Dividend Investing and REITs

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There are more than a few people out there on social media, or even respected money news and financial analyst websites and publication who hate dividend investing. Dividend investing is for people who are irrationally conservative and growth investing always wins in the end, is what they say. Of course, part of the reason they say that dividend investing is bad is because they don’t fully understand it, or they do and are choosing to focus only on trendy, but ultimately underperforming types of dividend investing. REITs and Dumb Dividend Investing On the internet, dividend investing is, as are so many other things, dragged to the extremes. The idea of only investing in the most boring of stocks with dividends like utilities and maybe banks is, not surprisingly, a recipe for underperformance, even if it is less risky. Likewise, the starry-eyed adulation of fund, ETF, or stock paying an astronomical dividend, attract droves of followers who assume that their sub-reddit has found the holy grail that all other investors are too foolish to see. Dividend Investments Hype Any investment that has a good run will develop a following who believes that it is a never ending good run and getting …

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Is Credit Karma A Scam or Legit Free Credit Scores?

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Is Credit Karma A Scam or Legit Free Credit Scores? 1

The old maxim, “If it is too good to be true, it probably is,” holds up especially well in the world of personal finance. The concept of getting free credit scores has been mined by con-artists and scammers repeatedly. Unfortunately, many of these scams are perpetrated by well-known companies and by the credit reporting bureaus themselves. So, is there a Credit Karma scam? Who Owns Credit Karma? These days, Credit Karma is owned by Intuit. Intuit is the maker of popular tax software TurboTax, as well as QuickBooks, and some other finance software. Until recently, Intuit owned popular online personal finance software Mint, but like Microsoft and Microsoft Money before it, Intuit couldn’t figure out how to stop losing money giving people what they want. Instead, they closed down Mint and sent (or attempted to send) its users over to Credit Karma, which isn’t really the same thing at all. If you got here to creditkarma.com via mint.com, you’ll need to take some time to get to know the new setup. In the meantime, we are talking about credit score scam types if you want to stick around. How Free Credit Score Scams Work The free credit score scam usually …

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How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Car In Colorado?

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How Much Does It Cost to Charge an Electric Car In Colorado? 2

Real world cost to charge an electric car in Colorado using current Xcel Energy rates. Somewhere along the lines, the entire country got divided into liberals and conservatives and the one hates the other one and thinks they are trying to ruin the country, and vice versa. Of course, once you get off of Twitter or whatever online/social media/internet/news website thing there is and get out into the real world where the sun shines, and people actually buy cars and drive them to work and stuff, things aren’t really that crazy. Out here in the real world, you might wonder if you live in Colorado how much it would actually cost you to charge an electric car. Let’s find out. I Bought an Electric Car and I Charge It at Home I’m not a political nutjob, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Just kidding. I am a regular guy though, and I did buy an electric car. Why? Why not? I like cool new technology and electric cars are cool new technology. Regular cars have basically run the same for over a hundred years now. Dig black goo up out of the ground, and burn …

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Review Is Grifin App Legit?

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grifin portfolio

New Grifin news: I just recently got a notice that Grifin will be implementing a $5 monthly fee. I’m going to redo the review below in light of this fee and the new features that Grifin has positioned in an attempt to make it worth it. My first reaction is that $60 per year is too much. — Please read the rest of this review knowing that it was how I felt about everything before the fee was implemented, when there was no user cost. New Grifin review update: It looks like the folks at Grifin are back with new updates. The latest version of Grifin offers app users the ability to change how much to invest for each purchase. This is a big change from Grifin’s core system where every purchase using a Grifin linked credit card triggered a $1 investment in the stock of that same company. This latest version of Grifin lets you select whether to invest the traditional $1 for each purchase, or change it to $2 per purchase, or even $3 per transaction. The other new update is the ability to transfer cash directly into the Grifin app to invest as you please from inside …

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Basic Taxes Overview 2024

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taxes

As June 2024 comes to a close Americans everywhere have stopped thinking about taxes, but the real key to paying less in taxes like the rich do is year-round tax planning. So, let’s do a quick overview of tax law in 2024 and how that will affect filing 2024 taxes in 2025. Tax Basics Form 1040 Let’s begin by kicking out anyone who has unusual scenarios of income or assets. This is going to be a basic tax overview for taxpayers that get W-2 forms, or 1099 forms, or own their own small business. If your income comes from something else like royalties, or mining rights, or whatever, this will not apply to you. This is also true if a trust, or other tax situation drives your income or expenses. Frankly, people in this category probably already have accountants, attorneys, or financial managers. Let’s not clog this up with “But what if…” about situations that don’t apply to “average” scenarios. The basic tax form is Form 1040. For the most basic scenarios, that form is the only thing a taxpayer needed to file. For others, a variety of Schedules are required, the results of those schedules are then added in …

