sharon epperson joins us with five days to save on your tax bill no matter your income. great to see you. >> great to be here. tax time. >> tax time. things you are thinking of. what do we forget to think of? >> often, a lot of people think deductions we hear of won't be able to take advantage. do we make too much money. we are seeing itemized deductions phased out. some deductions everyone can take advantage of if they apply to you. one is deducting moving expenses. change jobs. just started your first job. moved to a job. usually, out of statement. you can deduct moving expenses. something that people want to consider. and the other thing they don't consider. yes, we had a good year. in the stock market. 2013. you may have a capital loss dedd deducti deduction. or a big loss in a prior year that you need to carry over. so that is something that you can take advantage of, up to $3,000. >> and more than 30% mail. not occur. you have things you could write off. >> exactly. you can carry that over, for a couple years. want to kid that if you have had big losses in previous

for "nightly business report," i'm sharon epperson in houston. >>> coming up, what sales of bulldozer, backhoes and other big machines are saying about the global economy. that's next. >>> americans love getting new cars, but we are borrowing more now than ever just to own one. experion automotive reports that in the final quarter of 2013, the average amount borrowed by new car buyers, get this, topped $27,000 for the first time. that's the average loan. the reason is the combination of higher sticker prices for new cars. they now average around 32 grand. rising rates for loans and people stretching out the loans to five or six, in some cases even seven years. >>> you won't find any cars at this year's conn ex-poe but you will see all the newest and largest constructions vehicles, farm gear and earth-moving equipment on the market. this comes as some heavy equipmentmakers like caterpillar see their shares close up on 52-week highs. jane wells has more on the outlook for sales of construction equipment and which markets are the hottest. >> reporter: big machines can tell you a lot abou

personal finance reporter sharon epperson joins us with five ways to save on your tax bill, no matter your income. sharon, great to see you. >> great to be here. it's tax time. >> it's tax time. what do we often forget to think of? >> a lot of the deductions we hear about, do we make too much money, because we are seeing some of those itemized deductions phased out, but some you can take advantage of, and one of them is deducting your moving expenses if you changed jobs, moved to a job, usually it has to be out of state, you can deduct those moving expenses, so that's something people want to consider. the other thing they don't consider, yes, we had a good year in the stock market in 2013, but you may have a capital lost deduction from sale in an investment property or big loss in a prior year that you need to carry over. that's something that you can take advantage of, up to $3,000. >> year in the market's up 30%, may not occur you could have things you could write off. >> exactly, you want to consider that if you've had big losses in previous years or if you sold an investment prop

but first here's sharon epperson with the sobering details of the state of retirement planning or unplaning in america. >> reporter: most americans aren't even close to being financially prepared to retire. >> i can't save for my retirement. because of my bills. >> i'm not really thinking about planning for retirement yet but i probably should. >> i'm not thinking about it. focused on right now. >> reporter: more than one-third of americans have less than $1,000 in savings and investments according to a new survey from the employee benefits and research institute. of 6 /* /- fewer than half have done calculation to figure out how much they should be saving. their confident in retiring comfortably has increased. up from 13% last year. why the change? the increase in confidence is almost exclusively among those with higher incomes or those who are in a retirement plan more than a third of workers with household incomes of $75,000 or more feel very confident. >> i think the message, people who are taking action are the ones that are feeling more confident. >> reporter: but financial advisers s

we're going to talk about it with sharon epperson just ahead.take care. >> see you tomorrow. the clock is ticking, the retirement clock. the reality of that clock is counting down on 9/everyone in this country. up next, sharon epperson will join us. she has the latest report on the state of retirement. it's news you need to know even if it's not very good news. we'll be right back. what if a small companyigh. became big business overnight? ♪ like, really big... then expanded? ♪ or their new product tanked? ♪ or not? what if they embrace new technology instead? ♪ imagine a company's future with the future of trading. company profile. a research tool on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. a research tool on thinkorswim. sometimes they just drop in. always obvious. cme group can help you navigate risks and capture opportunities. we enable you to reach global markets and drive forward with broader possibilities. cme group: how the world advances. [ banker ] sydney needed some financial guidance so she could take her dream to the next level. so we talke

