Find out more about the lifetime exemption on the gift tax, the annual exclusion, and how all of this impacts your estate taxes. How Does the Lifetime Gift Tax Exemption Work? The lifetime gift tax exemption is adjusted for inflation every year, and it’s allowed for both spouses in a married couple. For example, the 2022 exemption is $12.06 million. If you are married, you could give away $24.12 million ($12....
Early this year, the Federal Reserve imposed emergency interest rate cuts, and banks tightened lending standards as the pandemic rocked the economy. Fortunately, while issuers dialed back promotional card offers, they also extended a helping hand to consumers in the form of payment deferrals and limited-time rewards offers. Many of those offers were expanded, and some are rolling into the new year, bringing cardholders more rewards-earning options in the months ahead....
The average rate offered for a 30-year conventional fixed mortgage dropped to 6.51% from 6.67% the previous business day. The 15-year fell for the first time in nearly two weeks, declining to 5.45% from 5.49% the previous business day, a recent high. Our mortgage rate data only dates back to 2020, but if other measures are any indication, both rates may be near their highest levels in over a decade....
The average rate offered for a conventional 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 5.93% from 5.77% the previous business day. Last month it reached 6.19%, its highest point since at least 2019, and likely much farther back. (Our daily mortgage rate data only goes back to April 2021, but our data on yearly highs and lows dates back to 2020, so we know rates weren’t higher in 2020, and if other measures are any indicator, may have hit their highest point in over a decade....
Caiaimage/Agnieszka Olek Once you’ve been compromised, it’s hard to recover your losses, especially without a cyber insurance policy to cover any legal and financial implications of a data breach. We’ll review some of the features of a cyber insurance policy and some of the top insurance companies offering cyber insurance. The Cyber Insurance Policy The purpose of a cyber insurance policy is to aid in recovery of an individual or company after a cyber breach has occurred and pay for legal defense costs arising from first- and third-party liability claims....
As you plan your financial bucket list, consider including these lofty financial aspirations. Live Within Your Means Living within your means simply means that you don’t spend more than what you earn each month. That may seem like a relatively small target to include on the list of your financial goals, but it can have huge implications for your finances. When you live within your means and follow a budget each month, you don’t overspend....
There is a multitude of commodity trading strategies, some that have been through rigorous testing and others that have been developed by individual traders over time. For commodity trading beginners, it is wise to research the market, understand basic trading products, and test out some of the most basic strategies before risking any hard-earned capital. A Good Place to Start Watching the financial news and reading commodity newsletters for the latest trading tips can be a good place to start....
The poverty threshold for a one-person household under age 65 was $14,097 for 2021. U.S. Poverty Overview The official poverty rate in 2020 was 11.4%, according to the U.S. Census. This means that 11.4% of Americans were living below the poverty threshold. This percentage is up from 10.5% in 2019. The poverty rate has dropped from 15.1% since 2010. Consider the following statistics about poverty in the U.S.: Women made up over 56% of people who were in poverty in 2020, according to the September 2021 Census Bureau study....
Savings Bonds vs. Savings Accounts The safety of your money in most bank accounts comes from being insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This provides insurance on up to $250,000 per depositor as of 2021. While your money might be safe in a savings account, the interest rate is likely quite low. Your money is also safe in U.S. savings bonds, but not through FDIC insurance. Savings bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U....
Visible Underemployment Visible underemployment includes employees who are working fewer hours than is typical in their field. They are willing and able to work more hours but cannot get full-time employment. They often work two part-time jobs just to make ends meet. Invisible Underemployment Invisible underemployment includes workers in full-time jobs that don’t use all their skills. This type of underemployment is almost impossible to measure. It requires extensive surveying that compares workers’ skills to job requirements....
What Is an Indemnity Health Insurance Plan? Indemnity health plans are also known as: Traditional indemnity planFee-for-service plan The plan helps provide protection against the costs of medical expenses. Advantages of an Indemnity Health Insurance Plan The indemnity health policy is different than policies offered by health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and preferred provider organizations (PPOs) because it allows you to obtain medical care where you choose to provide compensation for a set portion of the costs....
