Financial Planning

KATRINA VICTIMS CAN TAKE LOANS FROM RETIREMENT PLANS: Employer-sponsored retirement plans, including 401(k) programs, will be allowed to make loans and hardship distributions to victims of Hurricane Katrina and members of their families, the Internal Revenue Service said.For the first time ever, the IRS and the Treasury and Labor Departments are providing broad-based relief to retirement plan participants affected by a major disaster.

The accountant is one of the catalysts of an estate-planning team - a group that should also include an attorney, a financial planner and a trust officer.The goal of this dedicated team is to help in the management, conservation and transfer of wealth, while considering the legal and tax ramifications, as well as the personal objectives, of the client.

The $11,000 gift tax annual exclusion ($12,000 for gifts made in 2006) is available only for gifts of present interests. A gift to a trust for the benefit of a particular beneficiary is usually a gift of a present interest only if the trustee is required to distribute all of the income of the trust no less frequently than annually. If a trust does not have income because its assets are invested in non-income paying property (e.g., unproductive real estate or artwork), a gift to that trust will be treated as a gift of a future interest.However, the exclusion is allowed for a gift in trust to a minor, if the trust property and the income from that property may be (but don't have to be) spent by or for the minor before he reaches age 21, and to the extent not so spent will pass to the minor when he becomes 21.

Roughly two thirds of companies in the S&P 500 have exceeded analysts' estimates on earnings per share dating back to the first quarter of 2004 -- a signal that companies have become more conservative on their earnings guidance.

Clerks at the nation's bankruptcy courts processed a record 205,129 personal bankruptcy filings last week, and a private consulting firm estimates that a backlog of unprocessed filings could push the total to 300,000.

According to a recent study, the value of stock options given to employees at the nation's largest companies dwindled by roughly 60 percent throughout 2001-04.

The Social Security Administration recently announced the highest cost-of-living increase since 1991, setting the adjustment at 4.1 percent for more than 52 million retired and disabled recipients.

The Internal Revenue Service could revoke the tax-exempt status of about 20 credit-counseling firms, just as the country's new bankruptcy laws are set to go into effect on Oct. 17.

A bill creating a new regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and setting capital levels for the two home mortgage giants could be ready for a House vote by the end of the month.

SEC HELPING INVESTORS, COMPANIES AFFECTED BY KATRINA: The Securities and Exchange Commission has joined the growing list of companies and agencies mobilizing to provide relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.The SEC divisions and offices that oversee publicly traded companies, accountants, mutual funds, brokerage firms and transfer agents, among others, are preparing relief measures, including extensions of filing deadlines and suspension of requirements to deliver documents to hurricane-affected areas.