Reads from Last Week. . . .
Hey, another Sunday and a lot of Post to read. I am throwing in a lot of articles about Finance and such because it is that time of year, and I love Christmas. Yea, December and the holiday cheer. Anyway without further chattedly conversing, “. . .and here we go.”
Compensating audited taxpayers: an idea whose time has come? Now I have always wondered if anyone has thought of this but never really realized so many have. I like the idea and have noticed that many in my field also think highly of this idea, “that the government pay taxpayers whose returns are selected for audit, especially taxpayers subjected to random exhaustive audits the IRS may conduct purely for research purposes.” Yet, there is one who thanks to Mary I know wonder about, as he is opposed the idea, to the point of accusing two highly recognized Economist of smoking, well something of unknown origins. I have enjoyed reading Mary’s post on several topics and suggest this one is a great one for all to read then consider talking to your congress people about it.
I also enjoyed this Public finance puzzle also from Mary over at Bed buffaloes in your tax code.
Kay Bell writes “The investment tax is back! A few months ago, the possibility of a tax on investment transactions was floated. It didn’t go too far then. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner even noted that he “hadn’t seen a version of the tax that’d make much sense.” Now, however, with ballooning deficits, war costs to pay and health care financing about to dominate the waning days of this Congressional session, the transaction tax idea has resurfaced.
From The IRS Hitman IRS Tax Debt: Income Dropped? Two ways to Get out From Under Tax Debt and Tax Debt Myths: Real Ways to Stop an IRS Tax Levy, and Myths to Avoid.
War tax? Why stop there? A great one from Joe over at the Tax Update Blog.
If you use Paypal or another service to process credit card payments Stacie posted on the proposed regulations, something you need to know, please read her post Have You Heard About Form 1099K? Also from Stacie on her tax tips blog make sure to catch Some More Info on The Homebuyer Credit.
I haven’t, in the past, mentioned much from the Taxgirl, always just thought everyone read her stuff every day. I have since learned better of that. She always writes such wonderful pieces and easy for all to get. I still need to make better mention of this great tax blogger. Getting to the point if you are about to undergo an audit or even about to here are 7 Audit Lessons (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the IRS) Okay “Love the IRS might be a bit out there but still a worthy and informative post.
Monica hits the nail on the head in her post Just to make a point. Come on guys lets do something a bit more productive. Please?
My blogging friend and I’d dare to say mentor into the same world, Robert Writes in his Saturday buzz “Back at the ROTH AND COMPANY TAX UPDATE BLOG, Joe Kristan’s post “New Business? How Do You Go About It?” led me to “Get It Right the First Time” by Chris Branstad at IOWABIZ.COM.
It is great to have one’s professional advice supported by peers. Both Chris and Joe echo my advice on incorporating.” I couldn’t agree more. One other “Must Read” from TWTP is TAX PLANNING AND THE AMERICAN OPPORTUNITY CREDIT.
If you are not a regular reader of TickMarks please make yourself familiar with the writings there. Every year host and is Coming Soon! The Fifth Year of “Twelve Blogs of Christmas” Last week there was Twelve Blog Update: New Blogs Added. Where it was mentioned of the new site address here. Thanks Dan.
Ever wonder, 3 Reasons Why Inflation Will Not Be Stopped? Another post I found very interesting as I dive deeper into the PF world of things, Your Electric Bill – Your Price to Compare Can Mean Savings! Also posted over at A Personal Finance Guide, a great blog put together by Susan K..
You Need a Budget Pro Giveaway over at Cash Money Life. I recommend YNAB regularly so get entered to win asap. Great giveaway Patrick. I also liked his post Shopping Responsibly on Black Friday.
I wrote a post about Black Friday last year called The Idea behind the term “Black Friday”
If Black Friday wasn’t your thing I’d like to point you to Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2009 – If You Must Go Shopping, Plan Ahead. Great post Kevin.
Homemade gifts – yea or nay? A good look at this. I plan to do a few gifts that are “homemade”, anyone else out there planning this? Especially this year?
