Ultimate Guide to Retirement Planning (31.5 hrs)

At the start of Chapter 1, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Goals v. purposes
* Investment purposes
* Myths of retirement
* Investment goals
* Investment needs of five critical decades
* Investment vehicles & entities
* Retirement – the ultimate objective
* Basic planning elements
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 1, participants will be able to:

1. Identify short-term financial goals and investment purposes and recognize the importance of retirement income and money management.
2. Determine the tax consequences of title holding methods by specifying ways to hold title to assets starting with the simplest and most direct ways to hold property.

At the start of Chapter 2, participants should identify the following major topics for study:
* Types of income
* Information reporting on taxable income
* Rules of budgeting
* Cash
* Acquisition
* Assets
* Rules of management
* Managing risk
* Taxes & investment economics
* Leverage
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 2, participants will able to:

1. Identify money management specifying income types and cite reporting requirements for taxable income.
2. Determine how to convert income into assets by purchasing investments, specify tax-advantaged investments, and determine the economic impact of accelerating deductions and postponing tax liability.

At the start of Chapter 3, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Obstacles to preservation
* Tracking spending
* Building savings
* Designing a budget
* Determining worth
* Analyzing net worth
* Ignorance
* Inflation
* Taxes
* Tax planning tactics
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 3, participants will be able to:

1. Identify obstacles to the preservation of wealth, determine net worth using a balance sheet, and select assets and liabilities for an inventory on which to base financial goals.
2. Specify why individuals should take primary responsibility for investment planning including necessary self-education and determine basic income tax planning tactics.

At the start of Chapter 4, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Elements of like-kind exchanges
* Related party exchanges
* Personal & multiple property regulations
* Delayed (deferred) exchange regulations
* Actual & constructive receipt rule
* Qualified contribution plans
* Tax-deferred annuities
* Installment sales
* At-risk rule
* Deferred compensation and options
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 4, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the benefits of tax deferral, cite the tax deferral advantage under §1031 listing its elements, specify the related party §1031 restrictions identifying prohibited parties or entities, determine the exchange restrictions on partnership interests and personal property, and recognize delayed exchanges.
2. Identify retirement plan design and recognize popular methods for providing for retirement.
3. Specify the requirements for an installment sale, determine the variables affecting §453 availability, and recall how to use a property option to receive income and postpone tax.

At the start of Chapter 5, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Work Opportunity Credit & Rehabilitation Credit
* Low Income Housing Credit & Child & Dependent Care Credit
* Estimated taxes
* Interest
* Automobile deductions
* Business entertainment deductions
* Depreciation & cost recovery
* Net operating losses
* Tax breaks for nonitemizers
* Amended returns
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 5, participants will be able to:

1. Identify tax credits specifying qualified expenses, limitations, and restrictions and specify the deductible and nondeductible interest types.
2. Identify business vehicle operating costs using (or switching between) the actual cost method or the standard mileage rate, recognize the application of R.R. 90-23 and R.R. 99-7 to the deduction of temporary work location costs, and recall the business entertainment expense statutory exceptions.
3. Determine MACRS business asset depreciation and identify sources of §172 net operating losses (NOLs) recognizing carryback and carryover rules.

At the start of Chapter 6, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Using progressive tax rates
* Deductible business expenses
* Home-office deduction
* C or regular corporations
* S corporations
* Family partnerships
* Kiddie tax trap
* Childcare & education
* Gifts
* Interest-free loans
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 6, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize basic formats for income splitting, determine the tax treatment of employee and self-employed business expenses, particularly home-office expenses, and identify the tax opportunities available to an unincorporated business including retirement plans, casualty losses, and bad debt deduction.
2. Determine the uses and tax characteristics of regular and S corporations, specify initial §351 formation and capitalization issues, and recognize the use of partnerships to split income among partners.
3. Identify the taxation of child income and the dangers of the “kittie tax” and recognize the use of educational bonds.

At the start of Chapter 7, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* $500,000 home sale exclusion
* Municipal bonds
* Divorce & separation settlements
* Gifts & inheritances
* Life insurance
* Fringe benefits
* Taxation & valuation of benefits
* Employee expense reimbursement & reporting
* Fixed & variable rate allowances
* Social Security
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 7, participants will be able to:

1. Identify tax elimination techniques by recognizing the §121 home sale exclusion and specify the tax elimination aspects of family transactions such as gifts, inheritances, and even divorce.
2. Recognize employer deductions as a means to increase tax-free incentive-based compensation for employees by identifying excludible fringe benefits under §132 including employer paid accident & health coverage, determine how to value fringe benefits, specify the proper reporting of reimbursed and unreimbursed business expenses under accountable and nonaccountable plans.

At the start of Chapter 8, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Need for asset protection
* Types of creditors
* Fraudulent transfers
* Preparation for asset protection
* Types of insurance
* Buy-sell agreements
* Individual ownership and corporate ownership
* Asset protection aspects of trusts
* Co-tenancy and partnerships
* Divorce
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 8, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the goals and purposes of asset protection recognizing objections some people have about shielding assets from creditors, cite reasons for asset protection and situations that put assets at risk, and define asset protection using the primary concepts of insurance, asset placement, and statutory protections.
2. Recognize the importance of creditor types associated with asset protection and fraudulent transfers.
3. Determine the degree and necessity of asset protection using net worth and asset values on a balance sheet, identify the ways that insurance and buy-sell agreements can offer asset protection, and recognize the asset protection advantages and disadvantages of ownership formats and entities.
4. Identify what constitutes post-nuptial and premarital agreements stating how they relate to divorce settlements and divisions.

