February 2010

Bailing Out Wall Street Bonuses Which Averaged $125K in 2009

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Great graphic from the Economist showing the upward trend of Wall Street bonuses over the last 20 years. Despite the great recession of 2008, and the suffering of millions of main-street Americans, Wall Street bankers seem to have made out okay and in fact last year was especially good for those still employed. According to [...]

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Top 6 Movies About People Trying to Get Rich

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Money doesn’t buy happiness? Tell that to Hollywood where money is business and box office receipts are what matter! In all seriousness, the old saying might be true, but it doesn’t stop most of us from trying. And, so here are the top six movies about people trying to get rich. 6. Scarface (1932, 1983) [...]

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How to Reduce Your Tax Bill Liability By Lowering Your Taxable Income and Claiming More Deductions

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I recently filed my taxes and much to my disappointment I ended up owing taxes. While paying taxes is not itself a bad thing, after all I did not give an interest free loan to Uncle Sam, what really hurts is that if I had undertaken a few actions earlier in the year I could [...]

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Things to Remember At Tax Time – Your Tax Preparation Checklist

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Thanks to the accounting folks at BConnect Inc, here is a straight forward tax preparation checklist that will save you time when you file with your accountant or before you start using tax software for self-filing. Tax preparation is faster, easier and more stress-free if you take a little time to get organized first and [...]

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2009 Tax Return Forms and IRS Schedules for Claiming Stimulus Tax Breaks Like the Home Buyer Credit, New Car Deduction and Energy Efficiency Credits

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Many Americans will be eligible for claiming one or more of the economic stimulus tax credits, deductions and/or payments passed in 2009. Claiming these stimulus tax breaks require special forms and supplementary schedules, which have been recently released by the IRS. These new forms and schedules need to be filed with your tax return (Form [...]

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10 Frivolous Tax Avoidance Arguments – Contention versus Facts Straight From the IRS

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Each year the IRS releases its discussion and rebuttal of many of the more common frivolous arguments made by individuals and groups that oppose compliance with federal tax laws. It’s called the Truth about Frivolous Tax Arguments and it makes interesting reading thanks to the inclusion of real life cases and situations where people have [...]

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2010 Consumer Financial Goals and Intentions – How Do You Measure Up?

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Early in the year, it looks like American consumers are still licking their wounds from the Great Recession of 2008/2009 and are taking a cautious outlook for the year ahead. The latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, the fifth in a monthly series, reports about consumers’ views about the economy, their financial goals and [...]

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6 Reasons You Should Be Inspired to Save Money

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While many people will tell you money isn’t everything, it’s hard to deny that having a bit of it can make life easier. With that being said, many of us still find it difficult to motivate ourselves to save. Inspiration is often lost in the ‘here and now’ among all the wants and needs of [...]

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Taxing The American Middle Class and Rich – Fair or Not?

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President Obama has released his latest budget and one of it’s the hallmarks has been an increase in taxes on the “rich”. This would be done by reinstating 10-year-old income tax rates of 36% and 39.6% for single Americans earning more than $200,000 and joint filers making more than $250,000 (currently 33% and 35%). In [...]

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Obama’s 2011 Budget – Business Tax Cuts, Making Work Pay Extension, Social Security Payment, Pell Grant Increase and More Stimulus Spending

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President Barack Obama has unveiled a multi trillion-dollar budget focused on creating jobs and reducing the nation’s high unemployment rate.The job focused budget would boost the deficit to a record-breaking $1.56 trillion, an increase of 5.7 percent for the current budget. It also forecast that spending would rise another 3 percent in 2011 to $3.83 [...]

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