By Nadav Baum

As we all now know,  Congress passed  the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) of 2012 at the very beginning of the New Year, but not without  a great deal of media drama.  Although the media coverage was constant and dense, it seemed to create more questions than answers as to what the ATRA actually means to the individual tax payer.  To provide some clarity of the outcomes of the ATRA, consider the following from my colleague Robert Standish, JD, CFP®, Managing Director, Financial Planning, at BPU Investment Management, Inc.

Individual Income Tax Rates

The ATRA makes permanent the Bush-Era tax cuts for Married Filing Joint (MFJ) taxpayers with adjusted gross income (AGI) less than $450,000, and Unmarried filers with AGIs below $400,000.  For tax payers whose AGIs exceed these thresholds, Congress has re-instated the 35% and 39.6% marginal income tax rates.

However, the ATRA did not extend the 2012 payroll tax holiday that included a 2% reduction in OASDI (Old Age, Survivor and Disability Insurance or more commonly known as Social Security) taxes withheld from workers’ paychecks.

Capital Gain and Qualified Divided Rates

In addition to the extension of the individual income tax rates for taxpayers falling under the $450,000/$400,000 AGI threshold, long-term capital gain and qualified dividend rates will remain at 15 percent.  Qualified dividend rates will be subject to tax at the applicable long-term capital gain rate.  For example, if your AGI exceeds $450,000 as a MFJ filer, your qualified dividends will incur a 20% tax rate.

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Carol Hurley

By Kathleen Ganster

Carol Hurley may be in the financial planning and insurance industry, but she does a great deal of education.

Hurley, who owns Hurley Associates with her husband, Neal, said that education is one of the key components of Hurley Associates.

“We want to work with our clients to help them make the best decisions financially,” she said, “We went them to understand their options and let them know we can be the resource for whatever they need financially.”

Hurley Associates was founded by the Hurleys in 1988 and has two distinct companies – one that provides financia services and one that is a property and casualty insurance agency.

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By Robert Fragasso

Many of us give money to causes and charities where we are passionate about the mission they fulfill.  That funding usually goes directly to the daily operations of the charity and is crucial for the continued delivery of services.  But those contributions do not enable beneficial new initiatives and programs.  Let’s differentiate that with some examples.  A library works hard to fund its daily operations with contributions.

But it lacks the money to provide early intervention reading programs in a low-income community.   In another case, an animal shelter provides refuge for abandoned and abused animals and subsequently places them in appropriate homes.  But it doesn’t have money to create aggressive spaying and neutering programs in the communities to stem the overwhelming tide of puppies and kittens that are filling its cages.

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Dollar Bank’s Private Banking division has years of experience fulfilling the banking needs of individual physicians and medical practices.  Client relationships at Dollar Bank are unique in today’s banking world because the Private Banking Officer helps the physician and practice properly structure debt, underwrites and closes the loans and actively manages the relationship.

“We are the client’s bank,” said Robert Collins, Private Banking Vice President.  “We take the holistic approach with our client’s financial needs.  Whether they have a question regarding deposit or loan products, personal or business, they only need to make one phone call, to their personal Private Banking Officer.  We’ll handle all the details and.”

Highest level of service.

Each client is provided with an experienced and knowledgeable Private Banking Officer who can manage the full personal and business banking relationship from deposits to leasing to loans.  Private Banking clients with business needs can take advantage of Dollar Bank experts in corporate and real estate lending, leasing and treasury management. The officer will act as a financial concierge, introducing the expertise clients need and staying involved every step of the way.

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Dotti Bechtol

By Dotti Bechtol and Michael Fertig

Mike Fertig

Are you involved with or have a favorite charity?  Is that charity doing all it can to preserve capital and generate income so that it can continue to fulfill and sustain its mission?

The last few years have produced many challenges for nonprofits.  The state of the economy has donors and grantors turning conservative and more selective in their giving.   It’s more important than ever for endowments, board-directed funds, and other surplus capital to be protected and conserved.

Many engage a professional to help with the critical job of managing the organization’s endowment and surplus funds.  Investment advisors can help nonprofits preserve their capital by using their expertise to bring together all the pieces of the financial picture to coordinate with the strategic plan of the organization.  By taking a holistic approach toward financial management, an ethical and thorough advisor will work with boards of directors and executive directors to provide clarity in the financial planning and investment process.  The advisor will combine its knowledge, methodology, and experience to collaborate with the board to develop a sound approach for helping to meet the goals of the organization.  Advisors are trained, certified, and held to a high ethical standard requiring them to put the organization’s interests above their own.

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By Neal Hurley 

“On average…”  How many times have you used that phrase and what does it really mean?  If a man stands with one foot in a tub of boiling water and his other foot in a tub of ice water, then “on average” he must be comfortable.  Right?

As an insurance professional, I see plenty of actuarial statistics regarding death and disability.  For example, a 30 year old has a 1 in 4 chance of suffering a long term disability prior to age 65 that lasts more than 90 days.  Is this statistic any more relevant to you than the example above?

To an actuary, this ratio is a starting point when devising a price structure for a disability insurance carrier.  She knows that with a large pool of insureds, there is a certain predictability on the number of claims and so a cost can be calculated for anyone wishing to enter the protection of the pool.  The smaller the pool, the greater the deviation from any actuarial predictability.  Hence, the greater likelihood of either extremely large profits or catastrophic losses.  To the actuary, it is simply a mathematical calculation with financial implications.

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By Nadav Baum

A few years ago, I wrote an article titled “Nine Mistakes in Retirement Planning,” which discussed some common strategic errors that some people may make that leave them short of their financial goals for retirement.

Fast forward to today: has anything changed?  Not really—lots of people are still making these same mistakes.

Retirement is supposed to be the time of life when people finally have the opportunity to pursue all the interests they may not have had time for during their working years.  Yet many people are putting their comfortable retirement at risk every day by the financial decisions they make, and just don’t realize it.

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Daniel Casciato

By Daniel Casciato

With PNC’s acquisition of National City, healthcare providers will benefit from a more robust and stable financial partner for their healthcare banking needs.

“We’re very excited about our combination with National City and expanding in the marketplace,” says Jean Hippert, Regional Director of PNC Healthcare. “We think it will benefit our existing clients and allow us to support even more providers and payers with our leading-edge solution.

One advantage to working with National City and PNC’s healthcare banking divisions is that both organizations focus full-time on healthcare organizations and professionals.  The two organizations complement each other; while both address the financial needs across the full spectrum of healthcare providers and payers, National City specializes in medical practices and PNC Healthcare’s sweet spot is hospitals, health systems, non-acute payers and providers.

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