Are you or your child in college? If so, you may be able to claim Education Tax Credits and Deductions. This handy infographic by Sallie Mae will help you determine if you can claim the education tax credits or deductions.
Originally posted March 2015.
By Tameka Easter, Sallie Mae Social Media Director
Families with college-age children find themselves in a new season: FAFSA Season. Filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is the most important step you can take — it’s the only only way to receive federal student aid. Last year, the federal government awarded about $150 billion in grants, low-interest loans, and work-study.1 Make your FAFSA process smoother with these five tips:
The deadline for federal student aid is June 30 of the academic year in which the student plans to enroll in college. In other words, if you plan to enroll in college in August 2018, you must submit your FAFSA by June 30, 2018. But do try to submit your FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1. College and state financial aid deadlines can be as early as February or March of the senior year of high school. Colleges may require an additional application to be considered for institutional aid, so check your deadlines and apply as early as possible.
You’ll need your Social Security number, family financial information, most recent tax returns and/or W2s, bank statements, and a federal PIN number. If the student is a dependent, you’ll need financial information from parents and the student. This Department of Education guide can help clarify which parent’s information should be included: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/who-is-my-parent.png.
If you plan to complete and submit your FAFSA online, you’ll need a Federal Student Aid PIN, available for free at https://pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp. With it, you can apply and “sign” the FAFSA online, check the status of your submitted FAFSA, make corrections, and even e-sign loan promissory notes. Note: A Federal Student Aid ID will replace the PIN beginning spring 2018.
This is the easiest way to fill out the FAFSA — and there’s no charge at https://fafsa.ed.gov/. If you have questions, the site offers online chat, and there are built-in error detectors to catch mistakes in real time. Your online submission will be processed within 3-5 days, compared to 2-4 weeks if you mail it in.
At every step of the process, be sure to review the information to make sure that it’s correct. You can make corrections online at the government’s FAFSA site.
For more information on the FAFSA process, along with free tools and tips about paying for college, visit SallieMae.com/FAFSA.
1 fafsa.ed.gov
Originally posted on March 2, 2015.
I’ve seen many articles about the characteristics of the Proverbs “Virtuous Woman.” But, I haven’t found any about how to be a “Financially” Virtuous Woman. So, here is my interpretation of the characteristics of a “Financially” Virtuous Woman based on Proverbs 31:10-31 (KJV).
“10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.”
Like an authentic and priceless gem, she knows her value and doesn’t settle. When a woman knows her value to an organization that she is working for, she will not settle for low pay or abusive working conditions. She knows that she is worth more and deserves better.
“11 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.”
She protects the financial security of her family and is fiscally responsible. She only has the best intentions and helps to reach her family’s financial goals. Therefore, her spouse “safely” trusts her and in her personal financial management. If she is single, she is trusted by God.
“13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. 14 She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. 15 She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.”
Whether it is going to work, getting another job, or starting a business, she will do whatever it takes to financially provide for her family, when and if necessary.
“16 She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.”
She owns or has owned real estate as a homeowner or as an investor. This not only shows that she is financially self-sufficient, but it also shows that she is responsible with her finances and credit to be able to qualify and afford real estate.
“17 She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.”
She is not only physically fit with strength to handle the demands and responsibilities placed upon her; she is financially fit with the strength of personal financial knowledge to handle or assist with the financial demands and responsibilities of the household.
“18 She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. 19 She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.”
Even when she doesn’t feel like it or want to do it, she is disciplined enough to do what is necessary to do whatever needs to be done for the betterment of herself and her family.
“20 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.”
Whether at church, for a non-profit organization, or in her community; she gives her money, resources and time to help others who are less fortunate than she is. She understands that the Power of Prosperity lies in her Gift of Giving.
“21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. 22 She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.”
She plans for what is to come as well as prepares for what could happen. She saves for emergencies, establishes a budget, and ensures her household has what is needed at all times.
“23 Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.”
She creates a strong financial foundation with her spouse for their family. She may not agree with her spouse all of time but she respects him and his financial decisions. Because of her power of influence, her spouse is respected within the community.
“24 She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.”
She is a business owner or has an entrepreneurial mind and spirit. She is able to create a product or service that creates an income source to provide for her family.
“25 Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. 26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”
She respects others and commands respect from others. She helps to educate those around her about finances with honesty and love. This is why people appreciate her advice.
“27 She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.”
She understand when it is time to rest and when it is time to get up and make it happen. She is not lazy and idle with her thinking or her ways.
