Latest news with #Mike
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
32 Funny Tweets From The Week That Brought Back The Fun And Whimsy I Desperately Needed In My Life
Editor's Note: BuzzFeed does not support discriminatory or hateful speech in any form. We recognize that X is no longer a safe platform. Despite this, it remains a discussion hub where reasonable, intelligent, and funny voices can still be found. And those are the ones we plan to highlight. Hello. I've been having one of these weeks. Anyone else want to zip back to no responsibilities, frolicking in the grass, and Saturday morning cartoons? I sure do, but I've been trying to find the small joys in this little adult life of mine that still bring me that childlike laughter and fun. And sometimes, all it takes is a good tweet: 1. Related: 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. How it feels to open a Google Doc and see someone else in there too — Mike 📺 (@michaelcollado) July 14, 2025 HBO / Via Twitter: @michaelcollado 9. Related: 10. 11. 12. 13. this is how god sends a new Vogue editor to earth — delia (@delia_cai) July 15, 2025 Twitter: @delia_cai 14. 15. Related: 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. my dentist appointment is at 2:30… two thirty… tooth hurty… the jokes write themselves — stinker. (@stinkerfelloff) July 14, 2025 Twitter: @stinkerfelloff 21. 22. 23. 24. chris martin at the coldplay concert — Saint Hoax (@SaintHoax) July 17, 2025 NWY Movies / @SaintHoax / Via Twitter: @SaintHoax Related: 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. That's all I've got for this week — for more funny tweets, feel free to peruse our other recent roundups: 31 Funny Tweets To Escape To While Pretending Everything Else Is Not On Fire These 25 Tweets Made Me Laugh So Hard I Almost Forgot About All The Terrible Things Happening Right Now Ta-ta for now! Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds:
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
‘Does being a widower mean I'll avoid the £2m inheritance tax rule?'
Email your tax questions to Mike at: taxhacks@ Dear Mike, My question relates to the transfer of inheritance tax allowances to surviving spouses and, more specifically, the property allowance. Suppose my wife dies and her estate, worth £800,000, is left solely to me. The estate, which is half the assets jointly owned between us, includes her share of the family home. Her personal allowance of £325,000 and the property allowance of £175,000 are thereby transferred to me. Over time, my wealth increased, and at the time of my death, it had risen to more than £2m. I understand that my estate's property allowance reduces by £1 for every £2 over the £2m limit. However, as my wife's property allowance when she died was based on an estate valued at less than £2m, does her property allowance remain at the full amount of £175,000, or is it subject to the £2m limit reduction? Yours sincerely, – Chris, via email Dear Chris, You are not alone in being confused about this because these rules are one of the most complicated parts of our tax legislation. Frustratingly, this is not legislation that was introduced for reasons of sound economic policy, but purely as a political expedient, as I explain below. The simple answer to your question is that on your death, your executors would be able to claim the property allowance attributable to your wife as well as your own, but that this will also be subject to the detailed taper rules. The HMRC guidance on this topic in the manuals extends to over 44 pages, starting at IHTM46000. You have asked about the property allowance, strictly termed the residence nil rate band. This reduces by £1 for every £2 that the estate at death exceeds the £2m taper threshold, as explained at IHTM46023. The residence nil rate band is given automatically where the conditions are satisfied and does not have to be claimed. The £175,000 residence nil rate band is available where someone dies and leaves their residence, or a share of their residence, to a direct descendant, as explained in IHTM46021. The position is different for the transferable nil rate band and the transferable residence nil rate band from the first death because both of these need to be claimed by the executors. This has to be done within two years from the end of the month in which the second death occurs or, if at a later time, within three months from the date on which they first started to act. The amount of the residence nil rate band that can be claimed is the maximum £175,000, but this will be reduced by the taper where the value of the estate exceeds £2m. Although this test is applied at the time of that first death, if your wife died with an estate of £800,000 and with you as the sole beneficiary, there would be no taper restriction at that stage. However, if subsequently at your death the estate exceeded £2m, the taper would apply to the two combined residence nil rate bands. This means that it would be fully tapered with an estate of £2.7m. There are some helpful examples of the way this works at IHTM46044, including what happens if the estate at the first death is over £2m. Rather surprisingly, the rules do not require the estate of the first spouse to include a residential property, as confirmed by IHTM46040. When I wrote about this problem recently, some readers commented that since the taper is only applied to estates worth over £2m, few would be caught by it. The latest figures available from HMRC are for 2021-22, which indicate that there were 14,050 death estates of over £1m, including 6,520 over £2m. However, this number is bound to increase with rising asset values and frozen thresholds. Once we include the value of defined contribution pension funds in the