CFP

Prices are rising on everything from food to homes. Add a volatile stock market to the mix and those saving for retirement may be rethinking their investments.

Eager to lower next year's tax bill? Boosting your 401(k) contributions may reduce your taxes while padding your retirement savings.

The better you plan for these big-ticket categories, the better prepared you'll be to weather the costs.

People looking to buy a home for the first time face a steep learning curve. Here are some of the basics from experts in the field.

Single taxpayers can claim a tax write-off for cash gifts up to $300 and married couples filing together may get up to $600 in 2021. Here's what to know.

With mounting challenges at the IRS, it's more important than ever to file a complete and accurate tax return. Here are some of the most commonly missed forms.

A Georgia football player might have done too much celebrating after the team returned from Indianapolis from winning the national title last week.

Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips says now is not the time for College Football Playoff expansion.

As retirees kick off the new year, high inflation and strong market returns may leave many wondering how much cash they need to have handy.

A shirtless Cincinnati Bearcats fan quickly became a meme after the Alabama football team's defense held UC to a field goal during the CFP semifinal.

Desmond Ridder and the breakthrough Cincinnati Bearcats have stalled on the big stage against top-ranked Alabama.

People who worked with a financial advisor were found to be nearly three times happier than those who didn't, according to a study by Herbers & Company.

Cincinnati earned its playoff spot at the Cotton Bowl but is being punished with a semifinal date against Alabama. | Opinion

It’s possible to score a write-off for cash donations of up to $600 on Giving Tuesday, even if you don’t itemize deductions. Here’s what donors need to know.

Attending a major sporting event can be overwhelming: You might have to fly or embark on a road trip just to get there, depending on the location of course, and consider your accommodations and where you’ll stay, eat and how you’ll get around.

If you are looking for professional help with your finances, it may be hard to figure out where to start.

Here are some steps you can take to ensure your finances are in order in an emergency.

Teen investing accounts may offer hands-on financial education, but experts say these accounts could deliver parents a surprise tax bill.

Before anyone tackles investing, there are a few steps to take to be ready, said CFP Carolyn McClanahan, an M.D. The best way to start saving is to make sure deposits are made automatically. You can start small, saving $25 or $50 a month, and then increase it over time as you can. "You should start investing young and doing as much as you comfortably can." When you have a little bit of money, it's important to be in a broad-based, diversified portfolio, McClanahan said.

(AP Photo/Michael Ainsworth)ARLINGTON, Texas – A truly untraditional Rose Bowl setting, a very common result for Alabama in the College Football Playoff. 4 Notre Dame in a CFP semifinal Rose Bowl played inside about 1,400 miles from Pasadena, California. “I don't think there’s anything quite like the Rose Bowl, the tradition, the setting, the mountains. 3 Ohio State, which beat Clemson 49-28 in the other CFP semifinal at the Sugar Bowl on Friday night. PERFECT AT COWS HOMEAlabama is 5-0 at AT&T Stadium, with a pair of convincing CFP semifinal wins there.

6 CFP), who won the Cotton Bowl in the same NFL stadium where 11 days earlier they claimed their latest Big 12 title. They led 17-0 in the first seven minutes on way to the most points and yards (684) they have ever had in a bowl game. They averaged 10.52 yards per play overall, the most ever against a Power 5 opponent in a bowl game, according to STATS. Their 0-2 start in Big 12 play effectively knocked them out of playoff contention by mid-October. 1 Alabama in the SEC title game, and had averaged nearly 42 points a game.

The College Football Playoff semifinal game scheduled for January 1 is being moved from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses announced Saturday night. The decision was made due to rising COVID-19 cases in Southern California, according to College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock. "We are very grateful to Rose Bowl officials and the City of Pasadena," Hancock said in a statement. The College Football Playoff selection committee announced Sunday that Notre Dame would be playing in the game despite a loss on Saturday, facing off against Alabama. "Why can't it be the Rose Bowl in Las Vegas or can it be the Rose Bowl in another town?"

The College Football Playoff semifinal game scheduled for January 1 is being moved from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses announced Saturday night. "We are very grateful to Rose Bowl officials and the City of Pasadena," Hancock said in a statement. The Rose Bowl asked the state to grant an exception for the annual game, but the request was denied twice. "Why can't it be the Rose Bowl in Las Vegas or can it be the Rose Bowl in another town?" If the name is changed, it would mark the first time in over a century that the Rose Bowl would not be played.

