Taxes

Weekend Linkage: Year End Moves, Tax Tips and Financial Setbacks

With December officially underway, everyone is taking a look at the year that was — and what they can do to finish off on the right step. Should you max out your Roth IRA? Does it make sense to cash in some losing stocks to write it off on your taxes? Are there any government [...]

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Does Doing it Yourself Pay in the Long Run?

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One of the seldom discussed advantages of homeownership is the do-it-yourself opportunities it allows. Homeowners can do any of the maintenance and repair chores themselves, while renters pay for it in the cost of their monthly rent. Homeowners can provide untaxed labor that reduces their need for cash flow and income. I am unaware that [...]

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Gambling on the Hope of Becoming Wealthy

In order to pay for health care proposals that extend coverage to 37 million people who are currently without coverage, House Democrats recently announced a plan to raise personal income tax rates up to 5.4% on incomes over $350,000. The Obama Administration is supporting a similar plan. In a recent article about the proposal in [...]

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Weekend Linkage: Creating Wealth, FSAs and Your Home

Like a few weeks back, this Weekend Linkage has no theme, except that each story is interesting and should save (and make) you some money. That sounds pretty good. Maybe that'll be the theme: saving and making money. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, here are the stories. At MSN Money, tax [...]

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Energy Efficient Tax Credits: Do Your Research First

Being a tax geek, excitement ran through my veins when my wife said we needed to buy a new water heater. That's right, excitement! Our gas water heater was more than 20 years old and needed to be replaced. Knowing that there have been recent incentives to purchase energy efficient water heaters, I was all [...]

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Will Taxing Health Care Benefits Pay for Reform?

The headline in the Washington Post reads "Tax on Health Benefits Weighed" with the subhead "Senator Calls Levy 'Perhaps the Best Way' to Pay for Overhaul." The qualifier "perhaps", in this case, means the best we can do given that a majority in Congress wants to avoid raising income tax rates at the top of [...]

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For First-Time Homebuyers, Consider This

Does it make more sense to rent or buy? This age old question is asked by many people considering buying a house. Recent studies indicate that the cost of renting now exceeds the cost of buying in many markets. In an effort to curb the decline in real estate value, slow foreclosures, and encourage home [...]

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