Financial News Features

“Doing taxes is like renovating a house. If it goes according to plan, everyone is shocked — including the professionals hired to do the job,” said Howard Dvorkin, CPA and chairman of Debt.com. “In both cases, people can seldom predict what they’re going to find once they dig in. If someone has had any change in income — for better or worse — the only surprise would be having no surprises.”

Howard Dvorkin, chairman of Debt.com, says fear is a factor for the nearly 1 in 4 Americans who admit lying to a partner about finances and the more than 1 in 5 Americans who believe lying about finances is akin to other sorts of lying or infidelity.

“In the simplest terms, the federal debt ceiling is a lot like your credit card bill. The debt ceiling is your balance — both you and the federal government have already charged a bunch of expenses. Now it’s time to pay. You write a check, but the federal government needs the House of Representatives to take formal action,” said Howard Dvorkin, Howard Dvorkin, CPA and Chairman of Debt.com.

Debt.com chairman Howard Dvorkin recommends anyone with credit card debt should launch a plan to pay it off now, prioritizing the cards with the highest interest rate first. He also urges people to track where their money is going and look for expenses that can be cut.

“Prices are up for everything,” says Howard Dvorkin, CPA and chairman of Debt.com. ”[People] are trying to make ends meet but they didn’t want to come off looking like the Grinch during Christmas… They went to the store saying, ‘Okay, I’m only going to spend $25 for a shirt for uncle George.’ And you get to the checkout, and that $25 shirt is now $40.”

“Rewrite your budget to include the monthly loan payments. If your debt-to-income ratio is too high with the loan, reconsider taking out a personal loan,” recommends Howard Dvorkin, CPA and Chairman of Debt.com.