In the same light of things here are 28 Thoughtful Homemade Gift Ideas.
Here are 5 Ways to Save this Holiday Season.
Also from Living Almost Large be sure to check out Budget billing worth it? If you are considering such a thing make sure not to miss this. In case anyone is interested, I have all my utilities set up this way, at least the ones that offer it.
Two great articles from my friend over at Saving to Inve$t 401k Cash-Out For Loans vs. Hardship Withdrawals – Penalties and Taxes and Taxes and Gains I Can Exclude When Selling My Home. I love it when Andy writes about tax stuff, He does a great job and keeps me from having to add anything to what he writes. I hope Andy sticks around for a long time.
In closing I’d like to mention a fond welcome to Kim (aka Kimmer). She made her debut here in the Personal Finance arena of blogging. I am glad she has joined me here at The Missouri taxguy. Her first post Personal Finance 101: Budgeting – it doesn’t have to hurt was looked at long enough to register 786 times as of the time of my finishing this Post. Good job Kim, keep the information coming.
If you are wondering, the picture is my home/office.
Personal Finance 101: Budgeting – it doesn’t have to hurt
With the economy as it is and all that’s happening in our country and around the world, most people are looking for ways to save money, cut out waste, spend less, tighten their purse strings -whatever you want to call it. We all are trying to survive on less, to make more money or figure out ways to make what we have go further. I thought this post especially timely as the holiday season is upon us and many of us are wondering how Santa is going to make it all work this year.
There are a couple of basic things involved with managing your personal finances successfully; know how much money is coming in and how much money is going out; then make sure more is coming in then going out. It sounds easy enough but actually requires some careful planning.
A budget plan is a chart that shows you the flow of money in your everyday life. A budget can help you determine where you are overspending as well as help you adjust bad spending habits. Usually by making slight adjustments to your budget, you can create the ability to save more or free up money to make larger payments on your debts or at this time of year, buy presents for your family and friends. YAY for presents & smiles & fun & good food & egg nog!! Oops, I got a little carried away, back to the budgeting plan.
The first thing needed to create a successful budget plan is to know exactly the amount of net cash you have coming in each month. So start by gathering your paystubs, deposit slips, if you have reoccurring monthly bank deposits (alimony or child support pmts, SSA, pensions, etc). It’s a good idea to have either a monthly budget book or even an online planner. Even something as simple as an excel spreadsheet works, but you need something where you can record your expenditures and income. Start by keeping track of all your monthly living expenses and other monthly bills. There’s really no need to spend money on fancy budgeting software – you can go online and Google “budget plans” and you’ll find some great household budgets you can download, copy or print for free that are pretty good and will get you started. You can “tweak” it to fit your own expenses – there’s usually a couple miscellaneous categories already listed anyway. You can even do this on a piece of paper.
I always suggest that you start with the “known” or fixed expenses each month, like car payment(s), rent/house payment, car insurance, medical insurance, etc. and enter those. Then go to your bills that you need to get a 12-month average for, like your utilities. By looking back on your heating bills, phone & electric bills from the last year, you can get an average monthly amount and in many cases the utility companies will let you go on a monthly budget plan if that’s easier for you. If you don’t know or didn’t keep records of those bills for the last 12 months, most utility companies can get you those figures easy enough if you ask, in most cases at no cost to you, or a very minimal fee. Groceries are a little harder to determine as well as eating out so the best way for you to truly set an accurate budget is to track every single expense for at least one full month, usually two months in a row if you’re doing this for the first time or it’s been more than a couple of years since you’ve done a budget. I know it can be a pain in the behind but it helps you to get the most accurate picture of your finances and a place to begin and usually people find out they’re spending a lot more on things they don’t really need or didn’t know they were spending that much money on and it helps tremendously in giving you back control.
