Category: Personal Finance and Money

In these tough economic times with rising inflation and high interest rates, many of us may feel quite poor. But feeling poor, versus being poor according to the government are two different things. In fact, the Census Bureau and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) provide actual numbers to…

With rising inflation many states are raising the minimum wages for workers, often above the mandated federal minimum. This is good news for lower-income workers, where the minimum wage is barely enough to survive on. Note that the federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 and remains unchanged this year. However…

When you are unable to pay debts or have debt that has gone to a collection agency it can be very stressful. The burden of a difficult financial situation is already anxiety-inducing without having to also worry about other issues. This can include questions about the legitimacy of the debt…

Student loans has been a hot topic of late, which is not surprise given there are around 43 mil­lion Amer­i­cans dealing with some form of active or delinquent stu­dent debt. Based on reports from the WSJ and data company MeasureOne, Amer­i­cans owe around $1.6 tril­lion in fed­eral stu­dent loans and…

Apparently the bond market is heading for a big time crash after a nearly 25 year boom based on the outflow from bond funds (mutual and ETF) as prices tumbled. The main driver behind this is the expected rise in interest rates driven by the Federal Reserve, which uses interest…

Despite earning more than $100,000 in household income many people still feel that they are living month-to-month and that a loss of employment or sudden medical emergency could easily move them from upper middle class to low income earners. This feeling of being on the “edge” of poverty, despite these…

My neighbor and I were talking this weekend and he asked me this question, "Andy, do you think I have enough life insurance coverage from my employer, given Coronavirus/COVID risks if I have to start going back to work next month? Don't want my kids to be homeless if something…

I recently saw an interesting video that asked a number of regular people if they would rather have a million dollars now or take a penny now and double the amount every day for the next 30 days. What would be your choice? As expected, 90% of people chose the…

Debt is as American as apple pie. It is estimated that 80% of Americans live with debt and that includes $8 trillion in home mortgage debt.  Many of us go to work every day simply to pay for products or services that we’ve already received. We can’t help our children…

As adults, we've seen what a lack of financial knowledge does to managing our finances. That's why we need to teach our kids early on how to care for money, so they are less likely to make the financial mistakes that we did. If you don't talk about money, lessons…

I receive a number of questions every tax season regarding eligibility rules for claiming someone as a dependent on their tax return. Obviously this is an important topic because being able to claim someone as a dependent provides a number of tax benefits/exemptions and ultimately a lower tax bill. Further,…

Before we file our tax returns there are a number of forms we need to receive from our employers, financial institutions and other third-party entities we make money from, conducted financial transactions or did business with. Below are estimated time frames for when we can expect to receive some of these common income tax forms for…

A few weeks ago life was good and things were going along swimmingly. I could go to Whole Foods and pick out whatever organic produce I wanted without looking at the price tag. My wife and kids could shop without waiting for a holiday sale. Date nights were at nice…