Personal Finance

I always see advice about which software to use and there's always the advice that FreeTaxUSA is the best bang for your buck and does everything you need for when your taxes are "simple." I've used and thought it was great for years. But as my career has grown and no longer filed as a single I've begun to question when my taxes and earnings become "complicated" to the point where it is worthwhile to have a professional do my taxes. Are there general recommended bullet points or scenarios?

As the title says, should I be concerned? I get the impression this is just a bureaucratic change (company doesn't want to deal with both salaried and hourly workers for timesheet reporting). But I'd like to make sure.

■ The Japanese Yen continues to draw support from expectations for a hawkish BoJ pivot.

■ Bets for a June Fed rate cut undermine the USD and further exert pressure on USD/JPY.

■ An upward revision of Japan’s Q4 GDP print contributes to the offered tone on Monday.

Goal: the least amount of withholdings possible

The inevitable at last arrived. Last month, for the first time, passively managed funds controlled more assets than did their actively managed competitors.

I honestly thought this happened a while ago...

Need help please. If I am enrolled in 2024 for 10 months of the year (March-December) in an HSA-elligible HDHP will I be able to max out my HSA to the individual contribution limit of $4,150 or will I get hit with a big tax penalty? Do I have to "pro-rate" my contributions and subtract the first two months since I was not enrolled during that time? Very confused about this and am seeking clarity as I am reading conflicting information online while trying to max out my HSA if possible. Thank you for any assistance.

So, I am reviewing a term life policy to sign, and there's something on it that I didn't expect to see.

There are 2 different premiums listed--a non-guaranteed quoted rate, which is fixed and on par with the rest of the market--and a guaranteed maximum rate, which increases over time.

The policy states the insurer has the right to increase the policy up to the maximum after a set number of years of my guaranteed quote.

By the end of the 30 year term, my maximum guaranteed premium is 4 times higher than the non-guaranteed quoted rate.

The agent, who I know well, assures me that the company has never increased a premium on one of these policies, and it's more of an assurance that if the company is ever financially distressed they can increase policy rates to stabilize.

Are these kinds of arrangements normal? I can barely find anything about "guaranteed maximums" or my premium not being guaranteed (but also not guaranteed to go up, like annually renewable policies do) in term life.

Sorry for long title:

• USA
• in a state with no state income tax
• my former employer (international corporation) messed up 401ks, resulting in class action lawsuit
• settlement gave claimants <$20 each
• just received a 1099r for this amount
• box 7 = "7", which means normal distribution per IRS
• I am under 59.5

I don't understand the table on the IRS website. Just wondering if there will be a penalty for this settlement "distribution" or if it is waived since it was part of a lawsuit. I usually do my taxes by myself so I don't have anyone to ask.

I've had a few people in my life tell me that they lost X % of their 401k during the (insert financial crisis).

Recently when a friend told me they lost 50% of their 401k in the 2008 time, I said: "Well you didn't really lose anything, because you still had the stocks, and even though they were worth less, you still had the same number of stocks, so you could have waited it out?"

To which my friend replied: "That would be true if the person managing my 401k didn't sell".

I hadn't actually thought about that. I mean personally most of my funds are in age based target funds, but those funds are also managed by someone, right? So is there a way to prevent someone from selling your stocks if the economy tanks? I have a pretty long retirement horizon (still in my 30s) so I can weather the storm for a bit.

Edit: Thank you everyone for the insightful answers. This really helps to clear things up

Looking to pay off $15k of student loan debt of my partner. It's something we could wipe out with cash on hand if we wanted to relatively quickly. But one of the loans is 4.5%. Am I better off just riding that out but keeping the cash in for that loan in a HY savings account or keep reinvesting it in short term CD's that have a 5% return and to have more liquidity?

There's a part of me that used to really enjoy the piece of mind of being debt free when I paid off my student loans. But now that I'm more financially established and disciplined, I'm wondering if it's better to pay it off slowly.

What are my options when my provider sends me a bill without submitting a claim with my med insurance, and is ignoring my repeated requests to submit the claim and send me a revised bill post-settlement? How do I prove that I do not owe the billed amount, and I do not owe them anything until they claim it through my insurance first?

