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Tax Season Alert! A Less-Stress Tax Filing Checklist
Tax season can sometimes bring a mix of anxiety and a long list of action items, but it doesn’t have to! And you don’t have to be an expert on the tax code or a senior accountant to have a smooth filing experience. The secret ingredient is organization. By gathering your documents early, you can help avoid last-minute scrambles, reduce [...]
A History of Modern Credit and Why It’s Important Today
You’re probably familiar with credit in your everyday life. Many Americans have credit cards, use them for everyday expenses, and (most) try to act responsibly to increase their credit scores. But where did it all come from? How did “credit” come about? And why is it such a prevalent part of our daily lives? The History of the US Credit [...]
Celebrating National Credit Awareness Month
March is the start of spring, which means the chilly weather is subsiding, the days are getting longer, and you might even begin planning your summer plans. But March is also National Credit Awareness Month. While cleaning out your gutters or planting seeds might be on your to-do list, this month serves as a vital reminder to perform a different [...]
Income Tax vs. Capital Gains Tax: What’s the Difference?
Understanding the difference between income tax and capital gains tax is a key part of smart financial planning. While both are ways the government collects revenue, they apply to very different types of money you receive. Here are the questions you most likely have, and the answers that can help you understand the basics of these two tax categories. Q: [...]
Tax Updates for 2026: Key Things to Know This Year
Thanks to the permanent changes made by the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA) and the annual inflation adjustments from the IRS, the 2026 tax year brings some changes you might want to make note of. Getting a handle on these updates can help you plan out your financial moves throughout this year, so let’s take a look at some [...]
A History of the Sales Tax
Before we take a peek into the past to see how sales tax became a part of our lives, let’s define our terms. Sales tax is a tax on the sale or exchange of an item or service and is usually paid by the consumer or purchaser. It is a source of revenue for state and local governments to fund [...]
IUL vs Taxable Account
After having read one or both of my books (Get Me to ZERO and/or Tax-Free Millionaire), I get lots of questions from folks wanting to know how investing in a taxable brokerage account (non-qualified) compares to an IUL (Index Universal Life policy) regarding generating supplemental retirement income. Good question. There are 1,000s of ways to properly design and fund an [...]
Tax-Free Income Estimator for Catapult Plans
Many of you have read one or both of my books titled: Get Me to ZERO or Tax-Free Millionaire. Parts of both books describe using select Index Universal Life policies (IULs) for supplemental tax-free retirement income. I call them ROTH alternatives on steroids. I love ROTHs but they cannot supply nearly the benefits of a properly designed and funded IUL. [...]