After December 31, the calendar year has passed. That means most financial decisions you should have made is too late. You don’t want to be in the situation telling yourself when you’re filing your taxes that you should have done something different with your finances and it’s too late. What are some of the things you can do before the end of the year to help with your tax return? Donate Donating items or money are charitable gifts and you…
The Feds alluded to that potential interest rate hikes will occur in 2022. “Hikes” with an “s” as in plural. This is to help with reducing the rise of inflation. What does higher interest rates mean? It means that the cost of borrowing will get more expensive. If the Feds raise interest rates 3 times next year, what could that mean for you? Get ready in 2022, interest rates are likely going up. Higher rates means it’ll cost more to…
November and December months probably are the two best months for shopping. That’s because of Thanksgiving and Christmas and the events surrounding them. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Amazon Day, Christmas, and New Years are huge events and holidays that involve shopping and spending. People get to buy presents, travel, and other things. This helps businesses and their earnings. ‘Tis the season to invest. Businesses are hoping for a good shopping season so they can report high earnings. If a company…
We all have tricks up our sleeves when it comes to life hacks. Trying to find the best deals, find the best investment, and doing things more efficiently are just a few things we try to do to make life easier. What are some of the small life tricks that save you money? Here are a few things from my life Save your shopping bags and boxes Do you online shop and love getting packages at your door? You’ll either…
The 2022 federal tax brackets have been announced which includes annual inflation adjustments. How important is it to know your tax bracket? It’s important to know so you can plan accordingly and strategize your financial goals. Are you paying too much in taxes? Are you paying too little? Or are you paying just enough? Here’s a breakdown of the 2022 federal tax brackets. For tax year 2022, the top tax rate remains 37% for individual single taxpayers with incomes greater…
One of the financial moves I support is contributing to a retirement account such as the 401K. Especially if your employer offers a matching contribution, that’s free money to you. I’ve contributed to my retirement account since my first job and contributed the maximum amount. In 2021, the maximum contribution was $19,500. In 2022, the IRS set the 401K contribution limits to $20,500, an increase of $1,000. If you’re of the age 50 and over, you can add $6,500 as…
Historically I have been focused on pre-tax retirement accounts for the past 20+ years. I’m slowly leaning towards focusing on post-tax retirement accounts because of tax reasons. Most of all my retirement funds are in pre-tax accounts. I’m worried about the tax implications later on so I decided to explore Roth conversions and I just completed my first Roth conversion. When it comes to retirement accounts, there are two major ones: pre-tax and post-tax. Pre-tax accounts are those accounts like…
Our parents are our role models. We learn so much from them. We pass down traditions generation to generation. We consider them wise and experienced. However, there may be things that our parents did that we should avoid ourselves. Learning what not to do from our parents can help us make better decisions and minimize financial burden. Invest My parents didn’t invest much. They were the type to work their job and put their money into regular savings accounts. Back…
Living a life with just the things you need…living minimally. One area to consider when pursuing financial independence or if you’re just trying to get a hold of your financial stability is to try to live minimally. Living minimally doesn’t mean you have to live like a monk. Living minimally is being aware of your needs and wants. How to live minimally depends on you and what your definition of minimal is. Now that I’m older and a little wiser…
Prior to COVID, did you feel like you could barely keep up with life? I had a 3 hour roundtrip commute to work. I had kids activities I had to take them to. My To-Do list kept getting longer and longer each week. I barely had time for myself. I felt like I was barely keeping up. After working from home due to COVID, it gave me so much of my time back. Luckily, I had a job where I…