Too Much Tax?

Have your income taxes gotten out of control? There may be some adjustments you can make to your portfolio to reduce your annual income taxes.

The most common way to cut your taxes is to put more of your money in tax-advantaged retirement plans, such as a 401k plan at work or an IRA.

But if you’ve maxed out on your retirement account contributions and your taxes are still taking too big of a bite out of your paycheck, you might be able to reduce your taxes by investing in tax-free municipal bonds (or municipal bond mutual funds) or by buying an annuity in which taxes on your gains would normally be deferred until you begin taking distributions.

If you’d like to find some ways to cut your taxes, a good place to start would be to talk with your financial advisor.

Staying The Course, Long Term Investing

On 2/27/07 an estimated $632 billion of stock value was lost in the US on that day the S&P 500 fell 3.5%. Since that 1-day tumble, the S&P 500 has gained +6.8%, its best 42-day stretch in 6 ½ months (source: BTN Research) through April 30th, 2007.

There will be days like this in the months and years ahead. The recent declines in the US stock markets during the week of June 5th and on February 27th  should remind everyone both of the benefits of diversification and maintaining a long term focus on your investment objectives.

How to play Sudoku – Sudoku begins with some of the grid cells already filled with numbers. The object of Sudoku is to fill the other empty cells with numbers between 1 and 9 (1 number only in each cell) according the following guidelines.

1. Number can appear only once on each row.
2. Number can appear only once on each column.
3. Number can appear only once on each region.
4. A summary of these guidelines would be, that a number should appear only once on each row, column and a region.

Here is the puzzle. Good luck!

Complete the puzzle and enter it in our drawing for a $25 Gift Card to T.G.I. Friday's by mailing it to:

Wealth Enhancement Group
c/o Matt Krekelberg
1905 East Wayzata Boulevard
Wayzata, MN 55391

There were 16 qualified Sudoko puzzles
submitted last month.

Tax-Free Education Savings

If you’re sending your children to a private elementary or secondary school, you may be able to take advantage of tax-free savings through a Coverdell education savings account.
Although the 529 education savings plan is more popular with parents, those plans can only be used for college savings—not K-12. A Coverdell account allows you to save money tax-free for both college and K-12 education expenses. Money withdrawn from a Coverdell account for educational expenses is tax-free.

Free Credit Report and Appraisal

All this month, Wealth Enhancement is offering a free credit report with consultation and a free appraisal with closing. Call 800-492-1222 today!

Life insurance is a flexible estate planning tool that can be used to create an estate, replace a financial loss caused by death, provide liquidity to fund a business buyout agreement, pay estate costs, or replace the cost of a charitable contribution. Life insurance benefits are generally received income tax free and with careful planning can also be received estate tax free. Since life insurance passes by contract, it avoids the delays and expenses of probate.

A survivorship or second- or last-to-die insurance policy provides an ideal low-cost foundation for a married couple’s estate plan. This type of insurance contract is specifically designed to cover the costs of estate taxes and fees while insuring two lives under the same contract and paying a benefit only upon the second or last death.

Most sophisticated estate plans make optimal use of the unlimited marital deduction and so defer the payment of estate taxes until the death of the surviving spouse. A survivorship life insurance policy dovetails perfectly with these plans by providing the benefit when it is really needed. It provides a customized solution to the dilemma of estate taxes and the need for liquidity.

Wealth Enhancement Group has helped thousands of Minnesotans plan for a comfortable retirement. With a team of experts well-versed in financial planning, investment management, and maximizing tax strategies, Wealth Enhancement Group will help you pursue the life you imagined.

CLICK HERE to get your free copy of our 24-page retirement booklet, “Planning for Retirement – Strategies for Your Life, Your Finances, and Your Future”. In this booklet, you’ll learn more about strategies and options for your future.