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In today’s financial and tax news …

December 26, 2009

Today's New York Times has several interesting tax and financial articles.

At Tiny Rates, Saving Money Costs Investors tells us that "Millions of Americans are paying a high price for a safe place to put their money: extremely low interest rates on savings accounts and certificates of deposit."

The very tiny silver lining to the minuscule savings rates is that we won't have much interest income to report on Schedule B when we file our 2009 returns.

Recession? Teenagers Get It, and Are Cutting Back says that "After a year of observing their parents pinch pennies and fret about the economy, the nation's teenagers may be coming to grips with reality. "

And I thought it was eye-opening when I was a kid and my mother suggested my brother and I trim our Christmas wish list because, according to Mom, Santa sent her and Dad a bill for our toys.

Finally, tying in nicely with the ol' blog's look at the Senate's fumbling of the estate tax continuation and our post on year-end retirement moves, the Times has a story on Thinking Hard About Retirement and Death.

"With 2010 a few days away, there are several tax matters that wealthy investors need to consider next year," writes Paul Sullivan. "The two at the top of the list are whether they should convert their taxable retirement account to a tax-free Roth individual retirement account and how to deal with the uncertainty over the estate tax."

Want some more year-end money and tax moves to fill out your Saturday reading? Check out our entire 2009 financial wrap-up posts:

And don't forget our 12 Tax Tips of Christmas.

Related posts:

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The More Tax Posts tab at the top of this page will take you to, well, more tax posts. You also can search below for a tax topic. 

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TAX-SAVVY WAYS 
TO WRAP UP 2026

It’s over! With October’s extended filing deadline behind us, it is now time to focus on year-end moves to reduce your 2026 tax bill. 

You’ll find ways to do just that on the Tax Tips page (see the More Tax Posts drop-down menu at the top of the blog), as well as the separate tax tip pages for each month, notably October through December. If you’re on the Tax Tips page, you’ll find a monthly list at the end of this column. If you’re on another blog page, you can head straight to the October tips; at the bottom of that tips page you’ll find links to all the other 11 months’ collections of tax advice.

Not to spoil what you’ll find in that tax advice, but it does cover such things as tax deductions for charitable donations, investment moves that could reduce tax due, and ways to max out your tax-favored retirement savings. 

Finally, as the year winds down, things get hectic. There are lots of other things to occupy our time, like the much more fun upcoming holidays. But don’t lose sight of taxes, since timing is key. To be of use, most tax moves must be made by the end of the tax year. That’s Thursday, Dec. 31, which also is the last business day of the year. 

So that you don’t miss that final tax year deadline, also keep an eye on the countdown clock below. It will keep you on top of just how much time is left to make important, tax-saving moves. (Note: I’m in the Central Time Zone, so adjust accordingly for where you live.)

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