inheritrance tax calculation in 2027, as proposed by the Chancellor, many more estates will be caught. In addition, as Tom Haynes has explained, this will result in double taxation with combined tax rates for higher-rate taxpayer recipients of 64pc, and in some cases, more where the taper above £2m applies. I am always grateful to readers who take the trouble to comment on my articles, particularly when they identify points that I have overlooked. As an example, two readers mentioned an important inheritance tax planning point following my article in March. Where someone has an estate over £2m, the residence nil rate band taper can be avoided by giving lifetime gifts to bring their estate below £2m. This can be done at any time before death because the rules do not require lifetime gifts in the previous seven years to be included in the taper calculation. This treatment is confirmed in the HMRC manuals at IHTM46023: 'The value of his estate for taper purposes, 'E', includes the aggregate of all the property he is beneficially entitled to but is not reduced by the reliefs and does not include the value of the lifetime gifts.' However, you would probably not want to give assets that might trigger a capital gain, such as shares or property, which would otherwise escape capital gains tax at death. The reason we have a residence property nil rate band dates back to the Conservative party conference in 2007. In his speech that day, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, declared that when in government, he would raise the inheritance tax nil rate band to £1m with this promise: 'We will take the family home out of inheritance tax. In a Conservative Britain, only millionaires will pay death duties.' This proposal was so popular that it resulted in a slump in the Labour lead in the polls, and with it the cancellation of Gordon Brown's plan to hold a snap general election. The inheritance tax changes were to be paid for by a special tax charge on non-domiciled individuals. Six days later, Alistair Darling made a late addition to his Budget with a proposal to allow the transfer of any unused nil rate band to their spouse on death. This was also to be funded by a tax charge on non-domiciled individuals. The following morning, The Telegraph front page featured a cartoon of Brown and Darling climbing into George Osborne's office to steal his tax plans! I know George Osborne liked it because two weeks later, I saw the same cartoon mounted in a gold frame behind his desk in his private office in Westminster. The coalition government of 2010 was formed in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and George Osborne was unfortunately not able to fulfil his promise. However, in 2017, he introduced the residence nil rate band and transferable residence nil rate band in an attempt to honour, in part, his original declaration. So, it came to pass that two important provisions in our inheritance tax legislation came about not for economic reasons, but purely as a matter of political expediency. Mike Warburton was previously a tax director with accountants Grant Thornton and is now retired. His columns should not be taken as advice, or as a personal recommendation, but as a starting point for readers to undertake their own further research.
Business Wire
a day ago
- Business
- Business Wire
C3 Risk & Insurance Services Announces Industry Expert Mike Bialik as President of Employee Benefits
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- C3 Risk & Insurance Services is taking its employee benefits services to the next level with the hiring of Mike Bialik as its new President of Employee Benefits Division. After building a strong foundation for their employee services team over the past few years, the San Diego-based specialty insurance brokerage firm has brought in marquee talent with Bialik, positioning them to become a national force in employee benefits services. Prior to joining C3, Bialik was the area president of employee benefits at the top publicly traded firm in the country. In that role, Bialik managed a team of 60 benefits specialists serving more than 300 clients, helping him build a reputation for his outstanding commitment to servant leadership and ability to build genuine relationships with people. 'With the infrastructure of our employee benefits team put into place, it was time to find the next leader who could really help us take our client service offerings to the next level. We knew Mike was our guy, so we made sure we had the right team in place that would allow him to truly shine at C3,' said Jamie Reid, Chairman of C3 Risk & Insurance Services. 'Mike's experience and reputation in the industry is going to enable C3 to continue attracting top talent so we can continue bringing the highest level of service to our clients as we grow into more of an industry leader in the employee benefits space.' As President of the Employee Benefits Division, Bialik will take control of a newly constructed team eager to make waves in the employee benefits space. Bialik has developed a specific vision for C3's employee benefits division, seeing the challenge of managing costs for employee benefits as an opportunity for innovative solutions that lead to localized, client-focused strategies. Bialik aims to significantly grow the employee benefits division over the next five to seven years, something he feels is achievable thanks to the organization's diligence in putting the right people in place before he was even hired. He is driven by the philosophy that 'growing is caring,' and wants to build systems for his team that create meaningful career advancement as the division grows. 