It’s officially December and the end of 2016 is rapidly approaching. As we start to wrap-up the year, we wanted to share the most popular blog posts of 2016.
First is a list of the top 10 most viewed posts published in 2016. A second list includes the top 5 posts by topic that received the most views during the year regardless of publishing date, including older but still popular posts.
Top 10 Posts of 2016:
- Introducing TOTAL’s Social Security Strategies and Redesigned Graphs
A summer release of TOTAL is now available which includes new features and updates to improve your planning experience. To help discuss Social Security claiming options with clients, a new Social Security strategies feature is now in TOTAL. TOTAL’s Easy Money and Golden Years reports feature a new and improved look to enhance client presentations.
- New Social Security Security Strategies – TOTAL 2016 Summer Release (Part I)
The Social Security strategies feature explores Social Security claiming strategies available to your clients. The new reports establish strategy claiming actions, evaluate claiming age income vs expenses, and present the potential income per strategy over time including break-even points. The selected strategy is fully integrated into your clients’ retirement projection.
- Improved Graphs & Report Visuals – TOTAL 2016 Summer Release (Part II)
The report updates include design changes to the cover page, divider pages, graphs and illustration shading in Easy Money and Golden Years. The updated graphs display information more effectively making them easier to interpret and compare.
- Cover Page Customization in Silver
Advisors can easily customize the information that appears on the cover page of Silver Financial Planner. The information planners can customize for the cover page includes: Cover Page Report Title, Client Name, Date, Advisor Information, Logo, and 10 Lines of Additional Text.
- New Year, New Tax Rules: Straightforward Changes for 2016
This year marks the third year in a row of straightforward tax changes primarily made up of minor adjustments due to indexing for inflation. Income tax rates remained unchanged while income tax brackets were adjusted slightly upwards. The personal exemption increased $50 to $4,050 for 2016. The standard deduction amounts were unchanged, with the exception of the heads of households amount which increased by $50 to $9,300 for 2016.
- Social Security Taxable Wages Increase by 7.3% for 2017
As predicted, Social Security benefits will not have any meaningful increase for 2017. Social Security Administration announced last week that benefit payouts will increase by 0.3% for 2017, raising the average benefit by about $5 a month. The biggest increase was not to benefits or income limits, but to the maximum earnings subject to Social Security taxation. The maximum taxable earnings changed from $118,500 to $127,200, amounting to a 7.34% increase. This is the largest one-year increase in the Social Security wage base in history.
- Tax Changes for the 2017 Tax Year
The IRS announced tax adjustments for inflation for the 2017 tax year last week. This year marks the forth year in a row of straightforward tax changes primarily made up of minor adjustments due to indexing for inflation. Income tax brackets were adjusted slightly upwards. The personal exemption did not change, remaining at $4,050 for 2017. The standard deduction amounts were increased by $100 for married filing joint filers for 2017.
- 3 Types of Medicare Tax & Break Down Example in Golden Years
Medicare taxes are no longer comprised of a simple payroll tax for Americans with income exceeding certain thresholds. The Additional Medicare Tax and the Net Investment Income Tax were provisions of the Affordable Care Act of 2013, increasing medicare taxes for higher-income Americans. Medicare tax includes three elements: Medicare Tax 1.45% (2.9% for self-employed), Additional Medicare Tax 0.9%, and Net Investment Income Tax 3.8%.
- File & Suspend Social Security Strategy Deadline Approaching: April 29th
Time is running out for the File & Suspend Social Security Strategy. Clients turning 66 or older by April 29th can still file and suspend. They must file and request voluntary suspension on or before April 29th. If the request is made before the April 29th deadline, eligible family members such as the client’s spouse can still receive benefits on the client’s record. After April 29th, any suspension of benefits will also suspend benefits for anyone receiving benefits on the client’s record (excluding divorced souses.)
- Social Security Planning One Year After BBA
A year ago today the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2015 was signed into law. The rule changes moved to simplify the system and close what are now being called “loopholes.” The simplified rules mean that once an individual files for any of their Social Security benefits, they are deemed to have filed for all Social Security benefits for which they are eligible. Suspension of benefits will allow for Delayed Retirement Benefits to begin to accrue. However any benefits based on the wage earners benefits are also suspended, and when benefits are re-filed there are no retroactive benefits available.
Top 5 Most Read Posts by Topic in 2016:
General
- Inflation Assumptions in your Financial Planning Program (2013)
Projecting clients’ expenses in your financial planning program requires the planner to set an assumed inflation rate. A small change to the assumed inflation rate can make a big impact in the overall success of a client’s plan. Inflationdata.com provides a rich resource for information on inflation data, including the chart below displaying average annual inflation by decade. Financial plans typically project over a long time span of 20+ years. If you look at inflation over the last 30 years as a base to help estimate a reasonable inflation rate for the next 30 years, you would find an average (using the geometic mean) inflation rate of about 2.6%
- Social Security Benefits – Today’s Dollars or Future Dollars?(2012)
Money Tree’s support team is often asked by advisors if the Social Security benefit amount should be entered into the financial planning software in today’s dollars or future dollars.
