What Impacts Your Credit Score During a Divorce? Your credit score (which reflects your creditworthiness) is a number dictated by a variety of factors, including any debt that you have, how reliable you are at making payments, how long you’ve had credit, and what types of accounts you have open. The higher your score, the better. Credit scores range from 300 to 850, but a good credit score is somewhere between 670 and 739....
If you have Original Medicare, your ground ambulance ride is most likely covered. However, there are some limitations on medical transports, and you’ll probably have some out-of-pocket expenses after your ride. Here are more details about what ambulance services are and aren’t covered by Medicare. What Ambulance Services Does Medicare Cover? Under Original Medicare, only Medicare Part B covers ambulance transport in emergencies when it’s unsafe to transport you in a different type of vehicle....
In the week ending April 10, there were 576,000 initial claims for unemployment insurance, a decrease of 193,000 from the previous week’s revised total, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Labor. It was the largest one-week drop in claims since August, and brings the number below 600,000 for the first time since before the pandemic. Economists had expected a less dramatic drop, with a forecast of 686,100 claims, according to a median estimate of economists cited by Moody’s Analytics....
When you make an offer on an REO property, you might want to make what is known as an earnest money deposit (EMD), which is a “good faith” deposit that proves your interest in buying the property and may indicate how much you will put down in the form of a down payment. As with other real estate purchases, the deposit is not always required with REOs, but it demonstrates your commitment to go through with the transaction....
Here’s a quick look at the most significant economic indicators of the day and what they tell us. 4th Quarter Gross Domestic Product The U.S. economy gained steam in the fourth quarter, with gross domestic product growing at an annualized pace of 6.9%, up from 2.3% in the third quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated.The growth was bigger than the 5.8% economists expected, but some warned that the rebound in economic output was just a temporary reprieve between the delta and omicron waves of COVID-19....
Which Taxes Can I Pay with EFTPS? EFTPS can be used to make many kinds of tax payments, including: Federal payroll taxes, including FICA tax and withholding for employee federal income tax (Form 941 Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return) and Form 944 - Employer’s Annual Federal Tax Return Federal unemployment taxes (Form 940 - Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA)Tax Return Corporate income taxes (Form 1120 U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return) Estimated taxes for individuals (Form 1040-ES) or for corporations (Form 1120-W) Federal excise taxes (Form 720) Payments on installment agreements....
Twelve states and the District of Columbia also impose estate taxes of their own as of 2021. Here’s a summary of these state taxes and the changes that have taken effect in recent years. Rhode Island and Connecticut Two states saw their estate tax exemption increase on Jan. 1, 2010: Rhode Island’s exemption increased to $850,000 and Connecticut’s exemption increased to $3.5 million. The Rhode Island estate tax exemption was adjusted for deaths occurring on or after Jan....
Experience rating is commonly used in workers compensation insurance. It is also used, to a lesser extent, in other types of casualty insurance, such as general liability, commercial auto liability and professional liability. This article focuses on its use in workers compensation policies. Purpose of Worker Comp Experience Ratings Experience rating is based on the idea that employers should be charged a premium that accurately reflects their risks. Experience rating plans compare employers to other employers in the same industry group....
Just 48% of high-school students polled in September by ECMC Group, a nonprofit that provides students with financial tools and services, said they were thinking about attending a four-year school. That’s down from 71% in May 2020, according to the survey, which was released Friday after polling more than 1,000 students ages 14-18 four times since February 2020. More than half the students (53%) said they believed they could achieve professional success with education lasting three years or less, the survey said....
The Fed’s No.1 mandate is to control inflation, and the most influential player in the fight against inflation is the Federal Reserve chair. Their most powerful tool is to raise interest rates. The Target Inflation Rate The Fed chairs don’t want to reduce inflation to zero. A little inflation is good—it makes shoppers expect prices will continue rising. They buy things now before prices go up even more. The increased demand spurs economic growth....
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) updates the poverty guidelines each January to account for inflation. Federal Poverty Guidelines Charts for 2021 and 2022 The HHS issues poverty guidelines for each household size. For example, the poverty level for a household of four in 2022 is an annual income of $27,750. To get the poverty level for larger families, add $4,720 for each additional person in the household....
Millions of Americans are considered “credit invisible,” meaning they have no credit history at all, which leaves them with few or no options for obtaining affordable lending. Experian’s new product, called Experian Go, targets these consumers, as well as those who have some credit history but not enough to generate a credit score, and helps them create a score for the first time. It builds on another product, Experian Boost, launched in 2019, which already allows users to add utility, cell phone, and some other bills to their existing Experian credit report....
Value Investing and Book Value Value investors don’t concern themselves with earnings growth nearly as much as their perception of the intrinsic value of a company. They hope to find the value before the rest of the market. One of the metrics that value investors use to test this value is the price-to-book or P/B Ratio. This metric looks at the value the market places on the stock at a given point in time relative to the company’s book value....
When looking at the prices of a commodity, the concept of supply and demand amounts to a simple equation. However, things get more complicated when you try to forecast prices for the future. Commodities trade in cycles. Sometimes the supplies of a given commodity like oil or gold will be tight and this will push the prices higher. Other times, there is just too much of a commodity and prices fall....
You will probably need to get a boat loan unless you are planning on paying the full price of a boat out of pocket. Financing a boat is a process similar to getting any other type of loan, and can be broken down by answering a few simple questions. How Expensive a Boat Can I Afford? Unless you plan on living in a houseboat year-round, a boat is a luxury or leisure item, not a necessity....
Why? Because even though every household may pay the same price for the items they buy, everyone’s not buying the same things in the same proportions to their budgets. For example, low-income families spend a much greater share of their household income on necessities like gas and groceries. And that makes the same price increases sting harder for them, Orchard wrote in a new analysis published in The Conversation. “In times of economic uncertainty and recession, most households tend to hold back on buying luxury goods,” Orchard wrote....
Learn more about high-yield muni bonds and how they work. What Are High-Yield Municipal Bonds? High yield munis are municipal bonds issued by state or local governments. They are unrated by the major rating agencies or they have credit ratings that are below-investment grade. That means they’re rated below Baa (by Moody’s) or BBB (by S&P and Fitch). Investors own high-yield munis for the obvious reason: They offer higher income than their investment-grade counterparts and they are tax-free on the federal level....
From another perspective, just having a hobby—even when it is not directly related to your business—can make you a more successful entrepreneur. Many hobbies have the potential to provide benefits that can improve your level of success as an entrepreneur. These 10 hobbies are relatively cheap and easy to start. Crossword puzzles can preserve cognitive function, and jigsaw puzzles can enhance memory, build problem-solving skills and induce a state of focused meditation....
That newly built homes are highly coveted should come as no surprise to anyone who’s looked at the real estate listings lately, where an ever-growing share of the listings is new construction. The reason behind the trend is fairly straightforward: the number of existing homes on the market has never been smaller, so people on the move often have little choice but to build something new, said Douglas Duncan, chief economist for mortgage giant Fannie Mae....
Someone making the median U.S. pay would have to shell out 32.1% of their income to afford the estimated annual cost of owning a median-priced home as of July, according to the most recent available data from the Atlanta Fed’s home affordability tracker. Since March that percentage has been above the benchmark of 30% that the government considers “affordable” for home ownership. It’s now at its highest level since 2008, although still nowhere near the peak the tracker recorded during the 2006 housing bubble, when the level hit 42%....
