First off, please read my post on understanding basics of your income tax return.
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” – Albert Einstein, physicist. Well! It may be connected to his theory of relativity but, being a physicist that he was, he didn’t think of the U.S. tax system in … Continue Reading »
Your property tax, as you might very well know, is a big source of public safety [police, firefighters, etc.], schools, roads, libraries, and other services in your town and almost all American communities. During the last few decades, on and off, there have been efforts to stop more increase in local property taxes in the … Continue Reading »
I was surfing yesterday [Internet surfing is the most I do - too scared of water] and I came across a site “The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.” It has given an example of the 2008 federal budget in terms of spending and financing. Something caught my eye on the graph for financing the … Continue Reading »
Refinancing for millions of households is next to impossible for the best interest rates. Statistics show that half of the nation’s borrowers have mortgages with rates above 6 percent even though the average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages has been about 5 percent for most of the past year, according to research firm First American … Continue Reading »
By now, you should have received your W-2, 1099’s and all documents that will help you do your tax calculations and then filing. If you have, then it’s time to start tackling your taxes, at least the preliminary data entry, either using tax software or doing it manually with paper and pencil. For your convenience, … Continue Reading »
You can be a millionaire if you are making at least $350,000 a year. The years it will take you depend on how much you save and how much you spend. If you want to be one and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with your new peers, then spending less than you make is one way to do … Continue Reading »
You have an idea and you want to start a business in terms of services or products or perhaps both. Before you do that, you ought to sit down with a business insurance agent and go over what kind of insurance you need for your business. As a business owner, you know that demand for … Continue Reading »
The new credit card law, passed by Congress last year, is dubbed Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 and went into effect yesterday, February 22. Because of certain clauses, it has been reported in the media, the credit companies may lose billions of dollars a year in late fees and interest charges … Continue Reading »
Let’s hope the credit crisis is over, done with for families as well as businesses, large and small. There are companies that are highly leveraged. That means they use debt to supplement investment in Research & Development and perhaps growth. Therefore, for those companies, the credit crisis is far from over. Some are in deep … Continue Reading »
If your credit is bad and you have been refused regular credit card, then there are ways to establish and rebuild your credit. One of which is to get a secured credit card. Another and probably easier way is to get gas charge card which can be used only at the gas station. That can … Continue Reading »
The most important and probably the only criterion for getting mortgage loan at the most favorable and lowest rate is to improve and raise your credit score to as high as you possibly can. The higher the score, the lower the interest rate. Of course, at both ends of the spectrum, as with anything else, … Continue Reading »
Congress legislates, the rest of the country follows. As I understand it, that includes the executive as well as the judiciary branches of the government. Let’s not forget that. IRS is a small entity, but let’s face it, it has one of the biggest responsibilities of the many institutions this country has. The famous slogan … Continue Reading »
The title for today’s post is part of a statement given by G. William Hoagland, who was a fiscal policy adviser to Senate Republican leaders and a witness to past bipartisan budget summits. “These days I wonder if this country is even governable.” On Feb. 15, 2010, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana – son of … Continue Reading »
