Tag: retirement planning
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Disability and The Musicians’ Pension
Are you no longer performing due to injury or disability? If you are a participant in the Union Pension, the AFM-EPF, you should know about the plan’s disability benefits. The reason why a disability pension is more desirable than a retirement benefit today is that under the ERISA rules, the pension cannot reduce payments for…
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New IRS Rule Spoils SEP-IRA for Musicians
The SEP-IRA has been a key retirement tool for self-employed and 1099 musicians, but its value just got unexpectedly reduced last month, buried in the details of a 249-page release of new IRS regulations. I’m afraid that many self-employed musicians who read this may want to fund a different type of retirement account or may decide…
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7 Missed IRA Opportunities for Musicians
The Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is the cornerstone of retirement planning. Unfortunately, many musicians miss opportunities to fund an IRA because they don’t realize they are eligible. With the great tax benefits of IRAs, consider funding yours every year you can. Here are seven situations where many musicians don’t realize they could fund an IRA.…
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Musicians, Reduce Your Taxes Without Itemizing
If you used to itemize your tax deductions, chances are you will not be able to do so in 2018 under the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). While it sounds good that the standard deduction has been increased to $12,000 single and $24,000 married, many musicians are lamenting that they no longer can…
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What is Critical and Declining Status?
If you are a participant in the Musicians’ Union Pension, the AFM-EPF, you may have received an email this week that said that thanks to good investment performance, the plan would remain in Critical status but not move into “Critical and Declining” status. The message notes that it is still possible that the plan will…
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What Would Happen If The AFM-EPF Fails?
Pensions offer what may be the ideal source of retirement income. I have written a number of times about the critical status of the American Federation of Musicians Employer Pension Fund (AFM-EPF), a multiemployer pension plan which covers 50,000 professional musicians in America. Given that the Actuaries do not believe that their rehabilitation plan will…
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AFM Pension Plan Slide Continues
Participants in the AFM Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) received the annual funding notice and notice of critical status this week. Unfortunately, this year’s report is not good, and this notice does little to explain why. Each year, pension administrators are required to evaluate their plan’s “funded percentage” as a measure of the plan’s financial capacity.…
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The Musician’s Guide to Choosing a Retirement Plan
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Self Employed? Discover the SEP-IRA.
I wish more self-employed people knew about the SEP-IRA because it has a number of terrific advantages over a Traditional IRA.
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How Some Investors Saved 50% More
Results indicate consistent evidence that a retirement planning strategy and the use of a financial planner can have a sizeable impact on retirement savings.
