In our opinion, if you aren’t saving 10% of your income for retirement and at least another 10% of your income for savings/emergency fund/college/investing/etc., then your financial life is out of balance and you are definitely living beyond your means. Most people start with their take-home pay, deduct out all their various monthly expenses and…
Quick Tips: AnnualCreditReport.com for Three Free Credit Reports Per Year
It’s really difficult to sift through all the gimmicky “free credit report” offers you find on the internet — most of which invariably turn out to cost you dearly. However, AnnualCreditReport.com is the official site for truly safe and free credit reports. This site is jointly owned by the three big credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax…
How a Family of Four with a $100,000 Yearly Income Pays only $6,252 in Federal Income Tax
I know the title of this article is a bit provocative, and rest assured that I do not in any way mean for this to be a political argument; I just know the subject of taxation can be a boring one, and as a CPA I like to make taxes much more interesting if possible.…
The Impact of Prepaying your Mortgage Principal Each Month
The Bankrate.com Mortgage Calculator is one of the most valuable tools I’ve found to help you calculate the impact of prepaying your mortgage each month. You can plug in different scenarios for your mortgage and it spits out a full amortization table in a matter of seconds. It also helps highlight the value of prepaying…
Quick Tips: Roth-IRAs for Children
This ‘quick tip’ is probably only applicable to about 1% of our readers right now, but if you’re like me then hopefully this will strike you as such amazing information that you’ll store it away somewhere and think about it when you have a child who is about 13 years-old: Anyone who has ‘earned income’…
Quick Tips: Tax Credits and Tax Deductions Explained
One of the most fundamental items you need to know to have even a basic understanding of taxation is the difference between a tax credit and a tax deduction. You’ll hear these two items discussed quite frequently, but we’re struck by how often people mix them up or use them interchangeably when they are dramatically…
Quick Tips: What is an ETF?
One of the most talked about financial investment products today is the ETF, but most people really have no clue what these are or if they are beneficial to them as an average investor. An ETF is an ‘exchange traded fund’, but the full name really is an ‘exchange traded mutual fund.’ So in most…