Financial Planning

TRADING FUTURES ON DEBT SECURITIES: The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have jointly proposed rules that would permit trading of futures on debt indexes in an effort to create a new class of tradable derivatives contracts.Futures contracts on debt indices that are allowed under the proposed rules would trade on futures exchanges subject to regulation by the CFTC. Securities futures on debt securities could be traded on futures exchanges and securities exchanges subject to regulation by the CFTC and the SEC. Under current regulations, trading futures on debt indices is essentially prohibited.

The Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities Act has passed through Congress and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush. The bill would allow excluded combat pay to be treated as compensation under IRA contribution rules.

More than 80 percent of financial planners who hold the CFP certification have a high level of career satisfaction, though the profession's 2005 reported median earnings of $232,995 revealed a noticeable drop-off from the previous year.

I have dealt with many tax acts in the 30-plus years that I have been in professional publishing. When I worked at a tax publisher, I know tax legislation meant an awful lot of work. In one way or another, I would be involved in assembling the Code-as-amended, analyzing the effective dates, excerpting legislative committee reports, and writing or reviewing analyses. Besides the work, the legislation would almost always seemed to come down at a bad time, usually at the end of the year as Congress was about to adjourn. It was a real pain.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that it has reached an agreement with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards to offer continuing education credits at the IRS Nationwide Tax Forums scheduled for this summer.

A growing number of Americans recognize that they're not saving as much as they should for retirement, a shift in attitudes that experts hope will lead to improved saving practices in the future.

Raymond James Financial Inc. announced an initiative that would require the restructuring of variable annuities offered through financial advisors at the firm's broker/dealer subsidiaries, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James & Associates.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued an updated and expanded revision of a revenue procedure governing its popular voluntary correction program for employee retirement plans -- the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System.

Owners of closely held businesses demand a full skill set from their financial advisors. These clients have their personal and business lives uniquely intertwined. Add to that the high concentration of wealth in an illiquid asset, and the tax, legal, investment and personal issues become a challenge to unwind.The No. 1 driver of financial plans for this group of clients is succession planning. All the planning issues come into play in the decision of how and when to leave the company the client has built, and in whose hands to leave it. But the owner needs to consider both the personal side of the transition and the need to create income from the illiquid asset.

HBK SORCE and PRESQUE ISLE UNVEIL MERGER: CPA and business advisory firm Hill, Barth and King has merged Presque Isle Capital Management into its financial planning unit, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC.Terms were not disclosed.