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MAY 2023
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BEWARE THE TORPEDO TAX!
Why You May Face a Tax Spike
If you look at Publication 915, a document created by the IRS, the Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) that “explains the federal income tax rules for Social Security benefits and equivalent Tier 1 railroad retirement benefits,” you’ll find that if Social Security is your only income, it’ll probably be tax-free. This is because Social Security is taxed differently than every other income you have. Knowing this, it’s possible to have other income from wages or pension plans on top of your Social Security and yet still remain tax-free. The amount of this extra income, or Provisional Income, is different for everyone. A complex formula calculates the income you can bring in on top of Social Security. However, you can only bring in additional income that remains tax-free up to a certain point. When you breach this tax-free threshold, you may experience the Social Security Torpedo Tax. For example, let’s say you pull some money from your qualified accounts due to minimum distributions, or perhaps you start a
part-time job that pays only an additional $10,000 a year; this extra income might pull a little bit of your Social Security into the taxable amount. So, even though you only increased your income by $10,000 a year, by surpassing that tax-free threshold and pulling some of your tax-free Social Security income into taxable income, you can unintentionally increase your taxes by 50%! The tricky part about the Torpedo Tax is that if you’re unaware of the extra income you can bring in, you may surpass that tax-free threshold without even knowing it just by withdrawing from a few accounts. So, when Tax Day rolls around, you could actually owe the federal government instead of receiving a helpful tax refund.
BRIDGERIVER MAY 2023 SEMINAR DATES May 2 & 4 – 6:00 p.m. Filippas (Shelby Township) Retirement Planning Hosted by Krisstin Petersmarck May 10 & 11 – 6:30 p.m. Filippas (Shelby Township) The Top 5 Tax Strategies Every Retiree Needs to Know May 16 & 17 – 6:30 p.m. Filippas (Shelby Township) More Income & Less Taxes May 23 & 25 – 6:30 p.m. Filippas (Shelby Township) Top 3 Annuities for Explosive Income & Safe Growth
If you don’t know how much extra income you can bring in without incurring the Social Security Torpedo Tax — or are worried you may have exceeded
the threshold — call me at 248.785.3734. I can help you calculate the tax-free income you can receive without getting the headache of surprising tax spikes.
-Dan Casey President, Bridgeriver Advisors
Register today at BridgeriverLLC.com! Free dinner provided.
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3 HOTELS TO VISIT FOR A GREAT NIGHT’S SLEEP
The Newest Travel Trend
If you’ve ever planned a vacation, you’ve probably picked a few key places to visit, like a museum, restaurant, or historic site. However, a new vacation trend is becoming increasingly popular: sleep tourism, where a traveler plans their entire vacation to get the best quality sleep during their time away. Before, common goals for vacations were to eat delicious foods, stay up late to see the sights, and fit in as much activity as possible. However, this left travelers completely exhausted. And as our culture continues to understand how important sleep is to our health, more people are prioritizing rest even while they’re away. But being a sleep tourist is about more than going to bed early and ensuring you get your recommended eight hours of rest. It’s about
building your vacation around sleep. Some hotels even offer rooms tailored to sleep tourists, with amenities so popular that their sleep options have become regular offerings. So, if sleep tourism sounds like something you’d be interested in, here are three hotels that help you catch those z’s. Park Hyatt New York (NYC): This hotel features a “Sleep Suite” designed by Bryte, a company that uses AI to facilitate sleep. The room touts an intuitive “Restorative Bed,” which adjusts to relieve pressure points and controls climate temperature throughout the night, according to each person’s needs. This suite also includes an array of soothing essential oils, a diffuser, and books about sleep.
The Cadogan, a Belmond Hotel (London): This hotel offers a “sleep concierge,” which boasts prerecorded sleep meditations and a pillow selection menu for every type of sleeper. Sleepers can even benefit from the hotel’s weighted blankets, scented pillow mist service, and their proprietary sleep tea. Zedwell (London): The first ever “sleep- centric” hotel, Zedwell uses recycled materials to insulate every door, wall, and floor from sound. This hotel also purifies the air within the hotel and fills every space with ambient lighting.
BING VS. GOOGLE
For years, most people have written off Bing as a dead search engine. Sure, it existed in the 2010s — but why would you use it when the king of all search engines, Google, was available? Most people didn’t. According to Business Insider, Google has cornered about 93% of the search engine market, while Bing holds a measly 3%. But that may be about to change. If you haven’t heard, Bing is back — apparently better than ever. This winter, Microsoft unveiled a new version of the long-laughed-at search engine powered by its artificial intelligence partner OpenAI. Now, the renovated Bing will face off against Google’s AI chatbot, the newly launched Bard. The Perks of the New Bing Early reviews of Bing’s updates gave several features the thumbs up, including its extra-large query box, which lets you type in an entire paragraph to provide the search engine background information on your question. Reviewers also enjoy the detailed, personalized, AI-powered answers alongside Bing’s search results. With Bing, you can customize the AI voice that answers your questions — a fun upgrade from generic Google. There are even a few computer geeks out there (like Mark Hachman of PCWorld) who picked Bing over Google The Showdown Is On — Again!
before the update. Hachman cites Bing’s excellent image search filters, lucrative Microsoft Rewards, and the fact that it “delivers slightly more useful information than Google in general search.”
