Page 22 - Abacoa Community News November '23

Page 22, Abacoa
Financial Focus ®

What Should You Know aren’t required for a Roth IRA, and, starting in 2024, qualified charitable distribution, you can move up to
• Donate RMDs to charity. In what’s known as a
Not all retirement accounts are subject to RMDs. They
About RMDs? won’t be required for a Roth 401(k) or 403(b) plan. But $100,000 of your RMDs directly from a traditional IRA to
if your account does call for RMDs, you do need to take a qualified charity, avoiding the taxes that might otherwise
By Sally Sima Stahl them, because if you don’t, you could face tax penalties. result if you took the RMDs yourself. After 2023, the
You may spend decades Previously, this penalty was 50 percent of the amount you $100,000 limit will be indexed to inflation.
contributing to various were supposed to have taken, but SECURE 2.0 reduced Of course, before you start either a Roth IRA conversion
retirement accounts. But it to 25 percent. or a qualified charitable distribution, you will need to consult
for some accounts, such as a When you take your RMDs, you need to be aware of a with your tax advisor, as both these moves have issues you
traditional IRA and 401(k), key issue: taxes. RMDs are taxed as ordinary income, and, must consider and may not be appropriate for your situation.
you must start withdrawing as such, they could potentially bump you into a higher But it’s always a good idea to know as much as you can
funds at a certain point. tax bracket and possibly even increase your Medicare about the various aspects of RMDs – they could play a big
What should you know premiums, which are determined by your modified part in your retirement income strategy.
about this requirement? adjusted gross income. Are there any ways you could This article was written by Edward Jones for use by
To begin with, the possibly reduce an RMD-related tax hike? your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor, Edward
rules governing these You might have some options. Here are two to consider: Jones, Member SIPC.
withdrawals – technically called required minimum • Convert tax-deferred accounts to a Roth IRA Edward Jones is a licensed insurance producer in
distributions, or RMDs – have changed recently. For account. You could convert some, or maybe all, of your all states and Washington, D.C., through Edward D.
many years, individuals had to begin taking their RMDs tax-deferred retirement accounts to a Roth IRA. By doing Jones & Co., L.P., and in California, New Mexico and
(which are based on the account balance and the IRS’ life so, you could lower your RMDs in the future – while Massachusetts through Edward Jones Insurance Agency
expectancy factor) when they turned 70½. The original adding funds to an account you’re never required to touch. of California, L.L.C.; Edward Jones Insurance Agency
SECURE Act of 2019 raised this age to 72, and SECURE So, if you don’t really need all the money to live on, you of New Mexico, L.L.C.; and Edward Jones Insurance
2.0, passed in 2022, raised it again, to 73. (If you turned could include the remainder of the Roth IRA in your Agency of Massachusetts, L.L.C.
73 in 2023, and you were 72 in 2022 when the RMD limit estate plans, providing an initially tax-free inheritance Edward Jones, its employees and financial advisors
was still 72, you should have taken your first RMD for to your loved ones. However, converting a tax-deferred cannot provide tax advice. You should consult your
2022 by April 1 of this year. You will then need to take account to a Roth IRA will generate taxes in the year of qualified tax advisor regarding your situation.
your 2023 RMD by Dec. 31. And going forward, you’ll conversion, so you’d need the money available to pay Contact us at (561) 748-7600, Sally Sima Stahl, AAMS,
also need to take your RMDs by the end of every year.) this tax bill. 1851 W. Indiantown Road, Ste. 106, Jupiter, FL 33458.
Good Samaritan Medical Center Invests In

Life-Enhancing Technology And Better Cancer Care Solutions

At Good Samaritan Medical Center, we’ve invested in through the catheter, even when positioned in tortuous
life-enhancing technology and better cancer care solutions, airways. After advancing around tight-radius bends of
so our patients have access to quality care. That’s why we’re the catheter, the needle deploys into the target location
excited to announce we now offer a minimally invasive on a straight path.
robotic-assisted bronchoscopy procedure with Ion. During biopsy, Ion’s Biopsy Marker feature lets
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. physicians systematically track multiple biopsy attempts
However, when diagnosed at the earliest stage, known as and helps visualize different biopsy needle trajectories. If
stage IA-1, the average five-year survival rate is 92 percent. real-time confirmation of a representative tissue sample
Early-stage diagnosis can be difficult, but the Ion is available, the physician can redirect subsequent biopsy
endoluminal system may help obtain tissue samples that attempts into the confirmed target area.
facilitate a diagnosis. Ion is a robotic-assisted platform Ion made by Intuitive, maker of the da Vinci surgical
for minimally invasive biopsy in the lung. Ion enables During bronchoscopy with Ion, the physician uses the system, is built on more than two decades of leadership in
physicians to obtain tissue samples from deep within the lung, controller to navigate to the target along a planned path. The robotic-assisted technology. Our institution has chosen the
addressing a challenging aspect of lung biopsy. It may also catheter can articulate 180 degrees in any direction to pass Ion robotic-assisted bronchoscopy system because it provides
help patients avoid subsequent biopsies by helping enable a through small, difficult-to-navigate airways and around tight more reach, more stability, and more precision.
diagnosis through the samples obtained. bends to reach all 18 segments of the lung. Our investment in Ion complements our robotic-assisted
The system features an ultra-thin, ultra-maneuverable Ion’s peripheral vision probe provides direct vision during surgical program, enabling patients to receive all care – from
catheter that allows navigation far into the peripheral lung, navigation. Once the pulmonary nodule is reached, the biopsy to surgery – at our hospital.
and unprecedented stability enables the precision needed for catheter locks in place. The Flexision biopsy needle, a To sign up for a lung cancer screening at Good Samaritan
TM
biopsy compared to manual techniques. flexible biopsy needle compatible with Ion, then passes Medical Center, please call (561) 650-6441.

