This year’s pandemic highlights the importance of having enough money set aside in an emergency fund to cover six to nine months of key expenses should you lose your job. But how do you build an emergency fund if you don’t have any extra money? The easiest way to accomplish this is by reducing your expenses. Here are some creative ways to increase your cash flow by cutting your spending. How much you need First, determine

When crafting your business’s marketing strategy, don’t forget about developing a relationship with the press. Although newspapers and magazine circulation has drastically decreased over the past 20 years, the demand for content still exists via online platforms. Here are several suggestions for crafting a press release to tell your business’s story and how to best connect with local, regional or national reporters. Forget the hard sell. Think like a reporter with a deadline. Pitch a story,

Your company’s online presence leaves a lasting impression—positive or negative. When people check out your homepage, will they stick around? Will they buy? Will they return? Make your website easy to use and current, and new orders may be just a click away. Annoy visitors and they’ll flee to a competitor. Steer clear of the following website mistakes: Designing the website for you—not the customer. Studies have shown that online visitors form an opinion of a

Suppose you’re switching jobs if you were furloughed because of the pandemic or you’re simply searching for greener pastures. If you have a 401(k) from your soon-to-be former employer, you must decide what to do with your retirement account when you leave. Here are your four options: Leave the money in your previous employer’s pension plan. Roll over the money to your new employer’s pension plan. Roll over the money into an IRA. Take the money

Does your paycheck look a little higher than normal? If so, it could be a tax trap. The Problem A payroll tax deferral beginning September 1 was recently signed via a presidential executive order. This deferral of the employee’s portion of Social Security will raise your paycheck temporarily until January, 2021. Beginning in 2021, the deferred Social Security will then need to be paid. This year’s tax deferral is NOT currently a tax holiday. So even

This month: October 15 – Extension deadline for individual and C corporation tax returns

Worldwide GPS technology giant Garmin became the latest high-profile business to get targeted by cyber criminals. It was widely reported that Garmin suffered a ransomware attack and ultimately paid a ransom of close to $10 million to the perpetrators. While Garmin immediately issued press releases notifying its customers and the public that it was experiencing an outage when the attack first took place, there was still criticism surrounding Garmin’s lack of transparency with customers about the

Are you still waiting for your Economic Impact Payment? Did you get your payment but it was for the wrong amount? The IRS initially said you needed to wait until filing your 2020 tax return to resolve any issues with missing or incorrect Economic Impact Payments. Thanks to the prodding of the Taxpayer Advocate Service, the IRS has established procedures to help correct payment issues in the following scenarios: Missing dependent payment. The IRS will issue

Which unique method of budgeting will work for you? You have your own unique personality, preferences and lifestyle. Likewise, how you manage and organize your finances can have its own personality, including how you budget. Here are five different methods of budgeting, each with a distinct way of helping you organize your spending and finances. Traditional budget. Use last year’s budget as a base, make any necessary adjustments due to changes in your income or expenses,

You’re ready to take out a loan to buy a house, a car or get a credit card. You fill out the application and wait to hear back from your bank on its decision whether to loan you the money. And then you get the dreaded phone call. Your credit score wasn’t high enough to approve the loan! Was there anything you could have done to get a higher credit score? Getting and maintaining a high