Publisher's Synopsis
Help your clients maximize their Social Security & Medicare benefits! Social Security & Medicare Facts is a one-stop guide for attorneys, CPAs, and retirement and financial planning professionals for advising on tax and policy changes affecting Social Security and Medicare. Organized in a unique and convenient question and answer format, this book helps professionals find exactly what they're looking for quickly and easily to solve clients' important planning issues in a timely manner. Fundamentals of Writing a Financial Plan, Second Edition provides a totally revised and unique approach to helping aspiring financial planners write a comprehensive financial plan. The book outlines how the CFP Board of Standards, Inc. 7-step planning process can be applied when writing a comprehensive financial plan for an individual or family.
The book not only highlights various elements involved in comprehensive financial planning, including estate, tax, cash flow, education planning, and much more-but also introduces important behavioral perspectives and communication techniques. As a way to synthesize these pieces and learn how the plan writing process unfolds, students follow a running case-the Hubble family.
Details Section:
- Updated numbers for 2024
- Updated discussion of Social Security Trust Fund Solvency
- Added information about qualified aliens eligible for Social Security
- Greater coverage of Special Minimum benefit
- Updated retirement and survivor benefits
- Expanded coverage of state rules of Medicaid
- Updated costs and coverages
- A thorough review of the new 7-step systematic financial planning process.
- A description of the regulatory environment in which every financial planner operates.
- An in-depth discussion of client communication and counseling techniques.
- Financial planning approaches that can be applied to a variety of clients and client circumstances.
- A chapter-by-chapter focus on analytical tools and techniques that can be used to evaluate client data.
- An example of a complete written financial plan with explanations about how analyses lead to the recommendations.
- Chapter-based learning aids, including access to a fully integrated Financial Planning Analysis Excel package and other online support materials, including video examples of client communication and counseling strategies.
- Instructions on how to do calculations essential to creating a financial plan.
- Numerous self-test questions to test comprehension of material.
New in the 2024 Edition:
SOCIAL SECURITY GENERALLY
- Updated discussion of Social Security Trust Fund Solvency
- Added information about qualified aliens eligible for Social Security
- COVID-19 updates
- Update of special monthly payment
- Update of earnings for Trial Work Period
- Updated Compassionate Allowance
COVERAGE
- Updates to achieving quarters of coverage.
- Update to becoming fully insured.
- Proof required to file for benefits expanded.
- Right to appeal process expanded
- Expanded coverage of Social Security hearing process and rights
BENEFIT COMPUTATION
- Greater coverage of Special Minimum benefit
- Changes in calculation of AIME
- Update to determining Primary Insurance Amount
- Changes to maximum family benefits
- Expansion of coverage of beneficiaries affected by GPO and WEP
- Update to Retirement Test
- Addition of questions regarding Grace Year/Non-Service
- Expansion of who must file annual report of earnings/who does not.
- New checklist of what events can lead to loss of benefits by type of beneficiary.
- Retired, Disabled, Spouse, Divorced Spouse, Child Under 18, Child 18 or 19 in school, Disabled Child, Widow/Widower, Disabled Widow/Widower, Surviving Divorced Spouse, Mother or Father, Surviving Divorced Mother or Father, Parent
TAXATION
- Update on changes of state taxation of Social Security benefits
- Payroll tax amount updates
- Taxation of wages changes
- Update to coverage on "de minimus"
- Non-Cash tips as wages
- Current plans to increase payroll taxes for Social Security
- Planned modification of COLA calculations
- Explanation of how R-CPI-E works
- Plans to change PIA.
- Plans to increase special minimum benefits for lower wage individuals.
RAILROAD RETIREMENT
- Updated retirement and survivor benefits
- End of Continued Assistance to Rail Workers Act
- How Military or Reserve service can count as creditable service.
- Expansion of definition of war/national emergency regarding creditable service
- Effect of Merchant Marine duty
- Changes in Tier I and Tier II benefits
- Expanded comparison of Railroad Retirement vs. Social Security
- New Section - Unemployment and Sickness benefits
- Update of RR retirement taxes
- Update coverage of taxation of benefit
BENEFITS TO SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS
- Update to Thrift Savings Plan
- Update in military salaries
- Addition of Appeal process and correction of records
- Elimination of Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance
- New coverage of VA Healthcare including basic VA service
- Addition of PACT Act
- Updated Disability Benefits
- Changes to SGLI
- Changes to Veterans Insurance rates
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
- Update to COLA
- Discussion of Equal COLA Act and Fair COLA For Seniors Act
- Update of CSRS and FERS benefits
- Updated AD&D coverage
- Changes to Section 218 Agreements
MEDICARE
- Updates costs and coverages
- Expanded coverages of Part B
- Changes made to Part D and elimination of 5% copay.
- Changes/modification to Telemedicine coverage
- Costs of Part A
- Costs of Part B
- Costs of Part D
- Updated coverage of assistance under QMB, QDWI
- Updated deductible amounts.
- Expanded coverage of Medicare Advantage
- Addition of new coverage of Mental Health benefits
- Expansion of organ transplant
- Coverages under Part B-ID
- New coverage of Part B Only
- Expanded coverage of ESRD
- Changes in MOOP
- Coverage of Part D Drug price negotiations
- Addition of expanded supplementary benefits until Medicare Advantage
- Updated costs and coverage of Medigap
MEDICAID
- Expanded coverage of state rules of Medicaid
- Expanded coverage of PACE program
- New coverage of Medicare Part E programs
OTHER
- All appendices updated.
Key Topics
- Retirement and disability
- Same sex marriage
- Spousal benefits/ children's benefits
- Parental benefits
- Widower benefits
- Lump sum death benefits
- Railroad retirement
- Service member and veteran benefits
- Government employees
- Medicare and MedicaidCFP Board's 7-step financial planning process.
- Step-by-step guide to formulating a financial plan and presenting it to a client.
- Guides for different types of financial planning such as life insurance planning, long-term care insurance planning, and retirement planning.
- Comprehensive Hubble case.
