Taxes

Kate Ice Cream KPE It’s National Ice Cream Day. And in case you think that it’s a holiday made up by scheming kids to convince parents to give them ice cream (I wouldn’t put it past mine), it’s a real holiday. Well, real-ish. National Ice Cream Day, as well as National Ice Cream Month (I’m

Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin Photocredit: © 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP © 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP The S&P is likely to fall in August; here are a pair of short sale recommendations. The monthly S&P 500 cycle peaks at the end of July and falls through August. Cycle signals must be

“Put not your trust in money, but put your money in trust” comes from the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.  The context was advice to young women about to be married and is probably reflective of the legal concept of coverture which put the property and earnings of a married woman

Do wildfire victims worry about their taxes? You bet. How fire victims are taxed depends on what they collect, what they claim on their taxes, if they are rebuilding their property, their insurance and more. Another big variable is whether they sue PG&E. It can build out a complex tax picture, especially now that there

Like many Americans, I’d support any of the more than 20 Democratic presidential candidates over the current occupant of the White House. They are all qualified, articulate, thoughtful, patriotic grownups. Not one of them spent the Fourth of July thanking the Continental Army for securing LaGuardia. Nor does any need a teleprompter to speak full

President Donald Trump pumps his fist after putting on a hard hat given to him before speaking to the National Electrical Contractors Association Convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) ASSOCIATED PRESS Low state tax rates appear to be driving faster job growth since President Trump signed

(Photo by / Richard Drew, AP) Last January, MoneyShow.com asked the leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite stocks for 2019. Healthcare was a popular sector in that survey, with several big first half winners. Here’s a check-up on 6 financial favorites for the second half. Adrian Day, Global Analyst I selected Gladstone Investment (GAIN)

Social Security may be one of your largest assets. What and when you collect will make a huge difference to your lifetime benefits. Today’s column examines whether higher retirement benefits prevent smaller spousal benefits, when spousal benefits can be paid, potential effects of government pensions on widow’s benefits, benefits after divorce and remarriage and whether

There is no passage in the Bible that states, “Thou shalt not pay tax.” That was the finding in an Australian court case which garnered worldwide interest because of the nature of the defense: the family refused to pay tax, claiming that it was “against God’s will.” However, Associate Justice Stephen Holt ruled against them, ordering

A spike in announcements of bonus payments for workers followed the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in December 2017, and President Trump took credit for the extra payouts. They were, he said, just the beginning of a protracted period of real compensation growth fueled in part by the cut in corporate

© 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP Federal minimum wage hikes could crush scores of small businesses across America, already pushed near the cliff by high rents and growing state and city labor regulations. Minimum wage hikes are reaching a fever pitch lately in America. Politicians at all levels, federal, state, and local are racing to get

Social Security may be one of your largest assets. What and when you collect will make a huge difference to your lifetime benefits. Today’s column addresses some ramifications of filing early, the ability to restrict an application before full retirement age (FRA), reductions in benefits due to foreign pensions, voluntarily and involuntarily suspending benefits and

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the Presidential Social Media Summit in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, July 11, 2019. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg © 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP U.S. president Donald Trump set the crypto-verse ablaze on July 11th when he directed a series of tweets at bitcoin,

What’s the old saying? If you love something, throw it away and then reintroduce in another tax year? Or something like that? Just as the form 1040 appears to be making a return to a more pre-TCJA-like format, we have another repackaged (sort of) tax form: form 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors. You may

Capitol Building with dramatic sunrise sky, Washington DC Getty The SECURE Act (Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement, H.R. 1994)  is still working through the Senate after passing the House in May. It proposes a number of changes to retirement savings including changes to various nuts and bolts of IRAs and 401(k)s. It is not yet law. Nonetheless, it seems pretty likely

© 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP Netflix is the new Tesla. On Wall Street, that is. Netflix and Tesla are in totally different businesses. But they have a couple of things in common on Wall Street. One of them is that they are both “hot” stocks. This means that they have a strong following among investors

Too many people think of investing when they think of retirement planning. It distracts them from the issues that should be the focus of most of their time and energy. When people first learn what I do, most of them soon ask me questions about investing and the markets. It doesn’t seem to matter what

Just six (or so) months after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the much talked about – and maligned – form 1040 for the 2018 tax year, there’s a new draft in town. Here’s a quick peek at the latest version, intended for the 2019 tax year: IRS draft 2019 p1 IRS IRS draft 2019

Doing a flip on skis is scary, completing a 401(k) rollover should not be. Getty The days of starting a job out of college and working at one company until you retire with a Golden Rolex are long behind us.  More likely, you will work for a variety of companies over your career, you may

IRS-CI Chief Don Fort speaks during an IRS Criminal Investigation 100th year anniversary event. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg © 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP One hundred years ago, six United States Post Office Inspectors were transferred to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (now Internal Revenue Service) to become the first special agents in charge of a new crime