The other thing in creating an accurate budget plan is to remember to include all the little things most of us don’t think about, like buying a specialty coffee or latte on the way to work or a few lottery tickets a week or month, garbage pick-up, paper products, a drink or two out with friends, kids or adults lunch money each week. Lunch money can add up real quick as I found out in my house when my 3 daughters were all in 3 different schools and I was shelling out lunch money every morning. When I added it up, I had to add another category to my budget plan since it was over $150 per mth just for them! And yes sometimes I did pack their lunches but that still cost me on average $2-3 per day (about the same as hot lunch) so I still had to plan for and budget that in – and it wasn’t something I thought of at all at first.
You also really need to control your emotions and try not to “impulse buy”. I know…I know sometimes you just have to have that chocolate bar (ladies you know what I’m talkin’ about) or a Friday night beer or two after work, and by no means am I suggesting you cut out all those types of indulgences – after all, you work hard for your money and if you can’t buy a few frivilous fun things to relax or reward yourself once in awhile, then what’s it all for? I agree…but the point here is in order to make sure you have enough money at the end of a given month to be able to do those things while still paying all your bills and saving some money, then you have to first have an idea of what you’re spending and where. Most of the time people find they can save a substantial amount ($100′s per mth sometimes) by cutting out things that they really won’t even miss; like the morning latte. Or….still get a coffee on the way to work if that’s what you really like, but make it a regular for $1.50 instead of a specialty drink at $4. Or if you usually go out to lunch at work and you really enjoy it, try going out only 3 times per wk then pack some of the time. Or eat out where you know you’re likely to have leftovers. That way if it’s an $8 lunch but you can eat the rest the next day, then it now became a $4 lunch or give yourself a weekly “lunch out” budget. It might sound a bit silly but I know for me, as a single mother of 3, at times when things were so very lean, I had to do that to survive or be able to get birthday presents, and I still do the “weekly lunch out” thing – it just makes good sense to me. And none of this is complicated or has negatively impacted my daily life…I’m still feeling “fulfilled” each day whether I pack a sandwich and some fruit from home or got out with friends from work that day.
Remember to keep all receipts for 2 months and then you can go back and create an accurate budget plan. Then you can pick and choose for yourself where you want to cut things, change things in order to meet your financials goals. Whether it’s saving money for the future (which that’s a topic for another day) or coming up with money for Christmas or birthdays, a vacation fund or maybe it’s just being able to pay all your bills ontime and not feel so stressed. Whatever it is that you want to accomplish, ask yourself ”Do I really need to buy this? Can I cover it in my budget? Is it going to help me with my long term goals? Can I live without it today? We all hope to have discretionary income each month to have fun with but sometimes we have to learn to cut back temporarily (hobbies, entertainment, specialty clothes) to have more in the long run. I hope this helps – maybe even inspires you to get started today and hopefully add a few more presents under your tree this year.
Kimmer
Autumn 1621
Turkey day is finally here. So what does this mean to you?
History:
Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.
For more of a history of the day, I found this Thanksgiving History.
As a nation, we should give this the recognition it once had and still deserves.
Reads from Last week. . .
Hello all,
Well the new PC change over is going a lot smoother than I had anticipated. A few issues that I’ll explain later in this post for those who are interested.
A Small Town and A Diabolical Marketing Strategy that Sucked Me in. I love it when the stereo types are smashed. This small town obviously had a big city idea. . .
Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009. THE WHABAA is wonderfully explained in this post by my blogging friend. At least those parts of the act that affect what is important, The 1040. So for a great look at how this might affect your return this is a must read.
How to Pay Less Taxes is just what it says. A short guide that will give you the ideas you need, to ask your tax professional if different things will work for your situation. This guide holds answers to the questions What is Tax Planning?, and Why Plan Now? This post also will explain a three step way to start planning. And wait it also has 8 Great Practical Tax Planning Tips, eFile Top Tax Savings Suggestions, Some legal Tax Loopholes, and a real biggy that most people really need to read – some expenses which you may NOT be allowed to deduct. Just incase you thought this wasn’t enough, the post also holds some very good links to other tax issues that you can use to help your planning.
