Quelle Horreur!

By Allan Rolnick, CPA

all have in common are pay-as-you-go financing and generous benefits, with an average “replacement ratio” of 74%. (Social Security pays 51%.) It’s expensive –France spends 14% of its gross domestic product on pensions. (It’s 6.4% here.) And the statutory retirement age is just 62, which leaves retirees with decades to en- sleight-of-hand to push it through without a vote. Protestors flooded the Place de la Concorde, where Marie Antoinette said, “Let them have their cake and eat it, too,” before she lost her head. French police have made hundreds of arrests, and Macron’s polling numbers have dropped below Pepe LePew’s, oops. to go higher. In fact, French tax collectors have started using artificial intelligence to scan open-source satellite images to catch homeowners who don’t pay property taxes on backyard pools – which sounds like the tax collector’s equivalent of scrounging cushions for spare change. joy le Beaujolais nouveau and les croque monsieurs. They’ve even got pickleball!

Back here in the U.S., taxes play a huge role in retirement planning. Should you stuff your savings into tax-deferred accounts and hope you’ll be paying less when you take them out decades from now? Or should you choose a Roth alternative and pay now to avoid a bigger hit later? Will this year’s choice still be right next year? How optimistic are you that the next pandemic won’t turn us all into zombies and make the whole question moot?

Here’s the problem. The population in France, like populations everywhere, is getting older. In 2020, there were 1.7 workers paying into the system for every retiree getting benefits; by 2070, there will be only 1.2 paying in. President Emmanuel Macron has long favored raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. Last week, he used some constitutional

French unions seem open to simplifying the system so long as benefits don’t take a hit. They would rather see the government raise the social charges that finance pensions or income taxes on wealthy households. Right now, the social charge is 9.7% on salaries and 17.2% on investments. And the top tax rate is 45% on income over €157,807, or roughly $168,000. Those rates are already high enough that Macron’s party is reluctant

This time of year, millions of Americans put more planning into their March Madness brackets than they do into their retirement. If you’re one of them, call us before your #1 seed, “retiring in style,” gets upset! We promise not to judge.

It used to be peanut butter and jelly. Now it’s portobello and pesto. These are the popular sandwiches these days.

Sandwiches are a neat easy way to avoid utensils.

Or a way to limit your bread intake to just two slices.

Don’t you just love when you decide to watch what you eat and then you go to a restaurant?

There, they automatically and generously mess you up. They put a yummy basket of hot bread on the table with your name written in large letters. At least that’s what it feels like.

And then that place beside it a delicious garlic and oil dip. Can you possibly ignore it? Can you ever limit yourself to just two pieces?

Alas, the sandwich! Your savior.

Sandwiches can also be a great day trip item. But what to put inside may be where you hit your challenge!

Just think about that yummy tuna sandwich, dripping with just the right amount of mayo. Then adorned with your favorite vegetables. But is it situa-