Bristlecone Blog

QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distributions) are not widely utilized but can be very beneficial to taxpayers aged 70 1/2 or older, who are charitably inclined and carry high IRA balances.

With these recent unsettling headlines affecting banks, we thought it worthwhile to review and explain what layers of protection are available to your depositors' and investors' accounts.

As a U.S. citizen living abroad, you are still subject to U.S. income tax on your worldwide income. Often overlooked, however, is the requirement to keep filing a state tax return in some cases.

After falling for most of the year, markets rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2022. Evidence of easing inflation paired with a resilient labor market spurred hopes that the Federal Reserve might slow the pace of monetary tightening, leaving room for a goldilocks "soft landing" scenario—whereby inflation reverts to pre-pandemic levels without triggering a significant recession.

All bear markets are painful, but each has its unique mix of causes, and each is painful for its own reasons. The standout characteristic of the current market is the simultaneous decline in stock and bond prices.

This updated guidance from the IRS for distributing Inherited IRAs would substantially constrain tax planning flexibility for most non-spouse beneficiaries if adopted as proposed.