It’s Free Money Friday and this week is a great chance for a free $50 gift card. How to Get Your $50 Gift Card Apply for the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards card. Make $300 in purchases within 3 months of opening the card and you’ll receive 6,000 bonus ThankYou Points. Once the points post to [...]
It remains to be seen whether or not the worst has passed, or if we are merely enjoying the relative calm during the eye of the latest financial storm. I personally believe we are in for more tough times in the near term.
A variety of stimulus programs have conspired to create an “artificial demand” that [...]
Post by Frugal Dad
If you’re not keen on using credit cards in lieu of cash, but still would like the convenience of using a card for making purchases, then you’ve probably considered using a debit card instead. Many banks and financial institutions are now offering free ATM bank cards and debit cards to their customers to give [...]
[The following is a guest post from David Brown of File Your Bankruptcy, a non commercial site dedicated to educating readers about different aspects of bankruptcy. I'm not particularly a fan of filing for bankruptcy or debt snowballs, but I felt like this adds a much-needed diversity to what you'd typically read on this [...]
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The deadline for one of my favorite deals is just around the corner. The College Advantage $25+ Sign Up Bonus ends on June 30. Be sure to read through the comments to see how to score hundreds of dollars from this deal!
June 30 is also the current deadline for the tax credit for existing home owners and the tax credit for first time home buyers. Home buyers must close on their new home by next Wednesday.
The home buyer tax credit was popular, for those who don’t believe in The Dead End of Home Ownership.
Unfortunately, prisoners also fraudulently took advantage of the tax credit, to the tune of $9 million in new homes. The IRS says they will try to get the money back.
Written by Madison
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Here are our favourite five role models who faced financial ruin but who avoided disaster. There is a huge negative stigma attached to bankruptcy, and whilst it’s certainly not something to aim for, bankruptcy’s really not the end of the world. Financial difficulties affect even the rich and famous, and some of the most successful [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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Finding Seasonal Jobs Can be Rewarding and Profitable
Although dated, The Back Door Guide To Short-Term Job Adventures by Michael Landes, proves to be a valuable resource for seasonal employment. The book, last published by Ten Speed Press in 2005, contains 584 pages of information concerning “internships, summer jobs, seasonal work, volunteer vacations, and transitions abroad.” [...]
About the Author: Jeremy is a retirement planning specialist and founder of Generation X Finance and the guide to Financial Planning at About.com. To learn more, follow Jeremy on Twitter.
This is an article from our regular real estate columnist Rachelle.
Every landlord should know some basic math. There are calculations that are indispensable to the business. I have seen plenty of fast and loose interpretations of these formulas. Remember when you are buying a property the seller is going to try to get creative to [...]
Hey everyone, it’s Adam! Frugal Dad is feeling a little under the weather so I figured I would give this “Roundup” thing a try. I also wanted to give you a quick look into how things are going for my wife and me.
Our debt repayments have slowed a tiny bit over the last two months. [...]
Post by Frugal Dad
I thought I am going to get 2% cash back on all purchases from this offer when I first sew the email I received today. If it’s true, then it’s a very good deal because nowadays, there aren’t many credit cards offer generous 2% rewards. Unfortunately, when something seems too good to be true, maybe it’s. [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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You don’t need a lot of brains to be rich. In fact, there’s not much of a correlation between intelligence and wealth.
I found a few pretty provocative studies and discussions on the subject of being smart. Here’s the first one: Rob Pitingolo, who runs a blog called Extraordinary Observations, has come up with a chart [...]
Today we’re wrapping up the in-depth look at the health care bill and how it might impact your finances. Today we will cover the new student loan reform included in the health care bill.
The federal government has officially ended the bank-based system of distributing federally subsidized student loans through the passing of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which was included in the health care bill signed into law on March 30, 2010.
This has been in the works for quite some time; over the past five months or so when I signed into my Sallie Mae account, the loan manager tab became separated by “loans owned by the government” versus ones that are not owned by the government. This is because with the drying up of the credit markets in 2008, the government stepped in and purchased the government-backed student loans from lenders such as Sallie Mae and Bank of America. The Department of Education has already directly purchased $52.3 billion in loans from private companies through the Loans Purchase Commitment Program, and now they own roughly 80% of all student loans.
