Category: Personal Finance
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If you want to hear scary stories related to retirement, you don’t have to look very hard.
For example, a trade association for the financial services industry called LIMRA recently surveyed a couple thousand Americans on retirement matters. What they found is that about 49 percent of the respondents aren’t saving for retirement at all.
It has long been observed in American politics that prices at the pump can have a huge impact on votes at election time. When gas prices rise dramatically near campaign time, the party challenging the one currently in power tends to gain the upper hand, particularly when its candidates can claim they know how to lower gas prices again.
In February, I explained why the “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012″ simply compounded Social Security’s big-picture problems.
And now just two months later the program’s Trustees have released their latest annual report.
The conclusion in a nutshell? Surprise, surprise:
“The Social Security outlook has worsened significantly relative to last year’s report.
Okay, we’re really getting down to the wire now, with just one week left to file your taxes on time.
This year you actually have until April 17th because the 15th falls on a Sunday and the 16th is Emancipation Day, a holiday that is celebrated in Washington, D.C. But still, we’re talking a matter of days left.
April is here, which means warmer weather for most of us. Unfortunately, it also brings income tax time.
This year you get an extra day to procrastinate since April 15 falls on Sunday. A small consolation, but I’ll take it.
As an ETF investor you have some advantages in the tax department, but you aren’t completely off the hook.
Although the next Presidential election is still eight months away, a lot of investors are already asking me about possible changes that could come shortly afterward — especially the possibility of higher taxes on dividends starting in 2013. So today, I want to address that issue and also deal with a few other important inquiries on dividends that I’ve been getting lately.
Last week, I went over the major advantages and differences among the various types of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) available to investors. But today I want to dig a little deeper into one particular aspect of Roth IRAs that makes them really attractive to anyone planning on leaving money to an heir.
In last week’s column, I talked about the tax treatment of various types of dividend payments … and toward the end, I said you could avoid most of the issues by investing in a tax shelter.
I realize that when a phrase like “tax shelter” comes up, most people think of shady businesses … secret bank accounts on tropical islands … or other sophisticated schemes.
I hate to remind you, but Tax Day is now just about one month away … and unless you’re one of those really prepared people, it’s likely that you’re still gathering together your papers or desperately trying to schedule an appointment with an accountant.