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Published by Natalie Campisi and Rachel Witkowski
Presented by Axial Financial Group
Forbes Advisor Staff,
Editors, Apr 4, 2022
Authored by Ashlea Ebeling Senior Contributor, Forbes, April 5, 2022
Presented by Axial Financial Group
1. HELP KIDS LEARN WITH REAL MONEY
Giving your kids a reasonable allowance—as opposed to simply buying them things they want—is a good thing. “It creates agency and responsibility,” Ziv says. “It also gives them freedom to make mistakes at a lower-stakes level. We’re all going to make mistakes. It’s better to make them early on where there are parental guardrails.” If your teen is earning money on their own, consider a “parental match”—similar to an employer match into a 401(k)—to encourage saving. The match can be into a regular savings or investing account, a 529 college savings account or a Roth Individual Retirement Account kids can open in their own names. You can help fund the Roth up to your child’s earned income. And don’t be put off by the name of the account; contributions to a Roth grow tax-free for retirement but can be withdrawn without penalty should your child need them for college, a house or any other goal along the way. If your child gets a W2 tax form showing their earned income, that’s the time to discuss gross and take-home pay—and taxes. The good news is they may be due a tax refund if they were a regular employee and taxes were withheld. The bad news is if they earned more than $400 in gig income from odd jobs like babysitting, tutoring or lawn mowing, they are required to file a tax return and may owe Uncle Sam some money.
One of the things we know, mathematically, is that if interest rates go up, stocks should go down. If you consider a stock price as the discounted present value of a future earnings stream, then a higher discount rate results in a lower present value. There is no nuance or context; it is just math. So when rates are raised—and prospects for future raises are reinforced—and yet stocks move up, there is clearly something else going on.
Tax Time Guide: Saving for retirement? IRA contributions for 2021 can be made until April 18
Many IRA and retirement plan limits are indexed for inflation each year. Although the amount you can contribute to IRAs remains the same in 2022, other key numbers will increase, including how much you can contribute to a work-based retirement plan and the phaseout thresholds for IRA deductibility and Roth contributions.
On December 15, 2021, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve System made a significant shift in monetary policy in response to rising inflation. The Committee accelerated the reduction of its bond-buying program in order to tighten the money supply and projected three increases in the benchmark federal funds rate in 2022, followed by three more increases in 2023.
As the end of the year approaches, it's time to start planning ahead. Now is a good time to begin pulling out last year's tax return, along with your current pay stubs and account statements.
With the holiday season upon us and the end of the year approaching, we pause to give thanks for our blessings and the people in our lives. It is also a time when charitable giving often comes to mind. The tax benefits associated with charitable giving could potentially enhance your ability to give and should be considered as part of your year-end tax planning.