So how will this new law affect students?
Beginning on July 1, 2010, students will go to designated private lenders, who are competing for the contracts from the US Department of Education. Included in the Obama student loan reform, private lenders must lend loans from the Direct Loan Program to students at the same rates, terms and benefits.
More than $40 billion in Pell Grants will be available now due to the health care bill student loan provision, which will roughly double the total amount of funding available for Pell Grants. The Federal Pell Grant will be awarded according to the Consumer Price Index from 2013-2017 at an estimate of $5,550-$5,975. Currently the maximum Pell Grant awarded for 2009-2010 academic year is $5,350, with an added option for receiving an additional disbursement of $2,675 in the summer.
The government will now be saving an estimated $67 billion by directly loaning to students and cutting out the middle man in the student loan bill. The government plans to use $2 billion of this money to bolster community colleges, which are becoming a much more popular and viable education option for working adults and older students.
The student loan bill expands the existing income-based student loan repayment program (IBR). According to a White House press release, students who borrow money starting July 1, 2014 will be able to cap their student loan repayments at 10% of their discretionary income (currently it is 15%).
After 20 years of consistent, on-time payments, a student’s loans will be forgiven. Furthermore, public service workers (teachers, nurses, military service) will have debt forgiveness after 10 years.
Check out the entire health care series:
Written by Amanda
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As my wife and I begin to find ourselves firmly entrenched in the “middle-aged” demographic, it’s becoming more and more important for us to plan ahead. When we were younger, our later-in-life planning consisted mostly of which warm weather destination we wanted to retire to. Now, there’s so much more than that to consider. And [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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You can buy auto insurance from three different sources, all of which have their own strengths and weaknesses to consider when comparing your car insurance options.
Auto Insurance Brokers
One way to buy auto insurance is to use an insurance broker, also known as an independent agent. These brokers or agents are licensed to sell insurance in your [...]
About six years ago our family relocated away from the town in which I was born and raised. My mom had already relocated to this new city just a couple years before us and we followed her to get the kids closer to Grandma, which helped a bit since we were not completely unfamiliar with [...]
Post by Frugal Dad
Last year, I decided that it was time to get involved in a SEP-IRA. It only took about two years since my friend at RateLadder suggested the advantages of SEP-IRAs. It’s not so much that I was procrastinating, but that I needed my self-employment income to, well, buy stuff I needed.
While I knew [...]
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Kids grow up fast, too fast in most cases. At least faster than you can get their college tuition saved up. And doesn’t it seem like every year, college tuition increases to the tune of 6% or more? We’ve taken a look at some of these concerns in a few recent articles on [...]
We continue our in-depth look at the health care bill and how it might impact your finances. This afternoon, we’ll cover HSAs and HDHPs.
I often trumpet the combination of a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) as an effective way to save money on health insurance and receive a tax break on out-of-pocket expenses. The new health care bill won’t do anything to change HDHPs – in fact, they are being used as a model for the new state-sponsored health care exchanges. However, there will be a few key changes to HSAs.
If you think you’ll need the money for healthcare expenses now or in the future (or long term care expenses down the road), an HSA is a great way to stash money that can later be used tax free. But if you are making contributions at the expense of retirement contributions or meeting other savings goals, you might want to rethink your strategy. The new penalty means that you could pay 45% on non-qualified withdrawals if you are in the 25% tax bracket. So be sure to save only what you need in an HSA.
In addition, you should stock up on non-prescription medicines before the end of 2010. Starting in 2011, ask your doctor to write
prescriptions if you have the choice between a prescription and non-prescription drug – this will allow you to run the expense through your HSA.
Check out the entire health care series:
Written by Jill
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Here’s a review of a variety of questions people have had about rewards and saving money with gas credit cards. The one about registering for gas for a wedding gift was my favorite!
Can a gas card save you money?
If you get a gas card with no annual fee then it should save you some money even if [...]
We’re continuing our in-depth look at the new health care bill and how it might impact your finances. Today we’ll look at the changes to FSAs.
