We often look to the past to make decisions for the future. Yet the coronavirus pandemic presents a unique dilemma: How can we navigate circumstances that none of us has ever experienced? The implications of this pandemic — and the steps taken by public health officials, political leaders and corporateRead More →
Economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis and civil unrest could cause many rental real estate properties to run up tax losses in 2020 and maybe beyond. This column covers the most important federal income tax questions and answers for rental property owners. Here goes. Nothing new here. You can deductRead More →
As if getting divorced isn’t stressful enough, trying to do so during a pandemic may seem overwhelming. With normal routines disrupted, jobs and income lost, stock markets fluctuating, and real estate markets uncertain, it may seem nearly impossible to move forward once a decision to divorce has been reached. SoRead More →
Fair Isaac, FICO, +1.55% the giant credit score company, recently announced the biggest change since 2014 in how it determines its FICO credit scores. This new FICO 10 system — expected to go into effect by year’s end — could affect your retirement in big ways, possibly for theRead More →
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is reportedly paying $165 million for a palatial Beverly Hills mansion, and, according to SEC filings, with that sum the Amazon AMZN, -0.70% founder could have footed the entire 2019 federal tax bill his company is planning to pay this year. He’d have $3 million leftRead More →
When you think about downsizing your home and relocating, there’s a word that probably comes to mind: yecch. The process can be time-consuming, agonizing, frustrating and just plain sad. But, as the new public television series “Legacy List” shows (check local PBS listings), downsizing also has an upside. “When you start to downsize,Read More →
Photo by Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for William Hill Race & Sports Bar New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says the state’s top earners should be paying more in taxes. It could become more taxing for the highly compensated to live in New Jersey, if the state’s governor has it his way.Read More →
The Earned Income Tax Credit is designed to act as a cash infusion to low-income families. In fact, some experts have called it “one of the largest and most studied antipoverty programs in the United States.” And yet, far too many taxpayers aren’t aware of the credit, according to aRead More →
Employer stock options remain a potentially valuable asset for recipient employees, especially when they work for start-ups or fast-growing enterprises. For example, many Silicon Valley millionaires got rich (or at least semi-rich) from exercising their employer stock options. However, complicated tax rules apply to folks who exercise company stock options.Read More →
During tax filing season, which will start any day now, it’s not unusual to learn that you botched a previously filed return. Been there, done that. Say you just figured out that you missed some tax-saving deductions and credits on your 2018 Form 1040, which you filed only a littleRead More →
On December 20, President Donald Trump signed into law the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2019 (the Act). The new legislation retroactively resurrects and/or extends a bunch of individual and business federal income tax breaks, which we will call the extenders. The extensions generally go through 2020.Read More →
On Dec. 20, President Trump signed into law the awkwardly named Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (Secure Act). The new law is mainly intended to expand opportunities for individuals to increase their retirement savings. But it also includes one big anti-taxpayer change that will send some financiallyRead More →
Taking steps to defer your federal income bill is usually a good idea, especially if you expect to be in the same or lower tax bracket in future years. If that assumption pans out, making moves that lower your current-year income will, at a minimum, put off the tax dayRead More →
Broad Green Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection Like millions of others, financial advisers are planning resolutions for 2020. Self-care, simplified finances and unemotional investing choices are some of the ways financial advisers are planning to better themselves in 2020. Despite their differing goals, the advisers who answered a MarketWatch questionRead More →
Having retired abroad almost a decade ago, we can attest to the many benefits of retiring in another country, from lower living costs to better weather to less stress. But many people fear retiring abroad because they believe four myths. We’d like to explain the realities, and try to clearRead More →
Getty Images/iStockphoto Paying down your home mortgage balance faster than required is not a new idea. But you may be surprised to discover how powerful it can be. Paying down your home mortgage balance faster than required is not a new idea. But you may be surprised to discover howRead More →
This December, for the second year in a row, Chrys Kefalas and his husband didn’t deck the halls. Instead, they hired a friend to do it. Kefalas, who lives in the Washington, D.C., area with his husband, radio and television host Tommy McFly, enlisted the services of his friend HeatherRead More →
Pete Buttigieg’s past career at McKinsey & Co., the blue-chip management consulting firm, has suddenly become a hot topic on the presidential campaign trail. His opponents are questioning him about it. The New York Times editorial board has asked him to break his “untenable vow of silence.” McKinsey, Monday afternoon,Read More →
I’ve become aware that there’s still confusion out there about the current federal income tax rates on capital gains. We live to dispel such confusion. Here goes. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) included many changes that affect individual taxpayers. However, it maintained the status quo for the taxesRead More →
Since launching my company’s investment advisory service for retirees, True Link Financial, my colleagues and I have spent a lot of time talking to people about their financial plans. Here are five of the most common mistakes we’ve seen and how retirees can avoid them: Mistake No. 1: Thinking youRead More →
Today’s parents are happier because they’re balancing work and child-rearing more effectively and splitting domestic duties between moms and dads more evenly. Those are the findings of a new study that examined German parents’s life satisfaction between 1984 and 2015. Researchers from the University of Zurich looked at nationally representativeRead More →
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images The tax code is ‘not race and gender neutral’ according to new research. If you’re physically hurt on the job, the Internal Revenue Service generally won’t touch the worker’s compensation or legal settlement you receive. But if your boss harasses you, makes comments aboutRead More →
The unified federal estate and gift tax exemption for 2019 is a historically huge $11.4 million, or effectively $22.8 million for married couples. Even though these big exemptions probably mean that you are not currently exposed to the federal estate tax, your estate plan may still need updating to reflectRead More →
In his CBS Sunday Morning commentary on Nov. 3, Joe Ricketts, founder and former CEO/Chairman of the financial services firm Ameritrade AMTD, +1.07% , said: “Are we headed into a recession? You can’t pick up a newspaper without seeing that question. Well, I’ve been involved in the financial market since the StoneRead More →
MarketWatch photo illustration/iStockphoto, Getty Images Bill Gates’s fortune would take a tax hit under Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s tax plan — what would that mean for his philanthropic goals? Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft MSFT, +1.18% and a philanthropist behind the world’s largest charitable foundation, said Wednesday he would mull overRead More →
