Personal finance

If you can clear a few hurdles, high health care costs might help lower your 2019 tax bill. The deduction for medical expenses is one of the few tax breaks currently available to individuals, due to tax-law changes in effect from 2018 through 2025 that doubled the standard deduction and eliminated most other write-offs. As

Kathy Kraninger, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images The agency created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from abuse is being gutted from the inside, according to some consumer advocates and legal experts. A new enforcement policy at the Consumer Financial Protection

Hill Street Studios Here’s a head-scratcher: Getting a raise could hurt your standard of living in retirement. That conclusion seems counterintuitive. After all, wouldn’t saving the same percentage of a larger paycheck yield more savings, and therefore a healthier retirement? Not exactly, according to new research published by Morningstar. “Raises — and how we spend

Jetta Productions Inc Bring out your box of receipts. Tax season begins today. Eager taxpayers can start filing their 2019 tax returns on Monday, Jan. 27. The IRS expects it will receive more than 150 million returns. People with elaborate returns can ask for a six-month extension to file, but they have until April 15

Hero Images | Hero Images | Getty Images Many Americans believe they will live longer than their parents. For younger generations, that has led to a big concern: how they will provide financially for those extended years. That’s according to a new online poll from the Longevity Project and Morning Consult, which surveyed 2,200 U.S.

If you were hoping to keep your bitcoin stash under wraps from the IRS, think again. As the 2019 tax season kicks off on Jan. 27, the taxman is expecting you to disclose whether you had any cryptocurrency transactions last year. The IRS asks the following question on the first page of Schedule 1 of

katleho Seisa Lawmakers have diluted a retirement tax break popular among wealthy Americans, leading many to consider a strategy known as a Roth conversion for individual retirement accounts to try softening the blow. A Roth conversion involves the owner of a traditional IRA, which is funded with pretax contributions, moving that money into an after-tax

ferrantraite “Adulting” with your money. You’ve got this. Your money is like anything else you need to learn. It seems crazy complicated at first, then bit by bit you learn more, until you realize it’s more accessible than you thought. Even though the adult world has many confusing concepts, remember that most people are not

Just because the IRS is auditing fewer tax returns, don’t assume you can dupe the taxman. With much of the agency’s systems automated to spot certain discrepancies, and some parts of tax returns typically generating more scrutiny than others, the risk of hearing from the IRS still remains. “A lot of this is done by

You probably know you’re supposed to have money set aside for the unexpected. Now, a new online tool may help you figure out exactly how much you need.  Created by the JPMorgan Chase Institute and based on its recent research about income volatility among U.S. households, the tool lets you sort by income and age

Richard Sharrocks A case before the Supreme Court has the power dramatically reshape how the U.S. government polices financial fraud and other misdeeds against consumers — which many experts fear would weaken existing protections and expose the public to more harm. The case, which concerns the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, could ultimately lead to the

With more and more student loan borrowers falling behind, it’s clear many people need a way to make their monthly bills more manageable. Enter income-driven repayment plans, which some 8 million borrowers are enrolled in. In theory, the plans are simple: Borrowers’ bills are capped at a portion of their income. Some payments wind up

wecolmia | Getty Images Morgan Stanley Wealth Management clients now have a new way to manage their cash, with the launch of the asset manager’s CashPlus account.  The new account aims to compete as an alternative to traditional banking. It is directed at the firm’s existing wealth management clients, who can open an account with

Thomas Barwick If you’re a Vanguard investor who is hoping to file your taxes early, you may be disappointed. Clients at The Vanguard Group who switched from the firm’s mutual fund platform to its brokerage account in 2019 will receive two sets of tax forms for that year, the company confirmed. These Form 1099s will

Gwen Merz of Fiery Millennials cites restaurant spending as an easy place to cut back and save big. Source: Gwen Merz Don’t forget the coffee. No need to give up avocado toast. People love to blame high-end coffee drinks as the reason you’re not rich, but maybe just as key is the latte in reverse.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, leave Canada House on January 7, 2020, in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage) Samir Hussein | WireImage | Getty Images Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are getting closer to severing financial ties with the Royal Family, but there’s one entity that will always be

Former Vice President Joe Biden (L) greets Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) before the Democratic presidential primary debate at Drake University on January 14, 2020 in Des Moines, Iowa. Scott Olson | Getty Images Top Democratic presidential candidates all want to boost Social Security benefits. But two of the candidates — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and

Tom Werner | DigitalVision | Getty Images Investing a pot of tax-free cash for medical expenses is a great idea, with apparently few takers. Health savings accounts, which are offered alongside high-deductible health-care plans, come with a bevy of tax benefits. You can contribute to an HSA on a pretax or tax-deductible basis and have

If you think bringing a new human into the world is daunting, wait until you see what he or she will do to your budget. It will cost a middle-income married couple an average of $233,610 to raise a child from birth through age 17, according to 2015 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Jose Luis Pelaez Inc | Getty Images Lawmakers passed a bill last week that would allow seniors to fight age discrimination in the workplace more easily — and that could help protect older Americans at a precarious time in their financial lives. The House of Representatives passed the Protecting Older Workers against Discrimination Act on