NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s longtime finance chief choked up on the witness stand Thursday, saying he betrayed the Trump family’s trust by scheming to dodge taxes on $1.7 million in company-paid pe...
Tag: Accounting/Consulting
The secret to a happier retirement might be in your ‘retirement quotient’
You know all about IQ (intelligence quotient) and probably EQ (emotional quotient or emotional intelligence). But if you’re getting close to retirement or in retirement, you might also want to know ab...
Opinion: The floodgates are open for grandparents to super-size college savings for grandkids
If you’re a grandparent looking to save the day by helping your grandchildren pay for college, take a second look at a tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan before the end of the year. Rule changes ...
Elon Musk Made Unusual Request in Falling Out With Top Tesla Lieutenant
Last year, Elon Musk parted ways with one of his top deputies at Tesla Inc., a French auto-industry executive named Jerome Guillen. Mr. Guillen worked at Tesla for roughly a decade, rising to oversee ...
‘Voters are looking for help’: With control of Congress too early to call, here are 3 burning tax questions
A day after midterm elections, it remains uncertain whether either party will end up with Congressional control or whether it will be a divided Congress — and that has consequences for these tax quest...
‘It’s a touchy subject’: My in-laws live in our basement. They gave us our 20% down payment. Should we charge them for renovations?
Last year, my husband and I approached my in-laws to see if they wanted to live with us. We had learned that my father-in-law had terminal cancer but could still live five to seven years in remission,...
If I sell my rental I can pay off my primary mortgage and be debt-free. Is that a good idea in this housing market?
Dear MarketWatch, I have a rental property that’s worth $175,000, and I owe $53,000. My primary home is worth $265,000 and has $108,000 left on the mortgage. My question is this: Should I sell my ren...
India-Focused Payments Company Ebix Races to Raise Cash Against Debt Deadline
Payments and software company Ebix Inc. is seeking to raise cash to pay back some $600 million in debt due early next year, but time is running short as it awaits regulatory approval for a public offe...
‘This has gone on too long’: The bank paid itself $18,000 in fees. My late father’s trust has not been distributed. What recourse do I have?
My father’s father set up a trust at a major bank with my father and the bank’s trust department as co-trustees. My father died at the end of last year; upon his death, the trust was supposed to be di...
‘Am I being ripped off?’ I moved into my husband’s home. I pay for groceries. The rental income from my apartment goes into our joint savings.
I read one of your previous columns regarding the boyfriend who wants the letter writer to move in. My case is similar, but we have already made a decision on how to structure our finances as they rel...
40% of households will pay no federal income tax this year. Why that’s good news.
Millions of workers are bouncing back — and making enough money to pay Uncle Sam. Some 72.5 million households or 40% of households will pay no federal income tax this year, down from the pre-pandemic...
Rethinking China: Xi’s Power Play Could Bring Down Stocks Even More
Chinese stocks have lost roughly half their market value, or almost $1.5 trillion, over the past two years. But the damage may not be over as investors reassess their China allocations after President...
‘When we dated for 5 years, he implied he was financially secure’: My husband was always hesitant about his finances. Now I know why.
Dear Quentin, My husband and I make about the same salary, and live modestly. Six months after we married, I found out my husband’s net worth is virtually zero. He owes more money than he has assets (...
Millions of working Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck — and running out of cash as another recession looms
Inflation is taking its toll on people’s emergency funds. The share of workers who say they are living paycheck-to-paycheck has surged among middle- to high-income earners — 63% and 49%, respectively ...
My boyfriend has a nicer house, and says I should live with him. My mortgage is paid off. He believes I should pay half of his monthly costs. Is that fair?
Dear Quentin, My boyfriend owns a house with a 30-year mortgage balance of $150,000 on a 4% interest rate. He has $275,000 in cash and retirement accounts. He is retired. My house is paid off. I have ...
Personal savings have plunged — how to boost your savings in case of a recession
As red flags go, this is a big one. The personal savings of Americans have plunged this year, hitting $629 billion in the second quarter of 2022, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St....
IRS releases new federal tax brackets and standard deductions. Here’s how they affect your family’s tax bill.
America’s high inflation rate will produce a 7% increase in the size of the standard deduction when workers file their taxes on their 2023 income, according to new inflation adjustments from the Inter...
Do you have problems with the IRS — or does the IRS have a problem with you? Read this before you act.
How do you deal with a problem like the Internal Revenue Service? And how do you deal with your own tax problems as they pertain to the IRS? To be clear, I’m not talking about major problems like righ...
These 27 stocks can give you a more diversified portfolio than the S&P 500 — and that’s a key advantage right now
You probably already know that because of market-capitalization weighting, a broad index such as the S&P 500 SPX, -0.80% can be concentrated in a handful of stocks. Index funds are popular for goo...
New IRS tax brackets and standard deduction could save families hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Now, for the bad news.
In a time of rising costs, the Internal Revenue Service just raised income-tax brackets through new inflation adjustments for next year. It might feel tough sometimes to link the IRS with the concept ...
Opinion: Don’t have $13 million? The lifetime estate- and gift-tax exemptions for 2023 still matter to you.
The wealthiest families in the U.S. will get a bit of inflation-adjusted relief from the IRS in 2023, with the lifetime estate-tax exemption increasing to $12.9 million for individuals, up from $12.06...
How to save a bundle on your tax return
This is Part Two of our list of suggested year-end strategies. Part 1 discusses gaming the federal standard deduction, and managing capital gains and losses. The tax environment is getting friendlier ...
These 11 stocks can lead your portfolio’s rebound after the S&P 500 ‘earnings recession’ and a market bottom next year
This may surprise you: Wall Street analysts expect earnings for the S&P 500 to increase 8% during 2023, despite all the buzz about a possible recession as the Federal Reserve tightens monetary pol...
You get some student loan debt erased, but what about the rest of it?
“January is going to be here before you know it,” says Damian Dunn, a certified financial planner and vice president of corporate financial wellness platform Your Money Line. Payments resume in Januar...
FTX victims are setting up GoFundMe fundraisers to try to get their money back
People who say they have lost money in the collapse of crypto exchange FTX are turning to strangers to cover their losses by setting up GoFundMe fundraising pages. They include a man who says that he ...