April 2012

Can’t Pay Your Taxes? Read This

April 17, 2012

What should you do if you can’t afford to pay your taxes? Recently I came across a page on the IRS website that answers this question, at least in part. Believe it or not, the IRS offers installment plans that allow taxpayers to pay their taxes over time. Before we get to the installment plans, [...]

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A Free and Easy Way to Track Reward Miles and Points

April 13, 2012

After yesterday’s article about how to get 100,000 bonus points with the British Airways Visa Signature card, I started to think about all of the reward miles and points I have. Like many, I have rewards on credit cards, hotel reward programs, airline frequent flyer programs, and even rental car programs. And the truth is [...]

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401k vs IRA–Where Should You Save for Retirement?

April 11, 2012

Among the many decisions we all must make about retirement, one of the most perplexing relates to the types of retirement account options. For many of us, there are a lot of choices including a 401k, Roth 401k, Deductible IRA, Roth IRA, and a Non-deductible IRA. And that’s not even counting 403b accounts, SEP IRAs, [...]

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Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® Visa Signature® Card–30,000 Bonus Miles and Your First Bag Flies Free

April 10, 2012

My family and I just returned from a vacation in which we spent $264 for a plane ticket to Florida and back. That might not be a bad deal, except that– The “ticket” was for our luggage! So when Citi relaunched a miles card that lets you and up to 4 companions each check one [...]

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Barron’s 2012 Online Broker Survey

April 9, 2012

Barron’s has released its annual ranking of online brokers. Each year Barron’s undertakes an exhaustive survey and ranks brokers in a number of helpful categories. If you are looking to open a brokerage account, the survey is quite helpful in narrowing down the many options. What’s New for 2012 First, Barron’s crowned a new broker [...]

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2012 Tax Filing Deadlines

April 6, 2012

If you’ve already filed your taxes you probably feel a sense of relief like I do. Much like the relief you feel when a root canal is over. For those who have procrastinated, you need to know the filing deadline dates. This year you have two bonus days to file your taxes. You don’t have [...]

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Should You Use The Standard or Itemized Deduction on Your Taxes?

April 4, 2012

Ah, the classic question.  Should I use the standard deduction or itemize?  The answer is “simple” of course–you should use whichever deduction results in paying the least amount of taxes.  While tax software can figure out the best approach, it’s still helpful to understand the difference between taking the standard deduction and itemizing. So let’s [...]

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Should You Pay for a Biweekly Mortgage Payment Plan?

April 2, 2012

Recently we refinanced our mortgage. With a rate of 3.875% fixed for 30 years, it was just too good to pass up. About a week after the refi closed, we got a letter from our bank offering what it called the EMPP–Early Mortgage Pay-Off Plan. The letter promised that we could lower our interest rate [...]

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