Tax-Exempt Interest

Think: muni bond. You're earning interest...on which you pay no tax.

What's the catch? Like...how can this be so good? You get money and don't have to pay The Man or The Wom. Well, the catch is that the interest rates are generally really low. And the broader purpose? Well, when a muni bond is offered, it's usually targeted for some public good that "everyone" wants. So it makes sense that, for the public good, investors would get a break, as well as the city and the voters. Hence the whole notion of tax-exempt here.

This country has a history of doing good by do-gooders. Famous example: Jonas Salk cured polio in the 1940s (terrible disease; you're lucky you probably don't know what this is, and no, it has nothing to do with Ralph Lauren). But the Prez at the time, FDR, was so appreciative of Salk's curing of it (the Prez had it as well, hence the wheelchair), that he told Jonas he no longer owed any Federal taxes. All was forgiven for the rest of his life. How cool is that?