“28 Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.”
She is loved and adored by her children and her husband and they appreciate everything she does to protect, defend, support and take care of the family. They know that the love she has for her family is her driving force to do what she does, only the way she can do it for them.
“29 Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.”
She is driven to do her best. She may not be competing with others. Rather, she is usually competing against herself with a goal to be financially better off than she was a month or year before. She reads books and seeks information and assistance to improve her personal financial management skills.
She is humble & loves the Lord.
“30 Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”
Although she is beautiful and has nice things, she remains humble and does not boast. She also has a relationship with God and understands that all that she has is a gift from God. She tithes because she believes that “You can’t beat God’s Giving!”
“31 Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”
She is admired by others by the way she carries herself in public and at home. She doesn’t take this responsibility lightly and understands her impact on her family and her community. Her financial success and freedom are her fruit she bears and shares.
How many characteristics do you possess? 😉
Originally posted March 18, 2014.
How can I make $1,000 more a month? — Briana Myricks (@brianamyricks)
One of my Twitter followers tweeted the message above last month. We had a great conversation where I told her how to accomplish just what she wanted, and now I’m going to tell you, too.
But first…what would an extra $1,000 a month do for your state of mind?
Sound good? You bet.
So how do you get that $1,000 a month? Here’s a simple formula.
Here’s what it means. If you can do one extra hour of work, billed at a rate of $33.34, and you do that work every single day for a month, you’ll have $1,000.
(Of course, we have to pay taxes on that income, so unless you’re putting that money into a pre-tax investment, you’ll want to raise your hourly rate a bit — say, around $38 per hour.)
If you’re working a minimum wage job, or even earning $12-15 an hour, the thought of billing someone $33-38 for an hour of your work can seem wildly out of reach.
It’s not.
Here’s some fields of work that can command those kinds of prices:
What’s even better? Most of these are fields where skill and experience is more valuable than a college degree — and skill and experience are usually free. Some fields, like app development or photography, may require specialized equipment, but if you have the skill and experience in those fields, there’s a good chance you already have the equipment anyway.
Last month, I earned $1150 from two gigs.
The first was a web design job for a small local school. They already had a website, but it hadn’t been updated since 2007. For $550, I customized a free WordPress theme for them, consulted them on some Paypal issues, and added some new features they wanted for their website. In total, I earned $39 per hour, working roughly an hour a day for two weeks.
The second was a private social media consulting job. An individual wanted me to teach her how to use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites, and to develop a professional social media strategy. I offered to do it for $600, and taught her through a three-week email course. I spent about an hour a night writing and composing my emails, earning a rate of about $28 per hour worked. Even better, this gig turned into a long-term retainership — my client is going to pay me a small monthly fee to consult on minor social media issues for the next six months to a year.
I have no formal training in web design or social media. I didn’t go to school to earn a degree in those fields. But I’ve spent years learning about web design and social media, experimenting with new tricks and tactics to find out what works. That gave me the skill. I’ve used that skill to build websites with established readerships through social media, and that gave me the experience.
With those two things, I have everything I need to earn $1,000 a month in just one hour a day.
I’ve shown you how you can earn an extra $1,000 a month. I’ve shown you what you can do with that money, and I’ve shown you how I did it myself. Now it’s your turn. What can you do to earn $1,000 a month? Tell me about your idea in the comments!
Originally posted March 7, 2014.
I’m considering starting up a personal business. How should I prepare financially? —Anonymous
Being your own boss is the dream for many Americans.
But it’s not as simple as quitting your job and then pow! Instant entrepreneurial success. Instead, it takes time. And, of course, it takes money.
Here are a few ways to prepare.
If you’re unsure about jumping into the world of self-employment, try some baby steps first. Pick up a side gig, turn your passion into a mini business or cultivate your side hustle into something bigger. And most importantly, set some money aside. You’ll need something to live on while you’re business is still getting off the ground and isn’t making money yet.
Kristin Sutton, a financial planner and founder of her own business, Debt Free Black Girl, admits that when she first embarked on a life of entrepreneurship, she was a little too excited to hit the ground running.
“I quit my job prematurely and it’s been a struggle,” she says. “Your job is your first investment into your business. Utilize that money to fund your start-up costs. It’ll keep you afloat while you’re starting to make money consistently.”
Kimmie Greene, a self-employment expert and head of communications at Intuit Quickbooks, says she frequently hears from young people who are excited to leap directly from college life to starting their own business. Her advice: slow down. Experiences working for someone else can actually make you a more successful entrepreneur.
