February 2011

Carnival of Personal Finance #298 – The Best Money Articles Online

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Its been a while since I hosted the CoPF and I was pleasantly surprised to see many new faces in the personal finance blogging space along with some of my old favorites. It was especially interesting to see some of the newer blogs out there because it reminded me of my journey in building Saving [...]

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Rich Advice: What The Top Financial Advisors Are Saying About Investing

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I always enjoy reading Barron’s annual Top 1,000 financial advisors list. While, I am way too middle class to engage the ongoing services of a financial advisor (most of the top advisors service families/people with more than $5 million in net worth), it’s still interesting to note what they are saying about the future and [...]

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2011 Government Shutdown Impacts – Will Social Security Benefits, Contractor and Federal Employee Pay Checks Stop?

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[Update August 2011] The Debt Ceiling debate has been resolved following a last minute bipartisan compromise which will raise the debt ceiling $2.1 trillion and cut the federal deficit by as much as $2.5 trillion over a decade. There will be no tax increases or entitlement programs cuts in the near term. However there are [...]

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How Did Your Retirement Account Perform Last Year? Checking Performance Online at Fidelity or Vanguard

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With stock markets staging a strong recovery the average return on a tax advantaged retirement plan, like a 401(k) and IRA, was around 11% according to Morningstar. At this rate your money will double every 5 or so years thanks to compounding. But how did your retirement plan perform? And have you even checked? For [...]

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Debt Reduction: Repealing the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction, State and Local, Health Insurance and Retirement Tax Breaks

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To get a picture of the problem that lawmakers face, let’s look at a tale of two attitudes. Polls indicate that we as a nation are getting worried about the amount of debt we’re incurring as we prop up the American economy. TARP, Quantitative Easing, and corporate bailouts cost the country money and Americans are [...]

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Why Buy Life Insurance and Choosing the Right Option

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We’ve all heard that we should have life insurance but few of us take the time to learn about it and even fewer purchase a policy. The reason is obvious: We don’t want to seriously think about the conditions surrounding our own death. We don’t want to believe that there is a chance that our [...]

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American Opportunity Education Tax Credit (AOTC) Extension for 2011 and 2012 – Eligibility, Income and Phase-out Limits

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Congress extended the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), which was initially created under the Recovery Act, for an additional two years as part of President Obama’s compromise tax cut package. The AOTC allows parents and students to receive a tax credit of up to $2,500 for college expenses, based on certain income limits. The AOTC [...]

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The Best Small Business Insurance For General Liability, Workers Compensation, Commercial Auto and Umbrella Coverage

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If you own a small business you know that with all of the rewards that come with being an entrepreneur there are also financial and legal risks that act as a daily overhang on your business. If one of your employees is injured on the job, the medical costs could bankrupt your business. If somebody [...]

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2012 Payroll Tax Credit Holiday Extended Till Year End. Extensions For Unemployment Benefits and Medicare Payments Also Approved

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[Updated- 2012 Payroll Tax Credit Holiday, Unemployment Benefits and Medicare Doctor Payments Extended to Dec 31st] With House Republican support Congress has passed legislation extending the federal payroll tax holiday through the end of the year without demanding spending cuts to pay for it. This was a concession aimed at averting another repeat of their [...]

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