#personal-finance
Personal Finance
Personal money management and financial wellness strategies
The New IRS Schedule 1-A: Your Guide to the Four New Deductions for Tips, Overtime, Car Loans, and Seniors
Schedule 1-A is the new IRS form for tax years 2025-2028 holding four below-the-line deductions — up to $25,000 for tips, $12,500/$25,000 for the FLSA overtime premium, $10,000 for new-car loan interest, and $6,000 per person age 65+. Each phases out on its own MAGI threshold, and this guide covers who qualifies, how the math works, and what records defend the claim.
The 110% Safe Harbor for Estimated Tax: What High Earners Over $150K Must Pay to Avoid Penalties
High earners over $150K AGI ($75K MFS) must pay 110% of prior-year tax to meet estimated-tax safe harbor — 100% for others, 90% of current year as alternative.
The ACA Subsidy Cliff Is Back in 2026: How the Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction Can Pull Your MAGI Back Under the 400% Threshold
The enhanced ACA subsidies expired after 2025 — the 400% FPL cliff is back. Learn why $1 over 400% FPL wipes the credit, and how the §162(l) self-employed health insurance deduction can lower MAGI back under the threshold.
When the Business Is All You've Got: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Diversifying Wealth Outside the Company
80% of owners have most wealth tied to the business and only 20-30% of listings sell. Learn how to build outside wealth while you run the company, not just when you exit.
The Wildfire Relief Tax Exclusion Just Expired: Why Payments Received After December 31, 2025 Are Taxable Again in 2026
H.R.5863's qualified wildfire relief exclusion covered payments Jan 1 2020–Dec 31 2025. Learn why 2026 settlements are taxable, the §104/§1033 alternatives, and California's zero-tax treatment.
How I Beancount: Eight Years of Money in Git and a 20-Minute Sunday Check-In
A software engineer walks through her real Beancount routine: receipt capture at the grocery store, a 20-minute Sunday check-in in Fava, balance assertions that work like unit tests, and eight years of family finances version-controlled in Git.
TrumpIRA.gov and the Federal Saver's Match: What Self-Employed Workers Should Know Before 2027
TrumpIRA.gov, a Treasury-run IRA marketplace launching January 1, 2027, will list providers capped at a 0.15% expense ratio with no account minimums and connect eligible savers to a Federal Saver's Match of up to $1,000 a year — a 50% match on the first $2,000 contributed. Here is how it fits alongside a SEP-IRA or Solo 401(k), and why accurate books determine the contribution you can actually make.
Sequence-of-Returns Risk: Why the Order of Market Returns Can Make or Break Your Retirement
Two retirees with identical average returns can end up decades apart in portfolio longevity — the order of returns decides it. How sequence-of-returns risk works, why the ten-year retirement risk zone hits business owners and freelancers hardest, and five defenses including cash buffers, bucket strategies, bond tents, and spending guardrails.
Firefly III vs. Actual Budget: Which Self-Hosted, Open-Source Budgeting App Should You Run?
Firefly III is a double-entry accounting system; Actual Budget is a YNAB-style envelope budgeter. This guide compares setup (Docker, MariaDB vs. SQLite), bank sync (GoCardless, SimpleFin), hosting costs (~$5/month VPS vs. YNAB's ~$109/year), and which tool fits freelancers versus multi-account households.
Panacea Financial and the Rise of Physician Banking: What Doctor-Focused Lending Teaches Anyone With Unusual Income
84% of medical student borrowers owe $100,000+ and residents earn $60,000–$70,000 while their debt suggests far more — a gap Panacea Financial, a physician-founded division of Primis Bank, underwrites around with no-cosigner PRN loans, refinancing, and practice financing. What niche banking gains, what it gives up, and why the 2026 Grad PLUS elimination changes the math.
Puerto Rico Act 38-2026: What Changed in the Act 60 Investor Tax Decree — and Who Keeps 0%
Puerto Rico's Act 38-2026, signed March 20, 2026, ends the 0% Act 60 Individual Resident Investor rate for new applicants — decrees secured by December 31, 2026 keep legacy 0% terms, later filers pay 4%, the program extends to 2055, and LLC-owned homes no longer qualify.
Raising a Money-Smart Kid When You're a Business Owner
Money habits form by age seven, yet only 22% of parents discuss money with their kids weekly. This age-by-age guide shows business owners how to turn the bookkeeping they already do — categorizing, ledgers, budget constraints — into practical financial lessons for kids from age 3 to 18.