Andy | Saving to Invest

Economic Growth Driving Income Inequality – Are You Feeling The Prosperity?

From a long term trend perspective, despite a few recessions along the way, the American economy based on GDP data, has been growing consistently bigger. Coupled with the stock market reaching new long term highs one may argue that America has found its groove again and that we are back…

How Much Higher Will Mortgage Rates Go This Year

With the Fed's aggressive actions in raising rates to tackle inflation, economists are predicting that rates will continue rising for the remainder of the year. This is based on the dramatic rise of the 10 year Treasury yield over the last month to which mortgage rates are loosely tied. The…

2024 Medical Expense Deduction Income (AGI) Limit

The IRS allows all taxpayers to deduct the total qualified unreimbursed medical care expenses for the year that exceeds 7.5% of their adjusted gross income (AGI), found on line 11 of Tax Form 1040. [Prior year updates] You are only allowed to deduct your medical/dental expenses if the total paid…

Stopping Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices in the Collection of Consumer Debts

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has issued a very useful and timely bulletin around the rights of consumers and agencies when it comes to debt collection practices in context of laws enacted under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. For the millions of Americans dealing with…

2014 SNAP (Food Stamp) Program Facing Billions in Spending Cuts as Farm Bill Debate Rages

[Updated November 2013] Without an extension to the 2009 stimulus funding for the Food Stamp/SNAP program, millions of Americans who rely on this program are going to see a cut in their benefits. The overall cut to the the program is around $5 billon dollars with the CBPP estimating the…

Simpler and Smarter Investing With a Low Cost Broad Market Index Fund Using Vanguard Or Fidelity

After a volatile year of trading I have decided to streamline and simplifying my longer term investing strategy. In a nutshell this means going from holding a bunch of stocks, sector ETFs and mutual funds to just holding three low-cost index funds that provide the diversification and exposure I need.…

40 Year and Interest Only Mortgages Going Away

Government sponsored/owned entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have announced that they will no longer be purchasing certain mortgages as directed by their regulator and in compliance with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) qualified mortgage (QM) and Ability-to-Repay (ATR) requirements. This is effective from Jan 10, 2014 and covers…

Oh No I Am a Speculator and Not an Investor! Another Reason To Go With Index Funds

Of late I have been reflecting on my investing performance over the last decade. While I have made some money on "winning" stocks, I have probably lost much more on duds. In fact as I looked at my portfolio I still own many of these dud stocks, hoping for some…

Why Rising Rates Will Boost Rather Than Lower Home Prices and Purchases

Thanks to recent announcements by the Federal Reserve around cutting back on buy back programs interest rates have been rising, with the forecast for even higher rates by year end. Based on the latest rates have been rising consistently of late with the 30-year fixed rate averaging over 4.1%. That's up from…

2016 vs. 2017 Obamacare Health Insurance Subsidies and Tax Credits

Despite ObamaCare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, having been around for several years now there is still considerable uncertainty around the various tax credits and subsidies on premiums, deductibles, co-payments, and coinsurance. The value of these credits and subsidies are generally dependent on your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) and family…

Obama Health Care Reform Changes – Mandatory Coverage Penalties, Health Care Exchanges, Tax Credits and Subsidies

President Obama's signature health care legislation, the Affordable Care Act, is very much in place now and in the next few months a number of Americans are going to see a lot more of the regulations and laws come into place. This includes: Penalties for No Health Insurance. Beginning in…

How to Pay for College: Funds, Savings, and Alternatives

Undoubtedly, the most complicated part of going to college is paying for it. But, the benefits of going through life with a degree make the troubles of college funding worth it. Unfortunately, the cost of attending college is determined to touch the sky and doesn’t seem to let up anytime…

The 10 Largest Tax Breaks In The Income Tax system

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has published an interesting report titled, The Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures in the Individual Income Tax System, that shows how 10 of the largest tax breaks, credits and deductions are distributed across household with different income levels. These tax breaks (or tax expenditures as…

Another Housing Bubble Brewing On the Horizon

The NY Fed has a great set of maps that show the dynamic return of the US housing market with home prices posting year over year double digit gains in many areas. Some experts are even saying that home prices in states like California, Florida and New York are rising…