It’s that time of the year again that no one looks forward to. 1099’s are showing up in the mailbox which means tax season is right around the corner.
If you have a big tax bill due to the IRS, there is something you can do to lessen the blow to your wallet by paying your taxes with something that’s currently in your wallet. No, I don’t mean pocket lint. I’m talking about paying your taxes with your credit card.
A few weeks ago I found a nice desk on Craigslist that someone was giving away for free. It was perfect for the office my brother was planning to lease, so we headed out to pick it up. The person who was giving it away lived about 30 miles away and Google Maps showed that it would take 50 minutes to drive there. Only it was 6 PM and the middle of rush hour. By the time we got there it was over an hour and a half later with a lot of time sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
This is an all too common occurrence in many cities every morning and again later in the evening. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2016 the average American spent 26 minutes in their car commuting from home to work. As a nation we are wasting billions of hours of our lives sitting in our cars.
For many people, starting up their ice cube of a car and letting it warm up a bit is something that we don’t really think about because it was something that’s always been done. Our parents did it because their parents did it or you hear how someone had a friend who didn’t warm up their car and the engine blew up and so on.
It turns out in modern vehicles, the practice of idling your car during the winter is no longer needed. In fact, most manufacturers and auto experts recommend driving off gently after about 30 seconds. You are actually hurting the engine, wasting gas, and polluting the environment when warming it up for much longer than that.
In our daily lives it’s hard to imagine there is anything that we use more than our eyes. For those of us who don’t have perfect vision, eyeglasses are a must-have item that we put on first thing in the morning and only take off when we climb back into bed at night.
Buying your next pair of eyeglasses online can save you hundreds of dollars for the same quality of glasses you would have gotten at the store.
Does your iPhone feel like it is running slower than when it was new or is it just your imagination?
You might not be imagining things. iPhone users have long reported that their phones seem to run slower after a new iOS update. Now Apple has confirmed that they are throttling down the processor’s speeds when the battery capacity deteriorates over time.
We are all busy these days. There are new emails waiting to be checked, Netflix shows to binge watch, Instagram updates from friends of what they had for lunch, or The Donald’s latest tweets to read. With so many things vying for our attention, automatic bill payments can be really appealing. You spend five minutes setting it up, and you never have to see or manually pay another bill again!
With automatic bill pay, you can set up auto payment plans for all your bills. Your utilities, mortgage, phone, internet, cable, auto, or any other regular payments can be automatically deducted from your bank account at your scheduled date, freeing you from missed payments and late fees. But is it a smart idea?
There are many banks, brokerages, credit unions, and insurance companies that are offering HSA accounts these days because 97% of HSA accounts are in cash. All this money sitting in accounts are allowing these companies to make loans with that money to earn more money while only giving you a fraction of interest back in return. With interest rates being so low, those who keep their HSA funds in savings accounts are actually losing money to inflation as health care costs continue to increase each year. This is why it is better to find a provider that lets you invest your HSA savings.
With so many choices, choosing a HSA provider that meets your investment needs can be a little challenging. To help you get started on your search, this is a review on some of the popular HSA providers that allow investing of your funds and their fees.
For most people, unless you live in a city with great public transportation or within walking or biking distance to work, you will probably need a car to get you where you need to go.
With the average person owning 9.4 cars in their lifetime, and the average new vehicle transaction price hitting an all-time high of $34,077 in 2016, if you are shopping for a new car, knowing when to buy a car could save you hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars.
As open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act begins this month, whether you get your insurance from the Health Insurance Marketplace or through your employer, now is a good time to consider your health insurance options for next year if you haven’t already. You may have seen plans that are listed as HSA-eligible. What many people don’t realize is that HSAs are one of the best ways to save for retirement.
The National Park Service has announced a proposal that could more than double the entrance fees at 17 of the most popular national parks to generate badly needed revenue for infrastructure improvements.
Entry at these parks currently costs $25 to $30 per vehicle and $10 to $15 per person on bike or foot. Under the proposed rates, this will increase to $70 per vehicle and $30 per person.