The Internal Revenue Service could have a potential head-scratcher of a question about your crypto investments and what’s taxable, according to a major accountants’ association. For two years, the IRS...
Tag: Consumer affairs
I shared expenses 50/50 with a friend on vacation. She wants me to split the cost of her credit card’s foreign-transaction fees. Is that sharp practice?
Dear Quentin, I recently took a trip to another country with a friend. We agreed to share expenses. When they presented their list of expenses, they included a foreign transaction fee charged by the c...
I set up a company with friends. It has sales of $1 million. Two partners hijacked control of the bank accounts, and want to push others out. What can we do?
I went into business with friends operating a night market. We hold big events every two weeks. We started an LLC as equal members, all with a 25% share. Friend A had the idea to do it and said they w...
Fed’s Powell sparked a 1,000-point rout in the Dow. Here’s what investors should do next.
Now might be the time to consider hiding out in short-dated Treasurys or corporate bonds and other defensive parts of the stock market. On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talked of a wi...
‘The backlash to quiet quitting smacks of another attempt by the ruling class to get workers back under their thumbs:’ Am I wrong?
I have something to get off my chest. Please bear with me. We learned a lot from the (more than) two years of pandemic life. Among those lessons: 1. We can be really effective and productive working ...
‘Home prices where I live are close to $600,000.’ Is it a smart move to buy a house with all-cash — or better to take out a mortgage?
Dear Big Move, I’ve recently been thinking about purchasing my first home at 35. I have a nest egg of about $1.8 million that I’ve accrued over the past 14 years. This money is completely invested in...
Beware of a ‘bear trap’ retreat in stocks after the big summer rally, strategists warn
It looks like a “bear trap” may be lurking in this summer’s big bounce for the stock market, one that could lead to painful losses for investors, Glenmede strategists warned in a Monday report. Invest...
‘The pause has meant everything:’ What happens to borrowers — and the economy — if Biden lets student loan payments resume in September
There’s less than two weeks until the latest pause on federal student loan payments is set to expire on Aug. 31. No need to tell Cassie Smith. The chance of restarted payments are “a looming rain clou...
July existing-home sales fall for the sixth straight month, realtors see ‘housing recession’
The numbers: U.S. existing-home sales fell 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.81 million in July, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. This is the sixth straight monthly de...
All the reasons a dozen eggs now costs up to 38% more than one year ago
Why are eggs so expensive now? Grocery prices continued to soar in July despite slower inflation overall, and eggs were among the foods experiencing the biggest increases. The average price of a doze...
‘I’m in a very lucky position’: I will receive a $300,000 inheritance. Should I pay off my mortgage or invest the money?
I currently owe $300,000 on my house with a 2.5%, 30-year mortgage. I am maxing out my retirement accounts — IRA and 401(k) — and looking to retire in less than 10 years. I will receive an inheritance...
Inflation Reduction Act would send $80 billion to the IRS. Tax experts say it may not be enough to help the backlogged agency.
For roughly a year, Jonathan Baer watched a paper folder full of tax-related paperwork slowly grow as he chronicled his effort to claim his 2020 tax refund. The attempts included upwards of 40 phone c...
Have stocks bottomed? Not until this ‘gorilla’ in equity markets budges, warns BofA
Households, not hedge funds or major corporations, represent the biggest class of owners of the U.S. stock market. That matters because households, the “placid gorilla” in U.S. stocks, haven’t cut and...
Grocery prices in July had largest price increase since 1979 — with one food staple rising by 38% on the year
The rise in the cost of living cooled in July, but not for grocery prices. The price of food at home rose 1.3% from June to July, marking a 13.1% increase compared to last year. It was the largest pr...
Stock-market investors wrestle with ‘boomflation’ after hot July jobs report
The worry instead turned to what a rip-roaring labor market and surging costs for everything means for stocks and bond portfolios, particularly if it turns into a mix of higher growth and inflation wi...
‘I’m stuck in a penny-pincher mindset’: My spouse and I bought a home, but he only wants to buy high-end items. How can we agree?
Dear Quentin, My spouse and I spent years saving for a new house, and living well below our means. It may sound weird, but now that we have a new home, we feel overwhelmed by the prospect of spending ...
My boyfriend, 68, has almost no ‘mad money’ for fun activities and trips. He lives with his father, 95, and expects to inherit his house. Is it unreasonable to expect him to get a part-time job?
I am a 65-year-old retired woman with modest Social Security and annuity payments. I also own my own home and have savings. I’ve been seeing a 68-year-old retiree since just before the pandemic. He li...
I want to refinance my mortgage, but I’m about to turn 70. Is it wise to refinance at my time of life?
I hope you can help me figure this out. I am 69 years old and will turn 70 at the end of the month. I’ve been offered a cash out refinance loan and need to decide whether to take a 15- or 30-year loan...
Housing affordability plunges to lowest level since 2006. The property market’s ‘great slowdown’ is here, Bank of America says
A “great slowdown” is happening in the U.S. housing market, a new report from Bank of America says, as mortgage originations shrink and spending on household items softens. Amid weak home sales number...
‘Savings are gonna run out’: Already battered by high inflation, Fed’s rate hike will hit lower-income and rural Americans hard
The Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage points on Wednesday in an effort to temper the rising costs of consumer goods and services. While economists say raising the interest r...
U.S. Bank workers opened fake accounts to meet sales goals, feds say
NEW YORK — For more than a decade, U.S. Bank pressured its employees to open fake accounts in their customers’ names in order to meet unrealistic sales goals, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ...
‘We get hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties’: My late father left his investments to me and my sister, but gave me more than 50%. My sister wants half. What should I do?
Dear Quentin, My sister is two years older than me. We both are married and have incomes in the low six figures, and our husbands have similar earnings. When she was in her 20s, my sister and her husb...
Users of payment services like Zelle need better scam protection, Dems tell CFPB
It should be easier for consumers defrauded via popular instant payment services like Zelle to seek redress, since money-transfer scams are reportedly growing more common, a group of Democratic lawmak...
Your retirement portfolio is fundamentally flawed: GMO
All across America, retirees and near-retirees are reeling. They were assured by simplistic “McMoney” financial advisers that bonds were “safe,” that bond returns were steady and predictable, and that...
Watch out — this one mistake could cost you thousands when you rollover your 401(k) to an IRA
Here’s a pro tip that can hardly be said often enough. When you change jobs and you think about rolling over your old company’s 401(k) to an IRA…watch out for all the extra fees. “Thousands of dollars...
‘I thought we were pretty solid’: My girlfriend and I sold our Florida home. The $200,000 profit was wired to her account. She refuses to give me my fair share.
My long-time girlfriend and I moved to Florida three years ago. After renting a home for a year in an area we liked, we bought a home together. I was not working at the time, she was, so we agreed tha...