For married couples with student loan debt, one of the most popular strategies for lowering your monthly student loan payment and potentially qualifying for more student loan forgiveness  is to file your taxes "married, filing separately".  For both Income Based Repayment (IBR) and Pay As You Earn Repayment (PAYE), your monthly student loan payment is calculated based on your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).​ If you're married and file a joint tax return, your monthly student loan payment is calculated on your joint AGI. So, a simple way to potentially lower your student loan payment and increase your potential student loan forgiveness is to lower your AGI - and married couples can potentially do this by filing separately versus jointly. Read the full article here.

Have you ever heard of anyone complaining about making more money? If you have, they probably grumbled about moving up a tax bracket. Many people assume that when they “move up a tax bracket” every dollar they earn is taxed at a new, higher rate leading to lower take-home pay overall. Thankfully, that isn’t the case. When you “move up a tax bracket” you only pay a higher tax rate on the income above a threshold. The rest of your income is taxed at the same rate (or rates) as before. In this episode we explain what it really means to move up a tax bracket, how to calculate your tax bill, and the possible downsides of earning more. Read the full article here.

In the United States, all people adhere to a single tax code. Whether you have a high income or a low income, your taxation is governed by the same set of rules. But that doesn’t mean that all people pay the same tax rates. In the absurdly byzantine rules of the tax code, different types of income are taxed differently. Plus, taking certain actions can help you legally avoid paying taxes. Ultimately, how you earn income, and what you do with your money once you earn it will dramatically influence how much you have to pay in income taxes. Understanding how to arrange your finances to minimize your taxes can reward you with hundreds or even thousands of extra dollars to spend, invest, or give away as you see fit. Even if you’re not a high income earner (yet), knowing the tax code can be helpful. Your knowledge can help you grow your income in a tax-efficient way. Want to learn more about minimizing your taxes? These six tax breaks are among the most accessible for everyday people. Plus, we’ll give you action steps to take so you can take advantage of them today. Find the full article here.

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Bitcoin is still incredibly popular, and every now and then it will make the national news. The price is still highly volatile, but it's not as crazy as it was years ago. But picking a winner with Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency is near impossible. That's why we need to talk about Bitcoin alternatives. The bottom line is that Bitcoin has limitations (we talk about some here). And there are other currencies that are working to overcome those limitations. And over the last few years, Coinbase (the most popular Bitcoin investment platform) has also released other coins that you can invest in. Note: You get $10 free when you deposit $100 on Coinbase the first time. In this episode, we break down the most popular Bitcoin alternatives, and whether you should invest. Check it out here. Why Bitcoin Dominates Bitcoin (BTC) is by far the most valued cryptocurrency available, according to coinmarketcap.com rankings, where it is ranked #1. Its market cap is $179,802,817,673 and it trades for $10,072.92 per coin. Bitcoin’s market cap makes it nearly eight times more valuable than ETH, the second most valuable cryptocurrency. Bitcoin dominates the cryptocurrency market because it was the first crypto coin and became well-entrenched by the time other crypto currencies arrived on the scene. BTC showed up in 2008. The next cryptocurrencies weren’t created until 2011. By that time, BTC was already proven as a cryptocurrency. Below are the most popular Bitcoin alternatives by rank. Ethereum $23,307,528,005 market cap Currently trading at $217.56 Symbol is ETH ETH is a relative newcomer in the cryptocurrency world compared to BTC. It was launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin. Shortly thereafter, ETH reigned as #2 and continues to hold that position with authority. ETH’s goal was to provide smart contracts and dApps or distributed apps. These are features that BTC lacks. Smart contracts trigger when specific conditions are met. They act as a moderator, overseeing transactions, and making sure parties comply with the terms they originally agreed to. For example, someone may agree to pay a software developer $500 after a job is completed. Once the developer submits code to GitHub, the submission triggers the contract to release the $500. Whatever the terms are, both sides must first agree, and then the contract is set up to execute on those terms. Learn more about Ethereum here. XRP (Ripple) $0.319937 market cap Currently trading at $0.319937 Symbol is XRP Ripple was created as a fast method of payment exchange. Ripple is a platform and XRP is the coin used to transact on the platform. Ripple shines in its ability to facilitate international transactions. It is able to find the shortest path between two people wanting to transact. Transactions can even be performed in other coins. Ripple charges commissions as low as $0.00001, which is needed to prevent DDoS attacks. If Ripple has its own coin, why would it allow others coins on its network? The answer is to become more valuable. As currency moves from one country to another, it incurs various transaction costs. Banks and other financial institutions can use...

There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to the best investment strategy. But it's one of the questions I receive almost everyday. From what do I invest in, to how to get started investing, to picking individual stocks, everyone is looking for a magic investment strategy that will make them millionaires overnight. The truth is that doesn't happen. You invest in stocks because over the long run, investing in the stock market has outperformed other investments. But that doesn't mean you should invest everything in stocks. Here's how to craft the best investment strategy and why you should always think about your portfolio and all your money as a whole. While we call this the investment strategy by age guide - your age is really subject to your investment time horizon. Check it out on the website. Risk and Return by Asset Class The first thing to remember when it comes to investing is that risk and return are always correlated. What this means is, if you want to earn more (i.e. have a higher return), you're going to have to accept higher risk (i.e. you might lose money). Also, past performance doesn't guarantee future returns. That means just because something returned X% in the past, doesn't mean it will do it again in the future.  Here's a great example of returns over the last 15 years, as well as risk/reward, from Novel Investor:  Asset Class Avg Return Best 1yr Return Worst 1yr Return Large Cap Stocks 7.77% 32.4% -37.0% Small Cap Stocks 7.49% 38.8% -33.8% International Stocks 5.22% 32.5% -43.1% REIT 8.52% 35.1% -37.7% High Grade Bonds 3.87% 7.84% -2.0% Cash 1.25% 4.70% 0% As you can see, assets like stocks have a great average return versus cash. However, cash won't lose you money, where you could lose money in stocks in a one year period of time. That's why, as you setup your investment strategy, you need to take your risk tolerance and time horizon into consideration.  Reminder: Investing is Long Term Investing is not gambling - and investing is long term. If you invest today, could you lose money? Yes. 100%.  If you don't invest in a portfolio of diversified investments, do you increase your risk of losing money? Yes. If you follow individuals who pick stocks and trade, do they win sometimes? Sure. But so do gamblers in Las Vegas. If you go back to that table above, investing is long term because you want to take advantage of the long term behavior of an asset class - you're not betting on the individual behavior of one company. And to achieve that result, you need to stay in the market for a long period of time. There is no way to predict what will happen tomorrow, next week, or next year. But over the long term (decades), we can extrapolate some historical data to build an estimate of what usually works. That's why you consistently will hear me (and most other financial planners) say that you need to invest in index funds over the long term. Do You Need A Financial Planner? Maybe. When it comes to investing, it can be scary. And creating an investment strategy can be confusing. But many people won't need a financial planner to help them. There could be other financial professionals that make sense (read this: <a href=...

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A brief summary of this episode