joining me with tax tips for every life stage, is personal finance correspondent, sharon epperson. you for being here today. >> my pleasure. >> why don't we start off with people who were either newly engaged or newly married. are there thij things they cou doing? >> newly married couples need to think of filing their taxes do ways. married filing jointly. which are the best options, best savings? two working people in the, marriage. then it is going to be better to file married, filing jointly. if some one is making more money. more income. got to do it both ways. and a lot of folks when they're single. claim the standard deduction. think about claiming perhaps, itemizing your deductions. that will give you a bigger savings. >> a really good point. makes sense to run the numbers both ways. you could see a significant change in what you are paying. >> you could. >> talk about parents. a new parent what do you get. >> new parent. gement $3,900 personal exception for the child. >> not bad. not bad at all. phase-out limits for credits. deductions. think about child tax credit. may qua

sharon epperson is at the ihs conference. r to you. >> reporter: thank you, mandy. of course, freesport lng will start constructing at the end of this year a $14 billion export terminal here in texas and with plans to get that gas online by 2018. i'm joined by the ceo, michael smith. of course, much of the talk here at this conference has been on russiaç and the ukraine. you say u.s. natural gas exports could help to neutralize russia. how will that happen and when? >> certainly by the end of the decade, russia supplies europe with over 30% of their natural gas and for germany, well over 50%. lng from the united states by the end of the decade could supplant about 10% of that. so it would be very, very helpful. >> freeport lng last week had a $100 billion plus investment from some asian firms into this export facility, many of your customers will be in asia. how can freeport lng in particular gain market share in europe? >> most of our customers plan on bringing it to asia which is the highest priced market. i can tell you ju

sharon epperson talking with two big companies now making plans to do just that. e joins us live in houston. hi, sharon. >> reporter: hi, sue. ceos of some of the major oil and gas companies in europe are really looking for investments overseas, including iran. i spoke to the ceo of totale in france, who said they are definitely interested in investing in iran under the right conditions. >> even on what we call the interim period, we might start discussing. we will not invest, we will not negotiate new terms until we can do it. >> reporter: the ceo of italy's eni was the first western oil company ceo to meet with iran's oil minister once that preliminary nuclear deal was reached last year at the end of last year. he says he applauds iran's decision to retool the terms of their business model and in terms of enticing more investment in iran's energy sector, but he says there are definitely some changes that need to be made before he's interested in making new investments. p>> the contact which has been prevailing in iran were under the name of buy-back. this contrac

sharon epperson is in houston, texas at ihs week. e has an exclusive interview with bhp billiton's ceo, andrew mckenzie. sharon? >> reporter: of course, much of the discussion here at this conference has turned from talking about global competition to of course conflict in ukraine and the tensions between russia and the west, and that is a focus i would like to start with with you, andrew mckenzie, ceo of bhp billiton. you do not have operations in russia, nor do you do much business in russia, but still, what is happening there, what is transpiring will have an impact on the global energy landscape. how do you see it? >> we do everything with a very long term perspective. so most of our investments, we are making for several decades. we use that long term crisis deck to decide that. we like everybody else just have to wait to see what happens over the next few weeks and what that means for the global economy and the trade in our goods and services. >> sue was talking about the fluctuations in share price and there have been brokerage

