But can they do your taxes?
Some entrepreneurs say algorithms aren’t biased by commissions or complex fee structures.
Tag: Financial Coaching
Opting for fast cash is in our nature
Ken Krause, who teaches business and marketing at Fitzgerald High School in Warren, Mich., regularly asks his students whether they’d take $100 now or wait one full year to double their money and receive $200.
Don’t forget your credit union
Credit unions have stepped up their lending. In Austin and across the country, many of these cooperatives have posted record lending growth in recent years and are pushing for the ability to do more. Meanwhile, forthcoming crowdfunding rules could open up a new, multibillion-dollar pipeline between small businesses and the investing public at large.
Read more at Statesman.com
What is my total tax bill?
The American Institute of CPA’s has created a calculator that gives an idea of the total taxes, federal, state, and local, that we pay. TotalTaxInsights.org is brought to you by the American Institute of CPAs, a longtime advocate for sound tax policy, tax simplification and taxpayer education
Have “the Talk”
Many children aren’t learning much about money from their parents, a new survey shows.
Three in 10 parents never talk to their children about money or have had just one big talk with their children on the subject, according to a U.S. telephone survey conducted for the AICPA by Harris Interactive.
Read the whole article:
Plan your meals – Komando.com, Website for The Kim Komando Radio Show®, Komando Downloads
I’ve always heard that the best way to save money at the grocery store is to shop with a list and to avoid impulse purchases. Here’s technological help!
Plan your meals – Komando.com, Website for The Kim Komando Radio Show®, Komando Downloads.
What, me budget?
Yes, you. We all should. Some expressions: failure to plan is planning to fail or without a goal, wherever you end up is your goal.
My favorite budget guidelines have always been Larry Burketts, Money Matters , financial planning guidebooks. In the referenced tribute to Larry, his philosophy of money is reflected:
One of the central principles Larry taught is that we don’t really own things; we are simply stewards and managers of what God has entrusted to us.
There are many budget preparation guidelines, but I’ve always liked the ones provided by what is now Crown Financial Ministries. Here is a link to Crown’s Suggested Percentage Guidelines for a Family of 4 (High Housing Cost Areas) (since I live in Austin!). There are also guidelines for singles, single parent, couples, etc.
Important to note is that these budget guidelines start with gross income so that a tithe comes off of gross. No funny business about giving on net or gross. I’ve heard other financial planners say that wherever you give your money, if you can’t live on 90% of your income, you have a problem.
The next reduction is for taxes. If you are an employee, you can use the amount withheld for taxes from your paycheck. Be careful not to have too much income tax withheld. It’s better to pay a $1 than to let Uncle keep your money for up to 16 months! If you are self-employed, you can look at the total tax paid on your prior year return. Taxpayers think that they are saving money, but in fact, saving a little money each month in a savings account generates more savings than the “income tax withheld” savings account. The tendency is to spend that tax refund impulsively rather than putting it into savings for planned spending.
After the reductions for both giving and taxes, then you compute your budget percentages. Your budget is based on your spendable income.
As you complete your budget, remember that many employees have additional reductions in their pay that need to be considered as you budget: health insurance premiums, 401(K) contributions, day care tuition, etc.
I started a 30-Day Diary to really check in with how I spend money on a daily basis. My dad (the first Newby CPA) used to keep a notebook in which he recorded all cash expenditures for the day. What discipline! Join me in the goal of tracking out of pocket expenditures (so to speak!) for 30 days. Let me know how you do.
Don’t throw good money after bad
Austin Talk Radio Batters Metrorail
Not a real headline but the discussion was a good reminder of how to NOT make a decision to abandon a project.
Investors are notoriously emotionally involved in decisions that they have made. It is almost impossible to divorce ourselves from the consequences of important decisions that we have made. This is called Loss Aversion.
When we have made a decision such as investing $65 million in a Metrorail or $5000 in WholeFoods and watch the trains operate at a loss or our stock decline by half of its value, our loss aversion and emotions keep us from correctly considering our original investment as a sunk cost. Sunk costs are non recoverable costs that force us to admit that we have made a bad decision.
Some decisions require that we abandon our prior investment and invest additional funds that will correct the decision. One example is abandoning a website that is too expense to maintain but that cost $15,000 for a $1000 out of the box website that works great.
Other decisions require that we look at future operations but on a cash flow basis. If an operation, perhaps a commuter train, is cash flowing, consideration of the original investment is irrelevant to the decision as to whether to continue or stop the train. The relevant costs to compare with income from the project are the costs that will end if operations are ceased.
Finally, we might need to consider selling assets that we can’t afford to pay for even though we would lose our investment, especially if we can pay off any debt associated with the property. Continuing to own an asset with operating losses due to mortagage payments that could be sold is also an example of loss aversion.
Lent is Coming-Consider a Financial Fast
Michelle Singletary writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column, “The Color of Money,” which appears in The Post on Thursday and Sunday. Her award-winning column is also carried in more than 120 newspapers. Her third book, “The Power To Prosper,” is scheduled to be released in January 2010. In her spare time, Singletary is the director of a ministry she founded at her church, in which women and men volunteer to mentor others who are having financial challenges. She was recently selected to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from The Johns Hopkins University.
See her column on a financial fast. Good words here.
Debt Cancellation “Insurance”-Not as Good as it Sounds
On Marketplace; Tess Vigeland interviewed Bob Sullivan, who covers Internet scams and consumer fraud for MSNBC.com. Listen to the show or read the transcript and learn about offers by credit card companies to pay your balance if you are laid off, injured, or fired, and how expensive they can be.