A federal tax lien is the IRS’s way to get the attention of delinquent taxpayers. It works. When the IRS files a federal tax lien against you, it holds a claim on everything you own and anything you may acquire in the future until you repay your taxes. That’s just the beginning. Once the IRS has a tax lien on your property, it can start to levy (i.e., empty) your bank accounts, sell your property, take possession of your vehicles, and even garnish your wages. The good news is there are steps yo you can take, such as setting up an installment plan, applying for an offer-in-compromise, or requesting a certificate of subordination.

The IRS no longer offers taxpayers its e-filing PIN (Electronic Filing Personal Identity Numbers) tool. The feature offered an alternative signature verification when filing tax returns electronically. Why has the IRS decided to remove this security feature?

Personal loans are on the rise. Americans have over $1.6 trillion spread over 19.5 million personal loan accounts (source). That is not to say personal loans are easy to get. Lenders are, once more, tightening credit requirements.

Having bad credit creates a Catch-22 situation for consumers. If you have bad credit, you don’t get approved for new credit; and without new credit, it’s hard to improve your bad credit.

Everybody expects you to mess up during your roaring 20’s. After all, you still have time to set things right. Making money mistakes when in your 30’s is another matter altogether.

Shares for the Chinese e-commerce giant, Alibaba, opened at $92.70 a share on the New York Exchange last Friday. This made Alibaba the biggest initial public offering in U.S. History and Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba, the richest man in China. (NPR)

“Am I rich?” Odds are good that you answered “no” to that question, regardless of how much money you have. According to a report by investment bank UBS, only 28% of people with $1 million to $5 million in assets considered themselves wealthy. Even when you ask people with more than $5 million in assets, only 3 in 5 consider themselves wealthy.

Regardless of what you might have heard, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul is not always a bad idea. All things being equal, if Peter charges a lower interest rate, you’d be a fool not to. Personal loans can be an excellent way to pay off your credit card debt, lower your interest payments, and even repair your credit score. But you have to do it right or a personal loan could cost you instead of saving you money.

Why do people have babies? Is it love, a biological imperative, because they’re cute, insurance for old age or to fulfill social expectations? Is there a relationship between your tax bracket and the likelihood you will choose to have babies? These are interesting questions since fertility rates are dropping in developed countries at an alarmingly high rate. In 2016, the United States birth rate was 62.0 births per 1,000 women aged 15–44, a decline of 1% from the rate in 2015 (62.5) and a record low, according to CDC report.

Are you struggling to save for a rainy day? You are in good company. According to a 2015 survey by GoBankingRates, 49% of Americans had no savings, and only 29% had a $1,000 or more in their savings account, so if you’re one of the few who have managed to save $1,000 or more, congratulations. But now what? Squirreling away those dollars was hard enough. Finding a comfortable, stress-free way to invest those savings is another challenge altogether.