What is the best financial/tax situation for us? Kid on way, financial aid eligibility concerns. Me: grad student for 2 more years, on a teaching assistantship (this covers tuition, fees, health insurance, and gives me a $1600/mo. stipend) and with some student loans on top (less than $10k/year). I also work in the summers, but make less than $5k. I also receive research grants sometimes ($5k-$15k). In 2008, I will only have been in the country for 2 months and will have an income of less than $5k. In 2009 and 2010 I will be be back on the normal track with $1600/mo. and some loans with perhaps 2-3 months of a travel grant of ~$6k.

Did my 401K just blow my IRA deduction out of the water? This question is stumping my HR and my financial adviser. I was a consultant for 2007 until December. I was diligently squirreling away my monthy contribution of $333 so I would be able to deduct the max $4000 at the end of the year. However, I started a new job as a FTE and my paycheck for December enrolled me in the company 401K. When I fired up my TurboTax it said that I was unable to deduct the IRA because I was in a 401K for the year and my MAGI(?) had exceeded the allowance for that deduction. Do I have any recourse? Or do I

Financial Newbiefilter: Should I sell this mutual fund I bought when I didn't know what I was doing? I've recently gotten my finances into a semblance of order. The one festering boil left on my finances is a managed mutual fund I bought five years ago (as of May) when I had a certificate of deposit come due and got strong-armed by a fund salesman masquerading as a financial planner at my banks. I'd like to get the money out of this dog of a fund and into an index fund of some kind, but the tax implications are making my head hurt. I've had the fund for five years. In that case a sale would be taxed as a long-term capital gain, correct? Is there any way to further reduce my tax liability if I'm immediately reinvesting the proceeds from the sale in a different fund?

Financial Newbiefilter: Should I sell this mutual fund I bought when I didn't know what I was doing? I've recently gotten my finances into a semblance of order. The one festering boil left on my finances is a managed mutual fund I bought five years ago (as of May) when I had a certificate of deposit come due and got strong-armed by a fund salesman masquerading as a financial planner at my banks. I'd like to get the money out of this dog of a fund and into an index fund of some kind, but the tax implications are making my head hurt. I've had the fund for five years. In that case a sale would be taxed as a long-term capital gain, correct? Is there any way to further reduce my tax liability if I'm immediately reinvesting the proceeds from the sale in a different fund?

I need a financial advisor in the Glendale/Burbank CA area ASAP. I have serious, urgent issues with my (same-sex) partner's family and property issues. Any recommendations welcome. Thanks in advance.

I have discovered discrepancies on my pay stubs. My employer has been changing the withholding from pay period to pay period, and my name and address have been misspelled in various ways. I just caught on to this, and now I'm worried that this may negatively impact me down the road. Is there anything I should ask, or look out for, when I address this issue?

Tax planning advice for the self employed. The web is full of articles, the bookstores are full of guides. But there is so much "get rich quick" and "pay zero taxes" crap out there that I am not sure where to go for good, solid tax planning advice. Is it better to operate as an LLC? An s-corp? What expenses are deductible? What is a good system of recordkeeping? What records should be kept? If I have two related business pursuits, should I keep track of them separately or together? And so on. I know I need to see an accountant, but I'd like to be as educated as possible. Right now I am paying a rather high percentage of a rather small income in taxes. I'm not anti-tax, but I am very pro-eating.

We have a couple of blogs and use a combination of Google Ads, AdBrite and Amazon Associates placements on them. We're trying to figure out how best to approach the income from these ads on our tax filings... We never thought we'd be making as much as we are making (which still isn't much...not enough to live on), so we hadn't really thought through the tax implications in advance. We were blogging for fun and then...well, income. Since our Google Ads income exceeded 4 figures this year, we think that we probably have to cover our bases on our upcoming tax return. (More than $7500, less than $10k). Our other income sources posted more modest returns (Amazon, $500+; AdBrite: $500+). To facilitate our blogging, we purchased domain names, paid for hosting services, attended a conference, bought a digital camera, etc. Are these officially expenses?