By Joseph E. Seagle, Esq.

👋 Happy Friday! Tomorrow is National Peanut Butter Day, and Edward and Rufous are beside themselves with anticipation.

Florida’s retiree economy just got a fresh jolt: a new “boomer bonus” tax deduction could lower federal taxable income for millions of seniors — and it will ripple through Florida small businesses, professional practices, and client advisory work.

What changed (and who gets it)

A new federal “deduction for seniors” lets taxpayers age 65+ claim an additional $6,000 deduction per eligible person (so $12,000 for a married couple if both spouses qualify). It’s available whether you itemize or take the standard deduction, and it’s temporary: tax years 2025–2028. 

Eligibility is income-tested. The deduction starts phasing out above $75,000 in modified adjusted gross income ($150,000 for joint filers). 

AARP notes the deduction is fully available up to those thresholds, then reduced for higher earners, and it’s scheduled to expire after the four-year window. 

Why Florida businesses should care

Florida is basically America’s retiree headquarters: 21.8% of residents are 65+, according to the U.S. Census QuickFacts. 

That means this “boomer bonus” isn’t just a household story — it’s a Florida business climate story:

Takeaway for Florida entrepreneurs and professionals

Treat the boomer bonus like a four-year runway: use it to shore up reserves, reduce client sticker shock, and plan around a known sunset date. If your customer base skews older (Florida says: yes), this is a near-term demand and planning lever — not a permanent new normal. 

What to watch next: IRS guidance and tax-season workflows (software, payroll reporting, client intake) as the new deduction gets baked into 2025 returns and beyond. 

For years, ultra-low pandemic-era mortgage rates froze the housing market in place. Homeowners with 2–3% rates simply refused to move, choking off supply and slowing everything from residential sales to small-business relocations. A new shift underway in 2025 suggests that the lock-in effect is finally cracking — and that matters far beyond homebuyers.

Why it matters: Florida’s economy depends on mobility. When people move, businesses form, practices expand, offices relocate, and capital gets redeployed. The thawing of mortgage lock-in is a quiet but meaningful unlock for entrepreneurs and professional practices across the state.

Vision: Lock-in is weakening, not disappearing

The big picture is psychological as much as financial. Millions of homeowners are still sitting on low fixed rates, but life events — job changes, retirements, divorces, business growth — are starting to outweigh rate envy. A Yahoo Finance analysis shows sellers accepting higher rates as the “cost of moving on,” rather than a permanent penalty.

For Florida, this signals a gradual normalization of housing turnover. Not a boom, but movement. And movement is oxygen for local economies.

Traction: What’s changing on the ground

More listings are coming from discretionary sellers who once swore they’d never give up their rate. Builders are stepping in with rate buydowns and incentives to bridge the gap. Buyers, meanwhile, are recalibrating expectations—focusing less on the perfect rate and more on cash flow and long-term plans.

That creates openings for business owners: relocating closer to talent, buying instead of renewing leases, or repositioning real estate tied to operating companies.

People, process, data: The planning gap

Here’s the catch. Many owners still make property decisions emotionally, not strategically. Rate lock-in masked weak planning. As it fades, issues around entity structuring, asset protection, homestead strategy, and debt placement come back into focus—especially in Florida’s creditor-friendly growth environment.

The takeaway for Florida entrepreneurs

If housing mobility increases, expect downstream effects: more office and retail demand, more practice acquisitions tied to relocation, and more opportunities to restructure real estate the right way. The smart move now is scenario planning—not rate watching.

What’s next: Watch 2025–2026 turnover data and builder incentives. The lock-in era isn’t over—but it’s no longer in charge.

In this week’s Trust This, I’m going through an estate planning checklist for young Florida families — what is a must-have, and what is a waste of time and money.

Listen in or watch on your favorite streaming platform.

The largest intergenerational transfer of real estate wealth in U.S. history is underway. Gen X and Millennials are poised to inherit trillions in homes, rental properties, and commercial real estate—often without preparation, coordination, or legal structure. That’s a recipe for conflict, tax leakage, and forced sales.

According to recent reporting, aging Boomers are holding unprecedented amounts of residential and investment property. As these assets pass down, heirs are facing rising property taxes, maintenance costs, sibling disputes, and outdated estate plans that never anticipated today’s real estate values.

Real estate is illiquid, emotional, and indivisible. Unlike brokerage accounts, you can’t easily split a beach house three ways without friction—or litigation. We’ve heard from too many aging clients who’ve told us they’re unable to ever retire, because their heirs have no taste for dealing with real estate holdings. We’ve even had heirs who are flabbergasted to learn they’ve inherited shopping centers and warehouses all over the Eastern Seaboard.

This wealth transfer will reward families who plan early—and punish those who assume “the kids will figure it out.” Discussion of the properties’ condition prior to death to ensure the heirs understand what they’re going to receive, putting professional management in place early, and the strategic use of trusts, LLCs, and business succession planning can preserve both property and relationships.

In entrepreneurship and small business growth, strategy rarely fails first. Coachability does. When leaders and team members resist feedback, avoid accountability, or cling to outdated habits, execution slows and momentum dies quietly.

Coachability is not about being agreeable. It’s about absorbing truth, converting it into action, and sustaining change—especially under pressure.

In EOS terms, coachability is the connective tissue between Vision and Traction. Without it:

Highly coachable teams move faster because they learn faster.

Coachability shows up in how people respond when challenged.

EOS tie-in: Strong teams embrace healthy conflict to solve real issues.

Coachable leaders default to responsibility.

EOS tie-in: Accountability lives in the seat, not the person.

Smart isn’t scalable. Adaptable is.

EOS tie-in: Quarterly Rocks fail when learning stalls.

Coachability is a force multiplier.

Teams with it execute Vision faster, strengthen accountability, and scale with less friction. Teams without it burn time, money, and energy—no matter how talented they are.

Action step: Run a coachability self-assessment (available at www.aspirelegal.com) this quarter. Then ask the real question: Who’s willing to be held accountable for changing what they see?

That’s where traction begins.

We hope you found this helpful — any feedback is appreciated and can be shared by hitting reply or using the feedback feature below.

Be on the lookout for our next issue! 👋