Unfortunately, I did encounter something very similar with a previous provider - and I naively decided to wait and watch when their "billing desk" was busy ignoring my requests to submit the claim first - just to get to the day when they sent it to collections. Dealing with collections is another nightmare, and while it went in my favor at that time, I promptly left that provider and switched to another.

So I want to be cautious here this time, because although the "billing desk" of my provider might be a bunch of inefficient a-holes, I don't want to deal with collections again.

Would welcome any insights ! Thanks !

I had my taxes all sorted(I'm using Tax Slayer) and was just waiting for them to actually submit the return when it's time. I was figuring it wouldn't be until around the 29th, but I just got an email tonight that said the irs had accepted my federal return. Are they accepting returns already, or is that email probably a mistake and/or unrelated? Any ideas?

One paycheck I earned only $77 and the govt withheld 9% of it.

Then I earned $2,000 and they withheld 26% of it.

Is everyone else experiencing this?

The less you earn, the less percentage-wise the govt withholds? The more you earn, the greater percentage they withhold?

At this rate, I fear that if I hypothetically would earn $8,000, they would withhold 100% of it. Do you see where this is going?

... is it normal/legal for the state I work in to withhold state income tax from my paychecks?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/10623652

TL;DR: Americans now need to make $120K a year to afford a typical middle-class life and qualify to purchase a home. Minimum.

Prices of things are becoming absolutely insane. $800+ rent, $30,000 cars, $10 sub sandwiches, etc. It would be nice to do a 3/1 split and cut everything by 2/3. Then we would have $266 rent, $10,000 cars, and $3.33 sub sandwiches. Wages, debts, everything would drop to 1/3 what they are now. It would also make coins useful again since a vending machine soda would be 2 quarters again.

I just came here to say fuck the US Securities Act of 1933. I am sure it must have some very important reason for existing, but at the moment it is preventing me from doing anything reasonable with my money.

In all seriousness, though, does any US Person who has lived abroad somewhat long term have any experience doing money business in the country of residence?

Specifically, I am trying to put some money (15K) aside for further education in about 7–10 years, and I am looking for an option to at least keep inflation at bay. Every option I look at from a Swiss bank has a clause in the fine print, blaming the US Securities Act of 1933 for not allowing any US Persons to even look at or distribute the document. Archive.org

Is my only option to invest in American banks? I just worry that it will complicate Taxes to a painful degree. I would appreciate any hints in the right direction

Hi everyone, I recently landed a new job where the base 401(k) contribution for all FTEs is 12% of your salary. This is regardless of your contribution, with no additional match. I realize that this is unusual for most people and it is for me as well. In my last job, I got up to a 6% match so I maxed that out and didn't think on it any further.

I currently contribute an additional 5% on top of the 12% that my employer provides, but got chatting with a coworker who mentioned that they were advised to take that money and, since it was not being matched, put it into the stock market instead. I'm open to learning, but have very little knowledge of stocks, cryptocurrency, or likely any other potential option you may suggest.

For a little extra information, I am in my mid-twenties, earn mid-five-figures/year, have little saved for retirement right now, and am open to any suggestions you may have.

So, what would you do in my situation? Thanks for any replies!

I’ve read that if you have the money up front, investing it as a lump sum on January 1st will produce higher returns more often that investing on a monthly/weekly basis. Is there more to consider in 2024 with our current high interest rates?

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1519974

I'll probably be keeping this video in mind the next time I'm trying to get a new home haha

TL:DR author's positing that despite the public narrative we (gen x and millenials) are mostly better off (especially financially) than prior generations and at least partly due to actions from boomers.

Thought this was an interesting read. I don't agree with all of the author's points but figured it would generate good discussion here.

I moved countries a few years ago and am building up my credit score from scratch. I'm cognizant of good practices to build up my credit score like paying my credit card on time. My credit score dropped 10 points in the last month but I don't know why. I've increased my spending on my card because of Christmas and travelling but make the payments right away (typically same day) so that there is not a large balance on my card at the end of the month. The total spending for the month is less than 30% of my credit card limit.

I don't have any other form of credit like loans. Any suggestions why there was a drop?