Personal Capital is a free online and mobile personal finance and investment management app that’s been garnering a lot of fans both here on Money Under 30 and from Silicon Valley investors. I first found Personal Capital when we went looking for … [Read more...]
Personal Capital Review: Online Investment Management and Free Portfolio Tools
May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Choosing Investments for Your IRA
May 6, 2013 by 10 Comments
Last week, a friend made a confession. “So this is terrible,” she said. “But I just realized that when I rolled over my old 401(k) over a year ago to a Fidelity IRA, I never invested it. It’s been sitting there as cash all this time!” At … [Read more...]
Moven: New Money App Foreshadows Future of Social Banking
April 15, 2013 by 2 Comments
I like to think that when it comes to personal finance, there's hardly anything personal about it where the big-boy banks are concerned. At Citibank, Chase, Wells Fargo, etc., banking has become an obstacle-course game of dodging exorbitant fees and … [Read more...]
Making Prior Year IRA Contributions
April 5, 2013 by 3 Comments
Individual retirement arrangements, or IRAs, provide tax incentives for saving for retirement. If you can afford it, I strongly encourage everybody to contribute at least a little bit to a Roth IRA every year, even if you have a 401(k) or other … [Read more...]
With Its Video-Game Twists, Kapitall Takes Mystery Out of Investing
March 16, 2013 by 1 Comment
Along with saving, donating, and (judicious) spending, investing makes up one of the four cornerstones of a sound financial foundation. And that's fine, so far as the saving, donating and spending parts go (especially the spending). While you can … [Read more...]
The Market’s Up: Should I Wait to Invest?
March 7, 2013 by 2 Comments
As I’m writing this, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has set a record high for three days in a row. The mainstream media is going nuts. And -- like everybody else who has money in a 401(k) or other stock accounts -- I’m feeling pretty good. Who … [Read more...]
Gift Tax: Don’t Fear Taxes When You Give (Or Receive)
March 3, 2013 by
When generous Aunt Betty slips you a $5,000 check on your birthday, do you have to pay taxes on her cash gift? And when you send an annual donation to your favorite charity or alma mater, does anybody pay taxes on that gift? The answer in both cases … [Read more...]
Q&A: What Rate of Return Should You Use for Retirement Planning?
February 22, 2013 by 6 Comments
Q: What rate of return should a 20- or 30-something use when using a retirement planning calculator? (They are often preset to 6 or 8 percent). And does that include inflation? Depending on the assumptions I use, I get drastically different answers. … [Read more...]
The Five (And Only Five) Times it Might be OK to Tap a Retirement Account
February 14, 2013 by 3 Comments
Back in November, I spotlighted a letter from a reader who agonized over a debt dilemma that involved his retirement savings. "Nick from Michigan" wanted to tap his 401(k) to pay off $12,000 in credit card debt, but couldn't pull the trigger. I … [Read more...]
Your Tax Document Checklist: The No-Stress Guide To Filing Your Taxes, Part 1
February 12, 2013 by 8 Comments
This Website is all about taking confusing, boring topics and presenting them as clearly as possible. And few topics are more confusing and boring than taxes. So whether taxes simply fail to excite you or flat out freak you out, we're going to try … [Read more...]