Okay, yes, this is a very short list, I was really backed up this past week and with the new PC install and transferring of things I don’t have much. I will highly recommend the BUZZ post written by Robert over at The Wondering Tax Pro. He regularly post two a week, this past week one on Wednesday and one on Saturday. They are both full of great reads from other bloggers.
Before I go into news about the PC change over, I’d like to announce something new coming this week. I recently posted that I was looking for others to help me get information out to you. I think I have found a Personal Finance blogger to start posting here. She is new to the blogging world but has some fantastic insight into the world of personal finance. She is hoping to get two posts out by Wednesday this week so please check back regularly, to see her début insights.
Her writings won’t be so regular, so the invitation is still out, If you are a tax enthusiast or a practiced personal finance person who wants to write about it, please contact me and I will set you up with the ability to write away, no editor, no set schedule, write when it suits you about the things you want.
All post written by you will be credited to you, and editable by you. If you’re an avid blogger and are looking for another venue, you are welcome. If you are a stay at home person and know a lot about PF or taxes and have an idea for a post then you are welcome. If you wish to remain anonymous, I can accommodate that as well. On line, I’ll set you up with a pseudonym. One of/to your liking/s.
Okay a few Rules:
post are not venues for attacks on others,
post must have something to do with Personal Finances/financing or taxes (state or federal)
Post will be deleted if posted on a Sunday after my regular post. (Meaning, if you want to post on Sunday do it before 7am or after midnight Sunday. As I want my Reads from last week to be on top all day Sunday.)
What do I get out of it? My blog gets more articles and coverage.
What do you get out of it? Well, rudely enough, what you put into it. A place to write, without the bother of hosting a site.
Please if you are interested, let me know, all are welcome.
The New PC:
The PC here in my office is undergoing a changeover. My older PC (all of four years) has served me well, but time and a great amount of use it is noticeably getting tired (and out dated). So with that in mind, and the new Window operating system, a new one is now here. All files of great importance have been moved and secured to the new.
Have had a few issues like files from tax software not wanting to move and my having to do some tech guy stuff to get things all moved where they go, but things are progressing. It is all actually going, thankfully, faster than I had anticipated. I hope to be at 100% operational by 12/01/2009, just in time for the tax season.
Claim tokin for Technorati 7TPQH22CZJ7P
How do I know if I have to worry about the AMT?
One of the big problems with the AMT, there’s no good answer to this common question. You can owe AMT liability due to any number of reason/s. Could be just one thing, could be a lot of little things. Some things that can contribute to an AMT liability are mundane items that appear on many tax returns. (See this list Top 10 Things that Cause AMT Liability.)
If you use computer software to prepare your tax return, the program should (I would hope) be able to do the AMT calculations for you. If you’re preparing your return by hand, the only way to know for sure is to fill out IRS Form 6251 – a very laborious process, on that I charge almost $80.00 for, and that price is adjusted (usually up) almost every time.
The best way to understand the alternative minimum tax liability is to see how it’s calculated. So, here’s what you do.
First, you figure the amount of tax you would owe under the different rules. What’s different about these rules? Roughly speaking, there are three things:
- Various tax benefits that are available under the regular tax are reduced or eliminated.
- You get a special deduction called the AMT exemption, which is designed to prevent the AMT from applying to taxpayers with modest income. This deduction phases out when your income reaches higher levels, a fact that causes significant problems with the alternative minimum tax.
- You calculate the tax using AMT rates, which start at 26% and move to 28% at higher income levels. By comparison, the regular tax rates start at 10% and then move through a series of steps to a high of 35%.
The result of this calculation is the amount of income tax you would owe under this “alternative” system of tax.
Okay, got that number? Now then, compare this “tax” with your regular tax. If the regular tax is higher, you don’t owe any AMT. However, if the regular tax is lower, the difference between the two taxes is the amount of AMT you have to pay.
You should definitely run the numbers if your gross income is above $75,000 and you have write-offs for personal exemptions, taxes and home-equity loan interest. if your income is over $150,000, run the numbers just because.
