Learn more about how the law changed the retirement system. Required Minimum Distributions From Retirement Plans Older Americans have long been required to start taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) from their retirement plans at the age of 70-1/2. “Required” is the keyword here; they have had to begin withdrawing their money whether they needed it or not. These distributions represent the least they must take from their plans each year....

Federal and state laws regulate how and when employees are paid, and your employer should follow those guidelines. If they don’t, the first step is to discuss the missing pay with your employer. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, you may be able to get assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) or from your state department of labor. Review guidance on when you can expect to be paid, what to do when your paycheck is missing or short, and how to file a claim for unpaid wages if you can’t get a resolution from your employer....

Car scratches are not all handled the same when it comes to car insurance; a lot of variables come into play. How your car was scratched also impacts whether you need to report the incident to the police. Learn what kind of car insurance claim are you looking at if you have a scratch on your vehicle and whether your should report scratches to your insurance. Should I Worry About Scratches On My Car?...

Many homeowners rushed to dump their upside-down homes when housing prices declined in 2005, but others held on. They watched their home prices collapse, and many probably felt like they were the captain standing on a sinking ship. The good news is there are many options available if you find yourself in that situation. Lenders almost invariably lose money in foreclosure situations, so you might have more bargaining power than you think....

Treating dividends as income and reinvesting them are both viable investment strategies. Each comes with trade-offs that impact your ultimate net worth and the lifestyle you are able to lead. How to Reinvest Dividends When you receive dividend payments from a stock that you own, you have two options: Many stocks have dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs), which allow you to buy more shares of the same stock by automatically reinvesting the dividends rather than having cash deposited into your checking account....

fizkes/Getty Images This article will unpack features, along with pros and cons, of each of the major business types to help you make the best decision for your new business. Factors to Consider in Selecting a Business Type As you start your business or consider changing your business type, consider these four important factors during your decision-making process: Cost and complexity of running the business, including legal fees and cost of operation Ownership control and the tradeoff between control and profits/losses Taxes on the business and how the business or owner pays taxes Liability of business owners for the debt of the business, for actions of other owners, and for general liability...

That’s how much women around the world lost in income in 2020, and it’s more than the combined GDP of 98 countries, Oxfam International, a nonprofit group focused on reducing global poverty, said on Thursday. Women worldwide were hit harder than men, with 5% of women losing jobs compared with 3.9% of men. Men lost more jobs (80 million) than women (64 million), but that’s because there were more men in the labor force to begin with, International Labour Organization data showed....

Any expense that helps your business make more money could potentially count as a business expense. This can include costs such as advertising, payroll, rent, software fees, utility fees, and more. To help your startup save money, you should understand how to achieve the maximum tax deductions. Read on to understand what business expenses are, which expenses are not deductible, and how to use tax deductions in your favor....

Numerous private-sector tax software providers have teamed up with the IRS to provide free services for virtually all taxpayers—subject to certain rules. If your income is higher than the eligibility limit, you might be entitled to more limited assistance. The IRS Free File program has filed millions of returns since 2003. However, according to observations made by the think tank Bipartisan Policy Center, IRS Free File is being significantly underused by eligible taxpayers, meaning that even more people are eligible to use it to file their tax returns for free....

A strong credit history and access to credit offerings are directly correlated with higher homeownership rates, according to a report by real estate firm Zillow released Wednesday. Yet about 15% of Black and Latinx people lack a credit record, while 9.7% of Black households and 7.9% of Latinx households live in areas with limited access to credit products and services, Zillow said. These rates are all higher than those for White or Asian households....

The findings highlight not only how resilient many household budgets have been during the pandemic, but how some actually ended up benefiting from it. Yes, it put 22 million out of work in the initial months, but it also prompted unprecedented government subsidies. Case in point: Some 37 million people with federal student loans have had more than two years without any obligations. Not only can they skip payments without penalty, but interest hasn’t accrued, giving them the breathing room to pay down their balance, buy a house or invest....

It’s hard to walk away from an employment opportunity. In addition to the fact that we all have bills to pay, we’re conditioned to think of any change as a positive thing. After all, how can you move up the ladder if you don’t move? 10 Reasons to Decline a Job Offer But there are times when the best thing you can do for your career is to stay put....

“Recently, the video game industry became one of the largest industries in the world,” Dakota Vincent, a developer at Future House Studios, told The Balance. “For the last couple of decades, it has become more mainstream, and demand has gotten larger, ultimately leading to more jobs and job security for people working within the industry or wanting to be a part of it.” If you’re considering a career in the video game industry, you’ll have no shortage of options....

To help you streamline the process, here are 14 tools you can use to get started with your business plan. Online Tools This set of online tools walks you through each section of a traditional business plan in a step-by-step format. SBA’s Build Your Business Plan Tool - The SBA’s Business Plan Tool is a step-by-step guide that allows you to save your progress and come back to it for up to six months....

Tetra Images / Getty Images These year-end strategies include withdrawing from or contributing to a retirement account to take advantage of tax-free withdrawals or reduce your Social Security taxes. You might be able to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA to take advantage of a lower tax rate. You may want to trigger capital gains in a year when you qualify for a 0% tax rate, or harvest capital losses to offset gains you had earlier in the year....

Small-cap companies–those with stock market capitalization between about $300 million and approximately $2 billion–are considered riskier investments compared with mid- and large-cap companies, but they typically also have significantly higher growth potential, possibly offering investors an opportunity to land that coveted stock that multiplies 10 or 20 times in value. While they could yield big gains, investing in these funds can come at a cost. Expense ratios for funds that consider ESG factors can vary widely....

Learn about the six key questions you should know the answers to if you want to build a good portfolio of stocks and other investments. 1. What Do My Personal Finances Look Like? There’s personal finance, and there’s investing. They do overlap, but it’s most useful to think of them as distinct factors. Think of personal finance as all the things in your life that have to do with money besides investing....

Sigmon, the author of the book, “Six Steps to Creating Profit,” notes that nearly two-thirds of small businesses either don’t make a profit or fail to increase their profits from the year before. Sigmon shares six key strategies small business owners can use to cut costs, increase profits, and improve their bottom lines. 1. Change Operating Procedures You need to generate more sales while reducing expenses. To increase your sales, try cross-selling—offering new services or goods that complement your current offerings....

What Is an Establishment? An establishment is a business location for a company that is engaged in a single activity. It’s a place where the business is conducted with the objective of getting paid for selling goods or services, even if no specific sales actually take place at that location. An establishment can be: A factory where goods are madeAn assembly facility where goods are put together, such as an auto assembly plantA warehouse where goods are stored before they’re shipped or soldA retail store where goods are soldAn office where services are performed for compensation...

When the pandemic sent unemployment rates soaring last year, the government and lenders gave homeowners some breathing room by prohibiting foreclosures and offering forbearance programs that let homeowners skip or lower payments without penalty for up to 18 months. Some economists feared there would be a wave of forced sales or even foreclosures when the clock started to run out on those forbearances, but it appears other pandemic-era government aid helped homeowners weather the period better than expected, said Nicole Bachaud, an economist at Zillow....