Couplepreneurs: Unique Aspects of Running a Business With Your Spouse

It’s a familiar scene: A couple comes home after a long day at their respective workplaces. They spend their takeout dinner recapping the day and how much they hate their jobs. In a brainstorm, they decide to start a business where they’ll be able to determine every step of their future from now on.
After all, [...]

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IRS Issues 2008 Business Mileage Rate

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2008 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

50.5 cents per mile [...]

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Should I Prepay My Funeral Expenses?

In a word, No.
Prepaying funeral expenses is essentially a form of life insurance. Insurance works best when it covers expenses that are catastrophic if they happen, but have a low likelihood of happening.
Funeral expenses don’t fit either criterion: there’s a high likelihood that you are going to die (in the neighborhood of 100%) [...]

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Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving as a National Holiday:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are [...]

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Home Office Warrior: Financial Planning

I have recently accepted an offer from my friend and fellow blogger, Grant Griffiths, to contribute to his new blog, Home Office Warrior, designed (as the name implies) for small business owners and telecommuters.
The section of the blog devoted to financial planning issues can be found here.
Recent posts include:
To Roth or Not to Roth?
How Should [...]

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Developing Your Personal Giving Plan

by Calvin Edwards
Most of us spend more time planning a vacation than we do planning our giving. This is all the more remarkable when we recognize that Americans are tremendously generous and about 2% of the Gross Domestic Product is made up of donations.
Arguably, in most households their giving is the least contemplated “major purchase” [...]

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Year-End Giving Ideas

by Tom Conway
As we approach the close of another year, here are some giving ideas to consider. This article examines these current year planning ideas:
* IRA Charitable Rollover
* Gifts of Appreciated Assets
* Year-end bonuses
* Non-liquid gifts
* Prepaying 2008 contributions
* Estate Planning Ideas
* Donor Advised Fund.
* The Disclaimer Funded Donor Advised Fund
1. IRA Charitable Rollover [...]

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Extreme Philanthropy: The 50% League

Anne & Christopher Ellinger of Arlington, Mass. run a foundation called Bolder Giving to inspire people to realize their full giving potential.
More than 88 people to date have joined the organization’s 50% League and given away half of their financial assets, or half of their income or business profits for at least three years.
According to [...]

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Scripture Passages on Money and Possessions

Scriptures Relevant to the Doctrines of Money and Possessions
Prepared by Randy Alcorn, THS 564J, A Theology of Money and Possessions, June 8-9, 2007, Western Seminary, Portland, OR
These passages should simply be read, and a few observations recorded. There are 132 passages, most of which will require no more [...]

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2008 IRS Inflation Adjustments

For 2008, personal exemptions and standard deductions will rise, tax brackets will widen and workers will be able to save more for retirement, thanks to inflation adjustments announced recently by the Internal Revenue Service. By law, the dollar amounts for a variety of tax provisions must be revised each year to keep pace with [...]

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