Everything Finance: April 2008

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Carnival of Everything Finance: # 17

Welcome to the April 22, 2008 edition of Carnival of Everything Finance.

We had over 110 really good articles submitted for this edition. Unfortunately I could not include all of them.

I hope you enjoy reading these articles.

Earning Money

James Lee presents The 3 Types of People Who Can Help You Create an Idea Virus – Which One Are You? posted at Online Business Freedom

David B. Bohl presents What?s a Mentor and Where Do I Find One? posted at Slow Down Fast Today!

LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS presents How I Made $2,667 In Passive Income In March ?08 posted at LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS

David B. Bohl presents SOHO BizTube Column: If the Economy is on the Downturn is Life on the Upswing? posted at Slow Down Fast Today!

Cindy King presents Why You Need To Internationalize Your Own Communication First To Avoid Cultural Blunders posted at Get International Clients

James Lee presents The Seduction Game… of Marketing posted at Online Business Freedom

MoneyKing (Tim) presents The Real Secret: The Easiest Way To Make Money. posted at The Money Kings - RULE your money at home, at work, and at play!

Tisha presents How to Get the Most Money Out of Your Paycheck posted at American Consumer News

Everything Else Finance

Jeremy Zongker presents Are Low Interest Credit Cards Really a Good Deal? posted at Creditor Web

Nadege presents Learn why allocating your paycheck is the key to becoming wealthy posted at fabulous finances

Sagar presents Are Bernanke?s Hands Tied? 8 Reasons the US May Be in Worse Trouble Than You Think posted at Currency Trading.net

Lin Burress presents How To Stop Enabling: When Our Grown Children Disappoint Us posted at Telling It Like It Is

Chelsy Albertson presents Saving Money During College posted at Earn Money - Earning Money From Home

Jeremy Zongker presents All I Really Needed to Know About Managing Money I Learned From Music posted at Destroy Debt

nickel presents Readers’ Choice: The Best High-Yield Online Savings Banks posted at fivecentnickel.com

Sarah presents Tips To Save Money On Vacations posted at Tips To Save Money. Learn To Be Frugal

Life. Money. Development. presents The 7 Attributes of Leadership posted at Life. Money. Development.

KCLau presents How to Identify and Invest in the Hot Stocks of Tomorrow posted at KCLau's Money Tips

Amy S Quinn presents Top 25 Most Influential People in Forex posted at Currency Trading.net

Fuel Efficient Driver presents I Want Better Gas Mileage » Blog Archive » E85 Ethanol Vehicles posted at Getting Better Gas Mileage

Ken Clark, CFP presents Mother's Day: Shop for Mom and Save for College posted at Saving for College - About.com

Michael Bass presents What You Should Know About Credit Cards posted at Debt Prison

Jose DeJesus MD presents Business Loans - How to Get Funding for Your Business posted at Physician Entrepreneur

Sam presents Payday Loans are Expensive. Here are Dozens of Alternatives ! Surfer Sam posted at Surfer Sam and Friends

Matthew Paulson presents Your Finances: When Is Bankruptcy the Answer? posted at American Consumer News

Debt Freedom Fighter presents Sitting in a Financial Mess? Here’s How to Get Out posted at Discover Debt Freedom!

Charles H. Green presents Great Moments in Self-Regulation: Financial Planners and CFP Board posted at Trust Matters

Barb A. Ryan presents 1 - Your Personal Financial Planning Skills posted at Pasadena Financial Planner

George L Smyth presents One Minute How-To - How To Deal With Losing Your Job posted at George L Smyth

Praveen presents The IRS Are Humans, Too... posted at My Simple Trading System

changeyourtree presents 6 Concepts You Must Teach Your Child Before Age 18 (Part 1 of 6): Personal Finance posted at Change Your Tree

Matthew Paulson presents Taxes: When You Owe But Can’t Pay posted at American Consumer News

LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS presents Tax Benefits Of Passive Income posted at LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS

Brice Hogan presents The Way to Financial Independence | Financialzip.com posted at Financialzip.com

presents Retirement is not for everyone posted at HelpMyCashGrow.com

Frederic Premji presents 25 Fun & Insightful Quotes About Money posted at BlogMotivation.com

The Happy Rock presents Find Out The Delivery Date Of Your IRS Stimulus Package posted at The Happy Rock

Mr Credit Card presents Zero Interest Credit Cards to Avoid posted at Ask Mr Credit Card's Blog

Charles H. Green presents 30 Minutes, 30 Cents, 30 Billion: Fragmenting Business posted at Trust Matters

Todd presents Avoid Middle-Class Land Mines posted at HarvestingDollars

Vera Lang presents Product Liability or Professional Indemnity ~ Which is Best for You? posted at Be Safe Insure .com

Investing

Richard M. Rothschild presents Bond Market Index Funds posted at Bond Market Index Funds

Larry Russell presents Objective Personal Finance Answers Are Hard to Find posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog

Frank Vertin presents Top 10 S and P 500 Index Funds posted at NO LOAD INDEX FUND

Dave presents The Dow Jones Average In Euros and Gold - Vox posted at Cheapo Groovo

Dobromir presents Diversification Matters posted at Create Rising Passive Income From Dividend Paying Stocks

A.J. Brown presents Why You Should Be a Lazy Trader posted at A.J. Brown's Options Trading Blog

The Dividend Guy presents Returns of Growth Versus Value Stocks posted at The Dividend Guy Blog

FIRE Getters presents Etrade's Quickplan - Personalized & Easy Retirement Planning! posted at FIRE Finance

Phil B. presents Health > Wealth posted at Phil for Humanity

Four Pillars presents The Little Book of Value Investing posted at Quest For Four Pillars

Jessica Donnovan presents How to Make a Fortune on the Stock Markets posted at Samuel Blankson Books

Mark Runta presents Are You Ready for the Next Bubble? posted at Smart Investing & Money Management

miracletech presents It’s harder to become a Day Trader than a Surgeon posted at TuffTrade

Randy Laboy presents How To Choose a Mutual Fund posted at Get and Invest Money.Com

Phillip Lyon presents Should You Short Stocks? posted at Intelligent Speculator

The Shark Investor presents Passive Investing vs. Growing Assets posted at The Shark Investor

Abdulrasool Sumar presents 401k Plans for a Small Business Owner posted at 401k

Real Estate & Mortgage

Dorian Wales presents The Personal Financier: How to Make Sure this is your Dream Home: 7 Practical Tips posted at Personal Financier

Dan Melson presents The Difference Between Note Rate (APY) and APR posted at Searchlight Crusade

Roshawn Watson presents Is Home Ownership Still a Good Investment » Propeller posted at Propeller.com Hot Stories

Joe Manausa presents Creative Home Selling - Taking A Lesson From Wall Street posted at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog

Joshua Dorkin presents Fuels Costs, High Gas Prices and the Real Estate Investor posted at Real Estate Investing For Real

EA presents Simple Solution to the Mortgage Problem posted at Freezing in NH

Helen Anderson presents 5 Tips for Buying a Home in a Down Market at Best CD (Certificate of Deposit) Rates, Money Market Rates, High Interest Accounts posted at Bankaholic

Joe Manausa presents Selling Your Home - Single Most Import Fact You Must Know posted at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog

Vera Lang presents Flood Insurance: ‘Home Insurance - Avoid a Washout’ | Be Safe Insure .com posted at Be Safe Insure .com

Saving Money

Wenchypoo presents This Just In: 7 Money Rules You Can Ignore posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket

David B. Bohl presents 5 Ways to Reduce Tax Stress Next Year posted at Slow Down Fast Today!

