The Firm of Gardner & Billing, CPAs PLLC

We're excited to welcome our local Trick-or-Treaters for Halloween sweets !  Storytime Trick-or-Treat from 10:30 - 12:00 on the Courthouse Square Preschoolers through 2nd grade: Meet at the library at 3:30 pm   for group Trick-or-Treat with adults 3rd Grade and Up: Meet at the library at 3:30pm  for a list of participating businesses

Our previous installment of this article by David Roos from HowStuffWorks.com discussed the basics of life insurance. This week we look at who might need life insurance and what types of life insurance are available. Who Needs Life Insurance? Not everyone needs life insurance. The general rule is that you only need life insurance if you have dependents. Typically, dependents are children who still live at home or have yet to graduate from college. But a dependent could be anyone who is financially dependent on you, like a spouse, sibling or an aging parent. Life insurance is generally designed for younger, working people with families. Here's why: Life insurance is meant to replace your "value" to your family once you're gone. For a working parent, a big part of that value is your salary. If you die, you'll want your family to receive enough money to replace your salary for at least the next five to seven years. Even if you're a stay-at-home parent, you s

If you've thought about life insurance but just don't know where to start, this article by Dave Roos from HowStuffWorks.com might help you with the basics. Life insurance can be an important part of succession planning. We don't sell life insurance, but at Gardner & Billing CPAs, we can certainly help you understand the tax implications and how it fits into the bigger picture of estate and financial planning!   How Life Insurance Works Life insurance should really be called "death insurance." Like other types of insurance, life insurance is protection against the unknown. When you buy life insurance, you're paying for the peace of mind that your family will be taken care of in the event of your sudden demise. Life insurance is the life jacket in the fishing boat. You hope to never have to use it, but it's nice to know it's there. Some people call life insurance gambling. They think that you're throwing away a bunch of money on the

***UPDATE***  11/28/16 Only days before Obama's "Final Rule" overtime reform was to take effect, federal courts have blocked the labor legislation by putting a nationwide preliminary injunction in place.  None of the provisions outlined below are slated to come into effect until further notice.   Key Provisions of the Final Rule The Final Rule focuses primarily on updating the salary and compensation levels needed for Executive, Administrative and Professional workers to be exempt. Specifically, the Final Rule: Sets the standard salary level at the 40th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region, currently the South ($913 per week; $47,476 annually for a full-year worker); Sets the total annual compensation requirement for highly compensated employees (HCE) subject to a minimal duties test to the annual equivalent of the 90th percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally ($134,004); and Establishes a mechanism for a