Who among us wants to pay the IRS more taxes than we have to? While few may raise their hands, Americans regularly overpay because they fail to take tax deductions for which they are eligible. Let’s take a quick look at some of the most overlooked opportunities to manage your tax bill. Reinvested dividends. When…

There are many reasons why people who could retire are hesitant to do so. Some people think they need to wait until they’re 65 or older. Some are worried about running out of money. Many parents want to keep supporting their children through some major life transition, like college, marriage, or buying a first home.…

By Kevin Theissen Tax Cuts and Jobs Act The nature and shape of the nation’s tax system inevitably influences the everyday decisions made by individuals and businesses alike. After the implementation of one of the most comprehensive reforms in over a generation, it is essential to review certain financial and investment strategies. For millions of…

By Kevin Theissen Every year the IRS releases its list of tax scams, spotlighting the myriad ways that people try to separate you from your money or reduce tax liability. Here are the “dirty dozen” that have regularly made the list in recent years. Identity theft Using your personal information, an identity thief can file…

Purchasing power parity, or PPP, is a simple idea with a tongue twister of a name. When two countries have PPP, a basket of goods costs the same amount in both countries after the exchange rate has been factored in. The Economist developed an entertaining measure of PPP. It’s called “The Big Mac Index.” The…

While the emergence of the gig economy often is attributed to Millennials, MBO Partners’ 2017 survey found the full-time gig workforce is a generational mash-up. It includes 38 percent Millennials (ages 21 to 37), 27 percent Gen Xers (ages 38 to 52)  and 35 percent Baby Boomers (ages 53 to 72) and Matures (ages 72…

By Kevin Theissen The Internal Revenue Service estimates that taxpayers and businesses spend 6.1 billion hours per year complying with tax-filing requirements. To put this into perspective, if all this work were done by a single company, it would need about 3 million full-time employees and be one of the largest industries in the U.S.…

By Kevin Theissen “The only money that’s really yours is the money you spend. Everything else goes to somebody else,” said Teddy Chafolious. That piggy bank we remember from childhood wasn’t just a place to store our birthday money and spare change: it was a lesson, a way our parents encouraged us to get into…

By Kevin Theissen Does investing strike fear in you? We once heard somebody say the word “fear” stands for “False Evidence Appearing Real.” That seems to apply to investing. Here’s why. The stock market makes some people nervous. This can be especially true for young people who grew up during the Great Recession. Not only…

By Kevin Theissen Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—they’ve all fallen prey to hackers who exposed passwords and other personal information for hundreds of thousands of their users. If you haven’t yet had your password stolen, chances are, it may be only a matter of time. Hearing the word “hacker” may conjure up the image of a teenaged kid…

By Kevin Theissen The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 provided individuals with valuable rights to the credit information that companies keep on them, but did you know the credit score provided to you may be different from the one provided to lenders? The first thing you should know is that you have a right…