To answer this question, you must decide how your money can work best for you. First, we always recommend you have an adequate emergency fund—this is money you put aside to cover your expenses in case you find yourself without an income stream (i.e., a job, scholarship) or to cover an unexpected large expense (i.e., car…
If you haven’t done so already, you’ll want to start pulling things together— that includes getting your hands on a copy of your 2017 tax return and gathering W-2s, 1099s, and deduction records. You’ll need these records whether you’re preparing your own return or paying someone else to prepare your tax return for you. Don’t…
You have until your tax return due date (not including extensions) to contribute up to $5,500 for 2018 ($6,500 if you were age 50 or older on December 31, 2018). For most taxpayers, the contribution deadline for 2018 is April 15, 2019 (April 17 for taxpayers who live in Maine or Massachusetts) You can contribute…
Many of the changes can affect the bottom line for the business as well as you as the business owner — some in a good way and some in a bad way. 1. The taxable income of a C corporation is now taxed at a flat 21% rate. Previously, the tax rates generally ranged from 15%…
There’s no way to know the answer to that without reviewing your individual circumstances and financial goals. However, if you are investing too conservatively, it can have a profound effect on your long-term financial security. How you should be investing depends on many factors, such as: How able are you to tolerate risk? How soon…
Welcome to 2019 and a delayed provision of the tax reform, also known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). For divorce agreements entered into after December 31, 2018, or pre-existing agreements that are modified after that date to expressly provide that alimony received is not included in the recipient’s income, alimony will no…
Money can be a sensitive subject to discuss, but you’ll need to talk to your parents about it in order to get to the root of their problems and come up with a solution. Before you start the conversation, consider the following four scenarios as signs that your parents might be experiencing financial challenges, and…
QuickBooks Online’s mobile app, available at the Apple App Store and Google Play, can do many of the same tasks that it performs on your office desktop. You can, for example: Check account balances. Add and edit estimates, invoices, and sales receipts. Add and edit customers, vendors, products, and services. Record invoice payments. One of…
Yes! Unless you absolutely cannot afford to set aside any dollars whatsoever, you should contribute to your employer’s 401(k) plan. A 401(k) plan is one of the most powerful tools you can use to save for your retirement. The first benefit is that your pre-tax contributions to a 401(k) plan are not taxed as current…
Tax time is just around the corner, and if you are like most taxpayers, you are finding yourself with the ominous chore of pulling together the records for your tax appointment. The difficultly of this task depends upon how well you maintained your tax records throughout the year. No matter how good your record keeping…