Running the numbers means filling out Form 6251. In effect, you are simply adding back some tax deductions and income exclusions to your regular taxable income to arrive at your new alternative minimum taxable income (AMTI).
“Here is where the middle class gets screwed by the goat. If you are planning on doing all this on your own please call a tax pro for some guidance and a better understanding.”
The AMT form has quite a few other pluses and minuses, but you can probably ignore them unless you own a business, rental properties or interests in partnerships or S corporations. If you do, you may need a tax pro to prepare at least the Form 6251 part of your return for you.
Finally, you get to deduct the AMT exemption however, this exemption is reduced by 25 cents for each dollar of AMT taxable income above $150,000 for couples ($112,500 for singles and $75,000 for married filing separate status), and it’s not adjusted for inflation, which is one of the reasons why more people owe the AMT every year.
After the exemption (if any) has been deducted, the result is subject to AMT rates. Again, the AMT brackets are not adjusted for inflation, which causes much greater exposure to the tax as the years go by. If the AMT exceeds your regular tax, you have to pay the greater amount. Basically, the AMT is just more tax, above and beyond your regular tax. Technically, the AMT is just the liability over and above the regular tax, and this figure is entered on page 2 of Form 1040.
Other notes:
To calculate and report your AMT liability you need to fill out Form 6251, Alternative Minimum Tax – Individuals. If you use this form by all means please read the instructions.
You’re required to take your AMT liability into account in determining how much estimated tax you pay. For information about estimated tax payments, see this Guide to Estimated Tax.
A brief overview of the alternative minimum tax (AMT).
The Alternative Minimum Tax (or AMT) is an extra tax some people have to pay on top of their regular income tax. Okay that sounds pretty messed up, doesn’t it?
In recent years, the AMT has been under increased attention. Why? Well, put simply, because the AMT is not cataloged or set up for inflation, thus because of recent tax cuts, an increasing number of middle-income taxpayers have been finding themselves subject to this tax. Until recently, the AMT affected less than 1% of all individual taxpayers. However, since the year 2000, the AMT has steadily grown, hitting roughly 3% of all taxpayers in 2005. Moreover, if left unchanged, the AMT will penalize nearly 20% of taxpayers by 2010. Almost 95% of all married filing joint couples.
The number of taxpayers affected by the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is expected to exceed 30 million in 2010. Now that is really messed up.
So, lets back up a bit further. The original idea behind the AMT was to prevent people with very high incomes from using special tax benefits to pay little or no tax. The name comes from the way the tax works. The AMT provides an alternative set of rules for calculating your income tax. In theory, these rules determine a minimum amount of tax that someone with your income should be required to pay. If you’re already paying at least that much because of the “regular” income tax, you don’t have to bother with the AMT. Sadly on the other side of this issue, if your regular tax falls below this “minimum”, you have to make up the difference by paying an alternative minimum tax.
Okay, it is still messed up.
Some History
The AMT was introduced by the Tax Reform Act of 1969 and became operative in 1970. Why Was the AMT Enacted? Well, Congress enacted the AMT in 1969 following testimony by the Secretary of the Treasury that 155 people with adjusted gross income above $200,000 during tax year 1967 (In inflation-adjusted terms, their (the 155 people) 1967 incomes would be roughly $1.5 to 2 million in today’s dollars.), had paid zero federal income tax on their 1967 tax returns.
This tax avoidance by these “few” high-income taxpayers was widely perceived as unfair. Rather than directly addressing the problem by eliminating their deductions and credits in the tax code that were leading to the tax avoidance in the first place, Congress laid an additional layer of complexity over the regular income tax in the form of the AMT.
Again, It was intended to target 155 high-income households.
The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 holds the foundation for the present day individual alternative minimum tax, somewhat. Enough anyway for this article.
The alternative minimum tax operates in effect as a parallel tax system, with its own definition of taxable income, exemptions, and tax rates. Taxpayers compute tax owed under the “regular” and AMT systems and are liable for whichever is higher. The AMT system has in general a broader definition of taxable income, a larger exemption, and lower tax rates than the regular system.
