We cover the basics and more about personal finance, answering frequently asked questions about credit and debt, identity theft, saving for college, retirement, estate planning, insurance, taxes, job hunting, and raising money-savvy kids. Check out the articles, columns, blog posts, radio shows and videos for tons of personal finance advice.
Tips for Calculating What You Might Owe in Taxes
The very best way to project your tax liability is to work with a tax professional who uses professional tax tools. So, the first tip to calculating what you owe is to establish a relationship with a tax preparer that you see at least once a year for a consultation. Even if you prepare your [...]
Life Insurance vs. Disability Insurance: Do You Need Both?
Life insurance and disability insurance are both important types of insurance to consider, especially if you have family members who depend on your earnings. Consumers might want to consider weighing these two different forms of insurance to determine if they want to purchase just one or if the benefits to getting both outweigh the costs. [...]
Tax Planning and Retirement
When you’re preparing for retirement, one of the many things people think about is retirement savings. You’ve worked hard and invested for retirement, but you want to help ensure your money lasts as long as you need it. One way some people extend the life of their savings during retirement is to plan their distributions [...]
When You’re Dropped by Your Homeowners Insurance Company
Homeowner’s insurance coverage is designed to protect your finances if a catastrophe befalls your biggest asset. It can help you recover from unexpected—and expensive—damage to your home, and most lenders require you to purchase it before they will close on your loan. If you’ve been dropped by your homeowner’s insurance company, you may run the [...]
How to Adjust to Spending in Retirement
After years of working and saving, retirement can sometimes be a difficult adjustment, especially when it comes to how you spend your money. Once you’re no longer bringing in a paycheck from an employer, you’ll have to rely on Social Security, your pension (if you’re lucky enough to have one) and your retirement savings as [...]
Back-to-School Tax Holidays and More Tax Holidays
When it comes to taxes, every little break helps, which may be why tax holidays are so popular. Each year, a number of states give consumers a break on paying sales tax, for a couple of days or up to a week, on items like clothing, footwear, school supplies, and even computers. In 2015, sixteen [...]
Can Creditors Go After My Retirement Accounts?
If you owe money or have filed for bankruptcy, you may be worried about creditors going after your retirement funds. Regardless of your financial situation, here is some essential information to know about both ERISA-qualified retirement accounts and non-ERISA accounts: ERISA-qualified retirement accounts Retirement accounts set up under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) [...]
Phantom Income, the Ghost of Your Forgiven Debts
When your debt is cancelled or “forgiven” by a creditor, you may owe taxes on that debt. This debt is called phantom income, named so because despite the fact that the IRS considers it income, it never appears in your bank account. Imagine losing the home of your dreams, either through a short sale or [...]
Can My Ex Claim My Child When Filing Taxes?
Can my ex claim my child when filing taxes? After a divorce, it's not always clear which parent claims a child as a dependent at tax time. This article was written by guest blogger Eva Rosenberg. In a divorce where children are involved, one of the greatest sources of focus can be around where the [...]
Paying for Home Renovations: Tapping Home Equity vs. Using Savings
Figuring out how to pay for a home renovation is one of the first steps in any remodeling process. When they’re done wrestling with the cost of a home renovation, most homeowners have to decide how to fund a remodeling project. And in some cases, the options can be paying for it in cash or [...]