With the holiday season in the rearview mirror, we are all getting back into our normal routines. Unfortunately, that means starting to think about tax season 2012. April is right around the corner, after all, and if you foresee an inability to pay your full tax bill in full, this can be quite disconcerting. To help ease concerns, the California Society of CPAs recently announced some important strategies for dealing with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) if you cannot cover your total tax toll.

Before we get to them, however, there are a few things that you need to know about the IRS, its practices, and the terminology you can expect to come across when dealing with an inability to pay:

Saving money in your household finances needs to be a top priority, especially when you consider the difficult economy in which we are living. Every dollar and every cent counts and so does every one that you can save. There are many ways that you can stretch the hard earned cash in your household to make it last longer and work harder. Here we zero in on the top six money saving tips for your household that you can start doing not tomorrow, next week, or next month,  but today!

1. Pay your credit cards off in full every month. The interest you will pay if you carry a balance from month to month is astronomical and not something you even want to think about! Okay, maybe thinking about it for a minute is essential to driving the point home. Consider the fact that a $1,000 balance that is being charged at 18 % will cost you approximately $200 a year in interest charges. Wouldn’t you rather keep that $200 in your bank account? When you use them pay them off- completely!

Impulse purchases, we all make them and almost always end up regretting them later. Decisions involving money should always be well thought out. For me at least, impulse buys almost always end up being bad decisions. They are bad choices because you haven’t taken the time to decide if you really need the item or you just want it. Since you also did not spend any time doing any comparison shopping, purchases made on a whim will cost you more.

So how do you stop yourself from making these bad choices time and time again? Here are five ways you can stop your impulse purchasing habits.

By now, everyone knows what Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T have to offer in terms of standard data, texting and talk plans for the new iPhone 4S. But what about the niche aspects of major carriers’ iPhone offerings? Not every consumer is content with plain vanilla utility and many, in fact, require certain supplemental features. With that being said, we took a look at how the aforementioned networks differ in terms of international usage costs, mobile hotspots and how “Night & Weekend” minutes are classified.

Night & Weekend Minutes
In our previous article examining the iPhone 4S, we noted that the three carriers offered calling plans in terms of how many “Anytime” minutes they provided: 450, 900, or “Unlimited.” Obviously, if you opt for the unlimited anytime minutes, the number of “Night & Weekend” minutes you get or when in the day these minutes begin doesn’t matter, but the same cannot be said for those of you that choose the two other options. So let’s take a closer look at what they offer.

Retirement is ultimately a function of your bank balance, not your age. Not long ago, I came across some statistics which showed that the majority of the US population will either retire broke or still have to work to have a decent retirement.

I don’t know about you, but this isn’t even close to good enough for me, and definitely is not in alignment with my vision of a happy retirement lifestyle.

You’ve likely seen the Sprint commercial that shows phones from the four most prominent smartphone carriers—Sprint, Verizon, At&T and T-Mobile—racing up a chart, almost as if they are those mascots that race at sporting events, in order to display the differences in their data plans. And while it’s been around since about late July, this commercial might not have struck a chord with you until the October 4 announcement that Sprint would for the first time be carrying the iPhone. With the new iPhone 4S slated to hit stores tomorrow at 8 AM, many of you have a tough choice to make in terms of which network to get it on. So, how are you supposed to decide?

Obviously, people already under contract will stick with what they’ve got, but where you cell phone free agents end up depends on precisely how much texting, talking and e-mailing you plan to do. Each of the networks carrying the new iPhone—the aforementioned four, minus T-Mobile—offers plans at different price points, and figuring out your usage habits ahead of time is the best way to get the coverage you need without incurring extraneous costs. To help in this endeavor, we took a look at the best carriers for different types of smartphone consumers:

From time to time, knowledgeable sources from around the personal finance industry send us timely information, hoping to use Wallet Blog to better reach the general public. The following information about hurricane recovery tax benefits was sent to us by the California Society of CPAs, and we thought it would be both useful and of interest to our readers:

Hurricane Irene has done an estimated $7 -13 billion in damage over 10 East Coast states. Wind and flood damage alone could total about $5 billion and $2 billion, respectively, according to the Consumer Federation of America.

If you looked at your child’s back-to-school checklist and wondered how in the world you’d pay for everything on it, don’t worry, you’re not alone. About one out of every five Americans feels stressed about back-to-school shopping this year, according to a survey conducted by Chase, and 25% plan to spend less on school supplies this year than they did last year. What’s more, 34% of people intend to save on back-to-school shopping by re-using old supplies, while 26% plan to clip coupons and 25% say they’ll shop at discount stores. Those are all great ideas, which can lead to big savings. But why not throw the right rewards credit card into the mix and save up to another 6%?

As we all know, rewards credit cards often offer particularly high rewards on particular spending categories. And since the Island Approach to spending advocates having a few different rewards credit cards that complement each other and help you save on your biggest expenses, both your credit card arsenal and your back-to-school budget could benefit from the addition of a card with particularly attractive grocery and department store rewards or a card offering rewards at a mega-store where you can buy practically everything or a card that helps you save on office supplies.