In 1969 the minimum tax was a 10 percent flat rate. Over the years the AMT has evolved and increased in complexity. As of the latest revision, there is a two tier system: 26 percent and 28 percent for individuals.
There is an AMT for those who owe personal income tax, and another for corporations owing corporate income tax. Only the AMT for those owing personal income tax is described here.
History of the Alternative Minimum Tax
- Tax Reform Act of 1969 – Introduced the “add-on” minimum income tax of 10% in excess of an exemption of $30,000.
- Excise, Estate, and Gift Tax Adjustment Act of 1970 – Allowed deduction of the “unused regular tax carryover” from the base for the minimum tax.
- Revenue Act of 1971 – Imposed minor provisions regarding foreign income.
- Tax Reform Act of 1976 – Raised rate of minimum income tax to 15% and lowered exemption to $10,000 or half of regular taxes.
- Tax Reduction and Simplification Act of 1977 – Reduced minimum tax preference for intangible costs of drilling oil and gas wells.
- Revenue Act of 1978 – Introduced AMT alongside minimum income tax and moved certain itemized deductions and capital gains to AMT. AMT had graduated rates of 10%, 20%, and 25%, and an exemption of $20,000.
- Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 – Lowered AMT rates to correspond with reductions in rates of regular income tax.
- Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 – Repealed “add-on” minimum tax. Made AMT rate a flat 20% of AMT income after exemptions of $30,000 for individuals and $40,000 for joint returns.
- Deficit Reduction Act of 1984 – Made minor changes concerning investment tax credit, intangible drilling costs, and other items.
- Tax Reform Act of 1986 – Raised AMT rate to 21%. Made high-income taxpayers subject to phase-out of exemptions. Increased number of tax preferences. Allowed an income tax credit for prior year AMT liability.
- Revenue Act of 1987 – Made technical corrections related to Tax Reform Act of 1986.
- Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988 – Made technical corrections related to Tax Reform Act of 1986.
- Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 – Made further technical amendments.
- Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 - Raised AMT rate to 24%.
- Energy Policy Act of 1992 – Changes regarding intangible costs of drilling oil and gas wells.
- Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993 – Introduced graduated AMT rates of 26% and 28%. Increased exemption to $33,750 for individuals and $45,000 for joint returns. Changed rules about gains on stock of small businesses.
- Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 – Changes regarding depreciation and farmers’ installment sales.
- Tax Technical Corrections Act of 1998 – Adjusted AMT for new capital gains rates.
- Tax Relief Extension Act of 1999 – Changed rules about nonrefundable credits.
My next post, I hope to cover a bit more of, how to know if you need to bother with this AMT thing, and go over a little bit about how it works.
“See ya’”
Reads from last week. . .
Well the week didn’t end well for me with my finding out that I had lost my last grandparent. I was trying to figure out how to best remember her. Happily I found away. My heart and mind will keep her memory for all time.
She introduced me to Snoopy back when Snoopy and Charlie Brown first started about. My first memory of Charlie Brown and Snoopy was/ a stuffed animal that I still have. The first book/s I remember ever having where Charlie Brown’s Super Book of Questions and Answers and Charlie Brown’s Second Super Book of Questions and Answers. As I was looking for links to these two books I found that there are actually several. At the least five, along with others. I can’t speak for any of them but the first two and they are awesome.
So before I get into some blogs that I managed to get down, here is a little bit of what I call Snoopy Music:
enjoy
From a blog I have never seen before called outright comes the post Understanding Form 1099 Information Return Requirements. Those of you who use this form please read this.
From Joe K. up in Iowa, as he points out and I agree, “Most preparer injuctions permanently put the preparer out of business.” However this wasn’t the case in” Humbloldt preparer hit with permanent injunction.
My friend over at Living almost Large writes about The referral discount. This is something I actually do in my practice. I give clients a discount for referrals, with a set limit up to a free return. You’d have to see my page at my Biz site. I call it a credit coupon.