Flexible Spending Accounts, or FSAs, are an excellent way to pay for healthcare expenses using pre-tax money. If you take full advantage of them, you can save money on eligible expenses ranging from over-the-counter medicine to the cost of transportation to and from your doctor’s office. In the near future though, FSAs will be more regulated than they have been in the past.
Because the earliest changes won’t take place until 2011, and won’t be fully phased in until 2013, you have the opportunity to do a little planning. If you have been putting off expensive things like laser eye surgery or braces, consider planning to do those things in 2011 or 2012 so that you can fund a larger portion (or even the whole thing) with pre-tax funds. If you are in the 25% tax bracket, you save $250 for each $1,000 you put in an FSA and subsequently use on approved expenses! As an example, saving $5,000 in an FSA in 2012 and using it to pay for braces will save you $625 in taxes compared to paying for them in 2013 when you can only save $2,500 in your FSA, and $1250 in taxes compared to not using an FSA at all.
In addition, plan to fully stock up on over-the-counter medicines (and other things that don’t require a prescription, such as reading glasses) at the end of 2010. Once 2011 hits, be sure to ask your doctor for a prescription for OTC medicines that you truly depend on, such as certain brands of eye drops or allergy medicine.
Lastly, remember that some things about FSAs won’t change. For instance, the amount you choose to put away each year will expire at the end of the year or shortly after, so don’t put away more than you can reasonably expect to spend.
Check out the entire health care series:
Written by Jill
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Wikinvest generated a lot of buzz a couple of weeks ago when it announced a platform that lets users track their investments at brokers in real-time. If you are not familiar with Wikinvest, it works kind of like Mint.com, which tracks transactions in my bank accounts, but what Wikinvest tracks are investments at brokerage accounts. [...]
Original Post on The Sun’s Financial Diary
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With the big news these days about our national Finance Minister pushing for Canada Pension Plan reform, it got me thinking about the consequences of the idea. The proposed legislation is to increase Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits, thus increase the associated contributions. However, full details have not yet been released.
CPP Background Information
For 2010, employees [...]
$599 to $399, 68 days after product launch. Remember that, back in 2007? I wrote most of this post back in 2007 when the iPhone first came out, and found that much of what I wrote is still true today. Here it is: It was bound to happen. Like a million consumer electronic devices before [...]
the iPhone sickness (2010 and counting) is an original article from the website brip blap.
The following is a guest post by Neal Frankle. He’s a Certified Financial Planner and blogs at Wealth Pilgrim. Neal writes about taking action steps to improve your financial situation and finding balance at the same time.
People worry about money for all sorts of reasons. They worry about spending too much. They worry [...]
Over the last week, we’ve been taking an in-depth look at the health care bill and how it might impact your finances. Today we will cover the new 1099 reporting changes.
Much has been written about the impact of health care reform on small businesses. But one hidden provision of the bill that has seemingly nothing to do with healthcare will affect pretty much every business. Starting in 2012, businesses will be required to send 1099s to any individual or corporation to which they pay more than $600 per year.
Currently, businesses must send 1099s to all individuals who provide more than $600 worth of services to that business in a calendar year. Independent contractors are used to receiving this form, and paying self-employment taxes on the income.
Beginning in 2012, the 1099 changes in the health care bill will extend required 1099s to all payments over $600 made to any vendor – this applies to both individuals and businesses/corporations, and to goods as well as services. So if your gourmet basket-making business buys $900 worth of wine and cheese, you’ll have to send a 1099 to your supplier. As this Business Week article points out, the requirement will even apply to money you spend at places like FedEx or the local gas station.
If you are a business owner, prepare to spend a lot more time collecting data, keeping records, and generating/sending paperwork. And if you have previously provided goods and failed to report income, know that that will change starting in 2012.
The government hopes the changes in 1099 reporting will generate additional tax revenue on income that has previously gone unreported – and it’s in the health care bill because that revenue could potentially pay for some of the bill’s costs.
More details will be known about Form 1099 changes when the IRS releases further provisions – a date when those provisions will be released is not yet known.
Check out the entire health care series:
Written by Jill
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