As we write this, the new version of Bing hasn’t fully launched, but you may be able to test it by downloading the Bing app and selecting Microsoft as your default browser. Look for the little blue AI pop-up on the right side of the page after you search. Where Google Still Wins Though Bing may have brought its search abilities closer to Google’s, if not matched the tech giant, there’s no question that Google still dominates the marketplace and likely will for years to come — no matter how good Bing gets. Google is tied to millions of advertisers who rely on returns from its service. It’s the default search engine of the popular browser Google Chrome, and it’s even embedded in our vocabulary. Until we all start saying “Bing it,” Google probably isn’t going anywhere.
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LEVEL UP YOUR NEXT FAMILY GAME NIGHT
Impress Your Kids With These Fresh Choices
Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum Who doesn’t love a food-themed board game? This fun, fast-paced game for 2–5 players, ages 14 and up, comes with a Lazy Susan filled with dim sum ingredients. You play as a Zodiac animal and aim to collect more dim sum than any other players. Instead of fortune cookies, fortune cards help determine your luck! “If you’re looking for a fresh new party game in 2023, Steam Up looks like a real tabletop joy,” GamesHub reports. Steam Up was launched on Kickstarter and, as we write this, is available for preorder and expected to ship soon. Small World Kids ages 8 and up will love this board game, especially if they’re “Lord of the Rings” fans. As Wirecutter explains, “Imagine a game of Risk set in Middle-earth that didn’t take as long to play
TAKE A BREAK If you’re tired of playing Catan every family board game night, we have good news: There are brand-new games in town! Consider adding these three options to your family’s stash. Wavelength Not only is this game perfect for playing with your whole family (ages 5 and up), but it also actively encourages conversation! Up to 12 players can split into teams and use hints from their peers to guess their teammates’ opinions on various topics. The issues can range from the merit of hit movies to “Where, on the scale of wet to dry, is spaghetti?” The New York Times’ Wirecutter ranked Wavelength among the best board games of 2022 and recommended it to fans of other interactive, team-based guessing games like Codenames.
as rewatching all of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films would. That’s pretty much the experience of Small World, an area-control game filled with elves, dwarves, and halflings, among others.” When you sit down to play, you choose a band of magical creatures and a power, then set up your “empire” and battle the other players for land and gold. At the end of 60–80 minutes of strategizing, the richest player wins the game. If any of these games catch your eye, head to your local game store and ask if they’re available, or jump online to snag them yourself!
Ginger Pork Stir-Fry
Inspired by TasteOfHome.com
Ingredients
• 1 tbsp cornstarch • 1 cup orange juice • 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 small onion, sliced • 1/4 lb fresh snow peas • 1/2 sweet red pepper, julienned • Cooked rice • Green onion, chopped (optional) • Sesame seeds (optional)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced • 1/4 tsp ground ginger • 1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips • 2 tbsp canola oil
Directions
1. In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch, orange juice, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger until smooth; set aside. 2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, stir-fry pork in oil until lightly browned, about 4–5 minutes. Remove pork and add onion, peas, and red pepper. Cook until crisp-tender, about 3–5 minutes. 3. Stir in orange juice mixture and pork. Bring to a boil, and then cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Serve over rice. Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds if desired.
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INSIDE
This Issue Don’t Be Surprised by the Torpedo Tax!
Want the Best Sleep Of Your Life?
Have You Tried the New Bing?
New Family Board Games Are Here!
Ginger Pork Stir-Fry
Host an Unforgettable Murder Mystery Dinner
THE BEST WAY TO CELEBRATE MYSTERY MONTH
Host a Murder Mystery Dinner!
Did you know May is Mystery Month? There are dozens of ways to celebrate this enigmatic occasion, from playing Clue to rewatching “Glass Onion” — but why not bring those experiences to life and host your own murder mystery dinner at home? Thanks to a plethora of kits on the market, doing so is easier than ever! What is a murder mystery dinner? A murder mystery dinner is essentially a real-life game of Clue. You invite friends over for dinner and turn your home into the set of “Knives Out” — without the blood, of course. Each of your friends takes on the persona of a character in the story, and when one of them is “murdered,” you compete to uncover who dunnit. Step 1: Pick your kit. Planning a murder mystery dinner from scratch would take the ingenuity of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Luckily, you have several ready-made mysteries to choose from! You can find boxes from Masters of Mystery and My Mystery Party at your local board game store, but you can find many options available online, too. Night of Mystery (NightOfMystery.com), for example, sells both in-person and virtual kits with themes ranging from ‘80s prom to Christmas homicide.
If your friends and family don’t like the idea of acting and dressing up, that’s okay — you can still solve a mystery over dinner! Look into kits available through Unsolved Case Files (UnsolvedCaseFiles.com) or Hunt A Killer (Shop. HuntAKiller.com), which involve collaborative mystery-solving without the character work. Step 2: Curate your guest list. Most murder mystery dinners require at least four people, while some include characters for six, eight, or more! Check the number of players on your kit and invite your most creative, analytical, theatrical, and mystery- loving friends. Step 3: Decorate and plan the menu. If you choose a themed murder mystery, level up your event with a matching menu and decor! For games taking place in England, whip up a shepherd’s pie and make a cardboard cutout of Big Ben. For Havana Nights, plan a build-your-own Cubano bar and throw on an Afro-Cuban playlist. You can be as over-the-top as you like. Remember, it’s Mystery Month!
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