(New York)

While some New Yorkers prepaid their property taxes last year in an effort to offset the decline of SALT deductions this year, others weren’t so proactive. Now that Washington has blocked states’ ability to work a loophole around classifying taxes as charitable giving, residents of high tax states may have a small window of opportunity—just 4 days—to avoid full taxes. The new regulations will take effect on August 27th, which means residents have until then to donate to the tax-charity funds which have been established.

FINSUM: Such last minute payments could be challenged after the fact, but considering the effective date of the new regulations, they seem like they would go through.

(New York)

It looks like JP Morgan is trying to eat Schwab and Fidelity’s lunch, and the latter’s stock prices show it this week. The mega bank announced that it would offer free stock trading to its clients, allowing 100 free trades a year for most, and unlimited free trades for some. That is a huge change for a bank that formerly charged $24.95 per trade as late as last year. JP Morgan has 47 million online customers, who will now have free trading access. Reacting to the move, the VP of marketing for Interactive Brokers said “Banks and brokers that give away so-called free or cheap trades make their money by paying next to nothing on idle balances, executing trades at inferior prices, and charging exorbitant borrowing fees, which is costly to those that don't do their homework”.

FINSUM: That is a pretty sharp response from Interactive Brokers, and one that sounds true. Still, this is a sign of changing times where trading will soon become largely free.

(New York)

We saw an article that caught our eye today. How does earning a 1.8% yield on cash sound? If that sounds enticing, consider putting some money in Betterment’s new Smart Saver option. Betterment is seeking to compete with digital banks, who have been boosting interest payouts recently, by offering a product for cash that might be stagnating in a savings account. The yield is backed by a mix of 80% short-term US Treasury bonds and 20% US short-term investment bonds. The only catch is that the account is not FDIC insured, which is a hindrance compared to some bank accounts which are offering comparable yields and are FDIC insured.

FINSUM: This seems like a good offering in principle. Betterment’s argument against the competition is that unlike banks, their holdings directly track the Fed instead of being artificially manipulated to optimize net interest margin.