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Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
After a cloudy, several decade long malaise, the sun is finally shining on solar energy (pun intended). Since the 70s, solar energy was a do-it-yourselfer backyard dream of unplugging from the monthly electric bill. It wasn’t cheap. It wasn’t efficient. But all that is changing. Continue Reading…
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Have you ever picked a number and doubled it over and over again until you can’t do the math in your head? The magic of compounding drives the numbers so high, so fast. Of course, this works with money too, just at a slightly slower pace. It’s called compound interest and it’s one thing all of us can take advantage of now no matter how investment savvy you are.
The most repeated financial advice is to save and invest early. Saving early puts time on your side and compounding plays a big role in that. The best way to show compound interest in action is with an example: Continue Reading…
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Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
Everyone has a story about finding money on the ground. For most of us, I’d bet it was no more than lose change, or if lucky, a few bucks. That’s nothing compared to what a California couple found. It was 1,400 gold coins worth $10,000,000! Talk about stumbling onto a fortune. Continue Reading…
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The tax code is full of ways to lower to your taxes. The Saver’s Credit (formerly the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit) is a tax credit for something we should be doing anyways, saving for retirement. This is on top of the great tax benefits already offered by retirement plans. With a little tax planning you can turn this tax credit into big savings.
The Saver’s Credit helps those taxpayers who save for retirement but are on the lower end of the income scale. Consider it a reward for being a responsible saver, in that it helps offset part of your contributions each year.
Here’s how it works. The Saver’s Credit offsets 50%, 20%, or 10% of the first $2,000 ($4,000 if married filing jointly) of your retirement contributions each year. That gives you up to a maximum tax credit of $1,000 ($2,000 if married filing jointly) each year. Continue Reading…
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Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
An old pricing model is back in fashion. It’s found in tech circles were buyers wear blinders to real valuation metrics. Who needs earnings or revenues when you have users!
Price per user is nothing new. The dotcom boom was the first iteration. It’s built on the prospect of turning users into dollars eventually. For now, user growth and engagement matter and the price per user is rising. Continue Reading…
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Investors should keep an eye out for some extra tax forms each year. When you deal with interest income, form 1099-INT is the form you need to get your tax return done.
This form isn’t limited to investors either. Anyone earning interest on savings accounts, money market accounts, CDs, or bonds is a potential candidate.
However, it won’t report earnings from mutual funds invested in bonds. Mutual fund earnings are reported on 1099-DIV for dividends and distributions.
This can be confusing without some good tax software or an accountant to help sort it out. It’s also why TurboTax comes in handy when I do my tax returns every year because it sorts out all the tax forms for me. Continue Reading…