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The Two Biggest Thieves In Regards To Wealth Building
By Drew Miles
The two biggest wealth thieves a person will encounter are tax deductions and lawsuits. Taxes work against you by chipping away at your wealth. These include federal income taxes (deducting up to 39% of your income), state taxes (deducting up to 9.6%), and self employment or social security (over 15.5 %.). The average American is paying 42-55% in taxes. Ironically, the wealthiest people in the U.S. are paying only single digits taxes. Rest assured, because there is something you can do about this, and it won’t cost you the $500/hr that
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Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash<p>If you're like most people, you probably use plastic for many of your daily purchases. Since more places take credit or debit cards and many of these cards offer rewards or cash back, it is no wonder they are so easy to use. But this convenience can come at a cost. If you don't keep detailed records of your spending, using the card can lead to spending more than you normally would.</p>
<p>When you use cash for your regular daily purchases, you have a physical connection to your available money, and you can visually see how much you have and how much you spend. With a card, it's all digital and you may not review your purchases until the end of the day, week, or even month. By then, the money has long been spent. But with cash, you open your wallet or purse and immediately know how much you have available to spend, and it may keep you from buying something you don't need. So, if you have trouble keeping your spending under control, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/budgetingyourmoney/a/usecash.htm">you may want to consider giving cash a try</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm">Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 20:42:52.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/31/keep-spending-under-control-by-using-cash.htm&zItl=Keep Spending Under Control By Using Cash">Email this</a></p>Ready to Buy a Home?<p>With the housing market still in the dumps and mortgage rates at record lows, a lot of people are considering buying a home for the first time. Taking advantage of depressed real estate prices and cheap lending does indeed make this a buyer's market. But buying a home is no simple decision. In fact, it may be one of the largest financial decisions many people make in their lifetime. So rather than jump in head first it pays to make sure owning a home is really the right decision. Here's how to determine <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/realestatemortgages/a/Are-You-Ready-To-Buy-A-Home.htm">if you are ready to buy a home</a>.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm">Ready to Buy a Home?</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 11:44:57.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/24/ready-to-buy-a-home.htm&zItl=Ready to Buy a Home?">Email this</a></p>Pick The Right Mortgage<p>People love the idea of owning a home, and sometimes that allure makes people do the wrong thing. That's where risky mortgages come in. For decades, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was the gold standard. You put 20 percent down, you got a 30-year loan, and that was all she wrote. But in recent years the types of mortgages offered have made a mess of the marketplace, as can be seen with the current financial crisis. Now you can get interest-only loans, 40-year loans, adjustable rate mortgages, and so on. All of these new loans make it easier to make payments on a house, but the problem is they usually put you in a worse financial situation. Here's what you need to know to avoid some of the more <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/realestatemortgages/a/Risky-Mortgage-Rundown.htm">risky home loans</a> out there.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm">Pick The Right Mortgage</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 at 20:02:50.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/22/pick-the-right-mortgage.htm&zItl=Pick The Right Mortgage">Email this</a></p>Saving Money in a Tough Economy<p>Gas prices are relatively high and the cost of groceries are increasing faster than inflation. People everywhere are feeling the financial pressures of today's economy, and for most, the thought of saving money is a distant one. When times are tough, saving money can be difficult. Even if you're living paycheck to paycheck, there are ways you can save if you follow a few simple rules</p>
<h3>Start Small</h3>
<p>Saving money is a marathon, not a sprint. If you want to save up $1,000, it is much easier to accomplish that goal in a year compared to two months. In order to <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingmoney/a/wheretokeepsave.htm">put your savings plan to work</a>, the key is to start small. Can you find a way to save $5 each week? Think about it--five dollars a week is less than a lot of fast food value meals or even a few fancy coffees. Five dollars could be shaved off of each weekly grocery bill by buying a few things on sale or buying store brands. When you start with a small amount, you can find ways to save, and it adds up over time.</p>
<p>So, saving five dollars a week doesn't sound like much, but that's okay. If you saved just the five dollars a week for a year, you'd have $260, less any interest. If you're married and your spouse does the same, you will have amassed over $500 painlessly. But the idea isn't to start small and stay small. You may start at five dollars a week, but once a few weeks or a month goes by and you're used to saving that money, bump it up to $7 or even $10 each week. If you could live without five extra dollars, you could probably find you can get by without seven dollars just as easily.</p>
