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| washingtonpost.com - Tax Planning and Retirement Saving Advice From The Washington Post's Albert B. Crenshaw |
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| Lessons From a New Retiree |
(Sun, 28 May 2006)
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| As I step off into retirement at the end of this week -- this is the last of these columns -- I thought it might be useful for readers, especially younger ones, if I took note of some of the strategies my wife and I have used, and lessons we have learned, over the years building our financial security.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Lessons |
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| Plan Ahead to Steer Clear of Retirement's Unexpected Complications |
(Sun, 21 May 2006)
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| This column marks the beginning of the end.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Plan |
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| Reading Between the Lines of the Latest Tax-Cut Package |
(Sun, 14 May 2006)
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| The headlines last week were large on the subject of the tax-cut bill Republican leaders hustled through Congress and over to the president.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Reading |
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| Debating the Impact of High-Deductible Health Plans |
(Sun, 30 Apr 2006)
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| The current Next Big Thing in controlling health-care costs is "consumer-driven" medical insurance.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Debating |
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| Dodge the Loopholes but Lower Your Tax |
(Sun, 23 Apr 2006)
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| The week after Tax Filing Day is frequently a time when taxpayers are inspired to "do something" about the amount of tax they have to pay.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Dodge |
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| For Last-Minute Filers, a Little Extra Time to Get It Together |
(Sun, 16 Apr 2006)
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| Today is April 16 -- and there's still time, brother.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: For |
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| Building a Nest Egg Doesn't Come With Blueprints |
(Sun, 02 Apr 2006)
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| A recent survey by a brokerage firm found that 58 percent of Americans contemplating retirement don't know how big a nest egg they need to assure themselves of a comfortable life in old age.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Building |
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| The Color of Your Collar, and Other Ways Geico Rates Your Risk |
(Sun, 26 Mar 2006)
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| Ever wonder how your auto insurer decides what to charge you for coverage, or even whether to offer you a policy at all?
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: The |
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| Turning a Kid Into a 'Child' |
(Sun, 19 Mar 2006)
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| Here's a tax question: When is your child not your child?
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Turning |
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| Reassess Property Assessments in a Changed Market |
(Sun, 05 Mar 2006)
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| As property owners here and around the country gaze in shock and awe at their new tax assessments, there is growing evidence that the price run-up behind those assessments is coming to an end.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Reassess |
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| Automatic IRAs -- a Quick Fix for Workers Without Pensions? |
(Sun, 19 Feb 2006)
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| For the past year or two, the turmoil in the U.S. private pension system has captured headlines and sent shivers through many households.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Automatic |
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| 529 College-Savings Plans and States of Confusion |
(Sun, 12 Feb 2006)
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| What's the best 529 plan? It's a question that has plagued investors in these tax-free college savings/investment accounts for years. They are run by the individual states, typically via contracts with mutual fund operators and other money managers, and sorting out the best investment options, fees and other considerations hasn't been easy. In fact, it has allowed some states to offer embarrassingly bad programs.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: 529 |
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| Make 'em Provide Pensions |
(Sun, 29 Jan 2006)
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| The long-predicted ice age is settling in on America's private pension system, as companies large and small, profitable and unprofitable, announce the freezing of their traditional plans, the kind that once promised a lifetime income for retirees.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Make |
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| Back to School On a 401(k) |
(Sun, 22 Jan 2006)
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| Thinking of quitting your job and going back to school?
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Back |
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| Claiming 'Head of Household' Just Got Harder |
(Sun, 15 Jan 2006)
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| When it comes to income taxes, a "dependent child" is a dependent child, yes? Well, yes, since 2004, when Congress more or less unified the five different definitions of the term.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Claiming |
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| Households Face Tough Decisions |
(Sun, 01 Jan 2006)
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| The dawning of each new year brings with it a fresh round of opportunities and perils. Increasingly for families, the new opportunities and perils are economic, to which the best response often isn't obvious. Nonetheless, meeting these challenges is the key to security in a society in which people are far more dependent on their own resources than they have been in decades.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Households |
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| Medicare's 'Doughnut Hole' Awaits |
(Sun, 25 Dec 2005)
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| For the past decade or so, health care experts of a conservative political stripe have been touting "consumer-driven" insurance plans, which, they say, would both cut costs to consumers and help drive down inflation in the cost of medical expenses.
