No Show? You Might Be Banned Forever

OpenTable.com offers a great service by allowing people to make their reservations online.  Reservations are often hard to make, but easy to break.  OpenTable discourages this kind of behavior, however, by automatically deactivating accounts that have more than four no-shows within a 12-month period.  Restaurants can assign you a no-show if you (1) arrived late (usually more [...]

Get a Break on Education

Most states have their own 529 Plan and you can enroll in any of them, but make sure to weigh the benefits carefully, as some states also allow residents to deduct contributions when filing income tax returns, but only when they are made to its own 529 Plan. DC taxpayers, for example, can get a deduction of up to $4000 ($8000 for couples filing jointly when both have 529 account and made contributions) on their contribution to a DC 529 Plan when filing state taxes. There is no income limit, but no deductions are allowed for investment in other states’ 529 Plans. In contrast, since 2006 Pennsylvania taxpayers have been allowed a deduction of up to $12,000 in contributions (per taxpayer, per beneficiary) to 529 Plans from any state.