HSA

Top Ways to Lower Your Taxes

We’re more than half way through the year! Can you believe it? Tax return season is still a long way off, but families should always have taxes on the mind when making financial decisions.

I’d like to write a short post today reminding readers of some of the most fundamentally simple ways to save on taxes. Most Americans want to pay a bit less and the IRS has several practical ways allowing you to do so. Here are several that can make the biggest impact on your tax bill, and also benefit you and others in the future.

How the $2 Trillion CARES Act Benefits Individuals and Small Businesses

Last Friday, President Trump signed into law a massive piece of legislation, titled the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The law provides over $2 trillion (yes, trillion) of funding to everything from the health sector, state and local governments, large and small businesses, and of course, individuals and families.

Where Do Your Kids Fit In Your Financial Plans?

When Eleanor joined our family, we had a lot of financial things to consider. How will having a child impact our budget? Which expenses would increase or be new? (Some answers: food, health insurance, and diapers, diapers, diapers).

In my planning mind the bigger question was how were our financial priorities changing? Kellie and I started thinking about saving for Eleanor’s schooling through a college savings plan. But did saving for Eleanor’s college trump or impede our other financial priorities?

Regardless of what stage your family is in (growing, maturing, or empty-nesting) it’s important to think about the financial implications of these different stages even if they feel far down life’s road.

Doing so can help you anticipate the changes that will inevitably come and make better financial preparations for the future.

5 Ways to Lower Your Taxes Before 2017 Is Over

No one likes paying more than their share of taxes.  As a result, we’d all be wise to do a little family tax planning as the year goes along, but as the saying goes “time waits for no man.” Heck, can you believe it’s already November?!

For the wannabe tax-saver in you, here are 5 steps you can take today to potentially lower your taxes. There are many types of deductions available, but the one’s I’ll mention here are, I believe, some of the most “actionable.”

The Financial Key to Growing My Family of IVF Babies

After a couple years of marriage, Kellie and I were beginning to suspect that we couldn’t have children naturally. This was a serious downer, but the path to growing our family through in-vitro fertilization (IVF) was lighted as we talked with friends and family who shared the same disheartening experience but later found success.

But there was another problem at work--it was financial. IVF costs a TON of money and health insurance didn’t cover much of it. We’re talking around $15,000 for the whole process, and that assumes it actually works for you the first time around. In our case, “retries” are another $2,700 each. (I’m in the wrong business.)

We were diligent savers with a sizeable emergency fund--perfect for something like this--but one IVF attempt would have bled our fund dry.

Our financial boon laid in a tool that I’ve praised on my blog before, but not enough young families are paying attention to it.