Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Okay, you got me about the Reps were in power, but as you said, Clinton vetoed and got it through anyhow. I agree that we need to be prudent in who and for what causes we send out money, which kinda goes hand in hand with what I was saying about deserving a little respect back from the countries/people that we help out. I guess I call myself Repl. jsut because I'm ex-military and I'm more for workfare than welfare, and a little more conservative than liberal, but whether it's Dems or Reps in Office/Congress ... whoever is there should be responsible with the money. I know I open myself up for attacks about the Reps putting us into deficits, but I once had someone explain to me that the size of the deficit compared to our GDP, that it's only a fraction and so it really doesn't hurt the economy that much. Of course personally, I'd rather have a surplus or small deficit than large deficit, but for the time being I don't think a little debt is going to hurt, esp. if it's short-term and helps boost the economy back into growth. FedUp2003
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Damn this connection, I think it keeps timing out and not sending my post, then I found out it did. Sorry, deleing yet another double-post.
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. FedUp... I did consider the cost of raising children, thus the absence of any in my household. But I don't begrudge anyone for doing things differently. It's a matter of personal choice and/or circumstances. I threw my little letter in the mix for a few laughs. Also, at this stage of the financial game, I have learned well the meaning of investment shelters and income deferral, but I still believe even the fortunate are allowed to moan and groan ocassionally, it is afterall, the American way! Btw, I am one that votes in every single election, even if it's for the local Dog Catcher; by absentee ballot, if necessary.
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Hi, I think (but I'm not sure) that the old child credit ($600) does not have the same limit as the additional $400 credit. I've seen some articles on legislation that would change it so that the extra $400 would be available to those with an income up to $150,000 and as well as low income families that don't actually pay any income tax (and get part of their social security and medicare tax refunded to them with the "earned" income credit). Here is some IRS info about the new tax: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=109812,00.html I sure would love to get the extra money, but I don't know. My tax guy is pretty good, but it seems like a stretch. However, if they pump things up to $150,000, then it gets a lot closer. By the way, I'm all for everyone paying much less taxes -- I wouldn't mind a flat tax of say 25% -- 30%(with the 15.4% social security and medicare from individual and company match included). --Galabar
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Eligible taxpayers could receive up to $400 for each child claimed on their 2002 returns as an advance payment of their 2003 Child Tax Credit. I WAS RIGHT...ADVANCE PAYMENT!!!
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Good for You! For everyone that votes, it gives them a legitimate reason to bitch and moan when things don't go right or go how they want. I understand your problems with the money and taxes, etc ... if I only had your problems lol FedUp2003
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Yep, thought you knew that already. It's not an extra amount of refund/credit/rebate for your 2002 taxes, it's just that in 2003 it increases another $400 per kid, but he's giving it out now rather than when we file our 2003 returns. I guess it all comes out in the wash, just trying to get an earlier jumpstart on the economy. Besides, for all that understand the time-value of money, it's better to get that $400 now than in a year from
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Galabar, How much did you keep? How is it working for you? I take every deduction that's available to me and the family because I'm interested in having a multi-million dollar retirement income. That's my motivation. We hired a financial advisor and an accountant because of their expertise. We follow the program, track our spending (Microsoft Money) and make changes if necessary. Our advisor set up a tax deferred annuity, we have two 401ks, two 1M 30 year term policies (cheaper now than in 5, 10 or 20 years from now), we have Wills and a Living Trust, an LLC specifically for tax deductive purposes, a home office for tax deductive purposes, we have custodial IRAs, education funds, flexible spending accounts (healthcare related), we pay our children an income as opposed to just an allowance, I have a student loan for which the interest futher reduces our tax base, mortgage interest, we have home improvement deductions (addded a second stucco deck that improves the value and reduces my tax base this year), we have children (therefore child tax credits), I was in the National Guard through 1/17/03 of this year - so I can claim a deduction for the entire year and the list goes on. I don't know what your AGI was last year. Nor, can I predict what it will be this year. However, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of an AMEX advisor consult, lean on your accountant a little and read these two books (well worth the read): "The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley, PhD and William Danko, PhD and Wealth Without Risk by Charles Givens. I bet you're missing 10-20 deductions each year. CardKid
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. I had to post this: My wife called her friend on the east coast and told her that we're now receiving money from the government. CardKid
That's what I'm talking about! Seems like CardKid has got it all figured out, where to shelter money, etc ... like I was saying, don't pay your kids an allowance, put them to work and pay them a salary, that reduces your amount of taxable income, plus they can earn like up to $10K a year and own no taxes (or is that the amount of gift that's tax free - maybe income is only up to $4K) either way, make them put $3,000 into an IRA, and they still get $1,000 for FUN money. Just think if we started an IRA at age 10, Hell, I'd retire at age 50 and probably still have over 1 Million dollars. My goal is to be like CardKid. I've read all the books, went to seminars, listened to people way more smarter and richer than me, all I need to do is just get rid of this DAMN debt that keeps holding me down and get my credit fixed up so I can get good CC's with decent APR's and get good loans ... ... and get myself setup in some home-based business or get a SBA loan to start my own small business. It's just that going through an extremely bad marraige, and an even worse divorce and custody battle, and then being laid off from Worldcom (WorldCon) and being un-employed for 7 months ... well that kinda has been putting a dent on things ... ..but one day ...