<p>These small incremental weekly increases will gradually change your spending habits so that you become accustomed to how much money you have available, and before you know it, you're stashing away a nice amount of money.</p>
<h3>Make Saving Automatic</h3>
<p>You've heard it before, but to make saving work, you need to pay yourself first. If you wait until all the bills are paid, groceries bought, and money otherwise spent before seeing what is left over at the end of the week, you'll always come up empty. The key to saving is to treat your savings as a bill. You find a way to pay the phone bill each month, don't you? Well, think of your weekly or monthly savings as a bill that has to be paid, and pay it before it gets spent on frivolous things.</p>
<p>To make sure you pay yourself first, you need to <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingmoney/a/automaticsave.htm">create an automatic savings plan</a>. This is best accomplished by setting up direct deposit with your paychecks so that a little bit goes into savings on the day you get paid. That way, on payday you don't have to worry about making a deposit yourself, and you have already put that savings out of sight and out of mind.</p>
<p>If you don't have direct deposit set up, you can always create an automatic transfer between accounts with your bank. You can schedule a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly automatic transfer that moves money from your checking to savings. If you don't have to think about it, it's much more likely to get done.</p><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm">Saving Money in a Tough Economy</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 18:46:50.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/15/saving-money-in-a-tough-economy.htm&zItl=Saving Money in a Tough Economy">Email this</a></p>Dealing With Low Interest Rates<p>For a few years now interest rates as a whole have generally been falling or remain very low. Of course you may have some instances where rates are increasing, for the most part when it comes to savings accounts, CDs, and even mortgage rates, they are down sharply compared to a few years ago.</p>
<h3>Good for Debt, Bad for Savings</h3>
<p>Lower interest rates are good for borrowing money since it means you will be paying less in interest. The bad news is that the Fed rate cuts don't directly translate into lower rates for consumers. These cuts can take many months before the effects are felt on your bottom line, but you can begin shopping for lower rates now. Once you can begin to benefit from the lower rates, you'll have more money in your pocket as less is being spent on interest payments.</p>
<p>While lower interest rates saves you money when borrowing, the opposite is true when you are saving money at the bank. As interest rates fall, the rate of return on your checking, savings and CD accounts will likely follow suit. If you enjoyed the comfortable savings rates during most of 2007, you're probably not very excited as many rates have now dropped below the rate of inflation. If you can, make sure you're getting the best rate possible and explore other banks to ensure you're getting as much interest on your savings as possible.</p>
<p><strong>Learn more about interest rates:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/od/savingmoney/a/lowerinterest.htm">How to Plan for Lower Interest Rates</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://economics.about.com/cs/studentresources/f/interest_rate.htm">What Are Interest Rates?</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://beginnersinvest.about.com/od/banking/a/aa062405.htm">The Federal Reserve and Interest Rates</a> </li>
</ul><p style="background:#f5f3ef;border:1px solid #d5d0bf;clear:both;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/08/dealing-with-low-interest-rates.htm">Dealing With Low Interest Rates</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/">About.com Financial Planning</a> on Sunday, January 8th, 2012 at 18:56:10.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/08/dealing-with-low-interest-rates.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/08/dealing-with-low-interest-rates.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://financialplan.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://financialplan.about.com/b/2012/01/08/dealing-with-low-interest-rates.htm&zItl=Dealing With Low Interest Rates">Email this</a></p>
these wealthy people are paying for tax tips from their specialists. Next, lawsuits are the other evil. This is not the slow reduction of your wealth as with taxes. It is the sudden confiscation of the money you worked hard to build. You can literally fall from the top of the totem pole to the bottom of the barrel overnight. I believe there are no winners in lawsuits because even “winning” a lawsuit takes up time and money that will set you back. Once again, you can protect yourself by learning how to structure yourself properly. You can "bullet-proof" your assets. You can even avoid lawsuits all together. Crucial to understanding these strategies is differentiating the concepts of asset and liability. Ask yourself the following: Is a real estate investment an asset or a liability? You may be thinking, “It generates income and provides equity; therefore, it has to be an asset. However, the answer is more complex. You must look at how you hold title to that property. If you own it incorrectly and are not properly structured, you could be putting yourself at risk. If you have your home, your car, your bank accounts all lumped together, someone can take them all away in one sweep. Therefore, you must learn how entity structure.
