Thursday’s need-to-know money news

Today’s top story: Understanding your credit reports. Also in the news: Sticking to your financial resolutions, the pros and cons of money apps, and confessing your deep, dark money secrets to your financial advisor. Offering Advice

How to Read Your Credit Reports
How to make sure you’re finding any and all errors.

The 3 Pitfalls Likely To Derail Your Financial Resolutions
Steeling your resolve and avoiding money traps.

Are Apps Helping or Hurting Your Finances?
Could your savings apps cause you to spend more money instead of less?

3 Big Secrets You Should Tell Your Financial Advisor
They’ve seen and heard it all.

5 Tips for Preparing for 2014 Taxes
Time to start getting your paperwork in order.

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

Happy New Year!

Today’s top story: How to start 2014 on the right financial foot. Also in the news: A millennial’s guide to personal finance, ways to cut taxes while saving for retirement, and apps that will help you reach your financial goals for the new year.smartphones_finance

7 Tips to Get Your New Year’s Money Resolution Started Off Right
You’re going to want to stick to these.

The Millennial’s Guide to Personal Finance
Time to start taking your finances seriously.

3 ways to cut taxes while saving for retirement
Paying attention to your tax bracket.

5 Apps to Help Keep Your 2014 Financial Goals
Track your finances in between rounds of Candy Crush.

How Inflation Will Cut Your Taxes in 2014
New year, new adjustments.

Monday’s need-to-know money news

Today’s top story: What a poor credit score can cost you. Also in the news: The worst money moves for the new year, how to cut next year’s expenses, and tips to get tax season started off on the right foot. Tax refund

What a poor credit rating is costing you
Your job prospects could be at risk.

10 worst money moves for the new year
What NOT to do in 2014.

14 Ways to Slash Your Expenses in the New Year
Do you really still need a landline?

7 unbeatable tax tips for year’s end
April 15th will be here before you know it.

Kids and Money: Advice for mastering finances in 2014
How to teach your kids to spend and save smartly in the coming year.

Friday’s need-to-know money news

Today’s top story: What to do if you’re part of the Target credit card breach. Also in the news: 3 reasons to start your taxes early, why more Americans are looking to get their financial houses in order, and how to hunt for a job during the holidays. Christmas shopping woman holding gifts

3 Reasons to Start Your Taxes Now
Starting your taxes now could result in a bigger refund.

Americans Get Their Financial Houses in Order for 2014 According to a New Wells Fargo Survey
Focusing on credit scores.

3 Holiday Job Hunting Tips
Network during holiday parties.

40 million Target shoppers victims of credit fraud; What to do if you are a victim
If your information has been compromised, you need to act quickly.

A Survival Guide for Last-Minute Shoppers
Last-minute shopping doesn’t have to empty your wallet.

Monday’s need-to-know money news

Today’s top story: Hidden taxes that can bust your budget. Also in the news: how to job hunt during the holidays, the fastest growing jobs in America, and how to make the most out of your year end charitable giving.

Hidden Taxes That Can Bust Your Budget
How to avoid being caught by surprise.

3 Holiday Job Hunting Tips
Turn a holiday party into a networking event.

7 fastest-growing jobs in America
Find out which jobs are in demand.

Make the most of charitable giving and tax breaks
Do your homework before donating.

6 ways to avoid a holiday spending hangover
3 key components: a plan, a budget, and some discipline.

Tuesday’s need-to-know money news

Today’s top story: Compiling your year-end tax list. Also in the news: What high schoolers need to know about personal finance, smart money moves for uncertain times, and what hip hop can teach us about finance.

Your Year-End Tax To-Do List
It’s not too late to add deductions.

What Do High Schoolers Need to Know About Personal Finance?
More than you’d think.

4 Smart Personal-Finance Moves for Treacherous Times
Preparing for possible impending doom.

10 Personal Finance Tips From Hip-Hop Lyrics
No, you’re not hallucinating.

5 Steps to Consider if You Can’t Afford to Retire
Whatever you do, don’t panic.

Thursday’s need-to-know money news

Today’s top story: Preparing your home for the winter. Also in the news: Understanding the “kiddie tax”, why your chances of retiring early could be determined by your personality, and how to defeat the urge to binge shop.Education savings

Tips for Preparing Your Home for Winter
Don’t let your money go up in chimney smoke.

