Author: News Room

Introduction U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) introduced a bill called the Death Tax Repeal Act on Feb. 13, 2025, with more than 170 representatives signing on. U.S. Senator John Thune (R-S.D.) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate. No odds-on passage as the Ouija Board has not proven adept at predicting tax law changes. So instead, this article will discuss some of the impacts repeal may have on estate planning. While for some it will assuredly be cause for a happy dance, there are important planning considerations, and implications to your estate planning documents, that should be considered. We’ll explain…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares jumped 12.6 per cent on Friday after the Chinese ecommerce giant said it would invest “aggressively” in artificial intelligence over the next three years.Chief executive Eddie Wu said on Thursday in a call with analysts that the tech group would spend more on cloud and AI infrastructure in the next three years than it had spent over the past decade. He declined to provide details on how much it planned to invest.Alibaba’s overall capital expenditure in 2024 was…

Five9, Inc. (NASDAQ:FIVN) Q4 2024 Earnings Conference Call February 20, 2025 4:30 PM ET Company Participants Mike Burkland – Chairman & Chief Executive OfficerAndy Dignan – Chief Operating OfficerBarry Zwarenstein – Chief Financial Officer Conference Call Participants Ryan MacWilliams – BarclaysDavid Hynes – CanaccordMichael Turrin – Wells FargoSiti Panigrahi – MizuhoScott Berg – NeedhamPeter Levine – EvercoreTaylor McGinnis – UBSMeta Marshall – Morgan StanleyQuinton Gabrielli – Piper SandlerThomas Blakey – Cantor FitzgeraldMichael Funk – Bank of America Merrill LynchArjun Bhatia – William Blair Operator Thank you for joining us today. Certain statements made during the course of this conference call…

Mortgage rates fell for a fifth consecutive week, hitting the lowest level since December but remaining elevated near 7%. Freddie Mac’s latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey, released Thursday, showed that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage edged down to 6.85% from last week’s reading of 6.87%. The average rate on a 30-year loan was 6.9% a year ago. “The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has stayed just under 7% for five consecutive weeks and in that time has fluctuated less than 20 basis points,” said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist. “This stability continues to bode well for potential…

Here are two situations I reviewed recently. A 74-year-old man got a bill for his colonoscopy. He thought this was supposed to be a free procedure. A 71-year-old woman has never paid for a mammogram since she has been on Medicare. But she discovered she has to pay for the last one. These individuals received diagnostic tests, not screenings, and the differences can be significant. Here’s what Medicare beneficiaries need to know. Screenings A screening is a medical test performed on asymptomatic individuals to assess the likelihood that they have a particular disease, with the goal of preventing illness or…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldDonald Trump has called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” and warned that Ukraine’s president “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left”, deepening a rift between Washington and Kyiv.The US president hit out at his Ukrainian counterpart on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, hours after Zelenskyy accused Trump of living in a “disinformation bubble” and challenged a $500bn bill for aid to the war-torn country.The bitter exchange came after Trump upended decades of US policy…

One of the most difficult steps in estate planning is developing a plan to preserve a collection or other special assets. Serious collectors often put a lot of time, money, and other resources into developing, displaying, and preserving their collections. They’re proud of their collections and derive pleasure from the process as well as from showing the collections to others. Over time they become concerned about succession planning for the collections. Who will care for and maintain them? Often, there’s no one among the younger members of their families who both shares their passion and is willing to devote the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.HSBC unveiled a goal of saving $300mn this year and cutting $1.5bn from its cost base by the end of next year as it reported a rise in profits in the fourth quarter.The bank said on Wednesday it made a pre-tax profit of $2.3bn in the final three months of last year, in a full-year earnings report that shed light on the impact of chief executive Georges Elhedery’s sweeping overhaul since he took the top job in September.The changes include redrawing HSBC’s operations…

Americans’ household debt levels, including credit card debt, rose to new all-time highs in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The report showed that overall household debt increased by $93 billion to $18.04 trillion at the end of 2024, an all-time high. Credit card balances rose by $45 billion from the prior quarter to reach $1.21 trillion at the end of December, which is also a record high.Delinquency rates ticked higher by 0.1 percentage points from the prior quarter to 3.6% of outstanding debt in some stage of delinquency, with…

For those of you that have been affected by the Windfall Elimination Provision or the Government Pension Offset, this may be the most important article you read. The Social Security Agency at this point does not have a specific timeframe as to when benefits will be adjusted. The WEP reduces your own Social Security benefit. The GPO reduces spousal, ex-spousal and survivor benefits. On Jan. 5, 2025, President Joe Biden signed the Social Security Fairness Act that eliminated these two provisions that reduce Social Security benefits for people with a “non-covered” pension. A “non-covered” pension is a pension from your…