On Tuesday, June 23rd the IRS released Notice 2020-51, which updated and expanded CARES Act relief for Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) on tax-deferred IRAs, 401(k)s, and 403(b) accounts for 2020. An RMD is the amount the IRS mandates people age 70 ½ (born before July 1, 1949) or age 72 (born after June 30, 1949) take out of their tax-deferred accounts in order to pay tax on those savings. The two most important points of this update are: Anyone who has taken their RMD at any time in 2020 can return it to their IRA or other tax deferred account. The original legislation limited returns to RMDs taken between February 1 and May 15. Now, retirees who took their RMD (or partial RMD) in January of 2020 or after May 15, 2020 can return that RMD. The deadline to return RMDs has been extended to August 31, 2020 from the original deadline...

The former World Series of Poker champion, and now corporate consultant, Annie Duke, has written a wonderful book on decision making titled “Thinking in Bets, Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All The Facts.” The book opens with a story that many football fans have said is the worst play call in Super Bowl history. For those that may not remember, the Seattle Seahawks were down by 4 points with 26 seconds left in the game with the ball on the one-yard line. The head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll, called a pass play instead of handing off the ball to one of the best running backs in the NFL. The pass was intercepted and the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl. When the details of the situation are clearly discussed in the book -- the number of downs and time outs left, along with the fact that not one of the sixty-six passes attempted from the one-yard line...