At the start of Chapter 9, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Mapping mechanics
* Common pitfalls
* Popular retirement myths
* Defining retirement
* Developing a plan
* Savings
* Assets
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 9, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize the importance of preparing for retirement and summarize the basic guidelines of retirement planning, including common pitfalls and misconceptions of retirement.
2. Determine retirement using the major levels of retirement and key questions that have financial and personal ramifications.
3. Identify retirement costs and income needs of clients based on their current budget, recognize tax savings strategies, and identify guidelines when purchasing investment assets.

At the start of Chapter 10, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Will Social Security be there?
* How Social Security works
* Social Security participants
* Social Security benefits
* Retirement benefits
* Direct deposit
* Social security tax
* Total disability benefits
* Survivors’ benefits
* Medicare
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 10, participants will be able to:

1. Determine how Social Security funds are invested and paid, specify the system’s mechanics, list qualified Social Security participants determining their benefit eligibility, identify the requirements to receive Social Security. and list its multi-step calculation process.
2. Recognize Social Security taxes, their tax rates, and covered earnings allowing better retirement planning.
3. Specify the eligibility requirements of Social Security disability benefits and survivors’ benefits, and determine what constitutes Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B recognizing their qualifications.

At the start of Chapter 11, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Qualified deferred compensation
* Basic requirements of a qualified pension plan
* Basic types of corporate plans
* Types of defined contribution plans
* Self-employed plans – Keogh
* Distribution & settlement options of IRAs
* Tax-free rollovers for IRAs
* Roth IRAs
* Simplified employee pension plans (SEPs)
* SIMPLE plans
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 11, participants will be able to:

1. Identify qualified deferred compensation plans specifying their benefits, contributions, and ERISA restrictions and specify the requirements for the basic forms of qualified pension plans.
2. Recall the variety of qualified plans, identify employee contributions, and recognize plan termination rules.
3. Differentiateself-employed plans from qualified plans for other business types, and identify the requirements of IRAs, SEPs, SIMPLEs, and tax-free Roth IRAs.

At the start of Chapter 12, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Prior law for annuity payments
* Mandatory basis rule for annuity payments
* Nonqualifying lump-sum distributions
* Treatment options for lump-sum distributions
* Eligible rollover distributions
* 20% withholding
* Rollover period
* Premature distributions
* Minimum distribution rules
* Making charitable gifts with plan balances
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 12, participants will be able to:

1. Identify popular ways to receive distributions from a retirement plan or an IRA including lump sum and annuity distributions and their respective tax treatment options.
2. Recognize the key components of rollovers that can be used to reinvest cash or other assets without including the amount in income.
3. Specify the tax consequences of taking premature distributions stating how to avoid the 10% penalty.
4. Identify the minimum distribution rules and recognize the ability of participants to make charitable contributions of retirement balances.

At the start of Chapter 13, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Postponement of income
* Purposes & benefits
* Constructive receipt
* Economic benefit
* Funded company account plan
* Segregated asset plan
* Tax consequences
* Accounting
* Estate planning considerations
* Withholding, Social Security & IRAs
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 13, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize the postponement of income with deferred compensation arrangements and specify the IRS’s position on such arrangements stating the impact of constructive receipt and economic benefit concepts;
2. Determine the mechanics of unfunded and funded plans stating the use of company assets or bookkeeping accounts and specify the tax consequences of establishing a nonqualified plan.

At the start of Chapter 14, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Taxes
* Types of life insurance
* Life insurance trusts
* Annuities
* Buy-sell agreements
* Purchase price & terms
* Community property
* Professional corporations
* S corporations
* Sole shareholder planning
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 14, participants will be able to:

1. Specify reasons to purchase life insurance, recognize the tax treatment of life insurance proceeds, and determine the gift tax associated with transfers of life insurance policies.
2. Identify the pros and cons of the various types of insurance policies, specify the reasons for using an irrevocable life insurance trust in an estate plan, and differentiate deferred and private annuities.
3. Determine what constitutes entity purchase and cross-purchase buy-sell agreements recognizing tax and legal advantages.

At the start of Chapter 15, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Capital gains rates
* Rate groups
* AMT
* Home sales under §121
* Special rules for ownership & use requirements
* Pro rata exception
* 1099-S reporting
* Distance & time tests for pre-2018 moving expenses
* Deductible pre-2018 moving expenses
* Reporting pre-2018 moving expenses
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 15, participants will be able to:

1. Determine the relationship between home sales and the capital gains rates.
2. Recognize the key elements and application of the §121 home sale exclusion and identify safe harbor regulations associated with the home sale exclusion.
3. Identify the disallowance deductible moving expenses under §217.

At the start of Chapter 16, participants should identify the following topics for study:
* Unlimited marital deduction
* Applicable exclusion amount
* Stepped-up basis
* Basic estate planning goals
* Simple will
* Types of trusts
* Charitable trusts
* Insurance trusts
* Family documents
* Private annuities
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 16, participants will be able to:

1. Recognize the unlimited marital deduction and its effect on the gross estate and specify the applicable exclusion amounts for various years of death.
2. Identify the relationship of simple wills to probate and why some plan to avoid it.
3. Specify various types of estate trusts and their use to accomplish planning goals, recognize the benefits and drawbacks of the primary dispositive plans, and determine the advantages and disadvantages of private annuities.