A Roth IRA never forces withdrawals, letting the money grow tax-free for heirs
Every other retirement account eventually forces the owner’s hand. Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s carry required minimum distributions — annual withdrawals the government demands starting at a set age, whether the money is needed or not, each one taxed as income. A Roth IRA is the exception the tax code carved out. Its owner is never […]
Read MoreA Roth IRA never forces withdrawals, letting the money grow tax-free for heirs
Every other retirement account eventually forces the owner’s hand. Traditional IRAs and 401(k)s carry required minimum distributions — annual withdrawals the government demands starting at a set age, whether the money is needed or not, each one taxed as income. A Roth IRA is the exception the tax code carved out. Its owner is never […]
Read MorePersonal Finance
Budgeting & Saving
High-yield savings accounts still pay near 4% while big banks pay almost nothing
Two savers can hold identical balances in identical products and earn wildly different amounts, and the only thing separating them…
Personal Finance
Budgeting & Saving
High-yield savings accounts still pay near 4% while big banks pay almost nothing
Two savers can hold identical balances in identical products and earn wildly different amounts, and the only thing separating them…
Markets & Investing
Banking & Credit Cards
Fraud & Scams
Doxim data-breach victims can claim $100 with no proof before October 13
A $5.5 million settlement over a data breach at Doxim, a technology vendor that prepares account statements and tax forms for credit unions, lets eligible...
Fraud & Scams
Opting out of pre-approved credit offers is a free way to cut fraud risk
The stack of “you’re pre-approved” envelopes that arrives each week is easy to dismiss as harmless clutter. It is also a quiet security hole. Each...
Fraud & Scams
Banks must refund money for unauthorized electronic transfers you report in time
When a stranger drains money through a debit card, a stolen card number, or a hacked online-banking login, the loss is not necessarily the account...
Fraud & Scams
Scammers value a Medicare number because they can bill fake claims against it
A Medicare number is worth more to a thief than a credit-card number, because it opens a channel to bill the federal government for care...
Fraud & Scams
A credit freeze is free and blocks new accounts opened in your name
Identity thieves do not need to drain an existing account to cause real damage. The more common play is to open something new — a...
Credit Cards & Rewards
The Fair Credit Billing Act gives you 60 days to dispute a wrong credit-card charge
A wrong number on a credit-card statement is not something an account holder simply has to swallow. A federal law written for exactly this problem,...
Real Estate
Buying & Selling
Couples can shield up to $500,000 of home-sale profit from federal tax
A house bought decades ago is, for many retirees, their single largest untaxed gain — a property purchased for a…
