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Are you planning to make charitable donations before year end? Do you own appreciated stock that you’d like to sell, but you’re concerned about the tax hit? Then consider donating it to charity rather than making a cash gift. Appreciated publicly traded stock you’ve held more...

Employees generally recognize that you don’t have an unlimited budget for all forms of compensation, including employee benefits. And in recent years most have grown accustomed to the necessity of sharing more of the financial burden of health benefits. So if they can get...

More than one in ten working Americans between the ages of 35 and 44 had their wages garnished in 2013, according to a recent study performed by payroll service company ADP. Many people associate wage garnishment with “deadbeat dads” who owe spousal and child support....

For assets with a useful life of more than one year, businesses generally must depreciate the cost over a period of years. Special breaks are available in some circumstances, but uncertainty currently surrounds them: Section 179 expensing. This allows you to deduct, rather than...

There are workplace safety rules for almost every conceivable category of jobs or tasks, courtesy of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The underlying law* also requires employers to provide a workplace “free from recognized hazards likely to cause...

With the school year now in full swing, many people are thinking about ways to lower college costs for their children and grandchildren. The College Board estimates that the average cost of college for the 2013-2014 school year was $40,917 at private not-for-profit four-year...

If you’re an executive or other key employee, you might be compensated with more than just salary, fringe benefits and bonuses: You might also be awarded stock-based compensation, such as restricted stock or stock options. Another form that’s becoming more common is restricted...

Telemedicine is not a medical specialty. Defined broadly, it is “the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve a patient’s clinical health status,” says the American Telemedicine Association (ATA). It...

If you’ve cashed in some big gains this year, consider looking for unrealized losses in your portfolio and selling those investments before year end to offset your gains. This can reduce your 2014 tax liability. But if you want to minimize the impact on your asset allocation,...

Wellness programs are increasingly popular with employers and employees. A chart at the bottom of the page shows the behaviors most employers will target with these programs in 2015, in an effort to improve health and curb costs. But employers should not expect to get the...