After weeks of negotiations between the House and the Senate, Congress finally passed tax legislation designed to lower taxes and stimulate the economy. President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Friday, December 22 – right before leaving for the Christmas holiday.
As a homeowner, did this bill leave financial presents under your
Due to our ever-increasing lifespans, many Americans will live decades after retiring. With pensions growing rarer, and people not saving enough for retirement, many worry that they will run out of savings before their time on Earth is up. While many of today’s retirees feel that their money will last, tomorrow’s retirees are nowhere near
Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) are incredibly busy during tax season. Their time is precious, even more so this year with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That makes it even more important for you to prepare for your allotted tax preparation time.
Your CPA needs the following four categories of information to
What do you do when your credit card just doesn’t meet your needs anymore? Perhaps you have an airline or hotel rewards program that isn’t relevant anymore, you are paying annual fees that aren’t worth the benefits you receive, or you now qualify for a card with a better interest rate.
If you are in
Do you consider yourself a financial risk-taker? If so, what is the standard that you use to analyze risk? If you don’t fully understand risk, you may be looking at the wrong criteria to make the best financial decisions for you and your family.
A recent survey by AMG Funds suggests that very few investors
Nearly 4 million people turn 65 every year here in America and many of them are looking forward to retiring soon. There’s a lot of financial planning that goes into retirement, such as when to apply for Social Security benefits and when to begin distributions from retirement accounts.
It’s also important to plan for your
Is this unusually cold winter putting a hurt on your heating bill? The bomb cyclone could be blowing a hole in your heating budget, for the colder it gets, the more costly it is to heat your home. The good news is that you can lessen the financial impact of cold weather by making a
Tax Season Arrives In January Are you ready for tax season? Ready or not, tax season, defined as the first day that the IRS accepts tax forms to the tax filing deadline, will be here soon.
For the 2018 filing season (covering the 2017 tax year), tax season begins on Monday, January 19 and ends
Santa was not so kind to your friends and relatives this year, so you felt the need to fill the gap. You overspent on holiday gifts, and now you are stuck with a significant amount of holiday debt. Gratitude from gift recipients is a great feeling, but gratitude is not going to pay off your
In the discussion of Social Security, little is more unproductive and contentious than the assertion that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. It marks the point where the discussion stops and the fight begins.
Is Social Security a Ponzi scheme? That entirely depends upon your meaning of the phrase.
If you use the term loosely
Every year, floods cause significant property damage throughout America. Years ago, private insurers had difficulty providing economically viable flood insurance, so the government stepped in to subsidize the process. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was created in 1968 to provide flood insurance to properties that are
Are you preparing to enter the housing market in 2018? Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, 2018 is likely to be a year of both challenges and opportunities. Our crystal ball is just as cloudy as everyone else’s these days, but based on recent trends and events, we can make a few predictions for
Coming into a new year seems to compel us to look back and to look forward. How was your 2017? What do you expect from your 2018? While we can’t change the things that are now in our rear view, we do get to envision and create what is in our forward view. As a
Every year, thousands of Medicare beneficiaries enroll in Medicare Advantage plans during the fall Annual Election Period. With low premiums and ancillary “extras” built in, these plans on paper appeal to many individuals. However, in all the election period excitement, people sometimes overlook aspects of Medicare Advantage coverage that are important. All too often, January
How often are you asked at a retail outlet if you have a store credit card, and if not, whether you would like to apply for one and put today’s purchase on that card? These cards are examples of “instant approval” credit cards — cards that are approved or denied within a matter of minutes
You may manage your money well, but do you also manage the bank that holds it for you? If not, you may be missing out on useful services and products, or paying more than necessary to receive them. Consider these tips that can help you to use your bank more wisely.
1. Shop Around –
Cash flow sounds like a relatively simple concept, and in some ways it is, but poor cash flow management can take down a small business. Cash flow is equally critical for households. If you miss a paycheck when bills come due and you have no reserve funds available, you will incur losses in terms of
Charitable giving is one of the most popular (and fulfilling) ways to save on your taxes. Not only does it make you feel good to help others, but end-of-year charity donations can also help you save on your taxes — if you do it correctly. To help you with your giving efforts, the IRS offers
What are your personal goals for 2018? How will your financial planning support you in achieving them? While you have your New Year’s cap on, take this chance to make the personal financial resolutions that will get you closer to the life you want.
Define your Objectives – The SMART model is an effective guide
Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? We hope so, but you probably have at least one gift that you cannot use or do not want.
You can usually return unwanted gifts, but what can you do with a gift card that you will never use? We have a few suggestions for your consideration.
Could you afford to give away $300,000 in retirement? Very few of us could give up such a sum and retire comfortably – but according to one financial expert, you could leave that much on the table by choosing the wrong strategy to claim your Social Security benefits.
Ron Carson, a Certified Financial Planner and
Does your home state encourage or discourage partying? A simple way to assess the partying tolerance level is through “sin taxes.” Granted, low sin taxes do not necessarily equate to more partying, but they certainly don’t hurt.
Alcohol and tobacco taxes are huge cash generators for governments, adding $7.04 billion and $18.17 billion respectively to
Going over the fine print of a mortgage offer is about as enjoyable as a poke in the eye – or maybe both eyes. Even so, it’s important to ensure that any contractual offer that you make on a home has just the right terms you need before proceeding through the home-buying process. Consider these
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a higher credit limit on your credit cards? A higher credit limit could serve as a buffer for an emergency cash flow problem, saving you from searching for short-term loan options. Another advantage of a higher credit limit is a potentially higher credit score through lower credit utilization –
Isn’t it nice when your bank pays you instead of you paying them? Competition in the banking market has opened up opportunities for you to get paid simply for opening a checking account.
Banks are often willing to part with cash, gift cards, interest-bearing checking accounts, or other rewards in order to gain your long-term
The opening and closing bells on the major American stock exchanges ring at 9:30 am and 4:00 pm respectively (Eastern Time). If you cannot pack enough trading thrills into that six-and-one-half hour stretch, or your 9-to-5 job does not allow you the freedom to do your own trading at home, you are in luck. After-hours
It’s no surprise why many Americans struggle with credit card debt – we spend more on our credit cards than we pay off at the end of the month. What are the expenses that drive that debt? It’s probably not what you think.
Based on a new survey from CompareCards.com by LendingTree, the majority of
There’s no shortage of data on America’s housing market. Analysts constantly review new and existing home sales, building permits, available housing units, and other metrics to gauge the health of the market and to assess its likely direction. ATTOM Data Solutions, a national property data warehouse with information on 150 million U.S. properties, adds another
The holiday season is full of plans and activities that make December incredibly hectic. Late federal tax legislation is making it even more so. If you are the average American, tax considerations and financial adjustments are pretty low on your holiday to-do list. However, you are not the average American — you enjoy saving money,
For the unprepared, the mortgage process can be a whirlwind of unfamiliar terms and procedures followed by stacks of confusing paperwork. Were you truly ready for the process when you bought your first home – or, if you are a prospective first-time homebuyer, are you ready now?
A recent survey by FREEandCLEAR suggests that while
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