November 1, 2025

The Hidden Tax Trap Keeping America’s Housing Market Frozen

America’s housing crisis has reached a breaking point. With median home prices soaring past $400,000, the National Association of Home Builders reports that 60 percent of U.S. households can’t even afford a $300,000 home. The math has become impossible for most American families. While we often blame high mortgage rates, restrictive zoning laws and rising construction costs for the housing shortage, there’s another culprit hiding in plain sight: a decades-old tax rule that’s trapping millions of homeowners in houses they’d rather leave. The $500,000 Problem When Congress overhauled capital gains taxes on home sales in 1997, they created what seemed like a generous benefit: homeowners could exclude up to $250,000 in profits from taxes ($500,000 for married couples) when selling […]
November 1, 2025

Understanding The Q Ratio

When it comes to evaluating a business, there are many ways to perform a valuation. One way to do so is to use the Q Ratio. Known as Tobin’s Q Ratio or simply the Q Ratio, this method looks at the proportion between the values of a physical asset and its replacement cost. Developed by Nobel laureate economist James Tobin, this ratio presumes a single company; for public investors, if asset values can be estimated, the company’s market value of a publicly traded company may be approximately estimated. The original formula is as follows: Q Ratio = Market Value of Assets / Replacement Cost of Capital While this formula is the original iteration, approximating an asset’s replacement value is complicated […]
November 1, 2025

New Rules for Inherited Traditional IRA Distributions

The rules for IRAs inherited after 2020 changed when Congress passed the Secure Act in 2019. The new rules eliminated the opportunity for non-spousal beneficiaries to “stretch” inherited IRA earnings over their own lifetime. Up until this year, required minimum distributions (RMDs) and associated penalties were waived while the IRS clarified the new rules; but in 2025, they are in full force for most inherited IRA beneficiaries. For clarity: Non-spouses who inherited IRA assets after 2020 MUST take RMDs starting this year. RMD Rules For Non-Spouses For Traditional IRAs inherited after 2020, the first thing a non-spousal beneficiary must do is transfer the inherited assets into an inherited IRA under his own name. Note that RMDs are then required only […]
November 1, 2025

Get a Jump on Holiday Shopping: Key November Dates

For some of us, last-minute holiday shopping is just what we do. That said, it’s probably never fun, and two things invariably seem to happen: The gifts you want aren’t available, and you end up paying too much. That’s why shopping in November to get the best savings on what you want just might be the right thing to do this year. Here are a few sales dates to put on your calendar. Singles Day, November 11. Originally started in China as a humorous “anti-Valentine’s Day” event, it’s become one of the biggest shopping days of the year, surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday. To top it off, the date, 11/11, was chosen because it symbolizes, you guessed it, four […]
November 1, 2025

Why Authorization Sprawl Is the Next Big Security Blind Spot and How to Fix It

Despite major investments in cybersecurity, organizations continue to face breaches. Most security mechanisms implemented guard against threats such as password theft. However, there is a growing concern with the unchecked expansion of user access, permissions, and tokens across apps, clouds, and systems. This growing challenge is known as authorization sprawl, and it is becoming one of the most dangerous and least visible threats in modern enterprise security. According to insights from the SANS keynote at the RSAC 2025 Conference, attackers are increasingly exploiting this sprawl to gain legitimate, persistent access that bypasses multifactor authentication (MFA), security information and event management (SIEM) alerts, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) visibility altogether. What is Authorization Sprawl? Authorization sprawl occurs when access permissions […]
November 1, 2025

Controversial Defense Funding Bill, Shoring Up ESOP Plans, and Leave Benefits for Public Health Personnel

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 (S 2296) – Introduced by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) on July 15, the Senate passed this legislation on Oct. 9. The bill is a carve-out of the 2026 budget bill intended to fund military appropriations for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The bill was largely supported by Republicans but less so by Democrats, who are in favor of keeping the government closed until all of their budget concerns are addressed. In addition to establishing funding and policies for military and defense-related activities, the bill includes a roadmap for bomber modernization, a real-time database for contractor compliance oversight, and authorizing programs for nuclear weapons facilities. The legislation would authorize $32.1 billion over the President’s […]
October 1, 2025

Understanding Contribution Margin After Marketing

Contribution margin after marketing (CMAM) measures how much money is generated per unit retailed after factoring in a company’s variable costs, along with marketing costs. It’s analogous with contribution margin, however, a business must factor in marketing costs the company experiences when publicizing a good to likely consumers with details on the business’ wares. This metric determines how well net sales can satisfy expense obligations and what percentage of net sales may remain to satisfy fixed expenses. Comparing Variable Versus Fixed Costs Variable costs, as the name implies, are expenses that rise and fall according to output quantities. Fixed costs, conversely, are expenses that don’t change despite variation of production quantities. Understanding these concepts is helpful when calculating CMAM to […]
October 1, 2025

Ideas for Small Business Succession Planning

It can be hard to build up your own business, but it can be harder to sell it for what it’s worth. In fact, only around three in 10 family-owned businesses survive for the next generation. Whether family-owned or in a partnership of non-family owners, business succession is no easy feat. Succession Planning It is very important to have a succession plan, even if the business is fairly new. That’s because it gives heirs a roadmap for what to do if the owner dies unexpectedly. The first step is to figure out who you want to run the business after you. If you want to pass it on to one or more family members, be sure to ask if they’d […]
October 1, 2025

How to Save Money with the Half Rule

What if you could lower your grocery bill without giving up the things you love, fight inflation, and have some money left at the end of the month? Sounds too good to be true? It’s not. It’s the Half Rule. This means cutting the amount of product you use in half and seeing what happens. Truth is, most of us probably use too much of the things we love. Here are several reasons why: Manufacturers often ask you to use more of the product than you need. You’ve probably gotten used to using a certain amount of a product; And finally, product inflation. Specifically, you might think that if you get pleasure out of something, you might need to use more […]
October 1, 2025

Enhancing Homebuyer Protections, Wildfire Risks, 911 Response and Domestic Manufacturing

Homebuyers Privacy Protection Act (HR 2808) – Introduced by Rep. John Rose (R-TN) on April 10, the House passed this bill on June 23, and the Senate passed it on Aug. 2. Signed into law on Sept. 5, this bipartisan bill prohibits a consumer reporting agency from selling a mortgage applicant’s personal information to other lenders without their explicit consent. The legislation is designed to safeguard homebuyers’ personal financial information and eliminate the frequent bombardment of other lender marketing offers during the financing process underway with the applicant’s existing lender. SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025 (HR 2483) – This bill renews billions of dollars in federal funding for programs responsible for preventing overdoses and further strengthening […]
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