Tag: taxes

After a lifetime of accumulating money, it’s common to start thinking about your legacy and what you want to leave to your children, grandchildren or a favorite charitable cause. However, despite the dollar signs you see on your investment and bank accounts, there’s no guarantee your loved ones or your chosen charity will get the full amount.

Uncle Sam is lurking to snatch a sizable share.

What is the difference between a separation and a divorce? With a separation, you may be living in a different residence than your spouse, but you are still legally married. With a divorce, the marriage is legally over, even if you still happen to be living with your ex. A person may seek a separation instead of a divorce, or vice versa, for various reasons. Five common considerations include the following:

1. Genuine Possibility of Saving the Marriage: If you want to live separate from your spouse, but believe that there is a reasonable chance of saving the marriage, through counseling or otherwise, then consider a separation instead of a divorce.

According to the Washington Post, economic growth was slow in the United States during the first quarter of 2017, moving along at only 0.7 percent.

The number is a big drop off from the 2.1 percent growth experienced by the nation in the final quarter of 2016 and a long way from President Donald Trump’s promise of 3 percent economic growth during his time in office.

Americans worry a lot about retirement.

Will their savings hold out? Will Social Security still be around? Will healthcare costs gouge a great hole in their finances?

What many of them may not be aware of, though, is that if handled correctly their life insurance policies could play a role in making retirement a little more secure.

One of the big tricks for having a successful retirement is to make sure you have enough cash flow to pay your bills and still be able to enjoy life. Few people have pensions any more. Social Security only helps so much.

"Where did all my money go?" It’s a universal question, and if you’re like most people, it’s one you ask with more than a touch of frustration. You don’t spend extravagantly. You pay the bills, buy groceries and provide school supplies and clothes for your kids. Sure, maybe you go out to eat on Saturdays and take a once-a-year vacation—after all, you deserve some pleasure in life—but it’s hard to believe these small luxuries account for your stagnant savings or, worse, that credit card debt that’s slowly inching upward.

When you’re married, there are some things about filing your income taxes that might make you smile; for instance, the possibility of saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars by filing jointly instead of separately. But no matter who you are or what benefits you expect to enjoy as a married taxpayer, there’s at least one thing that may strike fear into your heart: an audit. Even if an audit doesn’t end up being painful (to your joint bank account, that is), it’s a stressful hassle that no couple wants to deal with.

Every year our politicians talk about the need to simplify the tax code, and every year they make it more complex.

The average taxpayer will spend an estimated 23 hours completing their return this year.  Eighty percent of taxpayers will hire someone to do the work or buy tax software, even though 64 percent of taxpayers don’t owe anything.

There are six definitions of a child, more than a dozen educational credits, and 16 different types of tax-favored savings plans.