Kiplinger's Personal Finance February 2022

New weekly episodes bring you timely, practical advice and guidance to help you: • Invest for growth and income,• slash taxes,• save for retirement,• make the most of your money,• maintain good credit,• and more. kiplinger.com/links/podcast SUBSCRIBE Apple, Google Play, Spotify, Overcast, RSS HOW TO REACH US: Subscriptions. For inquiries about ordering, billing or renewing a subscription, or to report address changes, please have your mailing label handy to reference your account number and visit us online at kiplinger.com/customer-service or call 800-544-0155, Monday through Friday between 7 A.M. and 9:30 P.M. Central Time, or Saturday between 8 A.M. and 5 P.M. Central Time. You can also write to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, P.O. Box 37234, Boone, IA 50037-0234, or send an e-mail to KPFservice@kiplinger.com. Reprints. PARS International Corp. (212-221-9595, ext. 237; e-mail, jennifer.eclipse@parsintl.com). Content licensing. E-mail…

I believe your article was too narrow in focus (“The Roaring Twenties 2.0,” Dec.). There was no discussion about investing in green technologies, which are needed to save our planet and way of life. All the other trends other than inflation will be overridden by the urgency to reduce climate change and to alleviate the negative effects that it will continue to have on our way of life. Solutions to deforestation, glacial melt, acidification of oceans, increased droughts and displacement of indigenous populations are the real problems we should invest in. We don’t have much time to make a difference. JOSEPH T. VOICHECK VIA E-MAIL Sports betting. I read James Glassman’s article on sports gambling investments with interest (“Street Smart,” Dec.). Some of his recommendations have surely had a winning year. The VanEck…

One major challenge we face as a monthly magazine is that we write, edit, print and mail this publication weeks before it arrives in your mailbox. As I write this column for the February issue, it is early December. We send the publication to the printer in mid December, and most subscribers will receive their issues in the new year. That’s especially problematic when we experience a stretch like the one following Thanksgiving—when Omicron upset Wall Street’s best-laid predictions. The prospect of a new, highly transmissible COVID-19 variant led to speculation about new shutdowns. That precipitated a roller-coaster ride for the stock market as investors fretted about the economy. Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell unnerved traders even more when he warned that with a strong economy and tight labor market, inflation…

PERHAPS YOU HAVE HEARD BY now about the Great Resignation, the term coined to describe the mass exodus of workers who have left their jobs in recent months. Employers are scrambling to retain their employees or attract new ones, and in the service industry, “Help Wanted” signs, with promises of bonuses and other perks, are as ubiquitous as hand sanitizer. Although many workers have switched to jobs offering better pay and benefits, some who have left a job may never return to work, thanks to a secondary trend that could be characterized as the Gray Resignation. In the third quarter of 2021, 50.3% of adults older than age 55 were retired, up from 48.1% in 2019, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center (see the chart below). Nearly 67%…

Beverly Harzog is a credit card expert and consumer finance analyst for U.S. News & World Report. Getting married is a big decision, not just emotionally but financially. What do people get wrong about how marriage affects their credit? One common misconception is that you have a joint credit report. You each still have your own credit report, and the same goes for your credit scores. Another misconception is that you have to apply for credit together. You can apply for things like a mortgage or a credit card together, but each partner should have their own credit established. If you need to establish your own credit because, say, your spouse dies or you get a divorce, a difficult situation could become even more difficult. Are there instances in which it’s a…

EVERY YEAR, THE IRS ADJUSTS A LONG list of tax provisions to account for inflation, and in 2022, those adjustments will be larger than they’ve been in recent years. If your income remains the same in 2022 as it was in 2021, you could end up with a lower tax bill, according to Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. Here’s a rundown of some of the most significant adjustments. Higher standard deduction. Since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was enacted in 2018, the majority of taxpayers have claimed the standard deduction. In 2022, the standard deduction will be $12,950 for single taxpayers, up from $12,550 in 2021. Married couples who file jointly will claim $25,900, up from $25,100 in 2021. If you’re at least 65 years old or blind, you can claim…