In 2006, Alan, a strapping young man who had just turned 50, collapsed and died of a massive heart attack while attending Sunday morning Mass with his wife Karen. Alan and Karen co-owned a business. Alan was a contractor and Karen handled the accounting and billing. Karen was fairly savvy financially. However, because she felt she had to get everything settled “right away” after Alan’s passing, she made several costly mistakes. It's a story you and your clients can learn from.

A common strategy is to go through with smaller Roth IRA conversions or to convert different assets to different Roth IRAs. If you have done this over a number of years, you probably have more Roth IRAs than you know what to do with. Maybe it is time to consolidate. Here's why.

According to the US Census Bureau, approximately 800,000 people are widowed each year in the United States, and “nearly 700,000 of them are women who lose their husbands.” One of the greatest economic challenges for a large portion of widows in America is higher income taxes when their spouse passes away. Don Rasmussen, member of Ed Slott's Elite IRA Advisor Group, outlines how widows can take control of required minimum distributions when their spouse passes away ... lowering their tax bill.

This week's Slott Report Mailbag follows up on Jeffrey Levine's capital gains tax strategy using a free step-up in basis and answers a question on net unrealized appreciation (NUA) benefits.

Even though it was 25 years ago, it seems like yesterday that my wife and I had our son evaluated by a pediatric specialist who told us our son would never live independently. When our child was diagnosed with a special need, our initial focus was on learning about the disability (autism), finding therapists and researching educational rights. Preparing for our child’s financial future (and even your own) was not an initial priority. The reality is that when there is a disabled child, the family financial plan has to span two generations rather than one. The following plan needs to take into account the potential for government benefits and, with any comprehensive plan, has to address how to minimize taxes.