'The people that I met, the firm's reputation in the marketplace, and the fact that the firm is nimble and entrepreneurial in nature, really excited me to work with C3. It's clear this is a place where I can build something special,' said Bialik. 'What excites me most about employee benefits is the opportunity to be better. I think with costs going up the way they have in the benefit space for the past few years, it's becoming unaffordable for a lot of businesses to continue offering meaningful benefits. So what excites me is how we can be on the forefront of bringing innovative solutions to our clients.' Bialik's hiring signals C3's emergence as a premier broker of employee benefits while maintaining its reputation as a provider of A-grade core services. Bringing Bialik into the fold signals to the rest of the industry that C3 is serious about employee benefits and shows its gearing up to become a force within the benefit space. For more information about C3 Risk & Insurance Services, visit C3 is a San Diego-based, privately held insurance brokerage firm founded in 2017. With decades of industry experience, C3 takes a fresh, discovery-driven approach to risk—crafting proactive strategies to prevent loss and resolving complex claims quickly. Its innovative model and commitment to clients and employees have made C3 one of the fastest-growing insurance firms in the country. Learn more at
News18
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Linkin Park Won't Perform ‘One More Light' Live, ‘Too Sad to Play' After Chester Bennington's Death
Last Updated: The title track of the band's final album with late lead singer Chester Bennington is off the setlist for their current tour. Linkin Park won't perform One More Light live because it's 'too sad to play". The title track of the band's final album with late lead singer Chester Bennington – who took his own life in 2017 – is off the setlist for their current tour as it brings up too many memories of Chester. The band's co-founder Mike Shinoda explained to The Guardian newspaper: '[It was originally written] for a woman at the label that we worked with who passed away. Then after Chester passed, the world decided that it was about him. And so that's just too sad to play." After Chester's death, Mike took time out from Linkin Park and tried to process his grief through writing the solo album Post Traumatic. He explained he 'wanted to make Post Traumatic as a diary of how I felt for myself", [but also had the urge to play live] 'to provide an area for fans to commune and go: 'Oh, Mike is still here. We didn't lose everybody.'" While Mike found the tour helpful, 'in the beginning", he could not wait to end it as it started to get 'exhausting", trying to deal with the grief of the fans. He said: 'And then towards the end it was exhausting. I had started to … I don't want to say move on. 'Move on' to some people means not looking back and forgetting – that's completely not how I felt. I felt like I was coping well and I was able to get up in the morning and not think about it, and I was evolving from the terrible stuff that had happened. Then I would go to the show and spend 90 minutes with half the crowd crying. And I'm like, this is f****** exhausting. You know how therapists see patients all day and help them, but then they need therapy themselves? That's how I felt." First Published: Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Linkin Park to not perform this song in live shows as it reminds of Chester Bennington
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Popular American band Linkin Park has decided that they will remove their song " One More Light " from their live performances . The rock band considers that this song is "too sad to play." The song is the title track of the band's last album with late frontman Chester Bennington . He died by suicide in 2017. It brings back too many painful memories for the band an interview to The Guardian, co-founder Mike Shinoda said, "[It was originally written] for a woman at the label that we worked with who passed away." "Then, after Chester passed, the world decided that it was about him. And so that's just too sad to play," he further Chester passed away, Mike took a break from the rock band and created his solo album, Post Traumatic, while coping with his grief. He called the project a personal diary of his feelings during that difficult time, but also saw it as a way to reassure fans that he was still there, saying, "to provide an area for fans to commune and go, 'Oh, Mike is still here. We didn't lose the tour initially provided some solace, Mike admitted that it eventually became "exhausting," as he found himself grappling not only with his grief but also that of the fans."And then towards the end, it was exhausting. I had started to ... I don't want to say move on. 'Move on' to some people means not looking back and forgetting; that's completely not how I felt. I felt like I was coping well, and I was able to get up in the morning and not think about it, and I was evolving from the terrible stuff that had happened. Then I would go to the show and spend 90 minutes with half the crowd crying,' he said. 'And I'm like, this is f-----g exhausting. You know how therapists see patients all day and help them, but then they need therapy themselves? That's how I felt," he a seven-year break, Linkin Park brought in a new lead singer, Emily Armstrong, who got mixed reactions from fans. The band's bassist, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, got in touch with 98 Rock radio about working with Emily and their new drummer, Colin Brittain. "Gradually, just Emily and Colin were the fit. They were the ones that just jelled with,' Dave shared. "It's hard to talk about 'cause there isn't an easy set of words to make that make sense, but it was just right," he further stated.
