The Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Information Blog is a good regular source of information about scams that people are reporting. Recent posts include:
WARNING: Email from FTC Chair Lina M. Khan about Coronavirus money is fake
Phishing scheme targets unemployment insurance benefits and PII
Hot rental car market = scams
In July 2020, after nearly 40 years of active, full-time practice, I scaled back to part-time practice. I continue to work about half-time.
I have spent some time updating and, in some cases, annotating some of the tools that I had been using in my practice, and they have now been posted online at tech.906law.net. With one exception, all are free for anyone to use. They include:
2021 Tax Calculator (Excel) - There are times that you want to have a projection of what the overall tax burden will be, assuming a certain level of earned income. This calculator will give you that projection.
IRA Calculator (Excel) - Assuming a specified value for an IRA, 401(k) plan, or other similar retirement plan, this will give you a projection of what the required distributions (RMDs) will be when they begin at age 72, and how the increases in value and drawdowns over the next three decades will affect its overall value. There are two versions included, one that begins at age 72 and another that begins as early as age 60 and tracks increases with or without distributions until the age 72. (Free for personal use, but subject to a $50 licensing fee when used by a planner to advise a client.)
SECURE distribution calculator (Excel) - For IRAs (etc.) inherited by a designated beneficiary who is not subject to one of four specified exceptions, the amount in the account can no longer be distributed over the beneficiary’s life expectancy, but rather must be distributed over the ten years following the death of the IRA owner (or her surviving spouse in many cases). This calculator again plots out increases in value and drawdowns with yearly or occasional distributions.
Digital and Online Inventory (Word) - A place to record email accounts, online accounts, web pages, domains, electronic access to bank accounts, investment accounts, credit cards, software registration, etc. with contact information and passwords.
US LawNet - A directory of the sites and resources most useful to practicing lawyers in the states that it covers. This site had its origin in a personal web page that I developed for my own use in the mid-1990s, and later posted online as a “publicly-accessible private site” as www.michlaw.net. It has now been expanded to include ten states - five Great Lakes states and the five most populous states - and is publicly available for free use.
On this single page, the IRS provides the tax inflation adjustments for a large number of items, including tax brackets, tax rates, standard deduction, as well as several items of interest for estate planning purposes: annual gift exemption ($15,000), lifetime basic exclusion amount ($11.7 million per person), etc.
How to Practice - Clearing out memories after a death leads the author to get ready in advance.
"Tavia and I swore a quiet oath: we would not do this to anyone. We would not leave the contents of our lives for someone else to sort through, because who would that mythical sorter be, anyway? My stepchildren? Her niece? Neither of us had children of our own."
A Beginners Guide to the End is a book published in 2019 by Shoshana Berger and Dr. B.J. Miller which, the authors say, offers "Practical advice for facing death and living life." It has separate US and UK editions. The authors have a web site where you can read a preview excerpt from the book. The site's Resources page, by itself, is well worth perusing, and it includes links to sites that we have mentioned before.
From the description:
A Beginner's Guide to the End covers everything from will-making to making peace with your dysfunctional family. You’ll be walked through how to break the news to your employer, whether or not to share old secrets, how to hack the hospital for a better stay, what questions to ask your doctor (even uncomfortable ones, like whether or not sex is still ok), what to put in your "When I Die" file, and how to leave a letter that leaves a mark. There are also lessons for survivors, like how shut down a loved one’s social media accounts, clean out the house, and write a great eulogy.
Dr. Miller is described as a palliative care and hospice physician, and in 2015 gave a TED talk called What Really Matters at the End of Life.
This is useful for those facing an impending death and for survivors alike.
