After contributing through payroll and self-employment taxes for decades of work, many Social Security beneficiaries are astonished when they learn that their benefits may be subject to federal and sometimes state income taxes. When benefits were first paid in 1940,...
There are many types of IRAs. This article will discuss Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs and non-deductible IRAs, available to individuals (or a spouse of an individual) with earned income or collecting alimony. The first criterion to consider is your age. If you are over...
You could be eligible for some tax breaks in the form of a deduction or, better yet, a tax credit. Unfortunately, most of these tax breaks phase out based on income so be aware that filing status and income can limit the tax benefits. The American Opportunity Credit...
Retirement Planning is by far one of the most important areas of financial planning and one that we allocate a good portion of our time and resources to address. We break retirement planning up into two distinct phases: 1) Accumulation Phase 2) Distribution Phase The...
There are many core principles that each of us regularly follow throughout our lives. These principles help us navigate through the many decisions we make daily. I have 10 favorite axioms that I follow — and share with my college classes and clients — to make personal...
Here are the final five axioms for personal finance. The first five appear here, and can be summarized as: Spend less than you make Planning precedes every activity Systematically monitor your progress Save early and as much as possible Diversify, diversify, diversify...
