GERBINO INSTITUTE OF LEARNING
This section contains articles and links to videos on various topics. This is for educational and informative purposes and not meant to be specific tax, or financial advice. Please consult your financial advisor or tax professional to discuss your specific situation. Health and fitness information is for educational purposes. Please consult your physician and personal trainer to discuss your specific situation.
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Click on a Topic Below or Scroll Down to the desired topic.
TAX PLANNING
TOPIC: Tax Filing Status: Tax filing status may seem fairly simple, but choosing the wrong one could have you paying more tax than you should. The tax filing status options are single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, head of household, and qualifying surviving spouse. Tax filing status impacts your standard deduction amount and the tax brackets used for your return.
TOPIC: Residential Energy Tax Credit: Wood stoves now qualify for a tax credit. As part of the tax law changes in 2022 is a tax credit for biomass stoves (wood stoves) as part of the energy efficient home improvement credit. For tax years 2023-2032 you can claim the credit if you install a wood stove in your existing primary residence and it meets efficiency standards. To qualify, the wood stove has to have a thermal efficiency rating of at least 75% (check with the manufacturer for the efficiency rating for the model of the wood stove). The credit is not allowed for new construction or rental properties. The credit is 30% of the cost of the wood stove, installation and labor cost. The maximum credit is $2,000 and it is nonrefundable, meaning that you do not get back more than what you owe in taxes and you can't apply any excess to future years. The form to claim the credit is IRS form 5695 Residential Energy Credits.
BUSINESS
TOPIC: BOI Report: A new requirement for business entities was enacted for 2024. The Corporate Transparency Act requires that certain types of United States and foreign entities to report beneficial ownership information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Businesses started in 2024 have ninety days from their formation to complete the report or face possible penalties. Businesses started prior to 2024 have until January 1, 2025 to complete the report. If the business completed the report and then has any ownership change, an updated report needs to be completed. To file your business' report, go to https://boiefiling.fincen.gov.
PERSONAL FINANCE
Topic: IRA Basics: Saving and investing for retirement is very important. Two tax-advantaged accounts are Traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs. Both have the same annual contribution limits, which for 2024 is $7,000 or $8,000 if you are age 50 and above. Eligibility is based on income and tax filing status. Contributions to a Traditional IRA are tax deductible if within the income limits (see IRS Publication 590-A), but withdrawals in retirement are subject to federal income tax. Traditional IRAs have Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) which currently start at age 73 and are based on the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. Contributions to Roth IRAs are not tax deductible but withdrawals at age 59.5 are tax-free for federal income tax purposes. There are no RMDs with a Roth IRA.
Click the video link to watch a video about the basics of both Traditinal and Roth IRA accounts.
ECONOMICS
This section will cover economics from a perspective that will impact everyday life. Not a college course, but information that relates to real-world everyday issues.
MONEY MANAGEMENT
Topic: Basics of Creating a Budget: A budget is a savings plan that can help you spend, save, invest and allocate your money wiser. The first step is to create a cash flow statement or personal income and expenditure statement. This is a summary of your cash inflows (money received) and your cash outflows (payments made) over a given time frame. Once you complete this step you can analyze it to see how any changes can be made. Then you create your spending plan with any of those changes you want incorporated into it. This is your budget and what you will strive to achieve. From this point, you should periodically review things and update as necessary. Having a better handle on where your money comes from and where it goes, can be a critical step to improving your financial situation.
HEALTH & FITNESS
Topic: Health is Wealth: Ben Franklin said "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." It might not be easy to eat right, get enough sleep, workout and take care of your overall health, but it can save you money in the long-run. With the rising costs of health insurance, large deductibles, co-pays, coinsurance, and prescription medications; it can save you money to be as healthy as possible. Less money you have to spend on doctor visits, treatments, and medications is more money that you will be able to put towards your financial plan.
Topic: SAID Principle: The SAID (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands) principle relates to specificity, but is also important to make sure you do not plateau. The body will become used to doing the same thing, so it is important to vary or change up your routine from time to time to continue to make gains. When doing resistance training, you can train a muscle group many different ways. For example, if you are training your chest, you could do the bench press using a barbell. To hit the chest from different angles you can also do incline chest press or decline chest press. You could use dumbbells instead of barbells or use the resistance machines. If you don’t have access to any of that equipment, you can do exercises such as push-ups or dips. The important thing is to vary your routine from time to time when you start to plateau and work your body in different ways to continue to make gains.
Clink the video link to watch a video about the SAID Principle.
GERBINO INSTITUTE OF LEARNING
No degrees, just real-world information that will help for a lifetime. Areas focused on include personal finance, business, economics, health and fitness. This area will periodically have articles and videos on various topics. The best part is you don't have to accumulate $100,000 + of debt to gain this knowledge. Articles and videos are free.
THREE RULES TO FOLLOW IN LIFE
"Look at the big picture, think beyond step one, and pay attention to detail."
Steven G. Gerbino, MBA, MSFS
President and Co-Founder of Gerbino Empire, Inc.