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. CardKid, We do attempt to defer as much income as possible and take as many deductions as possible. My wife has her own business, we fully fund 401ks (she did until starting the business -- now looking at a SEP) and Roth IRAs, do the "educational IRA" for our child, etc., etc.. I can't convince myself to go out and buy a land tank (SUV) to get that deduction, but we do try in most areas. We've got a pretty good accountant. However, going from $225,000 to $110,000 will take a lot of magic, and there just might not be enough there to pull it off. I've read "Millionare" (great book), but not "Wealth Without Risk." My wife and I try to live way below our means and save for retirement. I really want to be like the "smart" doctor in the "Millionare" example -- I'd like my income tax liability to be only a small fraction of my overall wealth. Here are some other books that, if you haven't read already, you may find interesting: Economics in One Lesson Financial Peace The Richest Man in Babylon The Wealthy Barber A Random Walk Down Wall Street Landlording: A Handymanual for Scrupulous Landlords and Landladies Who Do It Themselves (great even if you don't own rental property -- which I don't) Rick Dad Poor Dad (some of this is useful) As you've probably guessed, I'm certainly interested in avoiding taxes and saving for a future income stream. I can sense we are of like minds about this stuff -- if most folks were, then we probably wouldn't need this board... --Galabar
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. FedUp2003, Part of the equation is the tax side, but don't overlook the most important part -- living below your means, being frugal, and focusing on savings and investing. The tax part should be viewed as a way to aid in this endeavor -- for example, don't save on taxes just so that you have more to spend. Now, I'm thinking of calling CartKids accountant... ;-) --Galabar
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. BTW, for those of you who both, have Earned Income Credit coming and need the cash now, you can get that money in your paycheck rather than wait until you file. A new w-5 will do that. (Advanced Earned Income Credit).
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Fedup, I agree with the other poster too. Living below your means should rank high on everyone's priority list, but generally it is not the American Way! After driving the same Honda for 13 yrs, just last week, I finally bought another car and only because my mechanic said, let Betsy (car) rest in peace..LOL! In my 20's, when I was married, I use to believe, if there was money left over, we were obligated to spend it. Too bad, wisdom and maturity, set in after the divorce and damage to my credit was done. But, I'm patient, it is a slow climb back to the top of the credit heap and I'm determined to get there. So, you keep at it too. Now, if I can just get that paid Chase and dismissed Bk off....I'd be a happy woman.
