IRA contribution limits The maximum amount you can contribute to a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA in 2020 is $6,000 (or 100% of your earned income, if less), unchanged from 2019. The maximum catch-up contribution for those age 50 or older remains at $1,000. You can contribute to both a traditional IRA and a Roth…
In a perfect world, both halves of a couple share the same investment goals and agree on the best way to try to reach them. It doesn’t always work that way, though. Disagreements about money are often a source of friction between couples. You may be risk-averse, while your spouse may be comfortable investing more…
It’s that time of year again – back to school sales, bus drivers practicing their routes, and staff getting classrooms ready for their new students. These are the early reminders that the first day of school is just around the corner. With education on the mind, this time of year can also bring about questions…
The federal minimum wage (FMW), currently $7.25 per hour, hasn’t increased since 2009—the longest stretch with no federal increases since 1938, when the minimum wage was created. Several presidential candidates as well as proposed House Bill H.R. 582, Raise the Wage Act, would raise the FMW. What effect would a wage increase have on wage…
Portfolio Rebalancing Imagine you just bought a new car. You love how it looks and handles. You take it on long, beautiful drives together. When you take your car in to be serviced, you are asked if you want the tires rotated. You’re a bit baffled because the car seems to be handling just fine.…
When choosing an investment, there are a wide range of figures and numbers you can consider before making a decision. Things can get more complicated when you consider that you, other investors and professionals will put varying levels of emphasis on the factors each deems most important. There is no right or wrong to it.…
Whether you have $100 or $1,000,000, you want to see your investment grow. Ideally, you would like to see that money grow a lot without the investment risk. Unfortunately, the risk/return tradeoff concept in investing tells us that greater returns come with greater risk. There is no magic formula that will allow you to guarantee…
The popularity of investing in index funds has been gaining interest in recent years. Index mutual funds are not a new concept – they have been available for over four decades, and exchange-traded funds (“ETF”) for more than ten years. What has changed is the number of investors putting money into these funds, which has…
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which passed in December 2017, made fundamental changes to the U.S. tax code, and 2018 returns were the first time most taxpayers could see the practical impact of these changes. In an April 2019 Gallup poll, 43% of Americans said they were unsure how the new tax law…
One of the longest-standing debates in investing is over the relative merits of active portfolio management versus passive management. With an actively managed portfolio, a manager tries to beat the performance of a given benchmark index by using his or her judgment in selecting individual securities and deciding when to buy and sell them. A…