The answer is in today’s dollars. Money Tree’s software does increase the Social Security benefit amount entered prior to the start age, as well as after. As a result, the program will display an inflated, future value benefit upon the Social Security start age.
- CFP® – How to get the registered symbol like this “®”, not this “(R)” (2011)
Have you run into trouble trying to get your register symbol to format correctly? Does your title show up as Tom Thompson, CFP(R) instead of Tom Thompson, CFP®? Including the register symbol to can easily be done using the “computer code” for the appropriate symbol. When in the field where you wish to enter the symbol, simply hold down the Alt key on your keyboard and type the numbers 0174 using the number pad. This will insert a register symbol (®) where the cursor is positioned.
- Social Security Game Changer: Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (2015)
As of November 2, 2015 the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2015 has been signed into law. The BBA was created first and foremost to raise the debt limit to avoid the United States defaulting on financial obligations. However, included in the BBA is a major game changer for all Americans retiring in the next several years.
- Calculating Taxable Social Security Benefits – Not as Easy as 0%, 50%, 85% (2014)
It is typical for social security benefits to be 85% taxable, especially for clients with higher income sources in retirement, but the benefit subject to taxation can be lower. In college, my tax accounting professor let us off easy by hinting we only needed to know social security benefits would be 0% taxable for clients with income under $25,000, 50% taxable for clients with income below $44,000 and 85% for clients with income above $44,000 for an upcoming exam. While I appreciated not having to memorize the details of the calculation, I still have to remind myself that it is not as simple as 0%, 50%, or 85%.
Silver – Big-Picture Planning
- Top 10 Silver Financial Planner Questions Asked to our Support Team (2014)
Find out the top ten questions technical support receives about Silver Financial Planner. If you are new to planning with Silver, make sure to check out this post and get the answers to ten common questions.
- Top 5 Input Mistakes to Avoid for Silver Financial Planner (2013)
Below are the top 5 data input mistakes new customers might make while learning Silver Financial Planner. Be on the look out for these items and save yourself a call to Money Tree’s support team!
- Silver 101 – Understanding the Cash Flow Illustration (2013)
This post provides everything you need to know about the Cash Flow Illustration in Silver by breaking down each of the columns on this year-by-year projection. The Cash Flow Illustration in Silver Financial Planner allows the clients to see what shortages/surpluses they might have prior to retirement, and what distributions they will be making after retirement to cover expenses.
- Silver 101 – Understanding the Retirement Capital Analysis (2012)
This post provides everything you need to know about the Retirement Capital Analysis in Silver by breaking down each of the columns on this year by year retirement projection.
- Cover Page Customization in Silver (2016)
Advisors can easily customize the information that appears on the cover page of Silver Financial Planner. The information planners can customize for the cover page includes: Cover Page Report Title, Client Name, Date, Advisor Information, Logo, and 10 Lines of Additional Text.
TOTAL – In-Depth Planning (Easy Money & Golden Years)
- How to Update TOTAL’s State Tax Settings (Desktop Edition) (2016)
If you plan with TOTAL, its good practice to ensure the state tax rates are entered for all of the states your clients reside in and the rates are up-to-date each year. The Tax Foundation has a great resource for 2016 state tax rates. The online edition of TOTAL includes a feature allowing Money Tree to populate the tax information for all states and territories available in the program’s settings.
- Introducing TOTAL’s Social Security Strategies and Redesigned Graphs (2016)
A summer release of TOTAL is now available which includes new features and updates to improve your planning experience. To help discuss Social Security claiming options with clients, a new Social Security strategies feature is now in TOTAL. TOTAL’s Easy Money and Golden Years reports feature a new and improved look to enhance client presentations.
- Retirement Needs and Capital Analysis Planning Reports in Easy Money (2013)
The retirement planning reports in Easy Money reviews your clients’ retirement goals, assets available for retirement, and estimates how long the clients’ funds may last based on the planning assumptions. The Retirement Needs Analysis and the Retirement Capital Analysis work together to evaluate the clients’ income needed for retirement and the amount of capital required to cover income shortfalls in retirement compared to the amount of capital the client is projected to have available for retirement. The guides below will help answer common questions about these two key illustrations.
- Top 5 Input Mistakes to Avoid for TOTAL Planning Suite (2013)
If you are new to TOTAL Planning Suite, we want to make sure you have a great start with the program and avoid common data input mistakes. Create plans like a pro and save yourself a call into our tech support team with the help of this list of the top five data input mistakes.
- New Computer – Steps to Transfer TOTAL (Desktop Edition) (2015)
This tech tip details the steps to install, transfer data, and license TOTAL Planning Suite – Easy Money and Golden Years (desktop edition) to a new computer. If you use TOTAL Online, no action is required – simply will open a browser and login and start planning.
Want more tips on ? Check out the tech notes on our support page. Tech notes range from straightforward questions to complex planning topics. The tech notes will direct you to a blog post written on the subject.
