Category: Financial Planning

Although scammers often target older people, younger people who encounter scams are more likely to lose money to fraud, perhaps because they have less financial experience. When older people do fall for a scam, however, they tend to have higher losses.1 Regardless of your age or financial knowledge, you can be certain that criminals are hatching schemes to separate you from your money — and you should be especially vigilant in cyberspace. In a financial industry study, people who…

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If you have qualifying children under the age of 18, you may be able to claim a child tax credit. (You may also be able to claim a partial credit for certain other dependents who are not qualifying children.) The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 makes substantial, temporary improvements to the child tax credit for 2021, which may increase the amount you might receive. Ages of Qualifying Children The legislation makes 17-year-olds eligible as qualifying children in 2021….

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If you’re the parent or grandparent of a current or prospective college student, you might be interested to learn what’s new in the world of higher education. Higher college costs For the 2018-2019 school year, average costs for tuition, fees, room, and board were: $21,370 at public colleges (in-state) $37,430 at public colleges (out-of-state) $48,510 at private colleges The following table shows the average annual percent increase for tuition, fees, room, and board since 2015.1 Despite steady cuts to…

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What can I learn from looking back on my financial situation in 2017? If your financial plan for 2017 didn’t work out the way you wanted it to, don’t beat yourself up. Instead, ask yourself the following questions to determine what you can learn from reflecting on your financial situation in the last year. Did you meet your financial goals and expectations for 2017? Perhaps you started the year with some financial goals in mind. You wanted to establish…

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