SO WHAT DO YOU THINK – A NATIONAL SALES TAX? This is something I have thought about and read about. The concept is sound enough but lacks discipline. The “underground economy” as you put it would only thrive in a situation like this. To keep that going it would seem to this tax preparer that crime would escalate, thus causing insurance rates to sore, in turn causing the cost of goods to sore out of control.
People spend their paychecks before they get them is a proportional way of survival. Doesn’t make it a good thing or a bad thing, it is just a way of life for some. So using this as a means to “teach” our neighbors to save and invest is a lot like a story I read written by George Orwell titled 1984. Frankly if that happens, I’d find myself in the situation of Winston Smith.
Over all the idea is a sound one but, in this world I find it to be unrealistic. Namely, look at all the people who would become unemployed, No IRS. . . Then there is the problem of what would our politicians do, if there was a tax so simple as this?
Kay brings us two must reads this week. “Lost in all the hoopla about the just-extended first-time home buyer tax credit is the fact that the clock is ticking down on another stimulus-created tax break.” Please check out the Road ending for auto deduction.
“Living on one income can be a scary thought; particularly if it is not something you choose to do but is forced upon you due to the loss of a job or other life event. Even if it is totally planned, it can be a discouraging thought that a portion of your household income (even if it is not a large portion) will soon not be coming in to help pay the bills” Living On One Income- Tips for Going From Two Incomes to One is a post that could help you work through this.
Myths Of Owning A Small Business is a story from Forbes.com. In it you will find a great many truths about the myths. My favorite Myth: You can set your own schedule. I do this but my hours aren’t by any means bankers or better. I may start late and be out of the office earlier than some would like but I actually am working untill 2am and this past week or so I have been up until three am. So if your planning a biz, please find the truths about some of the myths.
Maybe next year… a tax hope we have all been looking for.
It is that time of year, at least around here. Have you prepared your holiday budget? If not here are some tips you need to follow: How To Set Your Christmas Budget.
With that time of year many over spend. To help your finances, avoid overdraft fees by setting up overdraft protection on your accounts. Simple Personal Financial gives us, Simple Personal Financial Tips – Avoid Overdraft Fees. I had some trouble getting to the site but it is worth it to get there.
In the above mentioned post I found a link to another post that everyone should have a look at. Signs you may need to simplify your personal finances is a list, basically “. . . signs, signs everywhere the signs, can’t you read the signs.” Check it out.
And in closing, there is a lot going on about the AMT, as it gets closer to all who fall into “the middle class. If you want to know what is going on there is a lot out there about it. I even plan to write some on in for the coming week, (some history and some, what now). Until my post are up, or before you go searching the net, I’d suggest reading this: Beware the complicated and costly AMT.
P.S. Bloggers and non-bloggers.
At the bottom of my blog there is a section For authors to login. How do you become an author here? Easy, Please keep reading.
I would like to invite others, who wish to write from time to time or even regularly, on Personal finance issues and/or tax issue to please join me here.
So what do you do? If you are truly interested in being a co-author here at The Missouri taxguy” you’ll need to contact me via my contact page. No special rules or guidelines here, I just need to know how to reach you. Once I can confirm a way to reach you and confirm you are you. I will set you up as an author.
All post written by you will be credited to you, and editable by you. If you’re an avid blogger and are looking for another venue, you are welcome. If you are a stay at home person and know a lot about PF or taxes and have an idea for a post then you are welcome. If you wish to remain anonymous, I can accommodate that as well. On line, I’ll set you up with a pseudonym. One of/to your liking/s.
Rules:
post are not venues for attacks on others,
post must have something to do with Personal Finances/financing or taxes (state or federal)
Post will be deleted if posted on a Sunday after my regular post. (Meaning, if you want to post on Sunday do it before 7am or after midnight Sunday. As I want my Reads from last week to be on top all day Sunday.)
What do I get out of it? My blog gets more articles and coverage.
What do you get out of it? Well , rudely enough, what you put into it. A place to write without the bother of hosting a site.
Please if you are interested, let me know, all are welcome.
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