There are several other important steps you should take to mitigate the damage that can come from payment delinquency. Follow these steps if you find yourself unable to meet your financial obligations. Create a Budget and Prioritize Spending First, you need to sit down and look at your budget. During this process, prioritize your bills and the order in which you are going to pay them. You need to meet your basic needs first: food, housing, utilities, and transportation costs....

The fees are legal, but merchants may be breaking the terms of their agreements with payment-processing providers when they impose minimums. Legality Several laws went into effect in 2013 governing how merchants deal with customers who pay with plastic. Two major changes took place. Minimum-purchase requirements up to $10 are allowed for credit cards. Merchants can set minimums for credit card purchases as a result of a lawsuit they won against credit card companies and banks....

It can be worth the expense, as many people find that they actually save money by going to an accountant because their tax refund increases significantly. But there are also cases where you may want to file your return on your own. In this guide, learn when you would (and wouldn’t) need an accountant and how their services would impact you. When You Need an Accountant A few circumstances will wave a flag that you might be better off using an accountant than trying to handle preparation of your tax return on your own....

If you need home health care, you’ll want to understand your insurance coverage so that you’re not left with any unexpected bills. With Medicare Parts A and B, some home health care services are covered. Here’s more information on those services, who qualifies for them, and which parts of home health care may be ineligible for Medicare coverage. Who Qualifies for Home Health Care With Medicare? Medicare has several conditions in place for home health care....

A will is a legal document that will serve to communicate the wishes for the disposal of personal property after the owner’s death. The will is one part of a complete estate plan that may include tax planning and philanthropic giving as well as the identification of trustees. If an Illinois resident or a person owning property in the state passes away without a will, the determination of dividing assets will be left to the Illinois intestacy succession laws....

It’s essential to follow the employer’s instructions so that you don’t wind up bounced from contention because of a technicality. You might be asked to send your cover letter in the body of the email or as an attachment, or to add a specific subject line, or to send it as a specific file type, e.g., a Word document or PDF. What to Include in Your Email Cover Letter Salutation It’s best to address your letter to a specific person, instead of using a generic salutation like “To Whom It May Concern” or “Dear Sir or Madam....

What Is an Employee Work Schedule? A work schedule is the time an employee is expected to be on the job and working. In many cases, this will be determined by the employer and will be a set number of days and hours per week. Work schedules are not regulated by the Department of Labor. How Employee Schedules Work When an employer is hiring to fill an open position, the organization will determine the work schedule for the job....

A glitch such as missing documentation could stall the hiring process. You may need to order some forms, look up information such as dates of past employment, or download documents from the IRS site. If you don’t have the original documentation that you’ll need before an employer can put you on the payroll, get your copies now, so you’ll be ready to start work immediately once you get a job offer....

Generally, April 15 is the official deadline for filing your federal income tax return each year, but that date isn’t carved in stone. The deadline moves to the next business day when April 15 falls on a Saturday, a Sunday, or a legal holiday, and other national events can shift it as well. For example. the tax filing deadline in 2022 is April 18. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) typically begins processing tax returns in late January of each year, but you can start filing as soon as you have all of the necessary paperwork together....

Income Forms Chapter 13 debtors must file either one or two forms that together determine the duration and available income for a Chapter 13 repayment plan. The first form is the Chapter 13 Statement of Your Current Monthly Income and Calculation of Commitment Period, Official Form B122C-1. This calculates your average monthly income and uses that figure to determine whether your case should last three years or as long as five years....

It is important that you trim your spending so that you can begin moving forward and acquiring wealth. For your investing to work, you should not pull money out of your investments but leave them there to grow. Are You Ready to Begin Investing? It is necessary to make sure that you are truly ready to begin investing before you do. It does not make sense to begin investing money when you are charging money on your credit cards....

Brief History and Definition In the past, currencies were fixed to an ounce of gold. In the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement, countries agreed to peg all currencies to the U.S. dollar. The United States agreed to redeem all dollars for gold. In 1971, President Nixon took the dollar off of the gold standard to end the recession. Nixon’s action ended the 100-year history of the gold standard. Still, many countries kept their currencies pegged to the dollar, because the dollar is the world’s reserve currency....

Flexible budgeting is an important tool for most small businesses. Learn how it can help your business respond to the ups and downs of the marketplace. Definition and Examples of a Flexible Budget A flexible budget is one that takes into account your actual production and revenue rather than what you originally projected. Most businesses begin the year with a static budget. This represents your best guess at what will be spent and what will be earned....

Why was there even a deficit at all? Economic growth had been steady for several years. The government should have been using those “fat years” to save for the future. It should have spent less, thus cooling the economy, not overheating it with deficit spending. This contributed to the economic boom, which when it was over, caused the Great Recession. Revenue In FY 2006, the federal government received $2.407 trillion in revenue....

A gallon of regular gas rose to $3.80 on Friday, up two cents from the day before. The average price has risen for the last nine days, up 13 cents during that time. Before then, it had been moving downward since peaking at $5.02 a gallon in mid-June. Whether the price will keep going up, and how much of an impact that will have on inflation in the months ahead, remains to be seen....

In this guide, we’ll explore the details of each, take a closer look at their differences, and help you decide how to best protect your investment during the homebuying process. What’s the Difference Between Homeowners Insurance and PMI? Your home insurance policy may include coverage for your: Home’s structurePersonal belongingsLiability in lawsuits for injuries that you, your family members, and pets cause to other peopleMedical expenses if someone is hurt in your homeExtra living expenses while your home is uninhabitable...

Types of Under-Market-Value Home Prices In any given market at any time of the year, you’re likely to find home prices that sound too good to be true. Before you jump on these under-market-value home prices, ask your agent to help you understand why those homes are priced so low. What types of under-market-value homes exist? Let’s take a look. Foreclosures These are homes lenders have seized in foreclosure transactions. Why did the banks take them?...

But here’s what you may not have heard. Did you know that some college students are using unconventional means, such as buy now, pay later plans, to pay their tuition—and racking up “shadow” student loan debt in the process? Or that you could be flagged on background checks if you have the bad luck to share a name with someone with a shady past—a “shoddy” practice that the government’s consumer finance watchdog is trying to stop?...

However, many parents worry that having a chunk of change set aside for college could impact their child’s eligibility for scholarships or other financial aid. And what if the child does get a scholarship and the full amount isn’t needed for school? Can you still access the leftover money? Here’s the high-level answer: 529s don’t impact merit-based scholarships, and they can minimize the impact of savings on need-based grants. Plus, if you get a scholarship, you can withdraw the amount of the scholarship without any penalty....

The terms “financial planner” and “financial advisor” typically mean the same thing. However, not all planners and advisors are alike because there are different ways to become a planner. The level of education, training, and skills a planner has makes a big difference in the quality of the advice you receive. If you handle your own finances, a planner can usually help improve the plans you’ve made. If you’re thinking about getting some help, it’s good to know what to expect from a financial planner....