In early 2021, Marjorie Bloom, a 77-year-old retired federal attorney, fell victim to a complex tech support scam that cost her $661,000. In summary, the scammer pretended to be a “fraud investigator” from PNC Bank, where Ms. Bloom had been a long-standing customer.

The end of the year is upon us. With a little bit of planning, strategies are available to reduce your income taxes, maximize your charitable giving, and position yourself favorably as the new year begins.

While the national focus has been on uncertainty around new tax laws, there are many individual tax-strategy opportunities you should consider before year-end to ensure you are getting the best deal while staying compliant.

Millions of older adults and younger individuals with disabilities require assistance with daily activities that many take for granted.

For most, it is difficult to think about the possibility of needing long-term care. But many will need it. Start the discussion and prepare yourself now so you do not face a financial challenge later.

It’s Saturday afternoon, and you are watching a movie at home or running errands, and your phone vibrates.

You take a peek and see a text from a phone number and area code you don’t recognize. “Hey Jackson, when are you coming to my house to fix my a/c? It’s hot in this place.”

Elder fraud continues to be a growing problem with millions falling victim to a scam every year. Know the common signs that signal trickery—and what to do if you or a loved one is being scammed.

It’s not surprising that a survey last year by T. Rowe Price found that health care costs are the biggest financial worry among retirees.

The most accurate and reliable way to determine your spending needs in retirement is to sit down and make up a budget projecting costs in the areas of housing, utilities, food, transportation, leisure activities and so on.

A four-year college degree is expensive. How expensive? While the numbers vary depending on whether you attend a public or private university, or in-state or out-of-state institution, the data are sobering. The average cost of college is $38,270 per student per year, according to Education Data Initiative, a team of researchers that collects data and statistics about the U.S. education system.

College tuition is so expensive that even high-income families can get offers of financial aid. Your first step is to complete the federal forms, and then contact the school directly to further negotiate a financial aid package.

Taking on the role of a caregiver can be a rewarding experience. You are stepping outside of yourself to help and serve a loved one. But it will require sacrifice, and it can be emotionally draining. If you ignore your own needs, it can exact a toll on your own health.

Caregivers generally tend to their elderly/disabled family members as a labor of love, but it can also be taxing for them financially and otherwise. These 11 tips can help you manage the financial side of caregiving and keep things under control.

We’ve all read or heard the stories. Someone passes away without a will, and potential heirs sharpen their knives in a free-for-all that can take years to play out in court. The emotional toll is immeasurable, with relationships incurring irreparable harm that can last generations.

If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, would your loved ones know how to access your important records? Would they know which accounts you hold and where your money is? What about insurance policies? Real estate ownership papers?

Retirement is a totally new stage of life. With some careful prioritizing—and collaborating with your financial professional—you can design a working strategy for retirement that may surpass all your expectations.

Much has been written about saving for retirement, and we adhere to the principle that financial security is a key component to a successful retirement.

Many of you are on that road right now, while others are accessing the savings accumulated over a lifetime.

Social Security provides retirees with a basic income. It was never intended to fully cover the cost of living in retirement. But it acts as a supplement to your resources.

If your employer health plan is a health savings account (HSA) paired with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), you may have a problem when you turn 65.

Taxpayers invest about 13 hours preparing their tax returns, according to the IRS.

More specifically, the IRS says that the average nonbusiness taxpayer spends 9 hours preparing a tax return, which includes 3 hours of record keeping. For taxpayers who file a business return, expect around 24 hours, with about half of that spent keeping records.

No wonder it’s easy to make a mistake. Time-consuming or not, the IRS isn’t always in a forgiving mood when errors pop up.

Qualified charitable distributions from an IRA provide individuals over 70½ with a way to receive income tax savings on charitable gifts—even if they decide to take the newly increased standard deduction.

What is financial fitness?

It is not just about having a pile of money in a bank account or a fat portfolio of stocks and bonds. Lottery winners often stumble into wealth without having much in the way of financial knowledge.

The financial puzzle for millennials: What’s the best way to pay off student debt while saving toward retirement? Here are four steps to a sustainable strategy.

The Internal Revenue Service announced last year the annual inflation adjustments for more than 60 tax provisions (63 to be exact) for the tax year 2024, including the tax rate schedules. As incorporated into law, the IRS adjusts various categories to account for inflation.

Tax brackets and other charts 2023