Today’s retirees must be more self-reliant than their predecessors. Decades ago, retirement was fairly predictable: Social Security and a pension provided much of your income, you moved to the Sun Belt, played tennis or golf, and you lived to age 70 or 75. To varying degrees, this was the American retirement experience during the last few decades of the previous century. Those days are gone; retirees must now assume greater degrees of financial self-reliance. There is no private-pension safety net today. At one time, when Social Security was paired with a pension from a lifelong employer, a retiree could potentially enjoy a middle-class lifestyle. In January, the average monthly Social Secur
Learn about the two new tax perks for these college savings vehicles. Do you have a 529 plan account? Then you will want to know about a pair of federal tax law changes which may benefit you and your student, one involving a February 16 deadline. As 2015 ended, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act (PATH). Deep in its fine print were two “sweeteners” – tax changes designed to help parents with 529 plans. You can now pay for computer hardware & software with 529 plan dollars. Under the old rules, this was rarely permitted. In fact, federal tax law only allowed it if a university or college required students to have certain computer hardware, software, or computer-related