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AUTHORS: Jennifer Climo Jean Fullerton Jonathan Harrington Nick Prigitano Jenna-Rose Finnie Kyle Labelle

Financial Planning for Unmarried Couples

Financial and tax planning advice is relatively easy to find online for married couples and single individuals. However, according to the U.S. census, about 8% of adults live with an unmarried partner. When you are living with a long-term partner, you may think of yourself as married for most purposes, but the law treats you very differently than it does a married couple. It is important to understand these differences, as they can have a dramatic impact on your lifetime taxes paid. It used to be that if you were LGBTQ+ and in a relationship, you were going to be an unmarried couple, as the federal government did not recognize same-sex marriage. This all changed in 2015, when gay marriage was made legal by a Supreme Court decision. However, many LGBTQ+ couples were long disgusted by the lack of marriage equity and chose to remain unmarried even after the court decision. This means there are still many unmarried LGBTQ+ couples.

Medicare Costs for the LGBTQ+ Community

February 17, 2021 Retirement Insurance LGBTQ+

Health care expenses can be a significant cost in retirement. This is no different for the LGBTQ+ community. What is different for members of the LGBTQ+ community is that they may be more likely to be unmarried, and therefore subject to higher Medicare premiums.

LGBTQ+ Supercharge Your HSA

February 12, 2021 Taxes Working Professionals LGBTQ+

What is a Health Savings Account (HSA)? An HSA is a savings account for health care expenses; is one of the few deductions allowed regardless of your income; and has triple tax benefits (tax deduction for contributions, tax-deferred growth and tax-free distributions if used for qualified medical expenses).

LGBTQ+ Individuals More Likely to be Impacted Financially by Coronavirus

May 22, 2020 Working Professionals Insurance LGBTQ+

By this point it's clear that the coronavirus has impacted millions of people around the globe. Nearly everyone has been affected by the virus in some way. While many of us are struggling with the realities of the last few months, some groups have fared worse than others. Specifically, members of the LGBTQ community are more apt to be negatively financially impacted by the coronavirus than other groups.

LGBTQ+ IRA Beneficiary Planning After the SECURE Act

January 22, 2020 Families Estate Planning LGBTQ+

Since the SECURE Act became law in December 2019, there has been a lot of talk in the press that the “Stretch IRA era is over”. The “Stretch” referring to the ability of the beneficiary of an IRA to stretch out Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from the IRA over the beneficiary’s lifetime. It is true that the SECURE Act has changed the rules for some beneficiaries of IRAs who now have only 10 years to fully distribute the funds inside inherited IRAs. But there are notable exceptions that impact LGBTQ estate planning when it comes to choosing beneficiaries.