William Perry

Comments

• Reminds me of how I felt from belonging to a community service organization that many of us were members of in the past.

  Post: A safe corner of the internet

  Link to comment from August 30, 2025

• In 1995 the US Supreme court in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995) effectively ruled that imposing term limits on members of congress required a constitutional amendment, at least that is my layman's understanding of the law as it currently exists.

  Post: Dealing with a reduction in Social Security benefits. Is there a backup plan?

  Link to comment from August 29, 2025

• In the late 1970's I saw a construction company that used a device called a quip machine, a very early fax machine, where the home office used the quip to send drawings to remote field construction trailers. Here is how they worked -

  1. 1. Establish a connection:
  2. Manually dial the number of the receiving Qwip machine over a standard telephone line.
  3. 2. Start the transmission:
  4. Once connected, attach your document to the drum of the transmitting machine. A single page, the drum spins.
  5. 3. Await receipt:
  6. The transmitting Qwip would convert the document's image into sound, and the receiving Qwip would then convert the sound back into a printed copy of the original document. Think matrix dot.
  It would take 3 to 5 minutes to transmit a single page. Also - In 1973-74 I was an Army enlisted man stationed in the Black Forest in Germany. The cost of a phone call on a landline was unaffordable. The workaround was the "MARS" system when available. MARS was a Department of Defense program that utilized volunteer amateur radio operators for contingency communications during emergencies, supporting military operations and civil authorities when traditional systems were impaired. For us, a local shortwave operator on the base would find another shortwave operator in the states near where your loved one lived. You could then talk for free up to three minutes. After you spoke you would say "over" so both of the ham operators could flip a switch so you both could speak and be heard. The good thing about MARS was I never got a call from a Medicare Advantage Company wanting to sell me a policy. Now we get such calls often and frequently for my decease dog asking for him by name as my kids created a facebook page for him long ago. I just tell them he died and I buried him in the back yard. I do not tell them he was a dog.

  Post: My thoughts on technology- can’t get enough

  Link to comment from August 28, 2025

• The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College on July 8, 2025 issued a brief on this topic written by Alicia Munnell titled "Social Security’s Financial Outlook: The 2025 Update in Perspective". The brief’s key findings are:

  • The 2025 Trustees Report shows a modest increase in Social Security’s 75-year deficit, while the depletion date for the retirement trust fund remains at 2033.
  • The prospect of a 23-percent benefit cut only 8 years away should focus our attention on restoring balance to the program.
  • It’s important to note that these current estimates are based on the Trustees’ intermediate assumptions, which are not a sure thing.
  • Indeed, the deficit could well end up higher if the fertility rate remains low, millions of immigrants are deported, and people live longer than expected.
  • Even in this case, though, many revenue and benefit options are available to close the gap. All that is needed is the political will.
  For me, the third bullet point, that the estimates of when the trust fund will be depleted is based on intermediate assumptions, appear to me to be optimistic. The observation in the brief and in many of the HD comments that the needed cure is political will to solve the problem. As noted in the comments in the HD Forum article penned by Richard Conner, 2024 Update to the OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County, and in this article there appears to be limited near term concern or planning if or should a 20% plus reduction in scheduled social security benefits occurs in the early 2030's. We each determine our own appropriate planning to both known and unknown risks for ourself, families, heirs and our fellow citizens. I take such planning to be fundamental for me. Best, Bill

  Post: Dealing with a reduction in Social Security benefits. Is there a backup plan?

  Link to comment from August 27, 2025

• We are getting into the tax code weeds. I agree with you on your first sentence regarding inherited property eliminating recaptured depreciation to heirs. On your your second sentence my understanding of how any gain on recaptured depreciation is taxed (i.e. ordinary, capital gain, etc.) depends on the type of property (generally IRC 1245 or IRC 1250) and other factors such as the deprecation method originally selected and holding period. IRS Pub 544 gets into the detail for anyone who wants to tax nerd out. I was grateful for good tax software and those taxpayers who agreed to make appropriate tax elections back in the day when I was preparing returns in my CPA role to keep their tax matters simple for long term tax minimization purposes. We have a high level of complexity in taxes that just seems to keep increasing. I am not optimistic that complexity will go away anytime soon.

  Post: 1031 exchange

  Link to comment from August 26, 2025

• Additional thoughts- Typically, at least under current federal tax law, real property obtained in a 1031 exchange gets a step-up in basis to its fair market value at the owner's death (DOD). For estate planning this is key because it eliminates the accumulated capital gains taxes that the owner deferred during their lifetime, allowing the estate or estate beneficiaries to the sell the inherited property using the date of death fair market value as tax basis or restart depreciation with the new DOD basis if rental will continue. If rental continues post DOD then getting a qualified appraisal at the DOD is important to establish the new tax basis. Again, getting appropriate professional guidance can help avoid tax traps. Also. state tax rules may differ from federal rules for both the state the property is located in and the state of residency of the decedent, the estate and/or the beneficiaries.

  Post: 1031 exchange

  Link to comment from August 26, 2025

• To borrow a phrase from the writings of Mike Piper, there may not be a single perfect plan but there are often plenty of perfectly adequate plans. It appears both you and Richard Quinn have thought about the what if your Social Security benefit is cut at some future date and both of you have a plan that works for you. I hope my plan of investing in TIPS from Roth conversions over the next seven or eight years is a perfectly adequate plan also. My guess is we will all make appropriate changes as needed.

  Post: 2024 Update to the OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County

  Link to comment from August 25, 2025

• I wonder if others are thinking about or actually building a tips ladder to start when the SS trust fund is projected to be depleted in an amount of their projected SS haircut or projected need based future personal cash flows?

  Post: 2024 Update to the OASDI Beneficiaries by State and County

  Link to comment from August 25, 2025

• Additional thoughts - If during the current tax year you transferred property to another party in a like-kind exchange, you must file Form 8824 with your tax return for that year. A key takeaway - Filing Form 8824 is mandatory for taxpayers who complete a like-kind exchange and need to report the details of the transaction on their tax returns. Here is a link to the 2024 IRS instructions for Form 8824.

  Post: 1031 exchange

  Link to comment from August 25, 2025

• Great reference to the on point 2014 Kitces article Rick. That article should give Laura a guide path to the data she needs to gather. Best, Bill

  Post: 1031 exchange

  Link to comment from August 24, 2025