In order to further our mission of educating and keeping the public informed about the changes in the area of personal finance, we at Bloom Asset Management are excited to welcome you as we launch our blog! We plan to update the blog on a regular basis and include information that can help you make better decisions with regards to your money. We plan to cover a whole range of topics all within the area of personal finance. You’ll find that there’ll be articles on taxes and estate planning, as well as investing. As always, feel free to email your comments and suggestions to me at Rick@bloomassetmanagement.com. We appreciate your input.

As a reminder, the end of the year is rapidly approaching and there are some things that many of you need to do before year-end. For seniors, don’t forget that you need to make a selection with regards to new prescription drug plans. The deadline is December 7th and there are no extensions. In regards to the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, you can only make changes one time a year – and that time is now; so don’t let the deadline pass.

Roth IRA conversions are also something that must be completed before the end of the year. For many people, converting tax deferred money into tax-free money is a great strategy. The conversion must be done by the end of the year; however, many custodians get backed up and therefore, if you wait too long they won’t be able to perform the transaction.

One last note for seniors who are collecting minimum required distributions, if you want to use your required minimum required distribution and donate it to a charity, there are some great advantages to that. However, once again, the transaction has to be done before the end of the year.

On a final note, I saw an interesting book that you may want to look at, called Stop Acting Rich and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire. This is by the same author, Thomas J. Stanley, who about 15 years ago wrote the bestseller, Millionaire Next Door. His latest book focuses on the spending habits of people and I certainly think it will open a lot of eyes.
Take care
Rick