You’ve put in the hard work as a college student and finally received your diploma. Now you’re ready to head out on your own. And though you may not have given much thought to your financial future when you were in college, you have new financial challenges and goals to consider. Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to start on the right track with your personal finances.
Continue reading “Financial Advice for Recent College Graduates”
Increased cash flow, property appreciation, and tax benefits are three major reasons why people want to own rental properties. But being a landlord takes time and money, so before you purchase an investment property or rent out your own home, make sure you understand what’s involved.
Continue reading “Five Things to Know Before Becoming a Landlord”
While tax scams are especially prevalent during tax season, they can take place any time during the year. As a result, it’s in your best interest to always be vigilant so you don’t end up becoming the victim of a fraudulent tax scheme.
Here are some of the more common scams to watch out for.
Continue reading “Tax Scams to Watch Out For”
Every year, the Internal Revenue Service announces cost-of-living adjustments that affect contribution limits for retirement plans and various tax deduction, exclusion, exemption, and threshold amounts. Here are a few of the key adjustments for 2019.
Continue reading “Key Retirement and Tax Numbers for 2019”
If you don’t know what happened to your money during the past year, it’s time to find out. December and January are the perfect months to look back at what you earned, saved, and spent, as W-2s, account statements, and other year-end financial summaries roll in.
Continue reading “What Happened to Your Money?”
You probably feel comfortable talking to your teen about things like school, sports, and clothing. But how do you feel about talking about money? While it may be a tricky topic to broach, odds are that your teenager will rely on you to learn basic financial management skills. And the teenage years can be a critical learning period. According to a report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, it’s important to establish strong financial decision-making habits in the teen years because it will help your child better navigate his or her financial life as an adult.1
Prepare your teenager for the financial challenges of adulthood by talking to him or her about the following topics.
Many Americans consider Thanksgiving and Black Friday to be the unofficial start of the Holiday season. What many Americans don’t know however, is that the Tuesday after Thanksgiving is internationally known as “Giving Tuesday.” Started in 2012 by 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season, “Giving Tuesday” has quickly caught on in the philanthropic community. Last year, a total of $274 million dollars was raised on “Giving Tuesday,” with several large charities and companies such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Facebook offering limited matching to participating donations.
Many investors are aware of the impact that inflation can have on our ability to purchase goods and services in the future. Assuming a modest rate of 2% inflation, a car that costs $30,000 today will sell for over $45,000 by 2040. To help mitigate these rising costs, the IRS periodically increases the limits on contributions to tax-advantaged retirement accounts which can be accessed penalty-free after age 59½ and in some cases even earlier than that. To account for inflating wages, the IRS also raises the levels of income at which various tax benefits are available, otherwise known as phase-outs. The first table outlines the new 2019 limits for some of the more popular retirement contributions along with a brief description of each. The second table shows the 2019 phase-out ranges for deducting Traditional IRA contributions and saving inside of a Roth IRA. The Traditional IRA phase-outs only apply if the individual participates in a retirement plan at work.
Continue reading “IRS to Raise Contribution Limits for 2019”
If you’re the parent of a high school student who’s looking ahead to college, it’s important to have a grown-up conversation with your child about college costs. A frank discussion can help both of you get on the same page, optimize the college search process, and avoid getting blindsided by large college bills.
Continue reading “A Parent-Child Conversation about College Costs”
Organizing your finances and creating a long-term financial game plan for yourself can seem like a daunting task. Here are some simple, helpful tips you can take to set yourself up for financial success.
