Business

Put Together a Professional Team to Help You Reach Your Goals

PASADENA JOURNAL — As you work toward achieving your goals in life, you will need to make moves that contain ﬁnancial, tax and legal elements.

Published

6 years ago

March 1, 2019

Oakland Post

By Arnetta Tolley, Edward Jones Financial Advisor

As you work toward achieving your goals in life, you will need to make moves that contain ﬁnancial, tax and legal elements, so you may want to get some help – from more than one source.

Speciﬁcally, you might want to put together a team comprised of your ﬁnancial advisor, your CPA or other tax professional, and your attorney. Together, this team can help you with many types of ﬁnancial/tax/legal connections.

For starters, you may decide, possibly upon the recommendation of your ﬁnancial advisor, to sell some investments and use the proceeds to buy others that may now be more appropriate for your needs. If you sell some investments you’ve held for a year or less and realize a capital gain on the sale, the gain generally will be considered short-term and be taxed at your ordinary income tax rate. But if you’ve held the investments for more than a year before selling, your gain will likely be considered long-term and taxed at the lower, long-term capital gains rate, which can be 0%, 15% or 20%, or a combination of those rates.

On the other hand, if you sell an investment and realize a capital loss, you may be able to apply the loss to offset gains realized by selling other, more proﬁ table investments and also potentially offset some of your ordinary income. So, as you can see, the questions potentially raised by investment sales – “Should I sell?” “If so, when?” “If I take some losses, how much will they beneﬁt me at tax time?” – may also be of importance to your tax advisor, who will need to account for sales in your overall tax picture. As such, it’s a good idea for your tax and ﬁnancial advisors to communicate about any investment sales you make.

Your tax and financial advisors also may want to be in touch on other issues, such as your contributions to a retirement plan. For example, if you are self-employed or own a small business, and you contribute to a SEP-IRA – which is funded with pre-tax dollars, so the more you contribute, the lower your taxable income – your ﬁnancial advisor can report to your tax advisor (with your permission) how much you’ve contributed at given points in a year, and your tax advisor can then let you know how much more you might need to add to move into a lower tax bracket, or at least avoid being bumped up to a higher one. Your ﬁnancial advisor will be the one to recommend the investments you use to fund your SEP-IRA.

Your ﬁnancial advisor can also help you choose the investment or insurance vehicles that can fund an estate-planning arrangement, such as an irrevocable living trust. But to establish that trust in the ﬁrst place, and to make sure it conforms to all applicable laws, you will want to work with an attorney experienced in planning estates. Your tax professional may also need to be brought in. Again, communication between your various advisors is essential.

These are but a few of the instances in which your ﬁnancial, tax and legal professionals should talk to each other. So, do what you can to open these lines of communication – because you’ll be one who ultimately beneﬁts from this teamwork.

[Arnetta Tolley, Financial Advisor, Edward Jones 626-744-2740 or Arnetta.tolley@edwardjones.com]

This article originally appeared in the Pasadena Journal.

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Activism

Oak Temple Hill Hosts Interfaith Leaders from Across the Bay Area

Distinguished faith leaders Rev. Ken Chambers, executive director the Interfaith Council of Alameda County (ICAC); Michael Pappas, executive director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council; and Dr. Ejaz Naqzi, president of the Contra Costa County Interfaith Council addressed the group on key issues including homelessness, food insecurity, immigration, and meaningful opportunities to care for individuals and communities in need.

Published

1 day ago

June 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Troy McCombs (from the state of Washington), Elder Mark Mortensen (from Irvine, CA), Michael Pappas, Rev. Ken Chambers, Dr. Ejaz Naqvi, Elder Sigfried Nauman (from the state of Washington), and Richard Kopf. Courtesy photo.

Special to the Post

Interfaith leaders from the Bay Area participated in a panel discussion at the annual meeting of communication leaders from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held on Temple Hill in Oakland on May 31. Distinguished faith leaders Rev. Ken Chambers, executive director the Interfaith Council of Alameda County (ICAC); Michael Pappas, executive director of the San Francisco Interfaith Council; and Dr. Ejaz Naqzi, president of the Contra Costa County Interfaith Council addressed the group on key issues including homelessness, food insecurity, immigration, and meaningful opportunities to care for individuals and communities in need.

