Income is the amount of money you receive on a regular basis, while wealth is the length of time you can maintain your current lifestyle without additional income from your job. Some of the major factors that can get in the way of building wealth are: • Spending on basic necessities like housing, • Paying back student loans, and • Spending on our children, parents or grandparents These expenses are necessary to live and prosper. Yet, if we have insufficient income, we have le

Understanding tax credits and deductions can be confusing, but they can also be a great way to save money on your taxes. It’s important to understand the tax credits and deductions available to you so that you can take advantage of them and potentially lower your tax bill. One common tax credit is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC is a credit for low- and moderate-income earners, and the amount of the credit is based on your income and the number of dependents you

Financial Literacy Month is a celebration and a challenge. Now that Tax Season is almost over, it's a chance to reflect on the state of our personal finances and an opportunity to improve those finances, one step at a time. The 30 steps of Financial Literacy Month are designed to help you identify your money weaknesses and turn them into strengths. All you have to do is #Takethepledge if you want more from your money, and commit to completing these 30 steps in the next 30 d

Congress also increased health insurance premium subsidies in March, making coverage more affordable for millions of Americans. While the exchange has temporarily capped premiums at 8.5% of household income, filers may have to repay some of the benefits if earnings exceed the thresholds for 2021. “It can really be a very unpleasant and stressful situation for those folks that have to pay the money back,” said aid certified financial planner Larry Harris, director of tax servi

The American Rescue Plan boosted the child tax credit to $3,000 for families with kids 17 and under for 2021, with an extra $600 for children under age 6. While millions of Americans have received advanced credits, filers who earned more than expected may need to pay some of it back, experts say. To qualify for the full credit, single filers need a modified adjusted gross income of less than $75,000 and married couples filing together must earn under $150,000. Filers should g

Taxpayers eyeing a year-end charitable donation may take advantage of a special write-off for cash gifts in 2021, even if they don’t itemize deductions on their federal tax return. For 2021, single filers may claim a tax break for cash donations up to $300 and married couples may get up to $600, according to the IRS, an extended coronavirus relief measure from 2020. Since most Americans don’t have enough itemized write-offs to exceed the standard deduction, it’s been difficul

Now that you survived the first tax season since the Covid-19 Pandemic, let's start making updates to your personal finances and records. You don’t need a degree in accounting to audit yourself after tax season, but be aware that it is vital to make sure your financial plan is up to date and realistic. Let's start by assessing what you may owe. If you owe more to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), this could mean you were under-withholding from your wages and no one likes a

She is responsible for the sculpture of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that was minted on the American dime.

Walker was the first African American woman to charter a bank in the United States

Teenagers should understand the benefit of setting up a budget that documents how much money is coming in and out.