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. I know what you mean, I didn't finally learn until it was too late as well. Had to go through a bad marraige, divorce, custody, and then un-employment to finally wise up. Seems like it's too late now for me to live below my means. I have a house I bought back in 1998, cause that 2 bedroom apartment wasn't enough for me and 2 kids. At the time I was making enough money and only had about a $1,200 balance on 1 credit card, all others were paid off. Then I slowly sank into to debt, received no child support, but continued to put my kids into dance, hockey, baseball, clothes to match the Jone's kids, Xmas presents for the kids on credit cards, our yearly summer vacation at the beach, etc ... and within a few years I'm maxed out and way in debt. Then, the big layoff came last June, did not have an Emergency Fund, and so depleted every bit of savings and what little was left of my 401(k) just to keep from going bankrupt and being foreclosed on .... Finally 7 months later I get a job, the only job offered in those 7 months, and I take it, although it's $13,000 less than what I was making. I was just barely keeping my head above water before, but now with $13K less in income it's REALLY hard. You just don't know how frustrating it is to want to pay down debt and start an E-Fund and live below my means and start an IRA, etc ... but I can't. I learn here about snowballing to pay off high interest cards first, then the next, etc ... till they are all gone, but I just have more Month than Money each and every month now. I want to sell the house I'm in and get something smaller and more affordable, and at the great new low rates, but I know that I'd never qualify for another mortgage right now. Yeah sure, pay down your balances, don't have any late pays, etc .... to raise your score... But I can't! And when I called my CC companies a few months back to tell them I was laid off, could they work with me and let me pay just interest, or reduce my interest, or let me pay reduced payments or something for a few months till I got another job, no one listened or cared. Instead, 2 of the CC's closed out the accounts on me plus raised me to about 29.9% APR, and 2 others raised my APR to 29.9% The 2 that closed on me were the only 2 that I had credit left on, so now I have NO credit available and am living simply on a CASH ONLY basis. Plus, with the higher interest now, my minimums are higher, it's taker longer to pay down, and with the high balances I had, I'm only reducing my principle by about $5-10 each month. At this rate, I'll be in debt till I die! I had a 11 year old car with 230,000 miles on it that finally quit running about Nov of 2001, so I bought a new car (before all the lates hit cause of the layoff) .. and now I'd like to trade that in and get a more affordable used car, but again, I know I probably won't be approved, or else only be approved by those sharks at this crummy used-car lots and pay about 18-21% interest, in which case, the payments probably would not be much lower than what I'm paying now. Plus, my house insurance has doubled in last 5 years, shopped around and the only decent policies out there at a better rate were State Farm and Farmers, and both want to pull a CR and require my score to be a certain level - again I'm probably too low. So, even trying the normal cost-cutting measures do not work for me .... Yet, during the same time frame all this bad luck was happening to me, I've been educating myself on what I should do financially, etc ... reading Suze Orman books, reading creditnet, reading Rich Dad/Poor Dad, Motley Fool, MSN MoneyCentral, etc ... ...and know what I WANT and NEED to do but am now unable to ... ARRRGGGHHH!!!!!! FedUp2003
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. I vote JerzyGurl, the new most likely to succeed. Also - Yo CAN do it FedUp. Just don't EVER give up.
No, I won't ever give up, that's just not me, but damn it's frustrating. I've finally learned what I need to know and have some experience to back it up, but it came too late. Oh, I suppose I'll finally be out of debt and back making the salary I was last year, but by then I'm afraid it will be time for retirement and I won't have anything to show for 45+ years of working. Just one minimum payment on my Providian card (one of the suckers that closed on me and raised me to 29.9%) just that $110 a month payment, if instead I was able to put it to a Roth IRA, by age 67 I would have over $450,000. Not a Million, but nothing to sneeze at either. Instead, my original $3,400 in debt, that is now close to $3,600 cause I actually think the interest is now more than what I'm paying in a minimum payment ... will instead probably cost me about $25,000 once it's all paid and about 30-35 years to do it. What really gets me, is that I was starting to educate myself. Read some Suze Orman books, books by William O'Neil, who publishes the Ivenstment Business Daily paper and has a stock investing strategy called CANSLIM, had learned the technique for snowballing, and had just been approved for a Home Equity Loan that I was going to use to pay off my CC debt and would have been able to pay of the HE loan in about 5 1/2 years... .. and had just raised my 401(k) to maximize that ... Then POOF! ... the SEC discovers that Worldcom cooked the books to the tune of over $4 Billions dollars, 17,500 people get layed off in 2002, and all of the best laid plans that I had all went up in smoke. I was to go and sign the HE loan papers that day when I got off work, but I received the pink slip first. Then, because Worldcon filed bankruptcy, I never got the almost 4 month's severance that was supposed to be coming... Every since then, it's been a steep dopwnhill slide for me. Heck, I was even going to college full time at night to get my B.S. in Computer Info Systems, back when IT was on top of the world ... ..well, I stuck it out and finished my last 3/4's of my senior year and graduated, but even now with my new degree, the economy is so bad I can't get a good paying job that I should be qualified for (already been working in IT, or rather telecom) so I had experience plus degree now ... But the best I can secure now is a salary that's $13k less than what I was making. So, I'm going backwards, not forwards. Seems like the smarter I get and the more I learn and become educated, the worse things have gotten for me. Maybe I should start drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon bear, go barefoot a lot and wear overalls, and spit tobacco. Maybe if I become a narrow-eyed redneck, good luck will come my way! FedUp2003
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Great...another sophomoric democrat who can't argue on points and resorts to name calling...did you get that rejoinder straight from your handy-dandy "Al Gore Talking Points" wallet-card or is that suppose to pass for original thought? Nevermind...either way it's just pathetic...
