Financial Advisors

When the stock market dips, a strategy known as tax-loss harvesting can be a silver lining. But it doesn't make sense for all portfolios, financial experts say.  Here's how tax-loss harvesting works: You can sell declining assets from your brokerage account and use the losses to offset other profits. Once losses exceed gains, you can subtract up to $3,000 per year from regular income. Tax-loss harvesting may now be more attractive with the S&P 500 Index down by nearly 14% since January's all-time high. However, there…

Stacy FrancisSource: Stacy FrancisStacy Francis never planned to become a financial advisor, especially one for women going through divorce. But a candid talk with her grandmother shifted her career trajectory. Her grandmother, Myra, was a victim of spousal abuse and, before passing, she confessed to staying in her marriage because she felt "financially trapped.""That's what drove me to go into this field," said Francis, who founded Savvy Ladies, a non-profit providing free financial advice and education for women, along…

Klaus Vedfelt | DigitalVision | Getty ImagesMonths of stock market volatility may deliver a costly surprise to parents sending children to school this fall: smaller-than-expected 529 college savings plan balances. The average 529 account size was $30,287 in 2021, according to the College Savings Plans Network, but families may now have lower balances, financial experts say.And it may be a "rude awakening" for parents scrambling to make their first payments in August, said certified financial planner Lisa Kirchenbauer,…

The U.S. Department of the Treasury buildingJulia Schmalz | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesSome investors may be grappling with the sting of higher-than-expected capital gains for 2021 and losses in 2022. But experts say tax-planning opportunities may soften the blow.Individuals paid significantly more taxes this season, and the surge in capital gains in 2021 may be to blame, according to an analysis from the Penn Wharton Budget Model.Adjusted for inflation, filers paid more than $500 billion in April 2022, compared to north of…

Bill Oxford | E+ | Getty ImagesIf you're still waiting for a tax refund, there's a silver lining: it may be accruing interest, and the rate jumps to 5% from 4% on July 1, according to the agency's latest quarterly adjustment. Typically, the IRS has 45 days after the filing deadline to process returns and send refunds. After that, the agency tacks on daily compounding interest, explained Tommy Lucas, a certified financial planner and enrolled agent at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamayo in Orlando, Florida.Tied to the federal…

A shopper at a San Francisco grocery store on May 2, 2022.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesInflation is a growing concern as Americans spend hundreds more every month. But some retirees may avoid the sting of price hikes for gasoline, groceries and other costs.  Annual inflation rose by 8.3% in April, hovering near a 40-year high, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.More than half of Americans expect rising expenses to have a "big negative impact" on long-term financial goals, such as retiring…

courtneyk | E+ | Getty ImagesAn audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration revealed the IRS has tossed data for millions of payers, sparking anger from the tax community.The material, known as paper-filed information returns in accounting parlance, are sent yearly by employers and financial institutions, and cover taxable activity, such as W-2 forms, with copies sent to taxpayers and the IRS.The continued inability to process backlogs of paper-filed tax returns contributed to management's decision to…

Despite fears of outliving savings, most Americans still want to live longer, a study on longevity and retirement shows.Nearly 70% of Americans want to live to age 100, with 29 years as the "ideal length" for retirement, according to an Edward Jones and Age Wave report that polled 11,000 adults in the U.S. and Canada in January and February."We've been aware of longevity rising for some time," said Ken Dychtwald, founder and CEO of Age Wave. "But in the last year, there's been a lot more talk about it." More from Personal…

Morsa Images | E+ | Getty ImagesSoaring inflation, interest rate hikes and the war in Ukraine have sparked ongoing stock market volatility. But there may be a bright spot: the chance to save money on a Roth conversion.The strategy allows higher earners to sidestep the earnings limits for Roth individual retirement account contributions, capped at $144,000 modified adjusted gross income for single investors and $214,000 for married couples filing together in 2022.Here's how it works: Investors make what's known as…

Tom Werner | DigitalVision | Getty ImagesThe IRS may have the ability to automate nearly half of tax returns, according to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research.The agency could correctly auto-fill an estimated 62 million to 73 million returns with information it already has, covering 41% to 48% of taxpayers, researchers from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve and Dartmouth College found."Our results suggest that pre-populated returns would be accurate for a…