| Good morning from Traverse City, |
| The bay is finally warm, the cherry harvest is on, and the financial press spent another week arguing about Social Security. Most of what crossed our desk was industry chatter, but four items genuinely touch your money — your benefit timing, your giving, your long-term care plan, and one shiny temptation. Here's the plain-English version. |
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. More talk of fixing Social Security — don't let it rush your claiming date
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2. The rules for deducting charitable gifts just changed
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3. Medicaid is tightening in 2026 — time to pressure-test the long-term care plan
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4. SpaceX is about to go public — excitement isn't an investment plan
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01 · SOCIAL SECURITY
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More talk of fixing Social Security — don't let it rush your claiming date
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| A veteran retirement columnist argued this week that Washington doesn't need another commission to study Social Security — the possible fixes have been known for years. |
| The trust fund's projected shortfall in the early 2030s would trim benefits, not end them; even in the do-nothing scenario, payroll taxes keep funding the large majority of every check. And every serious proposal phases in slowly while shielding people at or near retirement. What actually moves the needle is your claiming age — filing at 62 instead of your full retirement age locks in a reduction of up to 30%, permanently. |
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Why it matters: For you, the bigger risk isn't Congress trimming benefits someday — it's letting a scary headline talk you into claiming early and locking in a cut all by yourself.
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via wealthmanagement.com →
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02 · CHARITABLE GIVING
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The rules for deducting charitable gifts just changed
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| The big 2025 tax law quietly rewrote the charitable-deduction rules, and 2026 is the first tax year they bite. |
| If you don't itemize — most retirees don't — you can now deduct up to $1,000 in cash gifts ($2,000 for couples) right off the top. If you do itemize, there's a new floor: only giving above 0.5% of your income counts. And the old workhorse still wins — at 70½ or older, a qualified charitable distribution straight from your IRA to the charity skips your tax return entirely, no floor, no itemizing, and it can count toward your required distribution. |
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Why it matters: If giving to church or charity is part of your year, the route your gift travels now changes what you keep — worth mapping at your next review instead of in a December scramble.
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Read the full story →
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03 · LONG-TERM CARE
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Medicaid is tightening in 2026 — time to pressure-test the long-term care plan
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| Estate-planning attorneys say they're now 'retrofitting' client plans because Medicaid in 2026 is sliding from full nursing-home coverage toward partial coverage. |
| Washington's budget law squeezed Medicaid funding, and states are responding with tighter eligibility and thinner benefits. Medicaid was never a plan — it's the payer of last resort, with a five-year look-back on gifts. But it has quietly been the backstop for many families facing northern Michigan nursing-home bills that now top $100,000 a year. |
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Why it matters: If your long-term care answer is 'we'll figure it out,' this is the year to put a real funding plan on paper — bring it to your next review and we'll walk through the options together.
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Read the full story →
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04 · MARKET WATCH
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SpaceX is about to go public — excitement isn't an investment plan
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| SpaceX's stock market debut is about a month out, and the advisors quoted keep repeating one statistic: most newly public companies trail the market for at least a year. |
| The enthusiasm is understandable — it's the most anticipated listing in years. But early IPO buyers usually pay peak-excitement prices at the exact moment insiders are finally allowed to sell. The honest question from the article: is this conviction about the business, or fear of missing out? |
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Why it matters: If you're tempted, the retirement-safe version is a small position funded by money your paycheck plan doesn't depend on — and sizing that is exactly the kind of thing to bring to your next review.
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Read the full story →
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| QUICK HITS |
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‣ Researchers say the rise in charitable bequests is often a planning miss — giving during life, especially straight from an IRA, usually captures tax savings that giving at death can't. →
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‣ Vanguard, Wellington and Blackstone just launched 'interval funds' that blend private assets into retail portfolios — know that these funds limit when you can take your money back out. →
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‣ The Treasury Department put Wall Street's engineered 'tax alpha' trades on notice — a good reminder that if a tax strategy needs financial engineering to work, it can unwind just as fast. →
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TIP OF THE WEEK
Retired in the last two years? Check your Medicare premium.
Medicare sets your Part B and Part D premiums using your tax return from two years back, so a 2026 premium can be based on 2024 income — when you were still working. If your income has dropped because you retired, married, or lost a spouse, you don't have to accept the surcharge: file Social Security's short form SSA-44 and ask them to use your current, lower income instead. We've seen it cut a couple's premiums by thousands a year, and it takes about twenty minutes.
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How was this issue?
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Until next week,
— Tom, your planner
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| P.S. A client dropped off a crate of Balaton cherries from their orchard this week, and the whole office smells like pie — northern Michigan has its perks. |