What records and documents should you keep in case the IRS ever decides to audit you—and for how long should you keep them? Here’s some advice to consider: The standard statute of limitations is three years, but the IRS can audit up to six years after a filing if it suspects underreporting of income by more than 25 percent. If auditors find fraud, or if you fail to file a return at all, there is no statute of limitations. For this reason, many tax advisers recommend hanging on to your tax returns forever. Then, if the IRS claims it has…

We pre-approved $549,631.50 worth of loans during our four-hour Pre-Presidents’ Day Auto Loan event on Saturday, February 11. To prepare members for Presidents’ Day Auto Sales, we opened our phone lines, online services, and doors (Clark, NJ and Jamaica, NY locations) for a special loan event, held from 8:00 a.m. – noon last Saturday. All members who were pre-approved during the event were mailed packets which contained their certificate of pre-approval; a Skip-a-Pay voucher, good for two free Skip-a-Pays; a Refer-a-Friend voucher, enabling the pre-approved member to let their family and friends in on great rates and prizes, and an additional incentive of $5 for each referred loan; a “Dealership Tips” sheet, which listed negotiating tactics and information on Aspire’s Member Showroom, which saves members an average of over $4,000 off MSRP on new vehicles; and an ice scraper giveaway. There were also Dunkin Donuts gift cards given out every…

The details of our financial lives can be tricky, and without a clear road map it’s easy to feel lost. Changes in tax laws and the family structure offer potential complications in how we handle our money, so heed these tips as you make financial plans for the future. Invest. If you have extra money after paying the bills and funding tax-deferred retirement plans to the max (and perhaps socking away a few dollars for your kids’ college tuition), think about investing what’s left. In the long run, you’re likely to find compounding returns far more rewarding. Assess your financial relationship. As your financial relationship with your spouse matures, consider combining more of your assets, opening investment accounts for retirement purposes or your kids’ college costs, and diversifying your investment strategies. It doesn’t mean that you have to merge all of them (and remember that 401(k) and IRA plans can’t…

If you’re thinking about taking advantage of Presidents’ Day Auto Sales, there is one piece of advice we would like to give you: don’t finance with the dealer! Dealers will tell you anything to sell you the vehicle, but what they won’t tell you is that their 0% interest rate may end up costing you more than what you’ll pay by financing with Aspire. Members who finance with Aspire instead of the dealer save an average of $2,000 over the life of their loan. Plus, you have the opportunity to shop for your vehicle in our Member Showroom at aspirefcu.zag.com,…