If everybody hates asset verification, as conditioned as they have become to the document-dominated burden of getting a mortgage, it must be bad. So why is it done? Because lenders must ensure that you have enough money to cover your down payment and your closing costs. People are people, and their financial behavior reflects that. People occasionally overdraw. People sometimes don’t know where that $287 cash deposit came from, exactly....
Still, there are some differences between Visa and Mastercard that are interesting and helpful to note. What’s the Difference Between Visa and Mastercard? Visa and Mastercard are both payment networks, like Discover and American Express. Payment networks don’t create cards directly, but rather they provide a backchannel for your payment to get to the merchant. They provide a baseline amount of benefits, but it’s really the card issuer like the bank or the credit union that designs the important features of the card, including the fees, APRs, and rewards....
Financial Stability Ratings, Customer Service Ratings, and Company Awards Insurance rating organization AM Best gave an “A” Excellent rating in financial strength. The “A+” rating from the Better Business Bureau also ranks the company high in the area of customer service. In 2013, JD Power & Associates awarded Wawanesa Insurance its “Best in California” rating following analysis of its customer satisfaction survey results. Insurance Products Insurance customers in California and Oregon can obtain a quote through the company website or by telephone directly from the company....
Affiliate Marketing Affiliate marketing can be a low-cost and relatively easy way to make additional money online for your business. You don’t need to have any of your own products or services to sell; affiliate marketing gives you a chance to earn commissions from large companies. You promote the products or services of a company on your website, blog, or social media account, providing links to the company’s offerings. These affiliate tracking links ensure you get the credit for having delivered a paying customer to the company’s website, and you get a percentage of the sale as your reward....
Western Mutual Insurance Group was founded in 1942. It is a mutual insurance company meaning it is owned by its policyholders. The company headquarters is located in Irvine, California. Affiliated companies include Western Mutual Insurance Company, Residence Mutual Insurance Company, and Arizona Home Insurance Company. Western Mutual writes property and casualty insurance in the Southwestern U.S. in the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, and Utah. Other company locations include Calabasas, CA, and Phoenix, AZ, as well as claims offices based in the company’s states of operation....
Banks and other financial firms report this data each quarter, in part because assets under management tend to fluctuate regularly. Using simple, hypothetical numbers, if 10 people each invest $1,000 in a mutual fund, the fund has assets under management of $10,000. If 10 people invest $1,000 each in 10 different mutual funds at the same firm, the firm has assets under management of $100,000. For instance, as investors put money into (called “inflows”) or withdraw money from a mutual fund (called “outflows”), the fund’s assets under management will increase or decrease....
Originally, only shareholders of the private company could sell shares during a DPO and the company was not allowed to issue new shares. But in December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), approved a proposal from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for a primary direct listing, which includes newly issued shares in the DPO in addition to existing shares. Although the mechanism for direct listings has existed for many years, strict eligibility requirements by exchanges such as the NYSE and NASDAQ made them a rare occurrence....
Thanakorn Phanthura / EyeEm / Getty Images Netflix Netflix has filled multiple market gaps over the years. In 1997, the company began by renting out DVD movies by mail for a monthly fee. In 1998, the company had a DVD rental website competing with Blockbuster Video, which had brick-and-mortar stores. The company was one of the first successful DVD rental companies online and surpassed one million customers by 2003. The company introduced its streaming platform, and by 2009, had 10 million customers, while in 2010, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy....
Stock indexes are created to capture the performance of the whole market or a subset of it. The most commonly cited index is the S&P 500, but there are indexes for U.S. markets, overseas markets, specific sectors, and asset classes (i.e., large-cap or international stocks). Index ETFs aim to replicate the composition as well as the performance of such indexes. For example, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) closely tracks the S&P 500....
