Chin Kim Insurance Agency

04/30/2019

It's too important to wait - tomorrow is never guaranteed.

04/29/2019

Open enrollment ended January 15 but you still qualify for health coverage if you've experienced a life event like marriage, divorce, separation, new child, moved, loss of Medi-Cal or Medicaid and job loss.

04/24/2019

Cash value life insurance is probably the biggest tax break that the tax code offers. The cash value grows tax free, you can take the money out of the cash value tax free, and the death benefit is also tax free. We believe that it should be in everyone's retirement portfolio.

There are certain cases where cash value life insurance is taxed. Do you know what these cases are? If you have a cash value life insurance you should know what these cases are so that you avoid a very unpleasant surprise.

04/19/2019

If you plan to name a trust as the beneficiary of your IRA, think again. While a trust may be ideal for most of your estate, naming a trust as the beneficiary of your IRA is generally not the most tax efficient move.

First of all, even if the trust is properly set up, a Multi-Generational IRA strategy is not available if there are multple indivisual beneficiaries.

Secondly, the RMDs will be taxed at the trust tax rates. Trust taxes hit the highest bracket (37%) for trust income over $12,750 in 2019.

A trust can make sense in some cases, but consult with qualified advisos and qualified trust attorneys to make sure that your trust is set up to operate according to your distribution plan and meet your personal goals.

03/26/2019

Deadlines are looming!

April 1 is the Required Beginning Date (RBD) for IRA owners who turned 70½ in 2018. IRA owners have until April 1st to take their very first required minimum distribution (RMD) if the owner did not take it last
year. Keep in mind that IRA owners who delayed this first RMD will still have to take their 2019 RMD by the annual December 31st deadline.

For most tax payers, April 15 is the deadline for making 2018 contributions to a traditional or Roth IRA, HSA and/or ESA. It is also the deadline to remove excess
contributions made to your IRA(s) for 2018. Excess contributions must be removed in a timely manner to avoid the 6% penalty tax. This penalty applies each year the excess amount remains in the IRA!

Consult with your tax professional if either one of these conditions applies to you.

01/10/2019

If you file a claim with your insurance company for an auto accident where the other party is at fault, your insurance company will pay for the damages and then will try to recover the money from the other party's insurance company. This process is called subrogation.

This subrogation process also applies in business insurance, but if you are a tenant in a building, your lease contact probably includes waiver of subrogation clause which prevents your insurance company to go after the landlord for any damages you incur from the negligence or fault of the landlord.

When you sign a lease that includes the waiver of subrogation clause you are breaching the contract with the insurance company, unless your insurance policy includes the waiver of subrogation endorsement. This can cause problems in case of a claim involving the landlord. If you have a business insurance and are a tenant in a building, please discuss with your insurance agent or broker and make sure if waiver of subrogation endorsement should be included in the insurance policy.

12/20/2018

Now that we are in a holiday shopping season, we are seeing an increase in car break-in incidents.

From the insurance perspective, broken glass is covered by auto insurance, but there is a deductible and you may not get much benefit unless you have the optional glass deductible buyback coverage.

The stolen items are not covered by the auto insurance and are instead covered by home insurance. You will need to file a police report and provide a list of stolen items and their value to the claims adjuster. A deductible applies here also, as well as sublimits and total limits.

Insurance coverage can help somewhat in these cases, but it is better to prevent this type of incidents from happening in the first place. So DO NOT leave anything visible in the car.

For more information, please consult with your insurance agent or broker.

10/05/2018

Cost of healthcare is going through the roof, and here is something that can help a little. It’s a nation drug discount card. It’s FREE and can save you up to 85% of the cost of the medications. Even if you have health insurance, it can save you money on occasion.

2 weeks ago I filled a prescription, and the copay was $34. The discounted prices with the card was $8! Now, it is not like this always, but when you go to a pharmacy, give them your insurance card AND the discount card, and they will give you the lower price.

If you don’t have health insurance, the cost savings, of course, would be much higher.

To get this FREE card, go to www.samerxforless.com and sign up. You can download the card and use it right away.

Since this is like a coupon, you can share the card with anyone. You can also share this info and have your family and friends get their own cards. If you have a pet, you can get discounts on pet medications, also. This is a national discount card, so you can use it anywhere in the country.

Once you sign up, you can search for pharmacies that offer the lowest prices in your area for the medication you are taking. You can also check other discount services on the website. Hope you don’t have to take any medications at all, but if you have to, try this discount card and see how much you can save.

08/08/2017

According to a CNBC article from April of this year, the average retirement savings of American families in the 56-61 age range is about $164,000. Since the average amount can be pulled up by the super-rich and pulled down by those with no savings whatsoever, median amount is probably more representative than average.

So what is the median amount of the American families in 56-61 age range? $17,000. And the amounts for youger families are even lower! Will you ever be able to retire with this much savings?

Time flies even when you are not having fun, and retirement is not as far into the future as we all think. That means time to plan for retirement is NOW, not when you are only a few years away from retirement.

04/06/2017

I hear complaints from many people about the ever-increasing auto insurance premium. One of the main reasons for the increases is the distracted driving. Too many people are distracted while they arer driving and end up causing accidents. The statistics are mind boggling. Did you know that drunk driving is safer than distracted driving?

http://distracteddriveraccidents.com/25-shocking-distracted-driving-statistics/

I was rearended pretty hard last August myself and am still feeling the effects of it from time to time.

I think the time will come quite soon that new laws will be passed that will treat distracted driving as seriously as drunk driving.

At this point I think most people realize just how big of a problem and how dangerous distracted driving is. However, seeing this list of 25 distracted driving statistics all together in one long list really can put it into ... Read More

04/04/2017

You probably heard about the 4 enemies of wealth or retirement risks. They are market loss, interest, taxes, and, depending on whom you talk to, inflation or longevity. I don't know why they don't say 5 enemies of wealth and list all 5.

While taking care of these 5 enemies or risks is very important to sound retirement planning, there is one more risk that, even if you take care of these 5 items, can devastate everything you worked your entire life for. It's Long Term Care. Statistics show that 70% of the people over age 65 will need LTC before they pass away. For couples, the probability of at least of the two requireing LTC is 92%! The average length of LTC is 3.9 years and the average cost of LTC is about $100,000 per year in most areas of the country.

Just one LTC event can destroy a lifetime of savings, as well as the family. The good news is that there is a SOLUTION to this LTC crisis.

If you'd like to learn how to protest your family and your life savings from an LTC disaster, please send me a message.

02/27/2017

Tax day is around the corner again! Most people think that the taxes are too high, but did you know that the tax rates today are the 3rd lowest in the US history?

With the national debt at about 20 trillion dollars, do you think the tax rates will go up in the future, go down or stay about the same?
If you think the rates will go up, you are in agreement with a vast majority of Americans.

You see, when people save money for retirement, they are doing it so that the savings will generate a stream of income when they retire. Therefore, accumulating wealth is important, but that alone is not sufficient. The objective should be to generate the highest spendable income possible, and one of the main obstacles to maximizing spendable income is the taxes.

Believe it or not, the biggest expense for the retirees is the taxes. According to an industry study, nearly one out of every three dollars (31.38%) spent by high-income retirees goes to taxes.*

So if you think the taxes will go up or even if you think the taxes will stay the same, wouldn’t it make sense to explore ways to reduce or even eliminate taxes on your retirement income?

Something to think about during this tax season.

* The Underrated Impact of Taxes on Retirement – a survey sponsored by Lincoln Financial Group

Disclaimer: This post is intended for guidance and informational purposes only. It should not be used as a substitute for legal, tax, accounting or other professional advice.