Friday Financial Five – January 2, 2015
Friday, January 02, 2015
The Start of The Employer Mandate
Companies with 100 or more employees will be required to provide insurance for seventy percent of their employees or pay a fine. With most large companies already providing health insurance, the major change may be the time, effort and money going into documenting and corresponding with the government to prove compliance. There is also a continued effort to change the law’s definition of what constitutes full time employment.
The myRA Option
Employees that don’t have a retirement plan at work may take advantage of the myRA option through the federal government. This account is a Roth IRA, meaning there’s no deduction for contributions but distributions come out tax free. There’s no cost to open the account and it’s tied to the individual, so it’s portable for those workers that change employment. The account follows the Roth IRA rules, so there are income limitations. The investment in the account generates U.S. Treasury bond interest, so there is no market risk.
Student Loans Increase By $100 Billion In 2014
Last year, the total amount of outstanding student loans rose by $100 billion to stand at $1.13 trillion. Roughly $800 billion of that has been loaned by the government. The Princeton Review released their latest evaluations of the best college bang for the buck. North Carolina at Chapel Hill tops the public universities while Williams heads up the private list.
Rising Cost of Renting
The housing crisis benefitted landlords that were able to withstand the storm. Bloomberg reports that renters paid $441 billion in 2014, over a $20 billion increase. Foreclosures and employment constraints have led to a decrease in home ownership. Landlords have taken advantage of tight inventory to push rent demands skyward, a trend that should continue in 2015.
More Payouts For Madoff Victims
Six years after the massive Ponzi scheme was first uncovered, the most recent settlements for the victims of Bernie Madoff will push the recovered funds to over $10 billion. Trustee, Irvin Picard, has settled over 1100 accounts, including recent payouts of $642 million. The recovered funds account for approximately 60% of the $17.5 billion in principal lost by Madoff clients.
Dan Forbes is a regular contributor on financial issues. He is a CFP Board Ambassador. He leads the firm Forbes Financial Planning, Inc in East Greenwich, RI and can be reached at [email protected].
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