A Butterfly Effect from page 21 Whe n y ou when several synapses were being strengthened. Moreover, its
learn, synaptic activity spread throughout the neuron, regulating biochemical
your synapses and make them stronger or weaker. Interestingly, compartments reactions from the synapses throughout the neuron to the
when just a few synapses of the thousands in a neuron undergo on your neurons nucleus, where they activated gene transcription.
plasticity, these reactions extend beyond individual synaptic gr ow and “This work provides new tools, which overcome longstanding
compartments and spread throughout the neuron to the nucleus, st r e n g t h e n , limitations in studying the functions of individual PKC enzymes
where neuron-wide changes in gene-expression occur. represented abstractly as buds opening into full bloom. and provides greater understanding of synaptic plasticity,
The coordination of local plasticity at the synapses with New research has discovered that during this process, a critical process in brain function,” describes Dr. Lesley
changes in the nucleus enables lasting changes in information signaling enzymes named PKCd, drawn above as fluttering Colgan, the study’s lead researcher. “Through this approach,
transfer in the brain during learning. However, the enzymes butterflies, are activated to support the strengthening and we discovered an efficient mechanism for information exchange
growth of synapses while also sending signals, represented between synapses and gene transcription within the nucleus,
NEED A/C? We’ve Got You Covered! by pollen, that spread from the synapses to the nucleus of converting short-term plasticity into longer lasting forms of
the neuron to regulate cell wide gene expression. Illustration plasticity that likely underly memory formation.”
by Helena Pinheiro. Like the spreading of PKCd activity from a few synapses
throughout the neuron, the scientists hope that the development
and reactions coordinating synapse-to-nucleus signaling of new biosensors for the PKC family of enzymes will have
“WE SHOW were not fully understood. By developing new approaches an impact beyond the field of synaptic plasticity.
to studying old questions, scientists at MPFI were able to
As Colgan remarked, “The PKC family of enzymes is

UP!” identify that PKCd is essential for this critical process. involved in many cellular functions and has been implicated

PKCd is part of the PKC family, a group of 12 closely
in many diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer,
related enzymes, that has been known to be necessary and heart disease. We hope the tools developed in this
for synaptic plasticity. However, the role of individual paper will be used by others in the scientific community
enzymes in the PKC family in synaptic plasticity was to address many different questions and make an impact in
not clear. This uncertainty was due primarily to scientists these important scientific fields.”
lacking tools that would allow them to distinguish the This research was supported by the National Institutes of
unique roles of these closely related family members. Health under award numbers R35-NS-116804 (RY), R01-
To overcome this limitation, the scientists developed MH-080047 (RY), and F32MH101954 (LAC). This content is
biosensors to visualize the activity of the specific members solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily
of the PKC family of enzymes. The team found that one represent the official views of the funders.
of these enzymes, PKCd, was indispensable for synaptic Lesley A. Colgan, Paula Parra-Bueno, Heather L. Holman,
Call Today for a FREE estimate! plasticity. Blocking its function prevented the increase in Xun Tu, Anant Jain, Mariah F. Calubag, Jaime A. Misler,
561.575.2173 the strength and size of synaptic connections. Chancellor Gary, Goksu Oz, Irena Suponitsky-Kroyter, Elwy
231 Jupiter St., Jupiter, FL Most notably, the study revealed that the activity of PKCd Okaz, and Ryohei Yasuda, (2023). Dual Regulation of Spine-
www.MiklosAir.com varied depending on the nature of the plasticity stimulus. Specific and Synapse-to-Nucleus Signaling by PKCd during
PKCd was activated to a greater degree and for a longer time Plasticity, The Journal of Neuroscience, 43(30), 5432.