• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

  • About
  • Liz’s Books
  • Speaking
  • Disclosure
  • Contact

Liz Weston

Q&A: Ease identity theft fear by checking your credit report

January 22, 2018 By Liz Weston

Dear Liz: I am suddenly receiving junk mail addressed to my estranged brother at my house. I’ve been in this house for 15 years and have never before gotten mail addressed to him. Is it possible he applied for credit or something similar using my address? He has always had money issues.

Answer: It’s more typical for an identity thief to divert a victim’s mail to his own address than to cause junk mail to be sent the victim’s way. Still, it can’t hurt to check your credit reports via www.annualcreditreport.com to see if there are any accounts or activity you don’t recognize.

Filed Under: Identity Theft, Q&A Tagged With: credit report, Identity Theft, q&a

Q&A: Don’t get tripped up by invalid Roth IRA contributions

January 22, 2018 By Liz Weston

Dear Liz: A friend told me that when he takes out his required minimum distribution from his traditional IRA and pays the tax, he then puts the money in his Roth IRA. I believe since this was not earned income, this was wrong. Who’s right?

Answer: The money contributed to an IRA doesn’t have to be earnings, necessarily, but your friend or his spouse must have income earned from working to make an eligible contribution. Earned income includes wages, salary, tips, bonuses, professional fees or small business profits. Earned income does not include Social Security benefits, pension or annuity checks and distributions from retirement accounts.

Another restriction is that contributions can’t be greater than the amount of earned income. If your friend or his spouse earned $3,000 last year, that’s all he’d be allowed to contribute — not the $6,500 maximum allowed for people 50 and over.

The ability to contribute to a Roth begins to phase out when someone’s modified adjusted gross income exceeds certain amounts. In 2017, single filers’ ability to contribute phased out between $118,000 and $133,000. For married couples filing jointly, the phase out began at $186,000 and ended at $196,000.

The penalty for ineligible contributions is 6% of the ineligible amount. The penalty is owed each year the taxpayer allows the lapse without correcting the oversight. If your friend has been doing this for several years, the penalty will be pretty painful.

He could cross his fingers and hope the IRS doesn’t notice, but the error isn’t that hard for the agency to catch. The IRS would simply need to compare Form 5498, which IRA custodians issue to report contributions, to your friend’s income and the sources of that income to know whether he was eligible to put money in an IRA.

Filed Under: Q&A, Retirement, Taxes Tagged With: IRA, q&a, Retirement, Roth IRA

Friday’s need-to-know money news

January 19, 2018 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: 5 ways to drive a car without owning one. Also in the news: Tax refund loans for early filers, the pros and cons of senior checking accounts, and the return of triple-digit interest rates on payday loans.

5 Ways to Drive a Car Without Owning One
Ditching the car doesn’t leave you without wheels.

Tax Refund Loans Give Cash Now to Early Filers
Interest free loans can get you your money sooner.

Checking Accounts for Seniors
The pros and cons of Senior Checking.

The Trump administration brings back triple-digit interest rates on payday loans.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: automobiles, cars, checking accounts, payday loans, ride sharing, senior checking accounts, tax refund loans, tax refunds

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

January 18, 2018 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: 5 signs you’re getting bad financial advice. Also in the news: What a financial advisor does, how Roth IRAs can help in an emergency, and why Wells Fargo customer should check their bank accounts.

5 Signs You’re Getting Bad Financial Advice
Who’s really looking out for you?

What Does a Financial Advisor Do?
Reaching your financial goals.

How Roth IRAs Can Help in an Emergency
An emergency backup fund.

Wells Fargo Customers Should Check Their Bank Accounts
There’s been a “glitch.”

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: bad financial advice, emergency fund, financial advice, financial advisor, Roth IRA, Wells Fargo

Wednesday’s need-to-know money news

January 17, 2018 By Liz Weston

Today’s top story: Your best financial move is also best for the environment. Also in the news: Why you should fly first class at least once, surprising factors that inflate your car insurance rate, and the best and worst states to retire.

Your Best Financial Move Is Also Best for the Environment
Looking at your carbon footprint.

Why You Should Fly First Class at Least Once, and How to Afford It
Treat yourself.

5 Surprising Factors That Inflate Your Car Insurance Rate
Not just about accidents.

Best and worst states to retire
Did yours make the cut?

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: best states, car insurance rates, carbon footprint, environment, first class travel, Retirement, worst states

What good financial advice looks like

January 16, 2018 By Liz Weston

Good financial advice can help you achieve your life goals. Bad financial advice can cost you a fortune and leave you worse off than if you had tried to go it alone.

Unfortunately, you’re still on your own in trying to determine the good advice from the bad. The U.S. Department of Labor has delayed key portions of a fiduciary rule that would require financial advisers to put their retirement account clients’ interests first. The provisions are set to begin July 1, 2019, but it’s anyone’s guess if that will happen.

In my latest for the Associated Press, why it’s still a buyer-beware market for financial advice.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: financial advice, financial advisors

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 411
  • Page 412
  • Page 413
  • Page 414
  • Page 415
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 786
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Search

Copyright © 2025 · Ask Liz Weston 2.0 On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in