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Whether you've been wondering about boosting your investments' rates of return or are concerned that your financial affairs are a bit too complicated for your next of kin to handle, it may be time to seek advice from a financial professional.

When saving for retirement, it often makes sense to contribute to employer-sponsored retirement plans to take advantage of any available employer match opportunities. However, not everyone has access to an employer-sponsored plan. Even if you do, there are reasons you may want to consider using Traditional and/or Roth IRAs to supplement your retirement savings.

As your retirement draws closer, you will probably start to have lots of questions such as:

Tax identity theft is when someone steals your Social Security Number, files a tax return with your number, and directs a refund to their own bank account. In other cases, this type of identity theft may involve a scam artist calling on the phone, pretending to be a rep from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and demanding payment over the phone.

It is no secret that the typical American is working long hours with little respite compared to other countries with large economies. Full-time employees report an average work week of 47 hours and four out of 10 American workers say they work over 50 hours a week.

For years it was assumed that tax planning was reserved for the wealthy. While wealthy individuals will see the most benefit from tax planning, with big changes looming for the 2018 tax year, even middle-income earners can reap the benefits of tax planning.  

The moment you have been working for your whole life is about to arrive: retirement. This stage of your life will likely offer more free time than you have ever had before. In fact, if you are like a lot of people, you may be wondering how you should spend your time. Check out these ideas to see what resonates with you.

1. Travel

Amidst all the pandemic news and 2020 election drama, many might have missed that the IRS also quietly published new 2021 tax rates in late October and a there are plenty of changes that will impact taxpayers in 2021.

While it’s more than a year away (these changes are for 2021 returns filed by taxpayers in 2022), there are a few changes that you should know about.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a federal tax credit that can provide great benefit to families. According to the IRS, in 2019 alone, approximately 25 million workers and families received over $60 billion in EITC payments, with the average payment coming in at $2,476.

A recent survey revealed that four out of every 10 Americans don't believe they'll ever be able to afford to retire.1 But this pervasive belief may be too pessimistic.