10Dec 2003 by stanley No Comments

Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) 2003: Impact of recent changes

investing
In 1969, Congress noticed that some people with high gross income had a lot of deductions and therefore paid much less in tax than lower-income people who had few deductions. In an attempt to make the tax system fairer, Congress instituted the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). What it boils down to is this: if the AMT is greater than your regular tax, then you end up paying the AMT amount instead. The AMT has these effects:* Expanding the amount of your income that can be taxed* Taxing items that are tax-free under the regular tax system* Disallowing many deductionsWith the passing of the Jobs & Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA), AMT exemption levels have been increased, reducing the number of taxpayers who are required to pay the…
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04Dec 2003 by stanley No Comments

Business Week — my favorite magazine

investing
This is my favorite business magazine. It is published weekly, so it gives you timely information on the economy and the markets. It is very reliable (I'm subscribed to other magazines, but this one stands out as the winner in that category). It covers other areas, like news & technology. And it gives you yearly company rankings and lots more. If I had to pick one financial magazine, I would pick Business Week.If you want to get it, search for it on Ebay (~$10/year); or get it free for 6 months from MagazineOutlet.com; or, even better, get a year free from My Bonus Center here. For the latter two, you must pay up front and call before the term expires to get your money back.
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28Nov 2003 by stanley No Comments

How much to be a millionaire?

Tips & Advice
How much money do you need to invest to become a millionaire? That's a good question. I tried to answer that using a Financial Calculator found on Investopedia.com. I entered that I want to be a millionaire when I'm 50 years old, and that I think my money will grow at 10% (I think that's actually mediocre growth -- but hey, that's not bad), so what did I get: I'll be a millionaire if I invest $672 monthly. We'll see. Actually, with my $500/month stock-investment, mutual-fund investment, and 401(k), I'm putting more than that so I'll should be a millionaire soon -- yeah, right. That's not my goal; my goal is long-term, consistent investing.Try out the calculator at Investopedia.com for yourself here.Interpretation that I received:If you are 25 years old…
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26Nov 2003 by stanley No Comments

Financial Dictionary

investing
Investopedia.com: Financial DictionaryFor those of you who need to understand financial and accounting terms inEnglish this financial dictionary will be extremely useful. The dictionary hasseveral categories including buzz words (phrases whose meaning is unrelated to the words that make up the phrase) and terminology related to trading and taxes, among others.Elsewhere on the Investopedia.com site are tutorials and lessons on finance andinvestments for students and others interested in the topic.Pretty good resource -- I came across it recently.
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19Nov 2003 by stanley No Comments

If you cash out, you lose out

investing
Forty-two percent of workers cash out their 401(k) retirement savings when they leave their jobs and take their accounts with them, according to Time. Big mistake. When you cash out, you pay taxes in your tax-bracket and a penalty of 10% of the accounts value (if you're less than 60)! Also, your money no longer grows tax-deferred.What you should do is roll the money into an IRA or your new employer's 401(k), or leave it in the old employer's plan -- if it's over $5K, your old employer is required, if you wish, to keep the account open.
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14Nov 2003 by stanley 1 Comment

Tax Brackets

investing
Some information about taxes, which I found-out about recently. I thought that if you are in a 25% tax-bracket and you make, let's say, $60K, you would pay $15,000 (25% * 60K) in taxes (oh, that seems a lot). Fortunately, it does not work that way: if you're married (similar if you're single, only the numbers change -- see below for your bracket), you pay 15% for the first $56,800 (bracket below 25%), and pay 25% on $3,200 (60K - 56,800); so that comes out to $9320 ($8520 + $800) -- still a lot but better than $15K!Another, similar, misconception (I thought that way also) is the notion that your tax will suddenly increase by a huge amount when you move into a higher tax bracket. For example, if your…
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