if it's a big energy conference, sharon epperson must be there. she is joined by the ceo of trans-canada. >> that's right, brian. i am here with wes girling and all the topics you mention are key themes here. of course, russia and ukraine are at the top of every conversation and to start by talking to you about that, has that increased perhaps any of the indication that you may be getting from washington that we are going to see approval of the keystone pipeline any soon sner sooner? >> we haven't heard anything directly from washington on that issue. the fundamental basis for building the pipeline was first and foremost, to provide secure supply from reliable neighbor and displace foreign barrels coming from places like venezuela. the bonus on top of that was you would get jobs and economic development at the same time. the most fundamental thing that the pipeline is built for was to provide energy security for the united states. >> it's always been a strategic importance where we are in terms of the time line for the approval of this. you say pe

here to talk taxes is cnbc personal finance correspondent sharon epperson.e. >> great to be here. >> the moral of the story is file your tax returns. >> don't leave the money on your table. you have three years to file an amended return. if you find things and say, wait, i could have saved on this last year, think about filing an amended return, but do it within three years. >> let's talk about this year's return, because there are ways to save money. depends on where you are in your life. let's startnewlyweds. >> a lot has changed in your life. one thing is you're going to have to do your taxes two ways to figure out the best option. there are two options. married filing jointly or married filing separately. this is particularly important for newlyweds who are same-sex couples because this is the first time they can file their taxes this way under the irs rule. a lot of single people also take the standard deduction, which may not be what you want to do if you're a married couple. think about itemizing. >> let's talk about panchts. some of those rules have

get cracking. >> sharon epperson, thank you very much.weet away, use #todaymoney. >>> up next, new hope on a story tied to adoption that generated a massive response from our viewers. but first, this is "today" on nbc. >>> we're back now at 8:52. last fall, we partnered with reiters for a series of stories where parents go on the internet and search for strangers to take their unwanted adoptive children. many from overseas. >> this story disturbed a lot of people. there's little government regulation of it. our reports received so much reaction, we kept digging. and kate snow is back with an update. and i'm happy to say good news, too. >> good news, carson and savannah. so many people wondered how to stop this underground online world. so in a moment, we're going to talk about a program working to support parents. but first, a reminder of what we're talking about. reiters cataloged 5,000 posts on message boards and went looking for the one girl who was advertised more than any other. >> she's too much for us. >> reporter: last fall, reite

cnbc contributor stephanie link, nathan bachrach from simply money advisers, sara eisen and sharon epperson also with us for more on today's events, michael borman, the ceo of franklin square and our very own rick santelli. welcome to all of you. rick, since we haven't heard from you in a couple hours since the fed's statement first hit, what you do you make of janet yellen's press conference? >> you know, i thought she did a very good job, but to me it's not -- i have to admit, i'm not looking for poise. i'm not looking for the empathy. all those are fine qualities. i'm just there for the steak and potatoes, okay? and with regard to that avenue, i really don't think we learned a lot more. forward guidance or forecasts a couple years down the road would be like talking to a horse track handicapper telling you who is going to place two years from now in a race. i don't think anybody has that kind of vision. i do think that the market -- i think the market said it all. flattening yield curve. holy cow, it was huge, and there was a lot of selling before the stateme statement, really made me sk

. >> this is sharon epperson, mr. kelly. every airline, must all planes have it? is there a certain requirement on the type of plane that has to have it? >> it is not. it's a relatively new concept. people are trying to get it put in all over the world on every airplane, but they have not done that yet. the american faa has kind of backed off a little bit on it from my understanding, but eventually by 2020 it will be probably be on every airplane. >> more data doesn't necessarily mean more answers though, right? in nearly every industry we were talking about, even when you talk about the nsa, you get all this stuff in. for example this malaysian plane, now we're learning for days later in fact they could track the plane to a different location at least according to the military. it seems to me it's not just the data, it's the people in control of the data and their training which is also crucial. >> that's right. it's not only the data, but it's how you interpret the data and who has control of the data and who ultimately wi

