People’s feelings about the economy and their own finances have headed south amid rising numbers of new coronavirus cases and the spread of the delta variant, according to Morning Consult, a polling firm. The chart below shows that the company’s Index of Consumer Sentiment, based on a daily survey of 6,000 U.S. residents, has tumbled since early July. As the pandemic receded in the spring and earlier in the summer, people started spending more, especially on things like traveling and eating out....

What Is SWOT Analysis? SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. It’s an analytic tool to guide an organization in its evaluation of itself, or a product, process, or department. If you were to plot its components out in a matrix, you’d arrange them into internal and external factors, and positive and negative factors. Let’s see SWOT in action with an example analysis. We’ll focus on a small business developing a marketing plan....

Exempt From State and Local Income Taxes One big benefit of Series EE savings bonds is that they are exempt from state and local taxes. This is very important if you are in a high-income tax bracket or live in a state such as New York that levy a substantial income tax rate on high earners. The bottom line is that it a bond that’s exempt from state and local taxes means more money in your pocket....

In this article, you’ll learn which specific legal fees are deductible, and how and when to deduct these fees on a business tax return. When Are Legal Fees Tax Deductible? To be deductible on your business tax return, legal fees must be charged by an attorney and be “ordinary and necessary” expenses directly related to operating your business. Ordinary expenses are those that are common and accepted on businesses of your type (common for retail businesses, for example)....

Some organizations, such as a product development software company, are formulated into teams that develop the products. Other organizations do not lend themselves as easily to a team environment and are structured around departments such as marketing or human resources. But these types of organizations can benefit from the addition of several teams. Experiment With the Best Work Teams for Your Company So, if you’re experimenting with work teams, start with a few to determine what team activities your organization can support....

Your first credit limit may be as low as $100 if your first credit card is from a retail store, but you might be approved for a slightly larger credit limit up to $500 if your first credit card is issued by a bank or credit card company. It’s unlikely that your first credit limit will be greater than $1,500 unless you already have a credit history, such as a mortgage or car loan on your credit report....

Consumers plan to spend an average of $179.70 this Easter, according to an annual survey released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation (NRF). That’s the highest figure for the holiday since the NRF began recording spending data. Easter falls on April 4 this year. Increased spending on Easter gifts, food, and candy powered the overall jump, with consumers expecting to spend an average of $31.06 on gifts (up from $27....

On Friday, all eyes will be on the government’s December jobs report, which will give us an update on the strength of the U.S. jobs market. Throughout 2022, the labor market remained resilient, indicating a strong economy. You might think this is good news, but think again. The stronger the U.S. economy, the more that the economy could be expected to withstand the shock of higher interest rates handed to us by the Federal Reserve....

So is this jobs report good news or bad news? While it indicates the U.S. labor market is still going strong as employers keep hiring, it isn’t growing as quickly as it did earlier this year. Getting remarkably candid, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell did warn us that some “economic pain” could be in our future, including a weaker job market. With job growth slowing and unemployment rising, the U....

What’s most important is writing a cover letter that shows the hiring manager what makes you one of the best candidates for the position. Reviewing cover letter samples is a great place to start before writing your own letter. You can then download a template to get started creating your own letter. What the Best Cover Letters Do Well Your cover letter should be well-written and provide some sense of your personality and professionalism....

An estate tax is calculated based on the net value of all the property owned by a decedent as of the date of death. The estate’s liabilities are subtracted from the overall value of the deceased’s property to arrive at the net taxable estate. Any resulting tax bill is paid by the estate. An inheritance tax is calculated based on the value of individual bequests received from a deceased person’s estate....

What Is a C-Corporation? Corporations—sometimes called C-Corporations" to distinguish them from S-Corporations—have been around since ancient times. The word comes from the Latin “corpus” or “body.” A corporation is a separate entity from its owners. There has been some controversy over the concept of the corporation as a legal entity, but that’s the way corporations are treated for legal purposes in the U.S. Because they are a separate entity, corporations can be sued (separately from their owners), can make its own decisions, own property, and have assets and liabilities....

Investors who hold paper stocks or who participate in dividend reinvestment programs (DRIPs) will often encounter DRSs. Learn more about what the DRS involves. The Direct Registration System New investors often invest in stocks through a brokerage account. Your shares of stock are registered in a street name when you place a trade order. The stock then appears in your account. If you own 1,000 shares of Company XYZ, your shares would be pooled with all of your brokerage’s other clients who own shares of XYZ....

Read on to find out more about the unexpected costs of homeownership and how you can best reduce them. Hidden Homeownership Costs As a homeowner, you likely know how much you pay in mortgage and interest each month. While you might be able to refinance into a lower interest rate at some point in the future, those mortgage-related costs tend to stay about the same. But other costs may have been less obvious when you first bought your home, and they can wreak havoc on your budget if you haven’t planned for them....

This moderate risk approach can work well for those in and near retirement, if you have the appropriate risk tolerance and investment objective, but volatility is still a risk. Another important factor to consider is the tax consequences of owning a balanced fund. The fund will release capital gains distributions at year-end, and this may negatively impact your tax strategy if funds are held outside of a tax-qualified retirement plan....

What Is a Cashless Society? A cashless society is one where cash—paper and coin currency—isn’t used for financial transactions. Instead, all transactions are electronic, using debit or credit cards or payment services like PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, and Apple Pay. Many countries are moving in this direction, but it’s difficult to tell which ones will eliminate cash altogether. In addition to logistical challenges, several social issues need to be addressed before a society can give up on cash entirely....

The Russell 2000 is one of several U.S. indexes started in 1984 by the Frank Russell Company. The Russell 2000 is a subset of the Russell 3000, which aims to be a benchmark for the U.S. stock market as a whole and represents about 98% of the country’s investable equity market. The Russell 3000 includes the 3,000 largest publicly held companies by market capitalization, and the Russell 2000 tracks the smallest 2,000 among them....

But many short sales don’t get approved. They fall through for a variety of reasons, particularly if there’s more than one lien against the property. All lien holders must consent to the short sale under the same terms. The process can admittedly be tricky, but an understanding of the steps involved can go a long way toward ensuring success for buyers and sellers. This makes the first step critical—the value of the home must be established right at the start....

Whether it’s from a temporary lapse in judgment or from the stress of closing the sale of their new home, sometimes buyers make mistakes that end up delaying their closing. Learn more about which mistakes to avoid. Be Careful of Your Actions Mortgage rules and guidelines don’t necessarily make a lot of common sense—except to the government committee that created the regulations. For example, a homebuyer with a freeze on their credit report might be asked by the lender to temporarily lift that freeze....

If your new gig is beginning to look more like a nightmare than a dream job, don’t despair. There are plenty of things you can do, right now, to minimize the pain and get your career turned back in the right direction. Here are seven ideas to help you deal with a new job that doesn’t fit. Figure Out Whether the Job Is the Problem Change is hard on most people....