TheLiveBigWay® Digest: Flourish, Don’t Fumble

With over 42 million Americans holding federal student loan debt, it is likely that you or someone you know has been paying close attention to the legislation regarding deferred interest and payments. Current legislation extends deferrals through September 2021, and now we’re hearing about the possibility of student loan forgiveness. Should you keep making payments voluntarily? Direct those funds elsewhere? Read on for our thoughts.

If you haven’t heard about the mayhem surrounding GameStop stock (GME), various Redditor groups, and other similar stories with AMC and Silver, we are impressed! It feels like the GameStop mania has completely taken over headlines, social media, and news anchors’ airtime. And while it can be fascinating to watch from the sidelines, we’re here to share our quick take reminder: this isn’t investment, it’s speculation.

With Super Bowl Sunday upon us, it feels timely to share a popular piece we call The Yeske Buie Playbook. Just like the creative and well-researched playbooks of the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, our playbook includes guiding principles and offensive and defensive strategies to help our Clients reach the goal line and get the extra point. Check out our strategies.

We kicked off the year with a live webinar where we shared our thoughts on the year just ended and the year that lies ahead. More specifically, Dr. Dave Yeske and Lauren Stansell reviewed graphs and statistics from 2020 and discussed the impacts of passed and proposed COVID legislation. In case you missed our live discussion, here’s a recording of the presentation.

As you prepare for the beginning of the 2021 tax-filing season (which officially begins next Friday), we wanted to share some important information regarding your 1099 tax forms from Schwab.

• If you took any distributions from your IRA(s) in 2020, you will receive a 1099-R form. This form is currently available on the Schwab Alliance website. IMPORTANT: The 1099-R will show any RMD that was distributed, even if you rolled it back due to the CARES Act legislation. Be sure to share the details of the distribution with your tax preparer so it is not reported as taxable for 2020.
• By mid-February, Schwab will post a 1099 form for your taxable account(s) to the Schwab Alliance website. If you elected to receive paper copies of your 1099, Schwab will send you the documents via mail throughout the month of February.
• There may be corrections to the original 1099 forms, and those corrected forms will be posted to your Schwab Alliance account beginning in late February. Again, Schwab will email you if/when those forms are available.

As a reminder, you will only receive a 1099 if you have taxable accounts open with Yeske Buie in 2020 (i.e. individual, joint, or trust accounts), or a 1099-R if you took distributions from your retirement accounts. If you have any questions about this process or otherwise, please don’t hesitate to contact us.