For Ryan Decker, surviving the holiday shopping season is all about planning ahead. In fact, if he sees a gift for one of his two young sons in March, he’ll go ahead and buy it, instead of rushing through his shopping list in December. “It very much eases the burden,” he says, making his December […]
Recent Blog Posts
This week’s money news
This week’s top story: 5 tax moves to consider before year-end. In other news: Wells Fargo could face over $1B in fines, 4 ways savings vaults can help you manage holiday spending, and when student loan payments resume. 5 Tax Moves to Consider Before Year-End Careful tax planning can mean fewer surprises when it comes time […]
Q&A: Multiple payments may help credit scores
Dear Liz: You recently wrote that using more than a small percentage of your credit cards’ available limit can hurt your credit scores, even if you pay your balances in full. I pay my credit cards in full each month and I also make several payments (via my bank’s online payment service) during the month. Do these […]
Q&A: When an online shopping money-saving scheme is tax evasion
Dear Liz: My father lives in Washington state. He often purchases higher-priced items online, has them shipped to relatives living in Oregon and picks them up later. That way he doesn’t have to pay sales tax. Is this a form of tax evasion? Does he need to pay a “use tax”? Could he (and the Oregon […]
Q&A: Divorce complicates retirement benefits
Dear Liz: I was told by Social Security that because I remarried at 60, I could still collect half of my ex’s benefits once he died. He has just died, and half of his benefit is greater than my own retirement benefit. My current husband has not started benefits. If I collect half of my ex’s […]
How to take a career break
Back in 2016, Jamie Clark of Seattle was a software engineer who planned to take a year off of work to finish a master’s degree in computational linguistics. One year turned into three and a career change into financial planning. Nowadays, Clark, who uses they/them pronouns, believes the experience makes them a better advisor – […]