Category: Budgeting

Categories
Budgeting Financial Literacy

Understanding Cost Basis

Understanding your cost basis can save you pretty penny or three. Here’s a useful little primer on what cost basis is, and why it’s useful to understand, from the folks at Schwab.

Save on Taxes: Know Your Cost Basis

by www.schwab.com

Many people dislike thinking about taxes so much that they ignore the topic until filing season is upon them. Unfortunately, waiting until the last minute to deal with tax matters can lead to missed opportunities to potentially reduce your tax bill. 

Investors who include tax planning as part of their investing strategy could potentially see significant tax benefits over the long run, says Hayden Adams, CPA, director of tax and financial planning at the Schwab Center for Financial Research.

You shouldn’t just be thinking about capital gains and losses. Savvy investors know how to manage the so-called “cost basis” and holding periods of their investments to help reduce gains that are subject to taxes. Knowing your cost basis can be a valuable tool.

What is cost basis?

Simply put, your cost basis is what you paid for an investment, including brokerage fees, “loads” and any other trading cost—and it can be adjusted for corporate actions such as mergers, stock splits and dividend payments. This matters because your capital gain (or loss) will be the difference between the cost basis and the price at which you sell your securities. This cost is pretty easy to calculate—if you don’t reinvest dividends or dollar-cost average when you invest.

Read the full article here: 

https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/save-on-taxes-know-your-cost-basis

Categories
Budgeting Credit

Free Weekly Credit Reports Now Through April 2021

Top national credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and Transunion, are offering consumers free weekly credit reports through April 2021. To get your free report, go to annualcreditreport.com, the only officially sanctioned site for this.

Credit reports are now free, every week

by Cathlin Tully Attorney, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, Federal Trade Commission

If you’re feeling anxious about your financial health during these uncertain times, you’re not alone. That’s why the three national credit reporting agencies are giving people weekly access to monitor their credit report — for free.

This is some helpful news, because staying on top of your credit reportis one important tool to help manage your financial data. Your credit report has information about your credit history and payment history — information that lenders, creditors, and other businesses use when giving you loans or credit. 

Now it’s easier than ever to check your credit more often. That’s because everyone is eligible to get free weekly credit reports from the three national credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian, and Transunion. To get your free reports, go to AnnualCreditReport.com. The credit reporting agencies are making these reports free for the next year.

If you’re one of the many Americans struggling to pay your bills right now because of the Coronavirus crisis, here’s what you can do: ….[more]

Read the full article here:

https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/05/credit-reports-are-now-free-every-week

Categories
Budgeting Covid Financial Literacy Retirement

Pandemic Economic Pain Hits Women Harder

Too many Americans are struggling with the economic impact of Covid-19. This on top of the pre-existing social conditions that negatively impact women, is making things even grimmer for their retirement, as is explored in this New York Times article.

Unequal job losses now will translate into smaller nest eggs and Social Security benefits down the road.

By Mark Miller

During the first months of the pandemic, Leah Tyrrell found that she could pull off a balancing act: working in sales for a San Diego clothing maker and caring for her three young daughters at home. Her hours had been reduced, and working remotely in the morning left her time to be with the children the rest of the day.

“At the time, I thought I could tackle it,” Ms. Tyrrell said.That changed in Augustwhen her employer started asking people to return full time. Her company was flexible, but something had to give — and since her husband was bringing home a bigger paycheck, she quit work to help her girls, ages 9, 8 and 5, with online school.

“It was a very tough decision, but we just decided that, especially having a third child in kindergarten on the computer, I would need to sit and guide her through what the teacher was talking about,” she said.

Retirement is still on the distant horizon for Ms. Tyrrell, 43, but she hopes the long-term damage to her nest egg will be minimal. She participated in her company 401(k) plan, which had a matching contribution, and aims to resume saving when she goes back to work after the pandemic recedes.

“When I do go back, I hope it will be with a company that provides a match, but I’ll definitely lose at least a year of any kind of savings,” she said.

The hit to her retirement resources — and to those of other women in her shoes — could be considerably deeper.

Policy experts have long acknowledged a gender gap in retirement security. Women tend to earn less than men, and they are more likely to take time off from work to care for children or elderly parents. Even brief career interruptions diminish wage growth, retirement savings and Social Security benefits, which are determined by wage history. Women also tend to outlive men, needing to stretch resources over more years. In particular, they face higher health care expenses in retirement. 

Read the full article here:

www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/business/women-retirement-covid-social-security.html