joining me is sharon epperson, marcus lemonis, kevin o'leary, and our very own kate kelly.gest today, guys. a lot of focus, kate, seems to be on all of a sudden it looks like, you know, is it the financials? is it tech? bob pisani just told us suddenly everyone wants to short the cloud and go long some of the emerging market space. nobody can dig out what the paradigm is. i think you're absolutely right. i have been taking a look at macrotraders and they're struggling. a lot of presumptive market moves are breaking down. of course, janet yellen last week gave a bit of a surprise in terms of her signaling about what would happen to interest rates six months after tapering stopped. so i think you're seeing strength unexpectedly in fixed income markets, especially in the markets. you're seeing sector specific shifts that weren't necessarily predictable either whether that be tech or financials. b biotech getting crushed the last few days. people are struggling to see where the traditional patterns are. >> sharon, we're not getting much help from the space you cover closely and

we're drilling into how it's really impacting the oil markets and sharon epperson is there with an exclusivemargerie. >> this has been a big topic of discussion, the situation in ukraine and russian tensions with the west. what that means for businesses that have significant interests in russia is going to be key, and christophe de margerie, the ceo of total, much to say about what total's business operations will be like in russia, in western siberia, mainly the natural gas project you have going on. what impact do you think this might have on that project? >> you know, as much of the project we are pursuing, it's a long-term project. we just decided to launch it. it will start producing if everything goes well by 2018, so four years more to come, and then we will see. so, yes, of course, i mean, what's happening is having an impact in terms of tension between countries and we cannot say we like it, but at the same time as a company, as a long-term investor in russia, we don't see it will have an impact. what we need to do is continuing our business representing our code of conduct and defi

sharon epperson is down there, and she now is joined by michael chertoff.re to talk about protecting our energy grids from cyber attacks. also, our resident security expert eamon javers is joining us for this discussion.ç sharon, please kick things off. >> let me start by saying michael chertoff is now the chairman and the co-founder of the chertoff group, a global risk management and security advisory firm, and in our session earlier today we were talking to someone who brought up the fact that the majority of cyber attacks in the u.s. is to energy infrastructure. is this a growing rick and what is being done to stop it? >> it is a growing risk and most of the attacks have been on energy infrastructure and that makes sense because there's a lot of value there. there's intellectual property, and there's always the concern that somebody with pad intent could get into the network and do some damage. >> with so much technology controlling drilling operations and wireless technology as well, that even creates a greater risk. >> anytime things are connected or

we find sharon epperson live with the latest. sharon?y underscore their need to diversify. keep in mind of course that about 30% of the gas that's consumed in europe goes through russia. 50% goes to the ukraine. they say now is the time to be looking elsewhere as well. i caught up with the ceo of one who hones pritt british gas. they're making major investments right here in the united states. >> we're a big investor in the u.s. and north america as a whole. last year we did two significant investors. one was to increase our gas production in north america. actually in western canada where we to the with partners invested over a billion dollars. >> now, i also caught up with the ceo of the italian energy giant eni. they have two major projects with russia's gazprom. they're is biggest buyer of gas from gazprom. he told me he's not worried about supply disruptions from russia. he is watching it though very closely. >> i'm not expecting major problems. i'm expecting the situation will go back to normality. but certainly the fact that it's

. >> cnbc's personal finance correspondent and our friend sharon epperson. >> you look so pretty. >> be able to deduct parking and tolls. so that can be deducted. >> one for you. >> okay, ready. >> stop smoking program, i can deduct that, the cost of that stop smoking program that i've enrolled in. true or false? >> i'm going to say true. >> you are both right. it is true. you can deduct it as part of your mental and dental expenses as long as all the mental and dental expenses exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income. >> that's what i thought. >> you knew all that. you knew all that part. my mom has dementia and lives with me. i pay a nurse to take care of her. can i deduct those expenses? can i get a credit for those expenses? true or false. >> true, can i? >> i can deduct the expenses. it is true. >> it is true? >> it is true. if your mother is dependent and lived with you for half a year, you can take a dependent care credit for the money that you spend. a lot of people dealing with elder care need to realize it. >> yes. >> they have to be able to -- >> a trick question. >> well,