Wouldn’t you throw your support behind something called the HAPPY Act? I know I would, it sounds so… cheery!

It exists and it’s a bill that has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI). The Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act, H.R. 3501, would offer a $3,500 tax deduction for qualified pet care expenses. A qualified pet is a “legally owned, domesticated, live animal” that isn’t used for research or business. Expenses cover pet products, service, veterinary visits, and basically anything that is related to the care of a pet.

It seems like a difficult time to be introducing this bill when we have so many other economic issues to deal with but it sure is sweet.

First reaction: Frivolous deficit spending? Or legitimate deduction we should entertain?

You know those common misconceptions people have about money that are just obscure enough to escape further investigation? In other words, things you hear that you probably will never encounter and so you never look into to find out the truth? The concept of community property was one of those things and with the power of the internet, I sought out what that exactly meant.

In a community property state, everything you acquire after you are married is owned by both spouses. Everything you had before you were married isn’t jointly owned, it’s owned by the one who owned it before the marriage. If there is a divorce or some other separation, then the distinction of ownership becomes important.

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One of the biggest challenges in almost anything you do is knowing where your blind spots are. In simpler terms, you don’t know what you don’t know.

So today, I’ll point out four money mistakes you might be making that you don’t even realize you’re making! Hopefully, you’re making none of them. If you are making one of these, don’t beat yourself over it. Now you know you’re making it and you can take steps to fix it.

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This Foundation post is dedicated to what I consider the best retirement weapon available – the Roth IRA account. The Roth IRA was championed by Senator William Roth of Delaware and created with the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, signed by President Clinton. The primary tax benefit of the Roth IRA, at least the one most lauded, is that your account’s appreciation and earnings are tax free. The tradeoff is in the contributions, which are not tax-deductible.

This is the biggest distinction between it and the Traditional IRA. On a traditional IRA, your contributions are tax-deductible but your earnings and appreciation are taxed as ordinary income when you start making regular disbursements in retirement.

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So, if you are faced with such a decision, I think it's important that we review how you can cash out an IRA and avoid the 10% penalty. It will not be possible for you to avoid paying taxes on the withdrawal, since you never paid taxes when you contributed, but we can at least try to avoid the ugliness of the 10% penalty.

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A few years ago, when the housing market was sizzling hot, everyone and their mother talked about how their home was a fantastic investment. They talked about how a home that sold ten years ago had quadrupled in value over the last five and cursed themselves for not buying more. I knew someone who owned four rental properties, all bought on ARMs, and was making a “killing” on the rents and appreciation. I knew someone else who was looking at his paper riches and marveling at how wonderful homeownership was.

Then the housing market stalled. ARMs reset. People were in rough shape. Those who overextended learned something the prudent have always understood, as much as your home is a great place, it’s not an investment.

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A lot of people have been reaching Bargaineering because they asked: “What tax bracket am I in?”

So, to solve this problem and to redirect people from other pages to this one, I’ve decided to offer up this simple to use calculator.

Enter your pre-tax, post-deduction (after your 401k contributions and medical expenses) salary and click “What bracket am I in?”

The calculator will spit out the marginal tax bracket you are in.

Handy Dandy Marginal Tax Bracket Finder

This calculator is based on 2009 tax bracket data.

This page has the current IRS federal income tax brackets and remember, this is your marginal tax rate. Your actual marginal tax rate may be lower based on deductions, exemptions, credits, etc.

I’ve never had the need or the opportunity the learn about Medicare or Medicaid, two government programs that garner a lot of attention every two years, and that have recently been in the news because of President Obama’s attempts to bring about health care reform. Like many people, I didn’t understand how either program worked so I decided to do some research and put together this Foundation post.

The biggest difference between the two is eligibility based on financial need. Medicaid is designed to help low-income, financially needy individuals and is administered differently in each state. Medicare is not based on need and is entitlement based, through your payments into the program through your taxes. Medicare is administered nationally and the rules are the same everywhere.

If you’re curious to learn more, read on plucky adventurer because it starts getting a little more complicated.

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When the market took a nose-dive earlier in the year, I tried to catch a falling knife. Several times.

What I saw were some storied franchises being unfairly punished for the sins of other companies, so I tried to take advantage. I bought shares of companies like Kraft and Costco, Apple and Southwest, and after I bought them, they continued to fall (because the investing gods hate me). So I bought more. My crowning achievement, in terms of intestinal fortitude, has to be Yahoo, which I’ve purchased on five separate occasions since the very first announcement that Microsoft was interested in buying them. If you know what the share price was then, you’d probably be surprised to know that I’m actually profitable on the investment (at least on paper) because I kept on buying.

By buying a stock multiple time, you create what are known as tax lots.

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Over two years ago, one of the first Devil’s Advocate posts I wrote was that you shouldn’t adjust with your payroll deductions. Back then, as it is now, conventional personal finance advice told you to adjust your withholding so that you don’t have too much tax withheld from your paycheck.

How do you adjust your withholdings? You adjust your withholding by submitting a W-4 to your company’s HR or payroll department with an updated number of exemptions. To determine how many exemptions you should put down, I would use the IRS Withholding Calculator because recent laws have made numerous “rules of thumb” obsolete.

Now that you know how, let’s talk about why!

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