Sam Carrara presents Save Money at the Supermarket posted at Sam Carrara's Marketing Education

Jenny presents The Green Life posted at the so called me

Dorian Wales presents How to Make Saving More Rewarding and Tangible: 5 Practical Tips posted at Personal Financier

George L Smyth presents One Minute How-To - How To Get The Best Deal With Currency Exchange posted at George L Smyth

Debt Freedom Fighter presents 5 Tips To Get Out Of Debt And Stay That Way posted at Discover Debt Freedom!

presents Brighter Sides & Greener Grass posted at HelpMyCashGrow.com

Shopping

Patrick A. Sizemore presents 10 Guilt-Free Splurges for Students posted at College Information for Smart Students

Mark Runta presents The Magic of Marketing posted at Smart Investing & Money Management

Josh Lien presents Amazon Shopping Tips to Save Money posted at Spin Your Wheels

Spending Wisely

Wenchypoo presents Inflation—Here We Go Again posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket

chica with issues presents The importance of having wiggle room in your budget posted at Bumblefucked

ChristianPF presents How to watch HD TV on your computer posted at Money in the Bible | Christian Personal Finance Blog

Debt Freedom Fighter presents How to Avoid Ever Having To Go Into Debt posted at Discover Debt Freedom!

hank presents My Comcast bill is $160.24 per month; what am I possibly paying for!? posted at My Investing Blog

debbie presents How I Stretch My Dollars...and You Can, Too posted at Destroy Debt

Stocks

Investing Angel presents Studying The Stock Market Trends During Recession » Free Stock Market Investing Tips posted at Stock Tips

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of everything finance using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of everything finance, blog carnival.

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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Starting a Business: Top 10 Do's and Don'ts

TOP TEN DO'S

1. Live frugally and begin saving up money for operating your business.
2. Learn your business by working for someone else in the same business first.
3. Consider the benefits of starting a moonlight business.
4. Consider the advantages of operating a family business.
5. Objectively measure your skills and training against potential competition.
6. Consider subcontracting to low cost suppliers if you're manufacturing a product.
7. Test market your product or service before starting or expanding.
8. Make "for" and "against" list describing the business you are in or considering.
9. Talk to lots of people for advice.
10. Make a comparative analysis of all opportunities you are considering.

TOP TEN DON'TS

1. Quit your job before you have completed start-up plans.
2. Consider operating a business in a field you do not enjoy.
3. Risk all the family assets. Limit your liabilities to a predetermined amount.
4. Compete with your employer in a moonlight business.
5. Be in a hurry to select a business. There is no penalty for missed opportunities.
6. Select a business that is too high a risk or hurdle. Go for the 2-foot hurdle.
7. Operate a business in which you must have the lowest price to succeed.
8. Neglect to learn the negative aspects of an intended business.
9. Permit entrepreneurial self-confidence to outweigh careful diligence.
10. Allow the promise of a conceptual high reward deter reality testing first.

Related Posts:

8 Steps to setup a Business Paypal Account

Bank of America Coupon codes

How Come That Idiot’s Rich and I’m Not?

Thursday, April 17, 2008

12 different Taxes that Americans Pay!

I found this list at 12DaysOfTaxes and thought it was an interesting read.

1) Income Taxes

The United States income tax is usually the first thing people think of when they hear the word tax. That is because between Federal and State taxes some Americans loose as much as 35% of their paychecks to income taxes.

2) Business Taxes

Also known as corporate taxes, these are direct taxes levied on the profits of businesses. Expenses that are deemed necessary to the business can usually be deducted to lower the amount of profits subject to taxation.

3) Payroll Taxes

These are the taxes that must be deducted from wages paid to employees, and the employer usually must match the amounts. Some payroll taxes include federal withholdings, disability insurance, Medicare, and other state withholdings.

4) Capital Gains Taxes

In the United States a tax is levied on all income generated from a taxpayer’s capital gains, which are profits from the sale of an asset that was purchased at a lower price. Alternatively, if a taxpayer suffers from capital losses they can deduct the full loss amounts. The most common capital gains are created from the sale of stocks, bonds, and property.

