Financial 411 answers money questions
Our Financial 411 panel this week:
Dennis Hebert, Hebert Financial Strategies
Grace Ghezzi, Benefit Consulting Group, Inc
Ted Sarenski, Blue Ocean Strategic Capital
If you've contributed to Haiti earthquake relief, you can claim the deduction on your '09 taxes (the ones you're preparing to file now) if you donate between January 11 and March 1. If the amount is over $250, the agency will give you a written confirmation. Otherwise you can use a cancelled check, your credit card statement, or a phone bill if you texted, as the proof.
There are lots of education deductions: 100% of the first $2000 in tuition. 25% of the next $2,000 annually for undergraduates is deductible by whoever is paying the tuition (parents!), and there are also deductions for lifelong learning, both graduate schools and for skills improvement courses, as long as they're offered by a qualified institution.
We also had questions about the extended tax credit for home buyers: it's available if you close on a new house by May 14th, and it's also available for people who already own a house and have lived in that home for 5 of the last 8 years before selling it. The $6500 credit is available for up to $245,000 if filing jointly.
A member of the local carpenters' union --which lost pension funds in the Madoff scam--wanted to know if there's any recourse.
The advice: diversify your funds as well as the groups you invest with.
And, your credit rating may be for more than just taking out loans: it may also determine car insurance and credit card interest rates.
So, it's very important to keep track of your rating.
"You can request your free report online, by phone or by mail. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com, call 1-877-322-8228, or fill out the Annual Credit Report Request form and mail it to Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. No matter how you request your report, you have the option to request all three reports at once or to order one report at a time. By requesting the reports separately, you can monitor your credit more frequently throughout the year."
There's more on the Federal Trade Commission website: www.ftc.gov/freereports
