Steven Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary, announced in a press conference today the IRS will move to allow a no-penalty, no-interest, 90-day extension for 2019 Federal tax payments. This means those who owe money to the IRS will have until July 15th to submit payment. Whi...

Mortgage rates dropped to all time lows earlier this month. The average 30-year mortgage rate is 3.36% and the average 15-year mortgage rate is 2.77%, according to the FreddieMac weekly report published March 12, 2020. 

Refinancing your mortgage may...

Are you wondering the status of your refund? Follow this link to the 

IRS Refund Status web page to find out:

https://www.irs.gov/refunds.

Is your planned retirement age realistic? According to many studies, the answer is no. The Employee Benefit Research Institute 2019 Retirement Confidence Survey found two-thirds of current retirees had planned to work past age 64. However, only one-fourth of retirees a...

West Financial Advisors is happy to announce Joe Hart recently passed the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ exam. The CFP® exam, administered by the Certified Financial Planning Board of Standards, is considered one of the most rigorous examinations in the financial plannin...

Thanks to the Tax Cut and Jobs Act’s higher standard deduction, fewer taxpayers are itemizing on their tax returns. A negative side effect is that taxpayers are unable to utilize the deduction for donations made to a qualified charity. One way around this situation is...

Maintaining perspective is critical for investing success.  Yesterday's market decline of 3% or more has happened 307 times over the last 100 years.  Market volatility is a normal part of investing over the long-term, despite the sensationalized headlines from the medi...

The chart below from the IRS shows more taxpayers claimed the standard deduction this year versus the prior year, from all income levels.  The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) changed the law to limit certain itemized deductions and increase the standard deduction, making i...