Though we all groan about having to pay taxes, the government is nice enough not to tax us on everything we earn. There are two big buckets of deductions the government gives us: The first are called "above the line," and the second are called "below the line," and those are what we'll cover here.
We all know that we should save more and spend less, but we don't always follow that advice. When you break down our responses to the financial crisis by generation, however, some interesting patterns emerge -- and you probably wouldn't guess which generation is doing the worst at financial wellness.
Many financial advisors might make retirement planning out to be an exact science. Their financial calculators will spit out hard numbers, detailing almost to the day when you can quit working. Reality, however, isn't So exact, and those calculators miss a host of subjective emotional factors that you shouldn't ignore.
Flexible spending accounts are a great way to save by using pretax money to cover medical expenses -- unless you leave money in them past Dec. 31 and lose it. Don't wait until next month to start thinking about how to drain your FSA: Follow this advice now.
From hip replacements to pole dancing classes, here are some of the most outlandish deductions taxpayers have ever attempted to claim. You won't believe what these people tried that their accountants said wouldn't fly -- and you really won't believe what did (literally).
At many companies this is open-enrollment season -- your one chance a year to make changes to your health insurance. The easiest thing to do is just pick the same plan and coverage options you did last year. But often, that can be a big mistake.
A breast cancer diagnosis can be like an earthquake in the life of the patient and her family, but the medical community is there to help guide them. What's often hard to find is a monetary lifeline for those in danger of getting washed away by the financial tidal wave that can follow.
As health-care costs skyrocket, the ranks of uninsured Americans are growing at their fastest rate ever. A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that 50.7 million people, or 16.7% of the population, had no health coverage in 2009, up from 46.4 million, or 15.4%, in 2008.
