fort Worth company is walking through year-end items with her controller. Headcount
Most owners who ask “what’s my business worth” have already answered themselves with a rule of thumb. Someone at a networking event said businesses sell for two times revenue. A competitor sold for four times earnings, so that must be the number. The math feels solid because it’s simple. It’s
If you’ve recently retired, you may be sitting in the lowest tax brackets you’ll see for the rest of your life. The paychecks have stopped. Social Security may not have started. Required withdrawals from your IRA are still years away. For a lot of DFW retirees, that stretch is the
“When should I take Social Security?” is one of the most common questions we hear from clients in Southlake and across the DFW area. It’s also one of the easiest to oversimplify. Search online and you’ll find dozens of break-even calculators that spit out a single age and call it
You packed the house, found a new doctor and registered the car. The folder holding your will and powers of attorney probably came along in a box, signed years ago under another state’s law. Texas will usually honor those papers. The harder question is whether they will work quickly for
Most owner-operated businesses choose a retirement plan exactly once. It was just you on payroll, someone reasonably told you a SEP IRA or a Solo 401(k) was the simple answer, and they were right. Then you hired a second person, and a third. The plan is still doing exactly what
Employees at Dallas-Fort Worth’s biggest employers, including Caterpillar, Toyota Motor North America, Charles Schwab, Lockheed Martin, and Texas Instruments, often find that their compensation letter comes with an acronym or two that salary alone never had. RSU. NSO. ISO. ESPP. Four sets of letters, four different tax rulebooks, and one