The most tumultuous year in recent memory—2020—may have come to an end, but we still have to file taxes for it. Before you begin accounting for last year's ups and downs, it's important to understand how the impacts of 2020 may affect your tax return in order to maximize your potential refund and prepare for any tax liabilities. From unemployment claims to new tax credits, learn the answers to five important questions many taxpayers are asking this year.

Small saving moves now can significantly impact early retirement outcomes.

A large influx of funds—an annual bonus, inheritance or capital gains from a property sale—can move the early retirement savings needle, but it’s everyday savings habits that can have the biggest impact. That’s because consistent small savings and debt repayment actions often create forward-moving momentum while building net worth over time.

Managing your nest egg isn’t one distinctive event – it’s an ongoing process that needs to reflect life’s changes throughout retirement.

Last year, most of us started with the same basic financial goals that are common in every new year: build an emergency fund, pay off debt, continue contributing to a retirement fund and maybe increase income. Nobody realized that 2020, for many of us, might be the “rainy day” for which we’d planned for so long.

The decade before you retire is often crunch time for many would-be golden agers. It’s often a last-chance opportunity to fine-tune a plan that can set a successful retirement in motion. Still, many late-stage careerists aren’t sure exactly which steps they should take during those latter years—or how small course corrections can sometimes lead to large lifestyle wins. To get started, consider these four easy-to-enact retirement strategy boosters. 

Good-bye nine-to-five, hello golden years.

It’s never too soon to start saving for retirement but if you want to retire early, you’ll likely have to do some extra planning. That’s because traditional retirement planning advice—namely to save an annual 10 percent of income—may not be enough to fund a longer post-career plan, particularly if a pricey hobby or extensive travel is on the agenda.