The Advantages and Limits of a Roth IRA One major benefit of your Roth IRA is that virtually all income earned within its protective shell is free from taxation. There are no dividend taxes, no interest taxes, no rent taxes, and no capital gains taxes. The yield on municipal bonds is already tax-free, so you gain no additional advantage from putting them into a Roth IRA. And most investors can only contribute $6,000 annually to a Roth IRA for tax years 2021 and 2022....

When it launches next month, the new no-annual-fee Wells Fargo Active Cash Card will give consumers unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases, which is a relatively uncommon rewards rate. The new card will offer a higher rate and a higher welcome bonus than Wells Fargo’s legacy card, the Cash Wise Visa Card. Most cash-back rewards cards touting a single earning rate on all purchases offer 1% or 1.5% back, though the once-exclusive club of cards offering 2% back has grown this year....

New York City is one of just a few cities in the U.S. that has a personal income tax. The New York City tax is calculated and paid on the New York State income tax return. New York City’s tax code doesn’t include any deductions, but the city does offer some credits of its own, separate from those the state offers. Who Must Pay New York City Income Tax? Every income-earning individual, estate, and trust residing or located in New York City must pay the city’s income tax....

NinjaTrader is customizable and allows you to build strategies so stop loss and target orders are sent out as soon as you enter a trade. This feature is recommended for all day traders. If you lose your internet connection, your data provider goes down, or you disconnect from your broker, those stop losses and targets may help you avoid a financial catastrophe. Demo Account If you’re a day trader in Australia and are considering using NinjaTrader, the first part of the process would be to open a demo account that lets you practice trading on the platform without putting real money at risk....

VantageScores provides clearer explanations to help consumers understand why their credit score aren’t harder by providing reason codes, which are published online at ReasonCode.org. Consumers can type in a reason code received with their credit score or from a lender and receive an explanation and a suggestion for improving. VantageScore 4.0 In Fall 2017, VantageScore 4.0 was introduced with an improved ability to score consumers with limited credit history. The updated credit score also placed less importance on certain negative credit reporting entries like medical-collections accounts, tax liens, and public records....

So why is it there, and what exactly does it mean? It goes deep within the process of making good decisions and managing your risk: It is the methodology that counts, not the recent scorecard. Not Just Good Advice, It’s the Law Asset management firms are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to say that the returns an asset made in the past don’t mean that future returns will be the same....

What’s the Difference Between a Pension Plan and a 401(k)? Participants contribute to a 401(k). Employers may match employee contributions, but they aren’t required to. If your employer matches contributions, the decision to participate is an easy one. Investment Options With a pension plan, the plan sponsor decides how the pension funds are invested. With a 401(k), you determine how the funds are invested. You typically have several investment options to choose from....

At a time when many Americans may be reassessing their financial behaviors and futures, The Balance asked several renowned personal finance experts and influencers to share their own narratives from the past year and how they’ve informed their perspectives in areas like budgeting, investing, and achieving financial independence. Today, we speak with Erin the “Broke Millennial” Lowry. Under her moniker the “Broke Millennial,” Erin Lowry has carved out a successful career providing practical financial advice to fellow millennials through multiple books, presentations, worksheets, and courses....

Having a marital agreement between spouses, such as a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, could save you a lot of heartache if you and your love decide to split up. On the bright side, the discussions leading up to the execution of a marital agreement could create a healthy and supportive base for a couple to successfully manage their intertwined finances. What’s the Difference Between Prenups and Postnups? Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are contracts between a married couple that set the terms for separation....

Home prices across the U.S. have been rising, making saving for the cost of a down payment even more challenging for many would-be buyers. Home prices in the U.S. rose 19.1% in October 2021 from the previous year, according to the Case-Shiller U.S. Home Price Index. Let’s look at the pros and cons of down payment assistance programs so you can decide if you want to rely on one for your mortgage....

Working with creditors on your own, the positive actions you take today can take a month or longer to show up in your credit reports. But lenders (and sales contracts) have deadlines, and credit scores available to your lender today will be based on the information currently shown in your credit files. If you can’t meet your financing deadline with the rate you want (or if rates move higher while you wait), you’ll have to make some difficult choices....

The price of gasoline rises along with the price of the crude oil it’s made from. While the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russia didn’t formally limit the country’s oil industry, banks, merchants, shippers, and others in the industry may not play their part, perhaps out of concern they won’t get paid, Kloza said. There’s no way to know how much the supply of oil from Russia—the world’s third-largest producer—might be “constipated” by the issues, he said....

If you haven’t tapped into your network yet, you may be overlooking the key to landing the job of your dreams. But you’ll never know for sure unless you reach out and ask for a referral. Expand Your Professional Network This often means going beyond your immediate network and contacting people who share a mutual acquaintance with someone you know. Referral letters are a perfect way to ask these more distant connections for job leads, career advice, and contacts at employers....

Even though the appropriate protocol is to notify all the candidates that employers interview for a job, this, unfortunately, doesn’t always happen. Employers aren’t required to notify applicants, even though it’s courteous to inform candidates who haven’t been selected to move forward in the hiring process. When Employers Notify Applicants Employers don’t always provide applicants with the courtesy of letting them know where they stand in the hiring process, though some do provide status updates to candidates....

Here’s advice on how to resign from a new job, with tips for what to write and include in your resignation letter, and a sample letter to review. Make Sure You Want to Leave Before resigning, make sure leaving is definitely the right decision for you. Perhaps you could talk to your boss about modifying your responsibilities or your schedule? Or maybe you want to stick it out for a little while longer to see if things change....

The most frequent cause for confusion comes from one small difference between benefits for a spouse versus an ex-spouse. Additional confusion comes from trying to decipher what happens with spousal benefits if you claim before versus after full retirement age (FRA). If you understand these three rules, much of the confusion surrounding spousal benefits is easy to clear up. 1. Spousal Benefits for Spouses Versus Ex-Spouses To be eligible for a spousal benefit, your spouse must have filed for their own benefits....

Read below for advice on writing a cover letter for an entry-level position as a college graduate, as well as an example letter. What to Include in Your Cover Letter Introductory Paragraph: In the first paragraph of your cover letter, express your interest in both the job and the employer, mentioning the company by name. Cite the source where you discovered the job announcement. If you have a connection at the company who you know would support your candidacy, mention their name here....

Shelter Insurance was founded in 1946 under the name of MFA Insurance Companies. In the beginning, the company only offered auto policies to residents of Missouri. From these small beginnings, the company grew to be one of the most successful regional property and casualty (P&C) insurance companies in the United States. In 1981, the name was changed to Shelter Insurance. This was taken from the insurance company’s famous slogan, “M....

Although the goal of a short sale approval is to convince the lender to release the lien, it’s not always a sure thing. The seller, or current owner, may still be in debt to the lender due to the fact that the sale deal with the buyer was for less than what was owed. The main risk of a short sale then, is that the lender may or may not choose to release the current owner from the debt they still owe on the mortgage....

But less stressful careers often mean lower pay. How to decide? If you are offered a new position with more responsibilities at your job, or if you are seeking one elsewhere, you will need to weigh whether the stress and additional responsibilities make taking the position worth it. While it is always nice to make more money, you may find that you are willing to work at a job with less stress so that you can enjoy your life more....