The month of September 2026 is another month of dividend income landing in my accounts.  Due to becoming debt free, I changed my pay myself model. Starting the beginning of August 2021, I am paying myself 30%, just like before. This will now consist […]

The ACA Subsidy Game in Early Retirement I keep my income low on purpose. Not because I have to. Because the ACA rewards me. Five years retired, I buy health insurance on the ACA Marketplace like everyone else who retired […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom is backing a California ballot measure that would make a temporary tax increase on high earners permanent, putting him at the center of a debate over billions of dollars in school funding and the state’s reliance on wealthy taxpayers. Proposition 3 would preserve income tax rates approved in 2012 and extended in 2016. Read the rest

Are you looking for tips on how to earn free PayPal money instantly? There are a lot of ways of earning extra income. Here, you will learn those ways and start working with your money now! Do you want some extra cash to spend this summer? Do you have a PayPal account?  Do you always want to have a balance on your account?  You can either use the money to buy something or save money […]

Listen to the pod Five financial advisers say the same thing: a good salary does not fix a money problem. Sammie pulls together their best advice on lifestyle creep, impulse spending, saving in your 40s and when you actually need an adviser. Episode 199 of The Money Gains Podcast is a compilation. Sammie stitches together clips from five earlier interviews with Jason Butler, Andy Hart, Emmanuel Asuquo, Holly Guscott and Pete Matthew, then adds his […]

Don’t miss an episode of our podcast, Personal Finance for Long-Term Investors. Available on all podcast players. Here’s the latest episode: Social Security is taxed in a peculiar and arcane manner. It starts with these two synonyms: combined income and provisional income. They mean the same thing. You’ll see them used interchangeably in the world of financial planning. For today, I’ll use combined income. Combined income determines how much of your Social Security benefit is subject to federal income taxes. For some retirees, 0% of their Social Security income is subject to income taxes. For other retirees 85% of their Social Security is subject to taxes. It all depends on those retirees’ combined incomes. “Subject to Taxes” vs. “Taxed At…” This brings us to our first important clarification of the day: we need to be very careful about the difference between being “subject to taxes” and being “taxed at” a specific tax rate. A retiree might have 85% of their Social Security subject to taxes, but it’s (only) being taxed at 12%. The remaining 15% of their Social Security is not subject to taxes at all. Paying a 85% tax rate would feel obscene. But having 85% of your income subject to tax? Not a big deal. The Combined Income Formula Now, getting back to combined income, which helps us determine how much Social Security is subject to taxes. Combined income has a very peculiar formula. Determine your adjusted gross income (AGI), LESS your Social Security income. Add back any tax-exempt interest Add in 50% of your Social Security benefit That’s combined income. For many retirees, their AGI will include: wages from any part-time retirement job withdrawals from tax-deferred IRAs (including Roth conversions) pension income interest and dividends capital gains the taxable portion of Social Security income. (Of course, per Step 1 of the combined income formula, we back-out the Social Security income to determine combined income.) A Combined Income Example Let’s look at an example. Roger and Rhonda Retiree had the following situation in 2026: No wages. $40,000 in IRA withdrawals $7,000 from a pension $5,000 in interest (all taxable, no tax-exempt) and dividends $4,000 in capital gains $48,000 in combined Social Security income Step 1 of the combined income formula gets us to: $56,000 (40 + 7 + 5 + 4) Step 2 of the formula makes no changes (in this case). And in Step 3, we add an additional $24,000 (48 / 2), bringing the combine income total to $80,000. Getting from Combined Income to Social Security Taxability Here comes the fun part. How do we get from combined income to a specific amount of Social Security that’s subject to taxes? We’ve completed Step 1. Calculate combined income = $80,000. Step 2 – Which Tier Applies? There are three tiers to Social Security taxability. When

We hear a lot about setting freelance income goals and other income goals. They aren’t my thing. Here’s why. Freelancers are constantly encouraged to earn more. Hit six figures. Double your revenue. Land bigger clients. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with those goals. But after more than two decades of freelancing, I’ve realized that earning more money isn’t always the same thing as building a better life. For me, freelance income goals have always mattered […]

  Looking for a side hustle that doesn’t require sitting behind a computer all day? Taskrabbit connects people who need help with everyday projects to independent workers who can complete them. If you’re good at assembling furniture, cleaning, or helping people move, it could be a way to earn extra money. The flexibility is appealing,…