"I can't play golf five, six days a week. I've got to have something else to do," he said. "But what's that something else going to be?

Despite how easy commercial tax software has made it to file by yourself, the growing complexity of tax filing is convincing more Americans to pay someone for help.

For charities, a big advantage is that baby boomers holding lots of assets in traditional IRAs have a new way to make large donations to beloved causes and get something back.

Looking back, Fischer said she became a psychiatrist to understand the mysteries of the human brain. Over the course of about 11 months, she became a mystery to herself. “You know you’re wasting your life or time or money,” she said. “You just can’t get out.”

Does it matter for your taxes if you spend $500 on your hobby, or if you spend the same amount promoting your side hustle where you earn extra money? It sure does. If your activity is a hobby, your expenses are not tax deductible. But if you are running a business (even a very small business), you can write off your expenses.

You can trigger significant tax and other costs when withdrawing money from 401(k) programs before retirement age.