Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife By now, you know the great taxmageddon story: At the end of the year, a lame duck Congress and a new or newly re-elected president will face the confluence of three extraordinary challenges—the 2001/2003/2010 tax cuts expire, the automatic spending cuts adopted in 2010 begin to bite, and the Treasury loses its ability to borrow new money. But what if that schedule is wrong? What if that third forcing issue—hitting the statutory debt limit—does not happen until sometime in the first quarter of 2013? That is increasingly likely, say the folks who watch this sort of thing. And it would completely change the politics of the coming train wreck. Here’s what might happen: Assume President Obama is re-elected. Separating ... Continue reading →

Who lost face over the Facebook IPO? Wall Street certainly did — again — as regulators are hovering and the lawsuits are flying. Was Facebook properly valued at the offering? Was earnings information not fully disclosed? As with a number of issues with Wall Street, transparency isn’t what it should be and you need to be incredibly careful. And if you think the Facebook flop was a mess, wait until the crowdfunding market opens up next year as a result of the JOBS Act. There will be even less disclosure and regulatory oversight. Here’s what Joe Borg, the chief securities regulator for the State of Alabama who is one of the country’s leading state watchdogs, said about crowdfunding recently: `I’m not saying all involved in ... Continue reading →

We’ve been seeing a lot of new innovations in employer-sponsored retirement plans lately, including greater use of auto-enrollment and escalation, a shift from traditional balanced funds to target date retirement funds, and the addition of managed accounts. If you haven’t seen some of these new features yet, chances are you will soon. So what can they mean for you and your retirement? Auto-Enrollment and Auto-Escalation These are two of the biggest trends in employer retirement plans. According to a recent study by Aon Hewitt, a majority of plan sponsors automatically enrolled participants at the end of last year as compared to less than a quarter in 2006 and more than a third said they would add this feature for new hires this year. This has ... Continue reading →

Lauren Odes (Image via bulfax.com) This is a great country, one of equal opportunity and more. Where else could you find the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) handling a complaint alleging religious and gender discrimination occurring in a lingerie warehouse? This legal action was spawned on the New York site of “Native Intimates.” You might think it involves the status of American Indian tribes. But this mess is more natural than native, although conceivably there’s something artificial adding to nature’s bounty. Remember the song lyrics “I’m too sexy for my …”? Well, Lauren Odes claims she was too sexy for just about everything. Yes, Busty Garment Worker (not a stage name) Lauren Odes claims she was fired from her fashion industry job “for being too ... Continue reading →

Ever wonder how some of some of the greatest, most prolific, and well-known athletes deal with retirement? NFL great Deion Sanders isn’t shy about how he sees it. “It’s important to walk away from the game and not have the game walk away from you because when the game walks away from you it can damage you mentally.” “It’s hard to replace the passion you have for a sport. There aren’t many jobs that you retire from where you get to prove that you are the very best of the best in front of thousands and thousands of people every night,” says former NHL all-star Al Iafrate. While star athletes perform for thousands, if not millions, and wear jerseys decorated with their names and trademark ... Continue reading →

With all the news about rising student loan debt and disappointing investment returns, this may be a question on your mind if you have tuition bills coming up, whether for you or one of your children. I know it’s a question I’ve received both on our financial helpline and from a friend of mine who was recently accepted to grad school. So let’s take a look at some of the factors to consider before raiding your retirement account? How would you access the money? There are 3 main ways to get money out of a retirement plan. The worst way is a hardship withdrawal from your current employer’s plan. That’s because the withdrawal would be subject to a 10% penalty if you’re under age 59 ... Continue reading →

Photo credit: Wikipedia What is taxed and what isn’t can be confusing. When you combine several tax rules, the complexity gets worse. That’s what happened to Shannon Fernandez when, after her divorce, she received payments relating to her ex-husband’s disability. See Fernandez v. Commissioner. Her husband had been receiving the payments tax-free since 1993 after being disabled while working for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. When she started receiving payments in 2007 after divorce, Shannon figured they were still tax-free. However, the IRS and the Tax Court said no. Under the tax code, worker’s compensation payments for personal injuries are excluded from income. See IRC Section 104. Unlike other payments, the injuries don’t even have to be physical—mental and emotional injuries covered by worker’s compensation ... Continue reading →

10 Things To Do When You Lose Your Job How does it feel to be nearly 60 and back in the job market after an unexpected layoff? You went down with an entire department’s implosion. You feel angry in flashes. There are waves of grief from separating from your tight-knit clan of work cohorts. Then hope zips by for a visit. You start thinking that this may very well be the best thing that ever happened to you. Here are 10 simple tips to help set the stage for what's next. --by Kerry Hannon Continue reading →

Jason Whitfield Mug Shot On the afternoon of October 24, 2011, Hillsborough County (Tampa, FL) sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of shots fired between two housing duplexes. They found Michael Massaline on the ground; Massaline later died at the hospital from his injuries. He had been shot twice in the upper body. Two weeks later, deputies announced the arrest of Jason Jamar Whitfield. It wasn’t Whitfield’s first arrest. Records indicate that he had previously been arrested on a laundry list of charges since 2004 including Disorderly Conduct, Possession with Intent to Sell, Attempted First Degree Felony Murder, Reckless Driving and Driving Without a License. It also wasn’t his last arrest. Authorities announced this month that they were filing additional charges against Whitfield who currently ... Continue reading →