Category: Personal Finance and Money

Just a quick money saving tip. If you are looking to upgrade your old iPhone or Samsung then avoid Best Buy and other big box electronic store and go to the network provider (AT&T, Sprint Verizon) for the best deals. See the screenshots below for the trade-in prices I got…

This is summarized from a real life scenario. What would you do in this scenario? Vote on the poll and/or add your comment below. Alan ordered a $600 jacket online from a well known retailer's website where he had shopped a number of times before. This was a jacket he…

The table below presents the average IRS federal refund payments over recent years, based on official year-end IRS data. These figures may be updated over time as late filings and additional refunds are processed. Refunds are expected to be higher this tax season due to new provisions in Trump's OBBB…

The following are 8 signs that you may owe the  Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), or the rich-mans tax, this year. You or your household fall into the high income category (generally $250,000 or more), which means that a good part or all of your AMT exemption is phased-out. You have…

I have two family friends. One lives in the DC Metro Area (Bethesda, MD) and the other lives in Appleton, Wisconsin. Classic Big Town vs. Small Town. I met them over Thanksgiving and we got talking about the cost of living and how it varies so much across America. Both…

The stock market is hitting new highs on a seemingly daily basis. The job market is rebounding strongly as evidenced by the plummeting unemployment rate. Market analysts are overwhelmingly saying buy stocks, sell bonds. All this implies the economy is positively booming and surely everyone is getting richer. Sadly this…

See this article for the latest Earned Income Credit tables - including eligibility expansions and refund delays (due to PATH act) when claiming this credit in your tax return. _________ [2014 EIC Update] The IRS has released 2014 Earned Income Tax credit (EITC) details which are shown in the table below. There have…

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…

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…

U.S News just released their 2013-2014 rankings of business schools with little change from the previous year. Despite a tepid economy and higher than average unemployment, business school admissions and tuition rates continue to rise. Particularly for part-time and online business, or MBA, degrees. Getting a graduate business degree is almost becoming the…

The market continued on its rampage reaching an all-time high, surpassing levels last seen before the 2008 financial crisis. This is despite Congress and the Biden administration squabbling about the impacts of additional spending and who would be blamed for a potential economic calamity due to the inefficiency of Washington.…

The IRS publishes several bulletins which contain useful information for tax payers with dependents - e.g parents, grand parents and guardians - that apply to many of my readers. I have summarized the key points below including references to related articles for the latest tax season. Tax Benefits for Parents Dependents. In…

If you are an American, the answer is about 20 years. For Mexicans it's over to 300 years. As you can see from the graphic below, based on a  country's median income, America still provides the best opportunity for the average Joe to get to millionaire status within their lifetime.  The calculation for…