Monthly Archives: January 2020

How To Save On Your Taxes

Are you kicking yourself for how you handled last year’s taxes? You can feel better about next year by learning a little bit about tax savings now.

Consider Donations

Not only is donating to charity a great way to give back to the community, but it is also a smart way to have a tax write-off. It needs to be a charity that is recognized by the IRS in order to do this. This will require some organization on your part over the course of a year. You will be required to have written records. It should say the date of the contribution, the amount you gave and to who. If the amount is over $250 and you don’t have a receipt, the IRS may reject it.

Increase Contributions to Your Retirement

If you contribute to a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, you can reduce your income tax. You would need to increase the amount that is withheld from your paycheck automatically.

Start Saving for Your Child’s College Tuition

It’s never too early to start saving for your child’s education. A 529 is a college savings plan similar to an IRA except it’s for college. The contributions grow tax-free, and withdrawals are not taxed for a college education. You can either use this for your children or for yourself to take a fun college course in retirement.

Review Tax Credits for Children

Having children is incredibly expensive. Double-check that you’re getting all of the tax credits you qualify for. You can itemize medical and dental expenses. As we all know, these costs don’t come cheap. Whatever you are paying out of pocket for these costs may be itemized along with the child tax credit.

Begin a Health Savings Account

To help decrease some of the common stress of medical bills, consider starting a health savings account. Contributions made to an HSA are pre-tax dollars that can be applied to medical expenses. If you contribute the maximum amount, you can potentially save thousands on your taxes this year.

It is possible to pay less in taxes next year, you just need to put the work into finding some ways that you qualify for exemptions. For more ways to save, contact us at Heartland Bank.

Top Cybersecurity Tips for Traveling

Whether traveling for fun or for work, you are hopefully busy enjoying the sites. However, it can be easy to get caught up in the adventure that you forget to stay on top of your personal cybersecurity protection. While you begin packing your bag, don’t forget this list of top cybersecurity tips!

Update all of your devices.

You’ve probably made sure your devices are charged, your toiletry bag is refilled and you have new reading material for your voyage. But before walking out the door for your trip, you need to update every device you have. These periodic updates that you see from the manufacturer do more than produce slight layout changes. They protect your device by patching holes and fixing bugs in the software. If not done, your wall of protection has weak points that can be taken advantage of.

Watch out for wandering eyes.

In addition to keeping an eye out for anyone who may physically take your device or other items, watch out for lurkers. They may be looking over your shoulder or at your laptop from behind you. They’ll be looking out for any information that can tell them how to enter into your device.

Always lock devices.

If you don’t have a passcode on your devices, you will want to get one. Don’t make it easier for criminals!

Remove auto-connect features.

Sometimes, it can be great to know that most public places nowadays have free Wi-Fi. Especially when traveling internationally, you may rely on this to send a simple text message to family back home. However, for your own security, it’s most important that you disable the auto-connect feature on your Wi-Fi. You want to set up your device so that it only connects to networks that you consciously choose.

Turn off Bluetooth.

Similar to Wi-Fi auto-connect, Bluetooth should be turned off unless you are choosing to use it. The reason for this is that criminals will use this as an opportunity to connect themselves to your phone and crack into it remotely. If you’re like most people, you have a lot of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) on your phone. This can be used to take your identity.

Statistics on Cybercrime

You are 20 times more likely to be robbed on your computer than on the street.
14.4 million people were victims of identity theft in 2018.
It is estimated that 33 billion records will be stolen in 2023.
The US government spent $15 billion towards cybersecurity in 2019.

With these tips in mind, we hope you have a safe and fun travel experience!

10 Saving Resolutions to Make This Year

Start the year out strong so you can finish the end of the year with a bang! These are some of our favorite savings resolutions that are great for novice savers or experts!

1. Start with an emergency fund.

The first step you should take this year is to make steps to build up an emergency fund. Don’t let the unexpected set you painfully back in your budget and even from your ability to pay bills. Seventy eight percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to have a setback. Start saving for the unexpected now.

