TD Ameritrade has a new website to help educate investors about the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule and what it means for their retirement planning. The DOL Fiduciary Rule Resource Center breaks down the financial jargon, answers frequently asked questions and updates regularly with articles and links to government resources. “The 1,000 pages of fiduciary rule text and explanatory material is exceedingly complex. The average investor likely doesn’t have the time or inclination to explore how it could impact their retirement savings,” said Tom Bradley, president of retail distribution for TD Ameritrade. “We created the resource center to help investors understand what the rule means for them so they can have more productive conversations with their financial services providers.”
Financial Planning for Snowbirds
With Thanksgiving gone, leaves off the trees and an Arctic blast on its way, those retired clients of yours who split time between the warm and the cold may already be basking in that Florida sun. However, for those clients who have dreams of wintering in Boca, there are a number of issues to consider before making the move, according to CNBC.com. Top of mind should be where your clients want to make their primary residence, with several states having advantages over others, such as those with no income tax, tax breaks on retirement income and on real estate taxes for older residents. In addition, all financial and estate planning documents need to be valid under the laws of the primary residence state. Those include powers of attorney, wills, medical directives and even car insurance policies.
TCA Launching New Tax Harvesting Feature
Trust Company of America is launching a new tax harvesting feature on its account management platform to help RIAs manage the tax impact of capital gains on clients’ taxable portfolios. Advisors can view and sort investments within an account by short-term or long-term losses or gains. By selectively selling specific investments, advisors can realize gains or losses in an account to improve after-tax portfolio performance during volatile markets. TCA’s trading platform restricts a harvested security from being repurchased within 30 days to ensure advisors comply with wash-sale rules and avoid disallowed losses.
