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How to Invest Small Amounts of Money
If you factor in commissions and fees, investing a few hundred dollars through a brokerage will put you at a disadvantage from the outset. Photo: Kristina Zuidema
My advice to anyone investing a significant amount of money – say, more than $50,000 – is twofold. If you want to be hands-on, buy a rental property. If you want to be hands-off, put it into index funds directly through Vanguard.
Unfortunately, that “tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest” scenario is a dream to most of us. Many people find themselves digging out of debt (or, luckily, never in debt), but without a whole lot of money to squeeze out of their monthly pay. How does a person invest $50 a month? What about a lump sum of $200 or $500? What do you do with that kind of money?
Debt Forgiveness and Taxes
The IRS considers some forgiven debts as taxable income — and that’s not what you want to hear when you’re at financial rock-bottom. Photo: Jeff Turner
In 1726, author Daniel Defoe wrote in “The Political History of the Devil” that, “Things as certain as death and taxes can be more firmly believed.” A modern twist on that time-honored quotation would be, “Few things can affect your taxes more than debt.”
A Funeral Costs How Much?
A death in the family is staggering enough without having to face the cost of a funeral. Photo: Family Funeral
The loss of a family member can be too much for some people to bear, but learning how much a funeral can cost is enough to send many over the edge.
I’ve seen it too many times to count. My husband has been a funeral director for most of his adult life, and I worked alongside him for almost seven years. And the story, while always tragic and heartbreaking in its own way, is almost always the same.
The Big Impact of Your Little Financial Choices
Selling your car or downsizing your home will certainly save you money. But smaller moves, such as meal planning, can be effective over time, too. Photo: Liz
When a person starts looking at their personal finances and seeking to make changes to improve things, most personal finance books and websites encourage people to look at making big changes right off the bat.
Sell off all the stuff in your closet to earn a big pile of money in a weekend.
Sell your car and start using mass transit and a bicycle to save hundreds a month.
How to Start a Home-Based Medical Billing Service
Medical billing services ensure that doctors and other health care providers get paid. Caption: 401(k)
There’s a reason your mother said that if you can’t be a doctor, marry one — because there’s lots of money to be made in health care.
But if you missed the bus to medical school and you haven’t married a doctor, there’s still lots of money to be made from being a health care professional, especially if you want to be in business for yourself.
Protect Your Money While Studying Abroad
A magnet for students regardless of the country: Be sure to protect your credit cards and cash when studying — and eating — abroad. Photo: The LEAF Project
Studying abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but you need to take steps to protect your money during your travels. Here is what to do before, during, and after your study-abroad adventure:
TurboTax Discount Code – Free Offer Promotion
Why bother with the pen and calculator when you can e-file for free? Photo: Dave Dugdale
Attention, tax preparers looking for a great discount on TurboTax software this tax season. TurboTax is running a limited-time offer that could get simple filers to complete their federal and state taxes for $0.
The Simple Dollar has learned that:
10 Work-From-Home Jobs for 2015
Sure beats a cubicle, right? The online world makes a number of work-from-home jobs possible. Photo: Chris Roos
Just a few decades ago, the vast majority of work-at-home job opportunities were far from profitable. And before the dawn of the Internet, it was much harder to sort through the scams and the real opportunities.
Some of the “gotcha” job offers from the past include check-cashing schemes, mystery shopping, medical billing “jobs” that require you to purchase expensive computer software, and craft-making jobs that ask you to pony up the cash for materials before you get started. And let’s not forget about the famous envelope-stuffing scam that was nothing more than a pyramid scheme designed to siphon money from as many people as possible.
The Inspiration for Success in Everyday Life
David Foster Wallace at a book reading in 2006. Photo: Steve Rhodes
In 2005, David Foster Wallace (the author of countless articles and several books, including the wonderful Infinite Jest) gave a commencement speech at Kenyon College. You can read the full speech here, and I encourage you to do so; I read it every few months myself.
His speech is about the value and inspiration in everyday life. He starts off by describing the challenge of “day in, day out” adult life, which is undoubtedly a grind. He gives an example of these kinds of boring routines a third of the way in:
Tax Changes for 2015
We’d like to amend what Benjamin Franklin had to say about death and … well, you know…. Photo: DonkeyHotey
It’s nearly impossible to talk about taxes without remembering Benjamin Franklin’s observation: “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Ben was correct, but his take on taxes does not go far enough. Not only are taxes a certainty, but changes in tax laws and rules are inescapable. Each and every year, Congress — either through action or inaction — makes changes in tax laws. Whether it’s vanishing deductions or credits that have expired or changes in rates and limits, every tax year is different. We’ve gathered some of the most significant changes that you should be aware of here.
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