Here are some more estate planning articles...
What's So Special About Tax Returns?
By Robert Shaw
Tax returns are documents all taxpayers must file by April of each year. These documents contain your income information from the previous year. Each year, you must file your tax returns with the IRS Read more...
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Real Estate Ahmedabad- A Major Revenue Earner For Property Dealers
By Larry Jone
Real Estate Ahmedabad- A Major Revenue Earner for Property DealersIntroductionProperty dealers have shifted its focus from major metros to tier-2 cities of India. In Read more...
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The Estate Planning Process
Estate Planning Process by: News Canada(NC) - How do I begin? Start by making a list of those you wish to remember in your Will. You will want to provide for your Read more...
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Understanding Your Property Taxes
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There is little else in life that sends a shudder through homeowners then the anticipation of what their next property tax bill will state. In some areas of the country, a significant amount of tax Read more...
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<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif><STRONG>Wi-Fi around Chicago..</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif><FONT size=2>The Daley Center between Clark and Dearborn is now (as of September 2003) a wi-fi hot zone. I have not personally connected there, but the word is </FONT><FONT size=2>that the signal around Daley Plaza and Block 37 is strong. Click <A href="http://www.xchicago.com/main/article.php?articleID=413">here</A> for more information. </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2>If you are outside of downtown Chicago,the UPS stores (formerly Mailbox Etc.) will have wi-fi access (for a fee) in mid-September as will many McDonalds (for a fee). <A href="http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,80914,00.html">UPS story</A></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2></FONT> </P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif><STRONG>Truth about Annuities</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Many clients buy annuities. I think it is fair to say that most clients do not understand the annuities and, in many cases, the annuity purchase was an inappropriate choice. In my opininion annuities are appropriate when:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>1. The client wants to save more for retirement and already puts the maximum in his or her IRA/401k; </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>2. The client is in a high tax bracket and wants to reduce taxes;</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=2>3. The client won't need the principal for quite a long time and the annuity makes up a small portion of the client's total investments.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=2>I have one client who paid no income tax, was 85 years old, had been retired for 20 years and purchased 4 annuities with all of her liquid assets; her only other assets, after the mass annuity purchases, were her condo and a checking account. The annuities were "unsuitable" for her, but were perfect for the annuity salesperson who netted at least $20,000 in commissions.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=2> See the </FONT><A href="http://www.annuitytruth.org/"><FONT size=2>annuity truth</FONT></A><FONT size=2> web site for some interesting reading on annuities and whether one is right for you </FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2><STRONG>What to Do if Your Mortgage Lender Bails Out on You</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Recently, as interest reates rose and the number of files on their desks exploded to record levels, mortgage companies have bailed out on clients and failed to close. In two cases I am involved in (both of which are new construction) the mortgage companies literally "forgot" about the client. The loans were not ready to close because no one paid attention to the file for months. The other problem is that many lenders are so busy that they can't close by the end of the "lock-in" period. The client is left with a lame promise that the mortgage company will do a "free refinance" later to cure the problem.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>How can you prevent this? Pick a reputable lender in the first instance; not one from the internet or your brother-in-law who thought he would try out mortgage brokerage. Stay in touch with the lender. If all else fails, file a complaint with the office of banks and real estate. Here is the form to file the complaint:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> </FONT><A href="http://www.bre.state.il.us/CONSUMER/FORMS/c-Form41.pdf"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2><a href="http://www.bre.state.il.us/CONSUMER/FORMS/c-Form41.pdf">http://www.bre.state.il.us/CONSUMER/FORMS/c-Form41.pdf</a></FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>It rarely pays to file a lawsuit against the lender. Attorneys fees are cost prohibitive and your damages are hard to prove.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> </FONT></P>
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The process of planning the transfer of all personal assets at death to chosen beneficiaries.
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