5) Inheritance Taxes

The inheritance tax – a/k/a the “death tax” – is a tax that arises from the death of a taxpayer. It is imposed on the transfer of any property or asset transferred as the result of a death. However, when they are left to a spouse or a charity, the tax usually does not apply.

6) Sales Taxes

Consumption taxes – a/k/a sales tax – are levied at the point of purchase for specific goods and services. It is usually a percentage determine by the levels of government charging the tax. Due to individual state and local taxes, the exact rate you pay will vary widely by location.

7) Property Taxes

Property taxes are imposed on property by reason of its ownership. Typically, these taxes are paid on real estate. However, property taxes can also be paid on personal property, such as boats, automobiles, recreational vehicles, and other business inventories.

8) Excise Taxes

Any tax that is based on the value of the product being taxed is considered an excise tax. They are based on the quantity of the product. Common examples include those levied on gasoline, cigarettes, taxes, and even those on CD-R's and DVD-R's that are paid to copyright owners.

9) Gift Taxes

A gift tax is a one that is levied on the transfer of property by one taxpayer to another while receiving either nothing or something with a less than equal value in return. Selling something at less than it’s full value or making an interest-free or reduced interest loan, may qualify as making a gift. The IRS’s general rule is that any gift is a taxable gift. However, there are many exceptions.

10) Retirement Taxes

All taxes levied by the government to plan for a taxpayer’s retirement could be considered retirement taxes. In the United States we pay into a social security system that provides income to retired workers from the general fund. Our tax is regressive as we all pay the same rate up to a specific cap. Then all income above the cap is not taxes.

11) Tariffs

An import or export tariff is one that is paid by the movers of any good through a political border. Typically, it is used to “encourage” local businesses and “discourage” the purchase of foreign goods, by increasing the price for the foreign goods. Consider this when you are looking at buying a car as tariffs can increase the cost of a vehicle manufactured outside the U.S.

12) Tolls

Tolls are fees charged to drivers who cross through designated bridges, tunnels, and even some roads. They are almost always paid in fixed amounts each time you drive pass through the restricted area. Tolls are typically used fund state projects but can also be used for privately funded projects.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

5 Steps to Organize your Work Day Efficiently

It’s 10:38am and you are on a roll. You are so deeply involved in your work, that you barely notice the world around you. You are in the zone. You just need to verify the date on that invoice…but where is that invoice? It was right there a second ago. Nothing throws off your concentration faster that disorganization. You may have to spend the next 10 minutes looking through drawers, the piles on your desk and maybe even the recycling bin to see if it accidentally ended up there.

Are you one of those people who say they have their ‘own’ filing system? This usually is just a cover for ‘I basically know what each of these various piles are here for and can probably tell you what’s in some of them.’ There is no telling how much time can be lost in a day due to disorganization. Imagine if every time you needed something, it was right where it was supposed to be. What a time saver that would be! If you are trying to find a way to avoid losing precious minutes out of your day trying to find that file, email, invoice or pen, the following tips may be valuable to you.

1. File everyday
Don’t let papers build up on your desk. Piles of paper sitting on your desk not only hamper your efficiency, they create stress as well. Imagine sitting down to work with nothing but your current project on your desk. Now imagine it (if it doesn’t already resemble this) with piles of work everywhere. You can feel the stress those piles create. Set aside 15 minutes each day to create files, label them clearly and set up a filing system or just keep them in alphabetical order. This will be a great time saver the next time that you are looking for that invoice. The 15 minutes a day you put into this will be regained and then some in the time that you don’t have to spend searching for things.

