Rick Brooks
Rick Brooks's Latest Posts
Update to Estate Planning
One of the most challenging things about estate planning since 2001 has been keeping up with the changing rules and Congress’ inability to decide on a ‘final’ estate and transfer tax regime. Well, with the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (“ATRA”, the fiscal cliff deal), we finally have some clarity, and a set of […]
Dementia: More Than Just a Family Matter
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, an estimated 5.4 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia. This includes 5.2 million people over age 65, most of whom are women. That’s roughly one in eight older Americans, and about one half of all those over age 85. I’m not trying to scare you, but […]
The Fiscal Cliff. Hype or Hysteria?
Last month I tried to show how Americans are both unclear and conflicted about what our federal government spends its revenues on and how much ought to be spent on those things. I tried to show that We The People want our government to spend more money on security and services than we are willing […]
Taxes, Spending and the Federal Debt
I’ll warn you, this is kind of wonky, but it’s a national conversation that is LONG overdue. Here are two tables excerpted from a 2011 CNN poll of American voters: Share of the Federal Budget What We Think Actual 2010 Budget Keep Same or Increase Military 30% 19.3% 63% Medicare 20% 13.1% 87% […]
Municipal Bonds Part II
Whatever happens in Washington on the tax policy front will have a significant impact on the holders of municipal bonds (“muni bonds” or just “munis”). As I discussed in July, the benefits of owning muni bonds depends on your tax rate. The higher your tax rate, the better off you are with muni bonds lower […]
Capital Markets Today
I had originally planned to continue writing about Municipal Bonds, but a question I was asked recently really got me thinking: with all of the scandals and problems that have come to light, can we really trust our financial future to Wall Street brokers and bankers. In case you hadn’t heard, HSBC and several other […]
Introduction to Municipal Bonds
During the past quarter, three municipalities in California filed for bankruptcy protection. The City of Stockton, followed shortly by Mammoth Lakes, and most recently the city of San Bernardino. Each municipality has been rocked by a combination of economic stagnation, declining revenues (property and sales taxes) and, in the case of San Bernardino, (possibly criminal) […]
How Secure Is Your Password?
It seems that news reports about the hacking of some popular website, and the resulting compromising of millions of user names, passwords and other personal data, have become much too commonplace. Do you use a strong password? There’s a very amusing scene in the movie “Clear and Present Danger” in which Harrison Ford and a […]
Disability Insurance Policies
In April, I wrote about some of the factors to consider in whether or not to purchase disability insurance. This month, I thought I’d follow up with some of the policy terms, and some recommendations on what to look for. Before I begin, it’s important to set a framework. The whole point of disability insurance […]
Safe Computing
Originally, I was going to write about disability insurance, but another topic came up that seemed a bit more urgent to me, so I’ll pick that up again next month. I spent a good portion of Good Friday helping a family member fix her computer. Somehow, she had managed to contract a wicked case of […]
