What You Can Do Before the Kiddie Tax Loophole Closes

When President Bush signed new legislation in May to limit gifts to children that take advantage of their lower tax rate, it was the second time in just over 12 months that Congress extended the reach of the so-called kiddie tax, which subjects a child’s income to his/her parents’ higher tax rate.
Maneuvering around the kiddie [...]

Read Full Post »

How Your Personality Affects Your Financial Decision-Making

The recent volatility in the stock market has everyone a little jumpy – even folks who have worked with a trusted financial planner for years. But if you’ve never worked with a planner before, one of the first things he or she will do is make you fill out a risk analysis questionnaire.Why is risk [...]

Read Full Post »

Should You Consider an HSA?

The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (TRHCA) that went into effect this year made it a bit easier for both employers and their workers and self-employed persons to obtain Health Savings Accounts, a kind of “IRA for health care expenses”.
Health savings accounts were created as part of the Medicare Modernization Act of [...]

Read Full Post »

Make Sure Your Travel Insurance Actually Insures Your Trip

If you’ve got so much as a missed flight connection, it won’t take much to put your eagerly-anticipated vacation in jeopardy. The U.S. Transportation Department reported in July that U.S. airline delays worsened in May for a fifth straight month while the passenger-complaint rate surged 45 percent.
Delays in May kept 2007’s on-time arrival rate at [...]

Read Full Post »

Being Wealthy Isn’t What I Thought it Would Be

By Terry Austin
Great news! I just discovered that I am the 39,615,049th richest person in the world. I finally surpassed the 39,615,450th person with that extra money I earned last month.
That might not sound so good to you but it means that I am in the top 0.66% of people in the entire world. [...]

Read Full Post »

The Ins and Outs of IRS Audits

According to the Kiplinger Letter, random federal tax audits are starting up again in October after a brief hiatus – about 13,000 taxpayers will receive letters.
These are the infamous “line” audits, designed to provide a database to be used in designing guidelines for more efficient inspection of returns.
Agents will reportedly be looking specifically for hidden [...]

Read Full Post »

Extended Income Tax Filing Deadline Fast Approaching

If (and only if) you filed IRS Form 4868 in a timely fashion (i.e., before April 17, 2007), you still have some time left to file your 2006 tax return.
Form 4868 affords the taxpayer an extra six months (this is a recent change; it used to be four months) to file their tax return.
April [...]

Read Full Post »

What to Buy the Pet Owner Who Has Everything

How about pet health insurance?  Slightly off the wall perhaps, but then, Leona Helmsley left her dog $12,000,000, so what do I know?
How much do we love our pets? Somewhere near the tune of $40.8 billion – the total amount Americans will spend on their pets this year, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers [...]

Read Full Post »

Don’t be a Dumb Donor

In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), Jesus addresses the issue of stewardship, particularly treating resources (money and otherwise) as seeds to be planted with the clear expectation of producing a bountiful crop.
In other words, the Lord calls us to make smart giving decisions. One way to help in this is to consult [...]

Read Full Post »

Roadblocks to Giving

Everybody likes the idea of generosity. But when it comes down to writing the check, there always seems to be so many extenuating circumstances. We have insufficient savings. We do not agree with the church’s spending priorities. The tithe does not apply to us today.
Generous Giving and Kingdom Advisors have developed a list of the [...]

Read Full Post »