The Sun’s Financial Diary

Last week, I ran a TurboTax and H&R Block At Home giveaway. Perhaps many people have filed their taxes already, the giveaway only received moderate response as a total of 17 readers entered the contest. Still, I am glad that five of them can file their taxes, both federal and state, for free [...]

A high interest rate savings account is an essential part of our financial system. With a large amount of money that is currently held in bank accounts, I’d love to get as much return as possible while making sure that the money will be there when we need it in the next few months. Unfortunately, [...]

I have been a customer of TurboTax for a few years already. When I used the software to prepare my own taxes in the past, I always got the PC version, the software that requires installation on my own PC. I know Intuit has been offering the equivalent, online tax preparation software for sometime, but [...]

Surprisingly, many people do not realize that they can still get one last deduction out of 2009 even though their current calendar reads 2010. No, this isn’t fantasy or traffic grasping SEO hype — there really is one way for you to still get another deduction on your 2009 taxes. Ready? Here goes:
If you want [...]

Last year, President Obama finally pushed legislation through Congress that is aimed at protecting American consumers from the unscrupulous practices of credit card companies.  This week, the new credit card law finally takes effect.
On Monday, February 22nd, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (the CARD Act, for short) begins guarding credit card users [...]

When I opened the 529 college savings plan for our first daughter in 2005, the plan offered by New Jersey was never an option to me because there is not tax benefit for using NJ 529 plan even for the state residents. But that wasn’t all. What really made me stay away from NJ college [...]

A set of new rules under the Credit CARD Act of 2009, which aims to protect consumers from abusive practices of credit card issuers, take effect today, February 22, 2009. As I discussed earlier, one of the main pieces of the new credit  card legislation prevents credit card companies from raising credit card interest rates [...]

Anyone who believes in the old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” will also agree that the best way to save money is by managing what you already have well. Without some kind of organization in place, this can be easier said than done. That’s where a home directory comes [...]

If there were one phrase in life that sums up lessons learned the hard way, it would be the infamous “I told you so.”  At one point or another, you were informed by a friend, family member, or a professional, exactly what you should do, disregarded it, and paid the price.  So for your entertainment, [...]

Have you filed your 2009 taxes yet?
I haven’t. I have received most of the tax documents already, but haven’t started the process because, like what happened in the past few years, I don’t expect to have a refund this year. So I am not that hurry, but I did get my tax software already.
If you [...]