Last month was our annual membership drive and we had a great turnout. The event was held at the Double Tree in Hotel Circle and we had close to fifty attendees. PRP Wine International brought nine different wines for us to taste and they were all very good. We inducted four new members and gained three new members from the event. Hopefully we can all keep this momentum going.

Calendars are on sale now and they are selling like hot cakes! Please try to get as many people you know to purchase them as we still have a lot of money to raise for CA Council. I think everyone agrees that the calendars far exceeded our expectations. Kerstenbeck Photographic Art really did an excellent job taking the photos...thanks again Kathleen and Eric for donating your time and resources to make this so successful.

We have a lot more fun stuff planned for this year so if you would like to get more involved please feel free to contact me.

See you at our next meeting!

In fellowship,

Jennifer Hetzel

The Wine Tasting Membership Mixer was a great success!  PRP International introduced us to a variety of wines and the food provided by the Doubletree Club was quite tasty!  We had a lot of new faces at the meeting and were able to sign up three new members at the meeting as well as follows:

Cathy Burkhardt

Terry Perry

Colleen Valters

We installed the following new members:

Jen Dowd

Judie Victor

Jari Lynn Sutton

Sejal Friday

Everyone had a wonderful time and we are very excited that several of our new members are already getting signed up to serve on the upcoming committees that start office on July 1^st!  Speaking of July 1^st- don't forget to be on the look out for the paperwork coming direct to you from National next month to renew your membership!  We have done a great job this year increasing our membership and everyone getting involved- let's keep that momentum going into the new year!!

For information about membership benefits - please visit the membership section of the website at: www.sdinsurancewomen.com

In fellowship,

Kathleen Kerstenbeck, ARM, CPIW,

California Council Director

In December, President Obama signed into law the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010.  For two years, the Act extends most of the Bush era tax cuts which had been scheduled to expire on December 31, 2010.  It also creates some additional tax cuts, many for 2011 only, which can help individuals and business owners realize additional savings. 

In addition to the income tax provisions, the Act makes major changes to the federal estate, gift and generation skipping transfer tax systems through December of 2012, by granting higher exemptions and lower top tax rates.  This law provides a clear though temporary window of opportunity for those seeking to plan their legacy.

As a taxpayer, the most important issue to be aware of is that all of these benefits are available for a limited time only.  The latest is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012.  Unless further legislative action is taken, the laws will revert to those in place in 2001 for income and transfer tax purposes

Highlights of New Income Tax Provisions Include:

• Federal Income Tax Rate Reductions Extended Through December 31, 2012.  For all individual, married and married filing separately, Federal income taxes will remain at the 2010 marginal income tax rates and brackets.
• 2011 Payroll Tax Reduction cuts the employee portion of the Social Security payroll tax from 6.2% to 4.2% through December 31, 2011 only.
• Capital Gains/Qualified Dividends Tax Rate Reductions to Continue Until December 31, 2012.  This provision maintains the current rate of 15% for capital gains and qualifying stock dividends (zero percent for taxpayers in the 10% and 15% tax brackets).
• Restored Unemployment Benefits that had expired November 30, 2010.  This provision generally applies to individuals unemployed between 26 and 99 weeks, though the benefits vary greatly from state to state.
• Extended Repeal of Personal Exemptions and Itemized Deductions.  Both of these provisions were repealed under separate Acts for 2010 and this law extends each repeal through year-end 2012.
• Re-enacts Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch for 2010 and 2011.  This provision aims to prevent many middle income taxpayers from being subject to AMT by providing higher exemption amounts and other targeted relief.
• Reinstitutes Charitable Gifting Incentive from Individual Retirement Accounts.  A number of tax incentives which had expired at the end of 2009 have been extended for 2010 and 2011.  This includes the ability to make  tax-free distributions of up to $100,000 from an IRA to a charity.    

We just had our wine tasting membership drive on March 21. It was a great time. There was a lot of great networking going on and PRP Wine International brought 9 wonderful wines for us to taste. Welcome to our new members who joined that night.

In Fellowship,

Gia Blanco

Please feel free to take advantage of this FREE Employment section of our website to post current job openings you or your company may have open.  If you would like to place an ad, please contact Julie Brown, and indicate you would like to post a job in the SDIW Newsletter at jobs@sdinsurancewomen.com or call 888-528-8367.

Click here to view current job postings Job Openings.

Kathy Vanderslice April 20

Rickie McCardell     April 21