Chambers, said he is thankful for the leadership and support of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints’ global ministry, which recently worked with the interfaith congregations of ICAC to help Yasjmine Oeveraas a homeless Norwegian mother and her family find shelter and access to government services.

Oeveraas told the story of how she was assisted by ICAC to the Oakland Post. “I’m a Norwegian citizen who escaped an abusive marriage with nowhere to go. We’ve been homeless in Florida since January 2024. Recently, we came to California for my son’s passport, but my plan to drive for Uber fell through, leaving us homeless again. Through 2-1-1, I was connected to Rev. Ken Chambers, pastor of the West Side Missionary Baptist Church and president of the Interfaith Council of Alameda County, and his car park program, which changed our lives. We spent about a week-and-a-half living in our car before being blessed with a trailer. After four years of uncertainty and 18 months of homelessness, this program has given us stability and hope again.

“Now, both my son and I have the opportunity to continue our education. I’m pursuing cyber analytics, something I couldn’t do while living in the car. My son can also complete his education, which is a huge relief. This program has given us the space to focus and regain our dignity. I am working harder than ever to reach my goals and give back to others in need.”

Richard Kopf, communication director for The Church of Jesus Christ in the Bay Area stated: “As followers of Jesus Christ, we embrace interfaith cooperation and are united in our efforts to show God’s love for all of his children.”

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Alameda County

Council Approves Budget to Invest in Core City Services, Save Fire Stations, Invest in Economic Development

I am most proud of our ability to fund these critical city services without the use of one-time fixes. We are still suffering the consequences of last year’s budget, where a majority of the Council, myself not included, chose to incorporate anticipated proceeds from the sale of the Coliseum to fund essential services. Since the sale has still not yet been completed, the lack of funds led to drastic cuts in city services, including the temporary closure of fire stations, staff layoffs, and the cancellations of many service contracts.

Published

1 day ago

June 14, 2025

Oakland Post

District 4 Oakland City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran. Photo courtesy City of Oakland.

By Janani Ramachandran, District 4 Oakland City Councilmember

On Wednesday, June 11, City Council took a bold step to prioritize investing in essential city services to get our beautiful Town back on track. As Chair of the Finance Committee, I am proud to have led a collaborative process, alongside Councilmembers Rowena Brown, Zac Unger, and Charlene Wang, to develop a set of amendments to the proposed FY 2025-2027 budget which passed successfully with a vote of 6 – 1. Despite facing a $265 million structural budget deficit, we were able to restore funding to ensure that all 25 fire stations remain open, fund 5 police academies, invest millions of dollars to combat illegal dumping and sideshow prevention, improve our permitting processes, fund a “business incentives” program to revitalize our commercial corridors, improve upon our homelessness prevention work, amplify the city’s anti-trafficking programs, re-instate our tree services division, staff up our Auditor’s office – all while preventing any layoffs of city staff, keeping our senior centers and after-school programs open, and crisis services like MACRO funded.

Our budget comes in response to the widespread and consistent calls from across Oakland’s diverse communities asking us to prioritize funding solutions to the issues that have most directly impacted our residents’ safety and quality of life. Our priorities are also inspired by our belief that Oakland is on the way not only to financial recovery, but also to global recognition. Oakland can attract and preserve businesses of all sizes with safer, cleaner streets. We can and will have more large-scale festivals that celebrate our culture, concerts that uplift our incredible local musicians, conferences that attract patrons from across the world, and award-winning restaurants that top national charts. We are on our way to rebuilding a thriving economy and having a cultural renaissance will create more jobs for Oaklanders while also generating more revenue for the City through sales and business taxes.

I am grateful for the close partnership with our new Mayor Barbara Lee, and know that she shares our values of ensuring we are prioritizing keeping Oakland’s residents safe, our streets clean, and our businesses prosperous in an open and fiscally responsible manner. I am also thankful to our City Administrator, Jestin Johnson, and former Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins’ efforts to produce the initial proposal that our Council budget team used as a starting point for our amendments, and for their shared commitment to transparency and ethical government. I am especially grateful for every resident that took the time to make their voice heard throughout this rigorous budget process. I have no doubt that we are on the verge of true change, and that together we will bring Oakland back to being the world-class city I know it can be.