We recently took a look at the differences between money market accounts and money market funds. This week, to follow up on that discussion, we will examine what separates a money market account from a traditional savings account. After all, if we’re to make responsible banking decisions and effectively manage our money, we must understand the options available to us.

Overview
Both savings accounts and Money Market Deposit Accounts (MMDA) are essentially bank accounts insured by the federal government that allow you to safely deposit your money and garner interest. Accounts offered by banks are insured for up to $250,000 per depositor ($100,000 beginning in 2014) by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) insures those accounts offered by credit unions for the same amount.

Despite their similar names, money market accounts and money market funds are most certainly not the same thing. So let’s take a look at both to clear up whatever confusion might exist and provide insight into which will best suit your particular needs.

Money Market Accounts
A money market account, also known as a “money market deposit account,” is essentially a savings account. Money market accounts tend to pay more in interest than standard savings accounts and have higher minimum balance requirements but are interest-bearing bank accounts at their core, typically allow for limited check writing and debit card use, and most importantly, are explicitly insured by the FDIC—usually for up to $250,000.

Consumers have shown an obvious affinity for Groupon and its hundreds of copycats, but lost amidst their buzz is the notion that daily deals as we currently know them might not be the end-game for targeted local consumer marketing. The recent announcement of a partnership between American Express and Facebook to create “Link, Like, Love,” a deal-driven spending platform which takes advantage of the credit card company’s extensive customer base and purchase tracking capabilities as well as the social media giant’s unique reach into the lives of consumers, highlights the potential credit card companies have to change the game significantly. But, in the end, do credit card companies really have what it takes to be Groupon killers?

On Tuesday, American Express and Facebook launched Link, Like, Love and immediately became a serious contender to popular daily deal providers like Groupon and Living Social. The joint partnership allows consumers to link their American Express credit cards to their Facebook accounts and immediately access a virtual treasure trove of deals from leading national retailers and travel providers, including H&M, Dunkin’ Donuts, Sports Authority, Sheraton, Westin, Celebrity Cruises and Travelocity. Small businesses can also load their own deals through the service’s self-serve feature. Consumers simply select deals to load onto their Amex accounts, purchase the goods or services advertised, and automatically receive a statement credit.

An interesting new trend in the healthcare industry is primary care that patients buy directly from physicians, thereby removing insurance companies from the process and lowering costs for both the doctor and the patient.

Built upon the idea of concierge medical practices, doctors using this innovative model provide day-to-day care to patients who pay a monthly fee for the service. For $49-$130 a month patients receive preventive care, basic tests, treatment for chronic conditions, and non-life-threatening emergency services like X-rays and stitches. Patients are also able to get advice from doctors via e-mail, phone or video messaging, thereby saving both parties time and reducing the number of unnecessary office visits.

Feel bad about missing the British Airways offer for two free round-trip international flights a few months back? Well, here’s a chance to make up for it. Southwest Airlines recently announced a limited-time deal whereby consumers can score two free roundtrip flights simply by opening the Southwest Airlines Credit Card and making a single purchase.

Think that sounds too good to be true? Let’s take a closer look at the terms of this deal and see whether you are really free to move about the country with this credit card.

Credit cards provide the cheapest means of currency conversion. Hold on, before you balk at this statement and argue that someone working for a credit-oriented blog would of course make such a claim, let me tell you something: I have the facts to back it up. In fact, credit cards have the potential to save international travelers as much as 15% on currency exchange, according to a recent Currency Exchange Study by Card Hub.

Card Hub – using both online fact finding and anonymous phone calls – was able to determine the U.S. dollar-to-Euro exchange rates offered by Visa and MasterCard, the credit card networks with by far the largest coverage areas worldwide; 15 of the largest consumer banks in the United States; and Travelex, the most significant airport currency exchange service in the world. And aside from the mere fact that the payment type most conducive to international travel is a credit card, this study revealed that:

Television is a big part of most of our lives.  We watch it to relax; we watch it when we’re bored; we watch it live; we watch it recorded; we watch it on our computers, phones, and tablets; in short, we watch it all the time.  In fact, the average American watches over 35 hours of TV a week, according to The Nielsen Company.  Now, television is great; don’t get me wrong.  It can be both entertaining and informative, but it can also cost you—both directly and indirectly.  Television, commercials in particular, directly influence our purchasing habits, and it also represents a significant sunk opportunity cost.  But how much does television consumption really cost us?  And how can we limit the financial impact?

Opportunity Cost

It’s the #1 question consumers have about their personal finances: How much do I need to retire? If you ask 10 different financial advisors this question, you’ll receive 10 different answers, only because the answer depends on many different variables. Putting the variables aside however, we’ve outlined a simple, but effective strategy to help ensure you’ll have enough to retire.

How Much Do You Need Save to Retire?

Throughout the financially tumultuous past few years, the credit card industry has been the subject of a great deal of attention in the press, Congress and the court of public opinion. The system admittedly was broken. Shady credit card companies, hiding behind a conspicuous lack of transparency, were using bait-and-switch tactics and confusing policies to take advantage of their customers. Now that the Credit CARD Act of 2009 has eliminated most of these issues, we can again being to appreciate just how useful credit cards can be. So, without further ado, 8 reasons why you should use a credit card as long as you trust yourself to spend wisely.

