Did you know that you have to pay back the homebuyer tax credit if you claim it and then sell your house (or otherwise stop using it as your principal residence) within the next three years? I didn’t, but apparently that’s the case. Here’s the scoop straight from the IRS:
Q: When must I pay back [...]

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Last week I contacted Ally Bank with a last minute change of heart. I had intended to roll our 12 month CD into a 5 year CD upon expiration, but had second thoughts when I saw that Series I Savings Bonds are more attractive than CD rates.
I actually contacted Ally on the renewal date and [...]

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I’ve received several comments/e-mails asking about whether Congress has decided to make the first time homebuyer tax credit retroactive. If you saw my previous article, you’ll know that Congress has extended the first time homebuyer credit and added a new $6500 credit for existing homeowners.
Is the homebuyer tax credit retroactive… or not?
From everything that I’ve [...]

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This just in… The House of Representatives has voted to extend — and expand — the first time homebuyer tax credit.
Extending the $8000 credit, adding a $6500 credit
According to the NY Times:
The bill extends an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers that was due to expire on Nov. 30, making it available to those [...]

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Not quite a year ago, I reported that Congress was considering suspending the required minimum distribution (RMD) requirement for retirees. The reason for this is that the stock market had just collapsed, and they didn’t want retirees being forced to liquidate holdings at the bottom.
While Congress ultimately acted, it was a classic case of too [...]

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Taxes are a huge consideration when planning for retirement. As you’re building up your nest egg, one of the big decisions that you’ll face is whether you should put your money in a traditional, tax-deferred account or a Roth-style account.
Of course, we don’t all face this dilemma. After all, access to Roth IRA accounts is [...]

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Two years ago, our tax preparer suggested we take advantage of tax breaks like IRAs and home ownership. We then looked at our options and started working on our IRAs. Buying a house just for a tax break wasn’t what we wanted, so we paid down our debt and saved some money on the side [...]

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This is a guest post from Mike Piper, author of Investing Made Simple and proprietor of The Oblivious Investor. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.
The Roth IRA vs. Traditional IRA question gets a lot of press, and that makes sense. By choosing correctly, you can significantly reduce [...]

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Do you have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA)? We do, and we love it. Every year, my employer lets us set aside up to $5k in pre-tax dollars to pay for healthcare expenses that aren’t covered by insurance. This includes co-pays, deductibles, prescriptions, orthodontia, vision care, etc.
Well… The Senate Finance Committee has just approved healthcare [...]

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States across the country are hurting. High unemployment numbers and reduced corporate profits have gutted tax revenue. At the same time, every state besides Vermont has a law requiring a balanced budget. As such, state governments are getting desperate to make ends meet.
A recent article in Forbes highlighted the lengths to which some states are [...]

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