Personal Finance

Budgeting, saving, and making sense of money math.

These two numbers are often confused, but they answer completely different questions. Here's how to calculate both correctly.

Your marginal tax rate is the rate on your next dollar of income, not your whole income. Here's why that distinction matters so much.

Property tax is based on assessed value, not market value — and the two aren't always the same number. Here's how it actually works.

Sales tax isn't just a state-level number — city and county taxes stack on top, creating rates that vary block to block in some places.

The 15.3% self-employment tax surprises almost everyone the first time they see it. Here's exactly what it is and how it's calculated.

Federal tax and FICA both come out of a W-2 paycheck, but they're calculated differently. Here's how the two combine.

1099 income comes with no automatic withholding and an extra self-employment tax most first-timers don't budget for. Here's the real math.

A big tax refund feels like a win, but it usually means you gave the government an interest-free loan all year. Here's the real math.

Holding an investment for just one extra day can change your tax rate dramatically. Here's the math behind why.