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  • Four Essential Questions You Should Ask Your Tax Professional This Season Related to COVID-19

    Posted Date March 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readGood tax professionals ask the right questions to ensure they understand your situation and can help you to the best extent the law allows. Given the host of pandemic-related tax changes for 2020, it’s good to keep these four questions below in mind. If your tax preparer doesn’t ask these questions in your tax organizer or during a meeting, raise them yourself. 1. Did you receive your stimulus payment? Not everyone received all the stimulus they were entitled to. As a result, the amount of your stimulus payments needs to be reconciled on your 2020 tax... View Article

  • 5 Cities Rank as Ideal Locations for Remote Workers

    Posted Date March 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readAccording to the National Bureau of Economic Research, in late spring of 2020 about half of American workers were working from home. Not surprisingly, many researchers believe that this pattern will continue after the pandemic is over. With this in mind, SmartAsset has examined the best cities to work from home in 2021 and evaluated them across seven metrics: percentage of those who worked at home; estimated percentage of those who can work at home; five-year change of percentage of those who worked at home; October 2020 unemployment rate; poverty rate; housing costs as a percentage... View Article

  • The Impact of COVID on Life Insurance

    Posted Date March 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readIf someone you know died from COVID-19 and had an existing life insurance policy, there should be no problem receiving the death benefit. The terms of a life insurance contract cannot be changed after purchase, so anyone with a policy before the pandemic will continue to be covered as long as premiums are paid. However, the life insurance industry is in a quandary right now when it comes to new applicants applying for policies. Some insurers have placed an age limit on applicants to whom they will sell policies. Travelers who have recently visited countries with... View Article

  • Business Process Management Systems Provide Variety of Benefits to Owners

    Posted Date February 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readAll businesses have one thing in common, and that is processes. Business processes – whether direct or indirect – are crucial when it comes to providing products or services to customers. Business process management (BPM) plays an important role in enhancing processes and offers numerous benefits to businesses. But imagine what greater benefits can be achieved if you choose to implement a technology product that supports your specific business process management. Why BPM Software? First, a little bit about BPM. Business process management was introduced to help accomplish workflow quickly and easily. Simply put, BPM enables... View Article

  • How Firms Can Restore Balance Sheets to Better Health

    Posted Date February 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readAccording to the World Bank Group, for businesses in emerging markets and developing economies, the bottom fourth percentile of the non-financial corporate (NFC) sector saw their balance sheets deteriorate. Looking at these businesses’ Interest Coverage Ratio, the average figure dropped to 0.06 from 0.35 between the fourth quarter of 2019 and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic’s ongoing effects. The ICR is a measure of a firm’s ability to repay their debt in accordance to existing obligations, whereby a higher ratio indicates a better ability to do so. This is calculated by dividing earnings before... View Article

  • New Year-End Tax Provisions

    Posted Date February 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 5 min readIn late December, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which in addition to providing COVID-19 relief provisions also included many tax provisions and extenders. The Act contained many COVID-related tax provisions, as well as a slew of extenders ranging from one year to permanent. This article will focus on the miscellaneous tax and disaster relief provisions, which are more applicable to most taxpayers. Miscellaneous Provisions Charitable Contributions – For tax years 2020-2022, starting in 2020 non-itemizers can deduct $300 in charitable contributions, and starting in 2021 non-itemizer can deduct $600 for married couples filing jointly. Full Business Meals... View Article

  • How to Budget During a Pandemic

    Posted Date February 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readRight now with everything that’s going on, navigating your finances might feel overwhelming. However, there are some strategies that will help you manage cash shortfalls. Mariel Beasley of Duke University’s Common Cents Lab offers ways to help you manage during these trying times. Use Mental Accounting Translated, this means prioritizing what’s most important and cutting back in those areas that aren’t. While pretty obvious, the finer point according to Beasley is this approach will help you stick to your spending plan by reminding you of your opportunity costs — i.e. what trade-offs you might be making... View Article

  • While Many Suffer Financially, Some Manage to Profit off Pandemic

    Posted Date February 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min readThe Federal Reserve recently reported that the 50 richest people in the United States increased their net worth by $339 billion during the first half of 2020. There are two primary contributors to this near-unprecedented level of growth. The first is that many either owned or were heavily invested in tech companies that thrived during the pandemic. Increased technology demands for remote work, online shopping, streaming entertainment, and socially-distanced socializing created a lucrative COVID-19 economy in some sectors. Another reason is that the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve proactively infused the economy with stimulus capital. That... View Article

  • Protecting American Ports, Federal Buildings, Allies, Oceans, and Whistleblowers

    Posted Date February 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 3 min readSave Our Seas 2.0 Act (S 1982) – This bill was introduced by Sen. Alan Sullivan (R-AK) on June 26, 2019. The purpose of the legislation is to improve efforts to clean up marine debris, encourage recycling and strengthen domestic infrastructure to prevent the creation of new marine debris. The bill passed in the Senate in January 2020, the House in December, and was signed into law by President Trump on Dec. 18, 2020. Digital Coast Act (S 1069) – This bill revised the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Digital Coast program for critical coastal management... View Article

  • Standalone 5G Networks: Potential Vulnerabilities that Could Result in Denial of Service for Customers

    Posted Date January 1, 2021 Posted Time 12:00 am Published in

    🖨 Print⏱ 4 min read5G networks promise high speeds, lower latency, and more robust security compared to its predecessors – and this has created a lot of buzz. As a result, there is a lot of competition among operators to roll out the network while manufacturers are already producing 5G devices. The deployment of 5G around the world has also been facilitated by a need for always-connected computers, widespread internet of things (IoT), and dependence on smartphones. All of this is constraining the 4G LTE technology. With the current uptake in remote working due to COVID-19, 5G is expected to... View Article

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