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Identity theft starts when someone's personal information is stolen or lost. Identity thieves may then use a taxpayer's identity to fraudulently file a tax return and claim a refund. The legitimate taxpayer may be unaware that anything has happened until they file their return later in the filing season and discover two returns have been filed using the

Another new year has arrived. As always, this is a time for reflection and a time to look ahead. Most important, though, it’s a time to create and commit to a personal budget that will lead you to a future of financial freedom. If you already have an established budget, this is the ideal time to reassess your spending and saving habits. Make sure you

“I am not leaving here without mom’s wedding ring!” and “He promised to give ME that” are battle cries as clear as any ever shouted in war. This is where the battle lines following mom’s or dad’s death are drawn. I’ve settled the affairs of over 2,500 decedents, and I’ve been involved in scores of family

Are you like me? Do you set a game plan, get up at 4:00AM, hit the ground running and come home with countless bags, ecstatic about all the money you’ve saved? Or are you like Michelle, who uses the day more as a reason to start (and maybe even finish) her shopping. Maybe you’re more like my neighbor, Christine, who stays home and looks up

I am a graphic design student, which sounds great if you can ignore two very real categories I fall under – the starving artist and the broke college student. These aren’t just stereotypes, they’re very real. Honestly, I find now that I live on my own, I am actually at my parents’ house more often than I was when I lived there in

We didn't sign up to become parents again, but this scenario has become our reality as we care for my 94 year-old mother-in-law. These circumstances place my wife Marilyn and I in the acute and tragic awareness of the fragility of life and uncertainty of when or how this reality will end. Will it be days, months or years? Will it be a silent passing in the

We’d all like more money, right? I can’t imagine anyone I know turning it down. Most of the time when we think about acquiring more money (winning the lottery, inheriting from a long-lost relative, finding a small pile of it in the driveway), we think about all the fun things we could buy or the exotic places we’d visit. But sometimes

My name is Tim Greene, and I want to let you in on a secret: I spend too much money. I use plastic to pay for everything so I never see any actual cash. Sometimes I kid myself into thinking that everything is free. In the past when I’d overspend, my overdraft protection would kick in so it was no big deal. I knew I had to get this bad habit under