Things To Do In SW Florida

Are lower home insurance rates leading to cost reductions for Florida homeowners?

After insurance leaders in Florida spent the last year touting the revival of a healthy insurance market, the South Florida Sun Sentinel decided to find out whether policyholders have been affected in the only way most of us care about: Can we insure our homes for a lower price?

Insurers say the only way to find out is to shop your policy out on the open market.

So for this test, the Sun Sentinel recruited four homeowners — two each in south and central Florida — and four agents.

Each agent obtained quotes for two homeowners from insurance companies they are contracted to represent.

The results:

— Among 13 private-market insurers that provided quotes, only two — Edison and newcomer Ovation — offered to reduce premiums. Edison and Ovation both offered lower premiums to one of four participating homeowners while Ovation also offered a lower cost to another homeowner.

— Many of the quotes included $10,000 caps on water damage coverage and several capped roof coverage at the actual cash value, rather than replacement cost. These caps stem from insurers’ experience with high volumes of roof and water claims and heavy litigation connected to them. read more

Despite headline-grabbing return-to-office mandates by some employers, hybrid and remote work are here to stay.

Many employers are even perfecting their approach to flexible work arrangements. They’re making in-person time more strategic and purposeful, designating in-office days and taking steps to ensure new employees don’t feel isolated.

“They’re undoubtedly here to stay,” Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management, said of remote and flexible work options. “It’s hard to put that genie back in the bottle.”

When employers adopted flexible work arrangements during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many found that employees were just as productive when working remotely. In the years since, they’ve discovered that hybrid and remote work options also improve morale and make it easier to recruit and retain employees, who are increasingly prioritizing flexibility.

Among U.S. workers who have jobs that can be performed remotely, the percentage who work a hybrid schedule has hovered between 51% and 55% since November 2022, according to Gallup. That’s up from 32% in 2019. The percentage who are exclusively remote has stayed between 26% and 29% in recent years, up from 8% in January 2019. read more

While SpaceX continues to test its Starship and Super Heavy rocket in Texas, Space Force officials in Florida are preparing for a first launch as early as mid-2026.

SpaceX is awaiting the completion of a pair of environmental impact statements for its plans to launch from both Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37.

“KSC is leading the way with (LC 39-A) and the partnership with SpaceX there to do the development work to be able to support Starship,” said Space Launch Delta 45 commander Col. Brian Chatman during a media discussion about the 100th launch of the year on the Space Coast. “Early- to mid-next year is when we anticipate Starship coming out here to be able to launch, and we’ll have the range rated to support at that time.”

Construction at the KSC site is moving ahead while SpaceX also builds out a Starship manufacturing facility nearby called the Gigabay to pump out the rocket stages for the 403-foot-tall behemoth. read more

The Apopka City Council took the penultimate step Wednesday toward hiking fees developers are charged to help fund police, fire/rescue and recreation services — as much as 42% for residential and 280% for nonresidential construction.

Commissioners voted unanimously during their meeting for proposals increasing impact fees, advancing them to final votes Dec. 17, according to a report in GrowthSpotter. If approved on second reading — with the required supermajority (four of the five members) — the city could begin collecting the higher fees 90 days later. The city last raised these fees in 2017.

Throughout the march toward raising the fees that started months ago, commissioners have repeatedly stressed that the increases are not paid by current residents.

“Just to confirm, this is not a fee to the current residents, this will be a fee to developers that will most likely be passing their fee onto the new residents, correct?” asked Commissioner Nick Nesta.

Shawn Ocasio, senior manager with Raftelis Financial Consultants in Maitland, affirmed that and said during his presentation to the council that without the proposed increases the city would have to pass costs along to current residents. read more

Readers of my column know I emphasize the importance of naming beneficiaries for every IRA account. Many ask under what circumstances they should consider naming a trust as an IRA beneficiary.

In a recent Slott report, Andy Ives, an IRA analyst and certified financial planner for the Slott group summarized the disadvantages of naming a trust as the beneficiary of an IRA account as well when there are advantages to do so.

Disadvantages of naming a trust as beneficiary

A trust should not be named as a beneficiary of an IRA account unless there is a legitimate reason to do so. In no situation is there an income tax advantage in naming a trust as a beneficiary.

In fact, in most situations the income tax would be higher if you named the trust as a beneficiary. In a trust, tax rates reach 37% when income is more than $15,650. By comparison, if you file your tax return jointly, you would not reach the 37% level until your taxable income exceeded $751,600. If you file singly, your taxable income would have to exceed $626,350 before you reached the 37% level. read more