2. Pay a little extra on your mortgage.

Paying even one additional month’s payment on a mortgage can make a great difference in the long run. You may be able to cut years off the mortgage by doing so.

3. Say no to every splurge.

Those impulse purchases are good for no one except the store. Imagine if you hadn’t gone to the store that day or walked down an aisle with different items. You wouldn’t have thought you needed it or spent the money. You would have carried on with your life just fine. If it’s something you really want, work it into next month’s budget.

4. Skip the gym membership.

With the online workout community easily accessible, there’s not a strong reason for a gym membership unless you’re a heavy weightlifter. Find helpful videos to follow online or take a walk outside.

5. Stop the phone surfing.

We’ve all succumbed to the trap of online shopping. This is another way of splurging. If there are certain websites or social platforms that leave you feeling with the urge to spend, cut them out of your life until you feel you won’t be tempted.

6. Revamp your closet.

Ditch the clothes that you never wear and have your closet filled with the items you love. Keep neutral items that can be made into many different outfits. It will keep your wardrobe feeling fresh and new without the need to add new items to the collection.

7. Click unsubscribe.

Those spam emails can be annoying, but ones from your favorite retailer can often cause you to have a second look at the latest sale going on. This is another way of tempting you to buy something you don’t actually need, AKA a splurge. If this is a tempting area for you, go ahead and unsubscribe from the retailer’s email list.

8. Eat in.

Dining out is never the most cost-effective choice. Eating in doesn’t have to be boring. Learn some new recipes or even look up some copycat ones from your favorite restaurant. Invite some guests over to share with you. Saying no to dining out doesn’t mean you can’t have a social life.

9. Buy second hand.

While it may sound extreme, perhaps you can designate a certain area of spending to only be for thrift shops. Maybe it’s clothes, home decor or movies. Whatever it is, you can likely find it second hand.

10. Commit to your retirement account.

You are one year closer to retirement than you were last year. Even if you aren’t able to put a lot towards retirement this year, starting the habit of saving each month will set you up for future success and relief.

We hope that you are able to find these resolutions helpful and pick one for yourself to stick with for the year. To learn more about retirement and savings accounts, contact us at Heartland Bank.

Kick Off The New Year With These Savings Tips

Wow – we can’t believe it’s already 2020! The new year will bring children, weddings, new business opportunities and more. With that being said, we want to make sure you can continue to prosper financially. Here are our favorite savings tips to help you kick off the new year!

Start saving for retirement.

Yes, it’s far away and you can’t really see the benefits right now, however, starting to save for retirement now will be crucial in how much money you’re able to spend in the following years. The closer you get to retirement, the more you’ll have to put away if you haven’t started saving in earlier years. Making sure you find other ways to help your retirement fund grow will also be in your best interest. If your employer will match up to 3% of your 401(k) contributions, be sure to take advantage of that! If there is an opportunity to get good interest rates on a savings or checking account, stash some money there as well as in a CD or IRA.

Make a plan to pay off your debt.

Having an accumulation of different debts can become overwhelming and stressful. For the new year, think of a game plan to break down those debts and start to pay them off. Whether its credit card debt or student loans, there are always ways to come up with a doable plan to implement over the next few years. Start budgeting and begin to pay off debts in order from smallest to largest.

Start an emergency fund.

We understand that you may have some money built up in a savings or checking account, but when an emergency hits, you don’t want to have to take money out of those accounts. By having your own account for a rainy day, you will know exactly how much money you have saved up for potential expenditures.

Really start to budget.

It’s one thing to not drink a morning coffee from your favorite shop, but it’s another to actually have a list for a budget of all the things you need to stick to. It’s really easy to get off track and start eating out a few more times during the month or pay for something you really don’t need. Making a real budget and sticking to it will be the #1 thing that brings you financial success this year!

We hope you decide to implement all 4 of these savings tips into your new year. By starting to save for retirement, pay off debt, build an emergency fund and budget, your financial finesse is sure to flourish! Store your newly saved cash in a savings or checking account with us today!