The increasing cost of higher education has made education planning and important aspect of personal financial planning. However, because the actual expenditure will not be incurred for many years, it is often given a low current priority. Also, some parents are counting on scholarships to cover the cost of their children’s education. Unfortunately, this tendency [...]
The tax laws generally require individual with retirement accounts to take annual withdrawals based on the size of their account and their age beginning with the year they reach age 70 1/2. Failure to take a required withdrawal can result in a penalty of 50% of the amount not withdrawn. If you turned age 70 [...]
A Health Savings Account (HSA) represents an opportunity for eligible individuals to lower their out-of-pocket health care costs and federal tax bill. Since most of us would like to take advantage of every available tax break, now might be a good time to consider an HSA, if eligible. An HSA operates somewhat like a flexible [...]
We’ll be ringing in the New Year soon. Will you have wrapped up your 2015 finances by then? There’s something very satisfying about turning our calendars to January. It always feels like a fresh start. We resolve to develop new, better ways of using our work and leisure time. We reflect on what we accomplished [...]
Most of us have more than enough to do. We’re on the go from early in the morning until well into the evening – six or seven days a week. Thus, it’s no surprise that we may let some important things slide. We know we need to get to them, but it seems like they [...]
On July 31, 2015, the President signed the “Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015” (the Highway Act) into law, providing a three-month extension of the general expenditure authority for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). Part of the HTF extension was paid for by changes to tax compliance provisions, the most [...]