1. Credit building

Oh how quickly things change. For years, the American Express Blue Cash was my credit card of choice. It offered 1% cash back on gas and groceries and 0.5% on all other purchases up to $6,500 in annual spending, but that’s not what made it so impressive. After $6,500, bonus cash back terms kicked in, taking the base cash back rate to 1.5% and the gas-and-groceries rate to an impressive 5%. Needless to say, the Blue Cash was hard to beat…at least until something in the market changed and the Blue Cash lost its appeal.

You see, other products emerged that had rewards structures able to not only compete with the Blue Cash’s earning rate but also beat this once-dominant spending vehicle in terms of rewards earning simplicity. There’s the Bank of America Accelerated Cash Rewards Card, which offers 1.25% on all purchases; the Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards Card, with 2% on gas and groceries and 1% else; the Chase Freedom Visa, with up to 5% cash back on rotating spending categories; and last but not least the Capital One Venture Rewards card, which is basically a 2% cash back credit card when miles are redeemed for any travel-related purchase.

Personal finance software takes ideas from big business to help you save time and money. Chart s of accounts, tables, and graphs can help households better understand their cash’s inflows and outflows, but does that understanding lead to better decisions and ultimately savings? Often, knowing where your money goes can help you curb extra spending and save on expenses. If you’re not dealing with business-scale revenue and expenses though, how necessary are all of these software packages’ extra features? Do you really need three charts and a graph to tell you that you shouldn’t have spent $300 on ice cream last month? In the worst case scenario, you may find yourself spending more time and money than you save.

So, how can you guarantee that your personal finance software is paying dividends for you? Ultimately, you need to judge any software package by two criteria: price, and ease of use. Any software that comes recommended by anybody and that you are likely to come across is going to have the features you need, which are essentially expense tracking and categorizing, so what you need is to guarantee that you won’t lose more than you save in the process of using it.

When deciding where to keep your money, it is a good idea to consider the health of your bank. There was a time, not too long ago, that it seemed as though banks were failing left and right. While the rate of bank closures has slowed, you still need to think about what it could mean if your bank were to fail. It’s true that, if your bank is protected by the FDIC, you will get your deposit back, up to certain limits. However, just getting your deposit back isn’t always enough.

Issues Associated with Bank Closures

If you enjoy going to the movies, as I do, you may be aware that AMC Theatres is restructuring its rewards program.  While the replacement of the MovieWatchers program with the new AMC Stubs system is being billed as an improvement made in response to customer feedback, the jury is still out as far as I’m concerned.  Why?  Well, I’m not thrilled that I now have to pay $12 a year to belong to a movie theater rewards program.  Movies, at 10-plus dollars a pop, are expensive enough as it is; what am I getting for my extra $12?

Why don’t we compare and find out?

Improving some aspect of one’s health is a popular resolution. Whether it’s a promise to stop smoking, shed those extra pounds or ditch the remote and stop being such a couch potato, being healthier is often at the top of our To-do lists. Keeping our bodies in optimum condition, however, can be a costly proposition. Nutritional supplements, gym memberships or doctors visits can pack a pretty heavy punch to your wallet. Good thing there are healthy choices you can make that will benefit your bank account just as much as your body.

Here are five things you can do to become more physically and financially fit:

[Editor's Note: We recently started using a new service called Offermatic and thought it was great; so we asked the good people at Offermatic.com to write a guest post for Wallet Blog and tell their story]

The deal and offer market is overflowing with group buying companies throwing around offers and deals and coupons and vouchers – you can’t swing a dead cat around the room without hitting a new player in the space. But is anyone really innovating, or are all these companies just different shades of the same? And how much value really exists for the average consumer in daily offers to save on exotic travel, manicures, spa treatments, and cupcakes?

Sometimes when individuals start using ‘financial talk’, some of the rest of us get lost in the dust. Phrases like “401(k), 503(b), Traditional IRA, and Roth IRA” sound like another language. As a result, many people are overwhelmed by the many options, and so they choose a terrible alternative – to do nothing.

This is not a strategy I recommend. Instead, slowly wade through all the options and make an informed choice. When it comes to saving for retirement, any choice is better than doing nothing.

We’ve counted down.  We’ve toasted the champagne.  We’ve kissed our sweethearts.  The New Year is upon us, and with this turn of the calendar comes a chance for a fresh start, a cleaning of the slate.  While your goals for making 2011 better than its predecessor most likely pervade all aspects of your life, financial New Year’s Resolutions are particularly popular, especially considering the current financial climate.  Perhaps you want to finally get out of debt.  Maybe all of the ads on TV have psyched you up to improve your credit score.  Or you might want to increase small business profitability or invest more wisely.  Hopefully, whatever your goal may be, this financial resolution will fare better than previous pledges that have fallen by the wayside.  Commit to making this year different, to helping your personal finance objectives outlast the “honeymoon period” after which so many New Years Resolutions die.  The first step in doing so?  Reading the New Year’s Resolution Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.  Look, you’re already on your way!

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