Taxes Resources

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of inflation, is a monthly statistic that measures the change in prices paid consumers for a basket of goods and services. While this measure serves more as an official gauge, a lot of consumers seem to have a different sense of their inflation rate when paying for goods. The question often arises: Why is the official rate seems so much lower than what…

Asset Allocation is an investment strategy that attempts to balance risk and reward by allocating a certain percentage of each asset in accordance to an investors risk tolerance, goals and investment horizon.

What is often overlooked is the importance that taxes will play in this decision making process and the location of those assets. Here are a…

Shuffling the cards makes winners and losers

Much in the press has highlighted the "victory" of keeping the interest rates on Stafford student loans from doubling to 6.8%. The 3.4% interest rates seems like a victory to the millions paying back their student debt. But is it really? Here is the full picture:

Background

Part of the deal Congress struck to expand the National…

Dividend-paying stocks have enjoyed a renaissance during the past several years. Despite the high-profile blowups of many financial stocks, dividend payers generally outperformed non-dividend payers during the financial crisis. Further burnishing dividend payers' appeal is the currently benign tax treatment of dividends: Those in the 25% tax bracket and above pay taxes at a 15% rate on…

Tax (Photo credit: 401K)

Handing over a portion of your investment earnings to the IRS is never pleasant. Fortunately, a specific category of mutual funds, called tax-efficient funds, might help you keep the amount you send to Uncle Sam to a minimum. Here's how tax-efficient funds work. Mutual funds must pay you almost all of the money they make from interest, dividends, or capital…