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Inheriting a House Recipe

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Inheriting a House Recipe 3

Fortunately, the recipe for inheriting a house can be a simple one. Of course, there are potential complications, but those belong in the alternative versions of this recipe for what to do when you inherit a house. Ingrdients for a House Inheritance Finance Recipe Taxes On an Inherited House The first thing most people think of when they inherit a house is taxes. Between politicians running scare stories to boost their election chances, newspapers and financial news sources running edge-case scenarios with big, bold, headlines for clicks, or just those horror stories your less financially literate friends repeat, it can seem like the IRS is waiting to repel agents out of helicopters onto your parents’ old house to sieze it before you can set foot inside. The reality is, you probably won’t pay taxes on an inherited house at all. Capital Gains and The Tax Basis Before you start cooking up a tax avoidance scheme for the house you inherited, you need to know how the capital gains and tax basis ingredients work. The only taxes you, your parents, or great uncle, or anyone else, would pay on a house are capital gains taxes and property taxes. Capital gains taxes …

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Venmo Debit Card Review

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money pass logo venmo debit card

I resisted the various cash transfer apps for as long as a could. My primary issue was always security, and judging by the number of people who end up calling, crying and trying to get their money back, that wasn’t unfounded. But time marches on, and it turns out that, used properly, services like Venmo, Cashapp, and Zelle can actually be easier, better, and more efficient than the old, “I’ll get you next time.” It also eliminates the need to carry around smaller bills just in case you need to break a twenty in order to pay for something with friends. However, just because Venmo is a good idea, doesn’t mean that a Venmo debit card scam isn’t in the offing. So, let’s do a Venmo debit card review to make sure no one is getting cheated by Venmo, and answer is the Venmo debit card good. Venmo Debit Card Review Basics How To Get a Venmo Card Venmo offers both a debit card and a credit card. To get a Venmo debit card you simply request one within the Venmo app or click the button on the Venmo debit card email they send out to verified Venmo users. Do …

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Jeremy Grantham Predictions Reviewed

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Jeremy Grantham Predictions Reviewed 4

Updated 2/20/24 One year almost to the day, here we are with Jeremey Grantham predicting… wait for it… a bubble! Of course, a bubble. I guess we can call him a permabear now. He must not believe everything he says because his fund is still in business. Maybe he just says these things to get headlines. It works. Updated 02/01/2023 According to a Marketwatch article, “Man credited with calling the 2008 crisis says the next 20 years in the stock market will ‘break a lot of hearts.” Whew. That’s a lot to unpack. Take a closer look at Jeremy Grantham predictions. Let’s start with a 20-year call being virtually worthless. In the next 20 years, I too predict the stock market will have rough periods. I also predict growth, a big year, a terrible year, a sidewise year, and a general overall trend up fueled at some points by growth, and some points by inflation. I mean, seriously, pretty much everything will happen at least once during the next 20 years. Was The Prediction Really That Great? As I pointed out in an earlier article, there is a staggering amount of back-patting, and “See I was right!” when it comes …

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Child Tax Credit 2024

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child tax credit

When you file your 2024 taxes in 2025, you may get a tax credit for each child. The Child Tax Credit for 2024 is $2,000 for each qualifying child. However, the Child Tax Credit phases out for higher incomes. You can claim the Child Tax Credit in addition to the Standard Deduction, even if you do not itemize your deductions. You can take the full Child Tax Credit if you are married filing jointly with a modified adjusted gross income under $200,000. For others the threshold is $100,000. Once you make more money than that, the credit starts phasing out. Any biological children aged 16 or younger are eligible if you are married filing jointly. If you are divorced, then who gets to claim the child tax credit was likely part of your final divorce settlement. If your child is 17, be prepared to be screwed over. You get just $500 for your 17-year-olds no matter how childish they act, or the fact that most of them are still in high school. Beyond that, there are a lot of different rules that I’m not going to cover here, but the IRS has a useful tool to determine if your child …

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