Understanding the ‘Kiddie Tax’
Those generous gifts could be generating taxable income.

Retiring Early May Come Down to Your “Financial Personality”
Are you a “protector” or a “pleaser”?

How to Defeat the Urge to Binge Shop
You might want to star by leaving your wallet at home.

Is Saving the Key to Happiness?
Money can’t buy you love, but saving it might just make you happy.

Monday’s need-to-know money news

Credit card backgroundToday’s top story: Planning for Black Friday. Also in the news: How the CARD ACT saved consumers billions, five factors that could increase your insurance rates, and three tax moves you should make before the end of the year.

Score on Black Friday by doing research now
Developing a plan of attack could save you a lot of money.

CARD Act Helped Consumers Without Limiting Credit Access
Saving consumers over $20 billion a year.

5 Factors That Could Raise Your Insurance Rates
You might want to put out that cigarette.

3 Tax Moves to Make Before the End of Year
It’s time to get your investments in order.

DHS Secretary warns of Obamacare scams
Your personal information could be at risk.

Money advice for the self-employed

Dog walkerIf you’re self-employed, you’ve probably noticed that standard money advice often falls short.

A lot of what you read assumes you receive regular, predictable paychecks with taxes already withheld and benefits covered. Just try finding advice to deal with the following:

  • A major customer abruptly changes payment policies, so that five-figure check you’re counting on to pay the bills lands weeks later than you expected.
  • Your health insurer announces your premiums will increase 39%, and your insurance broker tells you that no other company will cover you for less…or at all.
  • Congress dithers on renewing a key tax break, so your CPA advises (at Christmastime) that you’ll need to cough up thousands more dollars to make yourself “penalty proof.”

These aren’t hypotheticals. Each has happened to me as a small business owner. Predicting income and expenses when you run your own show is often as much art as science. When you’re providing your own benefits, handling your own taxes and doing your own billing, your financial life becomes complex in a way that would confound most of the W-2 world.

This is what has helped me:

A business line of credit. Excellent credit scores helped me land a low-rate line of credit when I opened my business checking and savings accounts. I relied on it heavily when I was getting started to cover those inevitable gaps in cash flow (translation: slow-paying customers). I still use it occasionally to deal with unexpected expenses; I don’t carry a balance for a day longer than necessary, but I’d rather pay a few bucks in tax-deductible interest for a few days than keep a huge wad sitting idle in a business savings account.

A tax pro. I don’t write about taxes often, and almost never about business taxes. So why would I waste time trying to keep abreast of business tax law and struggling to do my own taxes when I can hire someone? Especially since that someone lives and breathes taxes, and can be counted on to represent me in an audit. We small business owners often have trouble delegating, but we’re far better off spending our time making money than wrestling with tax forms.

A simple rule of thumb. Early on, a CPA said he could bill me to make some elaborate projections, but he suggested a simpler way: save half. If I put aside half of every check that came in, I’d be able to cover my taxes and expenses. Ten years later I have a much better handle on cash flow, but it still pretty much boils down to saving half of what comes in.

If you’re an entrepreneur, I highly recommend “The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed: The Only Personal Finance System for People with Not-So-Regular Jobs Paperback” by Joseph D’Agnese and Denise Kiernan, two freelancers who through trial-and-error figured out a money system that really works.

Monday’s need-to-know money news

Morning at homeBaby Boomers are facing a different kind of retirement, how canceling credit cards impacts your credit score, how the new home office deduction may reduce your taxes and what happens to joint accounts when a parent declares bankruptcy.

Why Boomers May Not Retire like Their Parents

Is the baby boom generation about to fizzle?

Prepaid Cards that Take a Bite Out of Your Paycheck
Transaction fees could be eating away at your paycheck.

How Canceled Credit Cards Impact Credit Scores
Could cutting up your card affect your credit score?

Here’s What the New Home Office Tax Deduction Method Means
Important information for those who work from home.

Will Filing Bankruptcy Hurt My Children’s Credit?
When sharing credit card accounts becomes a problem.