Get Your Tax and Financial Questions Answered for Free
We’re back! Our imaginary vacation was great. It was fun to take some time off from writing and enjoy the holidays. I hope you had a great holiday season! Now that it’s January, it’s time to buckle down and get going on retirement plans, taxes, and more! Check out the 2009 Roth 401k and Roth IRA Limits if you want to increase your plan contributions.
Announcements
Quicken is offering $20 off until January 25, 2009. The discount applies to the following products: Quicken Deluxe, Quicken Premier, Quicken Home & Business, and Quicken Rental Property Manager.
TurboTax is answering free tax questions through January 31, 2009. Anyone can talk to an expert who will answer one personal, federal tax-related question at Free Tax Question.
Jumpstart Your Retirement Plan Days is back. On January 13, 2009 and January 30, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, NAPFA members across the country will be standing by to answer your financial questions for free. Call 1-888-919-2345 or visit Jumpstart to ask your questions.
Multiple banks have updated their rates. I updated the rates in Rate Chasing with High Yield Savings Accounts.
Stock Market Graphs
My favorite article this week is Why Your 4th Quarter 2008 Investment Statements Look So Bad – Blame the First 8 Days in October. I great series of graphs showing which days most of the 4th quarter losses came from. Although it’s the reverse that really drives the point home: missing the best 8 days of a quarter will extremely limit your gains.
Here’s another fun chart with some stock market history: Historical Distribution of Annual US Market Returns From 1825-Present: How Bad Was 2008?
Here are all the articles I enjoyed this week. Lots to read, so we’ll get right to it!
Obama’s Economic Stimulus Plan
- Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan: Economic Recovery Plan Details
- Obama’s Economic Stimulus – How Should it Be Spent?
- Obama’s Road to Recovery – More Jobs, More Money in Your Pocket
The New Year
- How To Be Successful in the New Year (20 Tips Inside)
- New Years Resolution One: Downsizing Our Home
- DON’T Set Any Resolutions
- A Plan to Be Debt Free in 2009
- This Could Be The Day
- 7 Tips To Stick To Your New Year’s Resolutions
- Don’t Let Your Goals Be Dumb
Frugality
- How We Feed Our Family of Four on $100 a Week
- Money Saving Ideas From The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map To Riches
- How to Live on $44k Per Year (Almost) Debt Free
- 3 Major Ways to Scrimp and Save in an Economic Recession
Taxes
- What are the FICA-HI and FICA-OASDI Taxes?
- Tax Breaks That Homeowners Should Not Miss This Year
- Fun tax season ahead for free filers
And More!
Hey thanks for the link love! Happy New Year 🙂
We have 3 people on a life estate property who decides which one can claim the interest the 3rd person would like to take a home equity loan out to pay off other debts the home now is clear of any lein
James, You’ll want to follow the link to the free questions and answers. However, I believe the offer expired.
How can McDonald’s get away with charging 7 cents tax on a glass of iced tea when the same tea with the same amount of sugar if served hot is not taxed? I thought the Boston Tea Party took care of this or is McDonald’s allowed to write their own interpretation to the tax law?
Would like to know if I can transfer a portion of a mutual fund ira to an individual stock and still be considered an ira without having to pay income tax on it until I sell the stock? Thank You Gordon