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Retirement: Help your employees, help yourself
There are 23 million or so small businesses in the U.S., employing an estimated 50 million workers—and most of them don’t have a retirement plan in place. In fact, just 30% of small employers sponsor a pension plan, according to…
Where do your tax dollars go? Find out with a taxpayer receipt
Whether you think you pay a fair amount of tax or are paying way too much, you can see exactly where your federal tax dollars are going, thanks to a Federal Taxpayer Receipt calculator provided by the White House. You can look at your…
Disability pensioners should work
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has hinted disability pensioners could be forced to work part-time once a review into the welfare system is released. The review will seek ways to rein in welfare spending as part of longer-term reform and will…
US Govt Confiscating Tax Refunds Over Parents’ Old Debts
Before earmarking anticipated federal tax refunds this year, Americans should first make sure that any deceased parents were debt-free before their passing. According to a report in The Washington Post, the government has confiscated the refunds of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers over…
Some reasonable Social Security reforms
Under current law, Social Security’s trust fund will run dry by the late 2030s. This doesn’t make Social Security a Ponzi scheme, and it doesn’t mean young workers will get no (or even dramatically reduced) benefits. But it does mean that we face a…
Kiplinger Personal Finance Disability Benefits on a Fast Track
It used to be that some people with serious disabilities would die before the Social Security Administration finally got around to reviewing their applications for disability benefits. Today, applicants with one of 225 of the severest medical conditions can win approval within…
Tax day approaching: What you need to know before filing
Procrastinators beware: The deadline to file either your income tax return or an extension is Tuesday, but many local tax preparers will have special extended hours to accommodate the last-minute crowds. “There are two seasons in the tax season: The early…
Veterans Corner: VA removes annual income reporting requirements
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is eliminating the annual requirement for most veterans enrolled in VA’s health care system to report income information beginning in March 2014. Instead, VA will automatically match income information obtained from the Internal Revenue…
New generation preparing to fight for America’s future
The future of America depends on “millennials” — people born after 1980 — working together to undo the damage wrought by baby boomers on the nation’s economy, finances and foreign policy, according to a new book by Schererville native Pete Seat. Seat’s…
Are You Considering Retirement Abroad? What You Need to Know
Are you encountering clients thinking of retiring abroad? It’s a growing trend: the number of retirees, spouses and widows receiving Social Security benefit payments outside the U.S. rose 26 percent to 542,451 between 2006 and 2012, according to the Social…