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Money & Taxes?

Refunds, tips, credit, and the numbers nobody taught you in school. 36 questions and counting.

Where's my tax refund?E-file with direct deposit and the IRS pays most refunds within 21 days. Track yours at irs.gov/refunds. Calling the IRS…
When are taxes due?Federal taxes are due April 15, or the next business day if that lands on a weekend or holiday. An extension moves the p…
How much should I tip?Tip 20 percent at sit-down restaurants, a dollar or two per drink at a bar, and 15 to 20 percent for delivery and ridesh…
What credit score do you need to buy a house?You can get an FHA mortgage at 580 and a conventional one at 620, but the real prize starts around 740, where the best r…
How does a 401(k) work?A 401(k) is a retirement account through your employer: money goes in before taxes, grows untaxed, and any employer matc…
What is inflation, actually?Inflation is the rate at which prices rise across the whole economy, measured by the CPI. Two percent a year is the Fede…
How much house can I afford?The classic guardrail: keep housing under 28 percent of gross income and total debt under 36 percent. Lenders will appro…
What is APR and why is it different from the interest rate?APR is the true yearly cost of borrowing: the interest rate plus required fees. Comparing loans by APR instead of rate i…
How do I build credit from nothing?Get one card, put a small recurring bill on it, pay in full every month, and keep the account open. On-time payments and…
What happens if I don't file taxes?Not filing costs ten times more than not paying: 5 percent of the balance per month versus 0.5 percent. File even if you…
What is compound interest, and why does everyone worship it?Compound interest is interest earning interest on itself. The rule of 72: divide 72 by your annual return to get the yea…
How big should an emergency fund be?Three to six months of essential expenses, not income. Single earner or variable pay, aim for six. Starting from zero, t…
Roth or traditional: which retirement account wins?Traditional saves taxes now; Roth saves them later. Young or in a low bracket, take the Roth: pay tax on the seed, not t…
What is an index fund, and why do experts keep recommending it?A fund that buys the whole market instead of guessing winners. S&P scorecards show roughly 90 percent of professional st…
How does credit card interest actually work?Pay the statement balance in full and interest never touches you: the grace period makes the card an interest-free loan.…
Debit or credit: which should you actually use?Use credit like a debit card: fraud on credit is the bank's money while they investigate, fraud on debit is yours. Feder…
What is a credit freeze, and should you have one?A freeze blocks anyone from opening credit in your name, it is free by federal law at all three bureaus, and it is the s…
Is renting really throwing money away?No. Renting buys housing; owning buys housing plus a leveraged asset plus taxes, insurance, maintenance, and transaction…
What is escrow on a mortgage?Escrow is a side account your lender runs inside your mortgage payment, collecting a twelfth of your property taxes and …
What is PMI, and how do you get rid of it?PMI insures the lender, not you, and it is the surcharge for putting under 20 percent down. By federal law it must auto-…
What is the 50/30/20 budget rule?50 percent of take-home pay to needs, 30 to wants, 20 to savings and debt payoff. Popularized by Elizabeth Warren before…
What is the difference between gross and net pay?Gross is what you earn; net is what hits your account after taxes, Social Security, Medicare, insurance, and retirement …
W-2 vs. 1099: what is the real difference?W-2 employees get taxes withheld and benefits; 1099 contractors get the full check and the full tax bill, including both…
How do you calculate net worth, and what should yours be?Everything you own minus everything you owe: accounts plus home value plus retirement, minus mortgage, loans, and cards.…
What does FDIC insured actually mean?If your bank fails, the federal government makes you whole up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership categor…
Do you actually need a will?If you have kids, the will is where you name their guardian, so yes, urgently. No will means your state's intestacy form…
Term or whole life insurance: which should you buy?Term, for almost everyone: pure coverage for the decades someone depends on your income, at a tenth the price. Whole lif…
What is an HSA, and why do people call it the best account in the tax code?The HSA is the only triple tax-free account: deductible going in, tax-free growth, tax-free out for medical costs. Pair …
Is buy now, pay later a good idea?Pay-in-four is a real loan wearing a checkout button. Zero interest if perfect, but late fees, overdrafts, and stacking …
How do overdraft fees work, and how do you stop paying them?Overdraft coverage on debit purchases is optional: federal rules require you to opt in, so opt out and cards simply decl…
What is a high-yield savings account, and should you have one?A savings account paying many times the national average, usually from an online bank with the same FDIC insurance. Movi…
How do you dispute a credit card charge?Contact the merchant first, then file a dispute with your card issuer. Federal law gives you 60 days from the statement …
What is dollar cost averaging, and does it work?Investing a fixed amount on a schedule regardless of price. Research finds lump sum investing beats it about two thirds …
What does a financial advisor actually cost, and do you need one?Commonly around 1 percent of assets annually, which compounds into a large sum over decades. Ask whether they are a fidu…
How much life insurance do you actually need?The rule of thumb is 10 to 12 times income, but the honest method is adding up what would actually need paying: the mort…
What is the difference between an HSA and an FSA?An HSA requires a high-deductible health plan, the money is yours forever, it rolls over, and it can be invested. An FSA…