It can be easy to have FOMO, or fear of missing out, on the latest hot investing trend, according to Roger Ma, CFP and founder of New York-based financial planning firm lifelaidout. Bitcoin produces no earnings, it pays no dividends, it pays no interest, so it's not really an investment in the traditional sense. "We should have investment decisions driven by things that we can control versus having it driven by emotion or feeling towards certain investments." If you are going to invest, do your researchTo be sure, some people will still want to invest in bitcoin. Before putting money into bitcoin, it's important to do your research and understand as much as you can about the asset class.

"The demand and the number of people that are providing personal financial advice has just skyrocketed, as has the number of designations and certifications that exist out there," said Martin Seay, a certified financial planner and president of the Financial Planning Association. CFPOne of the most well-known distinctions is the certified financial planner, or CFP, offered by the CFP Board. It's considered a gold standard as it includes rigorous education and testing about many areas of financial planning such as retirement, investing, taxes, insurance and education. AFC/ FFCA certification that's growing in popularity is the accredited financial counselor, or AFC, offered by the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education. The program also includes personal finance education, testing, ongoing education and ethics requirements.

Trevor WilliamsWhat goes up must come down and then usually goes back up again, at least in the case of the U.S. stock market. Then, in March, when the pandemic slammed the U.S. with sweeping lockdowns that brought most economic activity to a halt, the index tanked, falling 30% in 22 trading days and officially entering bear territory. Weigh risk vs. reward For those investing long-term, such as for retirement, staying in the market is often the best strategy, according to financial advisors. Research has shown that missing out on the best trading days has a huge impact on long-term returns, as they often follow the worst days. "When markets do go down, it does provide an opportunity to buy good-quality investments at lower prices."

The dates of the College Football Playoff games and selection of the semifinal participants will remain unchanged after the CFP management committee discussed possibly pushing back the event. “After a robust discussion, the management committee decided the games will remain on the scheduled dates,” Hancock told AP. The selection committee will set the pairings for the semifinals on Dec. 20, the day after most major college conferences are scheduled to play their championship games. The playoff semifinals are set to be played Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The Big Ten and Pac-12 are already canceling conference games because their late starts left no room for make-up dates.

Depending on what you're inheriting and its value, you may need to take steps to avoid making a mistake that could result in unexpected taxes or expenses. And, if estate taxes are owed, the beneficiaries are not the ones ponying up — it's the estate itself. While estate taxes are paid by the estate of the deceased, inheritance taxes are remitted by the heir. For instance, while spouses can generally opt to roll the inherited assets into their own IRA, there may be times when it makes more sense to accept the money via an inherited IRA. "That decision would depend on whether the spouse needs the money right away," she said.

But as parents prepare for their children's future, they also need to look out for themselves, Becker said. Childcare and health careIf both parents work, they should examine which health insurance plan will cost less to add the child to, Morris said. "If possible, you should consider life insurance once you decide to have a baby, not after you're pregnant," said Anna Behnam, a financial advisor at Behnam & Associates in Rockville, Maryland. "Your financial advisor should be able to run various calculations to figure out the amount of protection you would need." "Stay-at-home parents do work and that would cost a lot to replace," Richardson said.

The high level of jobless claims, paired with the market volatility, has many Americans worried about the fate of their retirement savings. That said, when it comes to your retirement savings, your game plan is going to depend on your situation. CNBC Make It spoke with a number of financial experts to get their advice on what millennials should do with their retirement accounts depending on their personal economic circumstances. Continuing, or increasing, your regular contributions to your retirement accounts is a strategy called dollar-cost averaging. And although the markets have been volatile, resist the temptation to mess around with your current investments if you're a younger investor.

Along with the increased revenue, though, came more questions and more decisions about business structure, how to pay herself and whether to use a CPA. She registered the business as a limited liability company, or LLC, to separate her personal assets from those of her site. Eventually, though, "it can really affect your business," Allec said. "I'm busy running a business," Weir said. In the planning stages of starting his agency, he was wondering which business structure to use, so he scouted the competition.

they instead shift some of the money to a single premium immediate annuity to get them through that gap in income. "It's certainly a valid option," said certified financial planner Ronald Myers, a managing member at Fortune 360 Group in Plantation, Florida. Vitapix | E+ | Getty ImagesAnnuities, which offer varying levels of guaranteed income either for a set time period or for life, come in a variety of packages and can often be tricky to understand and more expensive than other options. Basically, in exchange for guaranteed income over a set period of time (or for your lifetime), you give an insurance company a lump sum, which in turn becomes part of its pooled investments. "It's not a great rate, but for the purposes of giving him guaranteed income, it made sense in this situation," said Palastro, a CFP with Cobblestone Wealth Advisors in Brooklyn, New York.