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Author: Albert R. Crenshaw |
Category: Medicare's |
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| To Ease Pension Tension, Fund Your 401(k) |
(Sun, 18 Dec 2005)
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| There was a lot of cheering around Washington last week as the House pushed through its version of a bill to toughen up funding requirements on companies that operate traditional pension plans. But to workers, especially younger ones, the noise should sound less like an ovation than an alarm clock.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: To |
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| House and Senate Both Like Tax Cuts, but Not the Same Ones |
(Sun, 04 Dec 2005)
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| How much federal tax will you be paying over the next year or two . . . or five? It's really hard to tell these days, but what happens on Capitol Hill in the next two weeks will supply key pieces of the picture.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: House |
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| Uncle Sam Wins Your Lottery |
(Sun, 27 Nov 2005)
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| Attention, lottery players: If you win a nice big prize, opt to take it as a stream of payments and then change your mind and wish you had taken it as a lump sum, don't expect any special tax benefits if you sell your annuity for immediate cash.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Uncle |
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| Life Insurers Can Hold Travel Against You |
(Sun, 20 Nov 2005)
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| Early this year then-newly elected Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), mother of three small children, decided it would be a good idea to boost her life-insurance coverage. So she applied to the American General Life unit of American International Group (AIG) to buy more.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Life |
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| Katrina-Related Tax Breaks, and One That Isn't |
(Sun, 06 Nov 2005)
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| If you're considering making a big cash contribution to a charity and deducting it this year, Congress may have given you an unusual opportunity.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Katrina-Related |
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| New Math For College Loans |
(Sun, 30 Oct 2005)
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| The House Committee on Education and the Workforce, working to meet deficit-reduction goals set by the Republican leadership, has approved a bill that could take a significant bite out of government-subsidized student loans.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: New |
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| Even With Gas at $3 a Gallon, Metro Isn't Much of a Bargain |
(Sun, 16 Oct 2005)
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| With gasoline around $3 a gallon, there is a lot of talk about how families can cut down on driving. Advice includes switching to public transportation, leaving the SUV at home.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Even |
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| 2 Ways to Go on Health Care |
(Sun, 18 Sep 2005)
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| The reports last week from two respected surveys that health insurance costs are continuing to run well ahead of both wages and general inflation should be a signal to workers to get ready for higher premiums in the coming year and more "cost-sharing" when they see the doctor.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: 2 |
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| A Driver's Magic Risk Sensor |
(Sun, 11 Sep 2005)
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| For decades insurance companies have been searching for some device, some magic lens that would somehow tell them exactly how much risk each policyholder represents. If they knew that, insurers could price their coverage more accurately and, they say, more fairly.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: A |
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| 'Under-Bought' Flood Insurance Proves Its Value |
(Sun, 04 Sep 2005)
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| For nearly 40 years the federal government has made flood insurance available to property owners, filling a gap left by private carriers, which generally decline to write the coverage.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: 'Under-Bought' |
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| Plan for a Different Tomorrow |
(Sun, 21 Aug 2005)
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| "I have seen the future," the late Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry once said, "and it's much like the present, only longer."
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Plan |
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| Extra Credit for College |
(Sun, 14 Aug 2005)
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| These are the weeks when tens of thousands of young people begin the annual trek to college campuses, cars bulging with clothes and furniture, minds with hopes and fears.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Extra |
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| Tax Help For Sunny Homes |
(Sun, 07 Aug 2005)
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| Thinking of sprucing up the old homestead to make it a little more energy-efficient and maybe save yourself some money on utility bills?
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Tax |
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| No Need for States To Fear Estate Taxes |
(Sun, 03 Jul 2005)
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| Here's some news: A couple of economists from top colleges have found that rich old people tend to move out of states with high estate taxes and into states with low or no estate taxes.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: No |
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| Abroad, See How The Fees Translate |
(Sun, 26 Jun 2005)
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| As the summer travel season gets into full swing, many Americans are about to head off to foreign lands -- and they are planning to put most of their overseas spending on plastic, remembering that U.S. credit cards have long offered the lowest-cost way of buying things in foreign currencies.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Abroad, |
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| In Dread of the Next Boomer Thing |
(Sun, 19 Jun 2005)
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| July 1 is an unusually interesting date this year, and not just because it's the beginning of a long weekend.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: In |
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| Putting Tax Advisers On the Line |
(Sun, 05 Jun 2005)
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| The accountants, lawyers and other experts who have long advised taxpayers on exactly what is, isn't and might be okay under the law have finally run up against an Internal Revenue Service regulation they say they can't figure out.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Putting |
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| America Runs on AMT |
(Sun, 29 May 2005)
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| Did you pay it last month? I mean the alternative minimum tax.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: America |
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| Tax Breaks They Don't Want Fixed |
(Sun, 22 May 2005)
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| Who loves taxes?
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Tax |
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| Beat the Drums if You Want a Roth |
(Sun, 08 May 2005)
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| Jan. 1 may seem a long way off, but employers and employees looking for ways to get the most out of their retirement benefits should start thinking about it.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Beat |
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| Students Can Lock In Low Loan Rates |
(Sun, 01 May 2005)
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| The Federal Reserve Board has been ratcheting up short-term interest rates lately, but thanks to the federal regulations, government-guaranteed student loans remain in a low-rate time warp.
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Author: Albert B. Crenshaw |
Category: Students |
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