Reading: https://bit.ly/3gDD4U3
Watching: https://bit.ly/2IEkEpM
Tech: https://bit.ly/3r7EuuV
Legal: https://bit.ly/3nc8T9d
Retirement: https://bit.ly/343tNQ5
Bonus Link: https://bit.ly/3p5ULih
Bloopers: https://vimeo.com/492596242
Five Fact Friday is a bi-weekly newsletter produced by Medina Law Group & Palante Wealth Advisors containing 5 interesting or fun links. For more information, visit medinalawgroup.com, palantewealth.com or call 609-818-0068.
Full transcript below!
Why am I wearing a jacket indoors? Well, the wardrobe department thought it was the best way to show off, how cold it’s getting outside. Unfortunately, they forgot to give me a Santa’s hat, which means that the video department’s gotta add it in in post-production. Kinda like that. Stay tuned for the links. I’m Victor Medina and this, for the last time in 2020, is Five Fact Friday.
Everybody, welcome back to Five Fact Friday. I don’t know what’s up with the wardrobe department ’cause I don’t have the jacket any longer, but I still got this heavy sweater. I guess it just means that it is colder out. This is the last Five Fact Friday for the year. And I gotta tell you something, it’s an opportunity I think for me to express a little bit of gratitude and appreciation. You know the pandemic has absolutely devastated, a lot of people’s lives, and it’s not just the things that have happened to them with their businesses or their finances, it’s really impacted some families via loss of life, which is devastating and terrible. My firm on the other hand has been able to weather the pandemic really well and it’s due to great clients and their friends who have been sent to our firm for help.
So, we’ve been able to really come out of this almost better than when we came in, and it’s a testament to the great client family that we’ve spent years developing. So I wanted to take a moment and say thank you. Thank you to everybody who watches this video, who cares enough about what we do, to send their family members here and to remain a part of our client family. We couldn’t be who we are without you, and we wanted to say thank you, especially as we enter in, to this final part of this year. Listen we’re gonna be getting into 2021 and we’re not out of the woods yet, but it is an opportunity for a fresh start, and we’re looking forward to expanding our reach and our communications with you, and we look forward to you joining us on that journey. I wanna get to the links for this week.
The first link is what I’m reading. And it’s a link talking about the first Christmas tree, with electric lights, and it actually happened in New York City. I gotta tell you that for a number of years I took pride in the fact that we would have a real Christmas tree in our house. It was something I had to negotiate with my wife because she grew up in an apartment in New York City, and the fear there was that that would cause a fire and it’d kill everybody in the building, so you’d never have one. And I said, we’re always gonna have one in our house. But then, I saw this really good artificial tree with the lights on it. And I was though I was initially resistant, I gotta tell ya, nothing goes up faster than an artificial tree that’s well lit. And we just get a prettier looking Christmas faster, otherwise it takes forever on the day. So I’m sold on the artificial tree. I just buy a candle that smells like a real tree that we burned pretty much all, all season long.
All right, next link is what I’m watching, and it’s actually revisiting a link from a pianist named Chris Cornell. Now you may remember, a little while ago we gave you a link about him, talking about the genius of the music that went behind, Mr. Roger’s neighborhood. Well this time he’s got a link that’s Christmas related, It is the 12 days of Christmas, and then every day, it gets a little bit jazzier. He has a lot of fun talking about iterations of music, and this is a great video to watch, and you’re gonna hear 12 days of Christmas like you’ve never heard it before.
The next link is what’s new in tech, and it is the last opportunity for you to do a little bit of Christmas shopping or stocking shopping. And what it is, is a link to tech gifts that you can give that are under $20. So if you’re looking for a special something for that geek in your life that you want to please, this is gonna be a good link for you.
Next link is what’s new in legal and it’s covering a bipartisan bill that is going to try to increase people saving for retirement. It gives them some safe harbors about things that they can do with their retirement money, but it also encourages employers to add compensation or ways of matching retirement savings for people that are paying off student loans. I gotta tell you normally when these pieces of legislation come out, I get a little bit skeptical and I see a side to it that really doesn’t favor people that are everyday folks that are my clients, but in this case, I really didn’t see a lot that I had a problem with. I think it’s going to be a good piece of legislation, and if it gets more people saving for retirement, that’s gonna a great thing.
The next link is what’s new in retirement and it goes into a topic about what is New Jersey’s exit tax, and when does it apply? Now, this is a topic I’ve actually covered in one of my radio shows before, but to kinda save you some of the time in reading the link, I wanna explain what it is. The exit tax is not really a tax that you owe because you’ve left the State of New Jersey. Generally what happens is that it is a prepayment of some income taxes based on the sale of your home, that when you file your state income taxes while you’re still a resident, you get a portion of that back or credited and there’s nothing really that is sort of owed at the end. But because you are leaving the state, you’re likely not going to file a New Jersey income tax return again. And so all this really is is a prepayment of those taxes, ’cause New Jersey, doesn’t want you leaving, without paying the tax that you owe. So I guess, Is it really an exit tax? It’s a tax on your way out the door of being a New Jersey resident. But isn’t it a tax because you left? It’s an income tax that was always going to be applied, It’s just that you got used to paying it when you were buying and selling homes and staying a resident of New Jersey.
Well, let’s review the links for this week. What I’m reading, is a link about the Christmas tree with electric lights, very first one in New York City. What I’m watching is a link to the 12 days of Christmas, everyone, a little bit jazzier than the one before. What’s new in tech is a link for you to do a little bit of last minute shopping for gifts under $20. What’s new and legal, is a piece of legislation to encourage retirement savings. And what’s new in retirement is the exit tax, New Jersey. What is it and when does it apply? Listen, this is the last Five Fact Friday for the year. We’re looking forward to coming in, with new and brighter and more fun ideas, and the way we’re gonna be doing this videos. But in the meantime, you may be gathering with family or thinking about putting a state planning on your new year’s resolution. Often, is something that people do. So they realize they finally have to get these documents done and a great plan in place. And I wanna encourage you to take the first step by reaching out to us and scheduling an appointment in January, when we get back from our break.
We’ve got some appointments already on the calendar but we have room for more. So if you wanna make sure that you have all your ducks in a row, give us a call and schedule an appointment, get on our calendar and make this, the one new year’s resolution that you actually get done or at least the first one that you get done. Other than that, as I mentioned at the top of this video, I want to express my extreme appreciation for everyone who’s watching this, those people that are on the client family and the friends and family that they send our way. Nothing is more rewarding to know that you entrust the people that you care about to us for care, planning and just the way that we can love on them. And we wanna encourage you to continue to do that because those are the people that we love to serve. So, thank you so much for everything that you’ve done to make 2020 a great year. I wish you the very best entering to 2021. And we’ll catch it, I guess, not in a couple of weeks, but in a couple more weeks after that, when we’re in the new year, take care. Bye-bye.`