Things To Do In SW Florida

By Kemberley Washington, CPA, Bankrate.com (TNS)

As the end of the year approaches, now’s the time to start preparing for filing your 2024 tax return in 2025.

When it comes to tax strategies, generally Dec. 31 is the deadline to make changes that might lower your tax bill. One major exception is the deadline for contributing to a Roth or traditional IRA: You have until April 15, 2025, to make a contribution to a Roth or traditional IRA for tax year 2024. If you qualify for deductible IRA contributions, then a contribution to your traditional IRA can reduce your taxable income for 2024.

Here are tips and strategies to prepare now for the 2025 tax-filing deadline.

1. Decide who will prepare your taxes

If you had significant changes in your life in 2024 — maybe you got married or divorced, started your own business, or had to claim unemployment benefits — your taxes may be more complicated.

By Isabel Contreras, NerdWallet

The past couple of years have been tough on consumers’ wallets. Inflation has affected groceries, gas and lots of other everyday expenses — and auto insurance is no exception.

Prices for most goods and services have started to stabilize: Year-over-year inflation stood at 2.7% in November, a dramatic difference from the peak of more than 9% during the summer of 2022. But auto insurance costs are still busting budgets. Policies were close to 13% more expensive in November compared to a year earlier, according to the latest Consumer Price Index.

If inflation is cooling, why is auto insurance so expensive? There are a couple of key contributing factors

Auto insurers are playing catch-up

An exhibit documenting Disney’s three decades of Broadway productions will be part of the upcoming 2025 Epcot International Festival of the Arts.

“Once Upon a Stage: 30 Years of Disney on Broadway” will be installed inside Epcot’s CommuniCore Hall. It will include props and costumes from musicals, plus behind-the-scenes looks at how animated films were transformed into Broadway productions.

CommuniCore Hall is a flexible-use space that opened last year in the theme park’s World Celebration neighborhood. It’s nestled between Spaceship Earth and World Showcase and includes food stations, including one called Festival Favorites, which has a rotating menu.

The festival, which runs Jan. 17-Feb. 24, is also expanding its Artful Photo Ops attraction to include a scene inspired by Disney’s animated “Moana” film.

The Disney on Broadway Concert Series returns to the festival with three new stage performers. Making their Epcot debuts will be Jelani Remy (Simba in “The Lion King”),  Rodney Ingram (“Aladdin,” in the title role) and John Riddle, the original Hans in “Frozen.” read more

The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — What a wonderful year 2024 has been for investors.

U.S. stocks ripped higher and carried the S&P 500 to records as the economy kept growing and the Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates.

The year featured many familiar winners, such as Big Tech, which got even bigger as their stock prices kept growing. But it wasn’t just Apple, Nvidia and the like. Bitcoin, gold and other investments also drove higher.

Here’s a look at some of the numbers that defined the year. All are as of Dec. 20.

1998

Remember when President Bill Clinton got impeached or when baseball’s Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run against the Montreal Expos? That was the last time the U.S. stock market closed out a second straight year with a leap of at least 20%, something the S&P 500 is on track to do again this year. The index has climbed 24.3% so far this year, not including dividends, following last year’s spurt of 24.2%.

57

The number of all-time highs the S&P 500 has set so far this year. The first came early, on Jan. 19, when the index capped a two-year comeback from the swoon caused by high inflation and worries that high interest rates instituted by the Federal Reserve to combat it would create a recession. But the index was methodical through the rest of the year, setting a record in every month outside of April and August, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The latest came on Dec. 6. read more

Universal Orlando has suspended the use of drones during “Universal CineSational,” its end-of-night show at Universal Studios theme park. The change comes on the heels of the Dec. 21 incident in which a 7-year-old boy was critically injured by a falling drone that was part of a show at Lake Eola Park in downtown Orlando.

“We have currently paused the drone component of CineSational: A Symphonic Spectacular,” reads a Universal statement distributed to media.

Drone shows scheduled for this week at Orlando World Center Marriott have been canceled.

Universal’s “CineSational” show featured 600 drones when it debuted in June. During a segment of the production, the flying units formed film-related shapes such as a “Jaws” shark, the “Ghostbusters” symbol and King Kong scaling a building.

“CineSational,” staged over the park’s lagoon and backstage, also features fireworks, projections, choreographed fountains and a cinematic soundtrack.

The show remains on Universal Studios’ schedule through Dec. 31, and it will be presented without the drone units. Show times vary between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. nightly. read more