2. Organize your computer files
Just as you set up a filing system for your papers, you need to arrange a filing system on your computer. Not being able to find a document on your computer is every bit as frustrating as losing one on paper. But this is very easily avoided, since every time you save a document on your computer, you are asked where you would like to save it. If you have just been randomly saving your work wherever your computer prompts you to, it’s time to clean up. Create folders for larger topics and subfolders within each topic. For example, if you work with contracts, have one folder called ‘contracts’, and within this folder have a subfolder where you keep your contract templates called ‘templates’ and other subfolders for each of your clients where you can store copies of the contracts you have with each customer. You should also regularly organize your desktop in order to avoid sitting and staring at it unproductively for long periods. You need to eliminate the clutter on your desktop by erasing any shortcuts for programs that you don’t use often. This will enable you to quickly access your frequently used programs.

3. Make to-do lists
Do you ever feel so overwhelmed with work that you don’t even know where to begin? Making a to-do list at the start of each work day is such a simple step, but will help enormously to keep you on track. You will avoid starting one task only to realize that you have something more important that needs to be done first. I personally have found to-do lists to be the most effective time saver and I am constantly amazed at how doing such a small thing as creating a list makes me a great deal more efficient.

4. Be neat
It’s incredibly simple and amazingly effective at saving you time. Put things back in their place when you are finished with them. There is nothing more irritating than having to stop working in order to find your pen. If you don’t have them already, find some organizational objects for your desk such as, a cup for your pens, a box for your paperclips and an in-box for your newest tasks. Keep the supplies you use frequently such as staples, staplers, highlighters and hanging file folder tabs in one easily accessible place.

5. Keep a calendar
With all of the responsibilities you have in a day, you can’t possibly expect to remember everything. A calendar will keep you on track and help you to avoid missing important meetings, appointments and even family events. If you use Microsoft Outlook, and have your computer on throughout the day, use its calendar or you can find many free calendar programs online. Just do a Google search for ‘free online calendars’. If you don’t work at your computer all day, consider buying an agenda to keep you on track, or a handheld such as a Palm Pilot or Pocket PC, or check if your cell phone has a calendar you can use.

Organization is the key to efficiency. Using these few simple steps will help your work day run considerably smoother. Taking the time to get organized is just the first step. Maintaining organization is the solution for helping you to remain effective in your work. Take charge of your time by following these tips, it will cost you little time, but will ultimately save you considerable hours.

Related Posts:

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Bank of America Coupon codes

How Come That Idiot’s Rich and I’m Not?

How to track business expenses during Start-Up phase

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Vanguard's Investment Approach

I'm a big fan of Vanguard and thats why I have my Roth IRA as well as my daughter's education account with them. There are many reasons why I like their investment style and the wide array of funds that they offer. I have mentioned these here at Saving for Kids College Education
and Best Kept secrets of financial planning.

I recently found their written and followed investment approach and thought that I should share it with my readers. Here it is:

Although we offer many strategies with both internally and externally managed funds, common themes run through the investment advice we provide our clients. Indeed, these tenets have been a part of the company since our inception and are embedded in Vanguard's culture. We've distilled our philosophy into nine statements, which are presented here. For Vanguard, they represent both the past and the future-enduring principles that guide the investment decisions we help our clients make.

Vanguard believes that:

Investing is for meeting long-term goals; savings is for meeting short-term goals.
Broad diversification, with exposure to all parts of the stock and bond markets, reduces risk.
An investor's most important decision is selecting the mix of assets to be held in a portfolio, not selecting the individual investments themselves.
Consistently outperforming the financial markets is extremely difficult.
Minimizing costs is vital for long-term investment success.
Investors should know how each investment fits into their plans and why they own that particular asset.
Risk has many dimensions, and investors should weigh "shortfall risk"-the possibility that a portfolio will fail to meet longer-term financial goals-against "market risk", or the chance that returns will fluctuate.
Market-timing and performance-chasing are losing strategies.
An investor should not expect future long-term returns to be significantly higher or lower than long-term historical returns for various asset classes and subclasses.

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