“It’s really important to have a year to a few years working for someone else, because you establish a network and you learn your work style and you learn what it is to potentially manage someone else’s money before you manage yourself,” she says.
Knowing the health of your business account means also knowing the health of your personal account.
Sutton suggests keeping your personal money and your business money completely separate — and start that habit on Day 1. When you open a new bank account for your business, it ensures you save money for supplies, investments and eventually taxes, all without dipping into your personal funds.
Her own tip: meet with an accountant.
“I suggest people do hire an accountant if they aren’t good at managing their own money,” she says. “In order to be successful with the business, you have to know your personal finances as well.”
The best part of starting your own business is earning your own money.
The hard part: deciding what to do with it.
At your past 9-to-5 jobs, taxes, retirement savings and other expenditures come out of your paycheck automatically. You lifted pens from the office supply closet and poured java from the office coffee maker.
But as a self-employed mogul, none of that comes free. In your initial business plan, calculate what money you will have to set aside for taxes, insurance, retirement savings, rent, material costs and other business expenses.
With the money left over, however, you have to consider what you’ll keep as income — and what you’ll invest back into the business.
Greene recommends considering what matters most to you at different stages of growing your business.
At the very beginning, for example, a new computer may be more valuable than a membership to a coworking space. But as you expand, you may find that a coworking space or conference ticket offers invaluable opportunity to promote your product, meet mentors, connect to the larger industry community and more.
Originally appeared on CNNMoney by @JuliaCCarpenter
Don’t give away free money.
The IRS rolled out the latest version of its tax calculator on Wednesday after updating it to reflect the new withholding tables. The free tool is designed to help taxpayers be sure they don’t have too much money taken out of their paychecks for taxes.
That’s because getting a big, fat refund is actually a bad thing.
While some people look forward to getting refunds for taxes they overpaid ― and some even consider it a way to save money ― overpaying your taxes is essentially giving the federal government an interest-free loan. The government gets to use your money for the better part of a year, then return it to you without a nickel of interest. So just to be clear: Getting a lump-sum check back from the IRS is actually bad, because you could have had that money in your savings account, where it would have earned interest, or used it to pay off debt ― or used it to not incur debt in the first place, because you had cash on hand.
With the IRS’ free tool, you can ensure you don’t have too much money held out of each paycheck.
This calculator is easy to use.
To use the calculator, you’ll need your most recent pay stubs and most recent income tax return. Your completed 2017 tax return will help you estimate your 2018 income to expedite the calculation. If you’re self-employed or likely to have income swings later in the year, you’ll probably want to revisit the calculator again later in 2018.
The goal, though, is to set up your deductions so you don’t overpay taxes or get a refund next year ― something that roughly 75 percent of Americans currently receive.
The IRS is not terribly interested in getting more people to break even on withholding if they like getting a big check every spring, said Mark Mazur, director of the independent Tax Policy Center and a former tax official with the U.S. Treasury Department.
“People seem to like to get about the same refund year after year,” Mazur said. “They seem somewhat surprised when things are different.”
And ultimately, the burden of estimating how much a taxpayer will owe in taxes falls to the taxpayer. All salaried workers must submit a W-4 form to their employer that authorizes the amount of money (in the form of allowances) that they want taken out of their paychecks to cover their tax obligation. The flip side of overestimating what you will owe is underestimating it, which could result in getting slammed with a hefty tax bill when you file your return.
The fear of owing taxes is one reason many taxpayers overpay during the year, according to Motley Fool. After all, the logic goes, it’s a far more pleasant experience to get a refund than suddenly have to cough up cash to pay the IRS.
The problem, though, is that people are far better off owing money than getting refunds, and here’s why: The bulk of Americans are extremely financially insecure. An estimated 57 percent of U.S. adults have less than $1,000 in the bank, while 39 percent have no savings at all. By limiting the amount of money we bring home each pay period, we’re putting ourselves at greater risk to incur more debt ― and with more debt comes interest charges.
Although many filers do use their refunds responsibly, a good chunk don’t. They see the money as “free cash” and an opportunity to splurge. In reality, a tax refund is just your money that you failed to collect up front, and you’re just getting it back from the government with no interest accumulated.
Check out the withholding calculator, then follow its recommendations for allowances when filling out or filing a new W-4.
Originally appeared on HuffingtonPost.com.
© 2026 Madam Money®. All Rights Reserved. | Designed by SRJWebsites.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.