The IRS Is Sending Extra Tax Refunds This Week

July 16, 2021

It’s always unnerving to get mail from the IRS. Whenever I see an official envelope, I worry that some eagle-eyed auditor has caught a tax blunder. But the agency has actually been the bearer of good news recently. For starters, the IRS has alerted many families, including mine, to how much we qualify for in advance child tax credit payments. These monthly support payments start this week. The IRS has also begun sending special refunds to tax filers who overpaid income taxes on unemployment for 2020. Learn more about these payments in today’s edition, and remember: the IRS will never call you on the phone and demand immediate payment of a tax obligation.

Best wishes,

P.S. If you got this newsletter from a friend, sign up here for email delivery to make sure you don't miss the next issue.

Timely Retirement News, Insights, And Advice

They’re for early filers who overpaid taxes on unemployment income.

Checks started going out this week.

The low numbers might not be cause for celebration.

Retire With Money Community News

What are you up to these days?

Not much. We’ve been staying at home a lot because of COVID. My husband worked in the living room for a year before retiring in April. One hobby is managing our money, which I have been doing for 30 years. I also like to take photos, mostly on vacations, and put them in albums.

Any advice you'd like to share for others about preparing for/living in retirement?
 
Save money for retirement! We saw a financial advisor for the first time in 1987. She told us lots of people would loan us money for our (at the time non-existent) children to go to college, but no one would loan us money to live on in retirement. We made the maximum contributions to our 401(k) accounts every year and contributed to our Roth IRAs every year we could. I review our investments and rebalance once a year.
 
I don’t really have any regrets. When we bought our first (town)house and I started gardening, a friend told me that when you start gardening, you will kill a few things. While I didn’t kill any plants, I did learn that when you start managing your own investments, you will make some mistakes and lose some money. Fortunately, that only happened a few times and, with one exception, the amounts were relatively small.

Whew! Anything you want to say that I didn't ask?

My mother could support herself until she had to move out of her house and into assisted living and then memory care. With a recommendation from the family lawyer, we hired an elder care certified attorney who helped us get my mother on Medicaid. The firm we hired did Life Care Planning in addition to legal and financial planning. It was expensive, but worth every penny.

Retirement News From Around The Web

Inflation Could Prompt Largest Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment in Decades
It’s projected to be nearly five percentage points higher than last year. CNBC

The Struggle to Make Health Apps Truly Private
“Smartphone users are simply not aware of the extent that they can be identified in a crowd.” VOX

How to Know If Your Retirement Savings Are on Track
Use these benchmarks. NEXT AVENUE

Remarried With Children?
Here are five estate planning mistakes to avoid. AARP

Elizabeth O'Brien is deputy editor at Money. She has covered retirement and health care for nearly a decade. A Brooklyn resident and mom of two boys, she navigates the alphabet soup of Medicare and the New York City subway system with equal ease. You can email her at elizabeth.obrien@money.com and follow her on Twitter at @elizobrien.

This newsletter is free because Money earns a commission when you click or make purchases from the links in this email and on our site. We also receive compensation for some of the products and services featured in this message. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Learn more about how we make money.

Privacy Policy • Advertise With Us • We're Hiring!

To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.

Copyright ©2021 Ad Practitioners, LLC. All rights reserved.

Metro Office Park Calle 1, Building 7 Suite 204, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00968, USA