Archive for July, 2006
Now that I’ve mentioned tax avoidance, one potential advantage of incorporating your business into an S-Corporation is the ability to reduce the Social Security and Medicare taxes that you pay. I’m going to stick to using examples of one-person businesses.
Simple Example
Here is a simple example. Let’s say you have two self-employed people, Sam and Carrie, who are both freelance photographers. Their businesses make the same net profits of $60,000 last year ($5,000/month). The only difference is that Sam is a Sole Proprietorship and Carrie is an S-Corporation.
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Posted in Entrepreneurial, Taxes | 38 Comments »
I was browsing the library a few months ago, looking for some accounting books, when I came across a book entitled Keep Your Hard-Earned Money: Tax-Saving Solutions For The Self-Employed. It was clearly a bit dated, as it boasted about ‘including the 1997 tax law changes’.
Now, if you are looking for a book about aggressive tax-reducing tactics that skirts right on the edge of the legal vs. illegal (and hints past it), then this is your book. How it saves you money is by helping you “convert everyday living expenses into business deductions”. The motto of this book is “When In Doubt, Deduct”. We’re talking vacations, last night’s dinner, everything. I definitely wouldn’t feel comfortable doing some of the stuff in this book. However, I did learn a couple of new legitimate business deductions.
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Posted in Taxes | 7 Comments »
The second quarter of 2006 is over, time again to check in on my progress towards my 2006 Financial Goals. See my progress in Q1.
Separate business and personal financial worlds
Actually, I have recently incorporated my self-employed business as an S-Corporation. I’ve been meaning to write more about this, but I’ve found it hard to condense the information into a blog-sized bit. I’ve also learned a ton about setting up an IRS-recognized home office and tax deductions for self-employed businesses. More on this soon.
Roll over Traditional IRA to Roth IRA
I don’t think I’m going to do this anymore, given that we are not going to be in the 15% tax bracket like I thought we might this year. I will instead contribute more to other retirement accounts.
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Posted in Goals | 4 Comments »
Richard Ferri, author of the book All About Asset Allocation that I just reviewed, is currently offering a free online version of another of his books, Serious Money, on his portfolio management website. Haven’t read it yet myself, but will soon. Thanks to commenter Chris for sharing.
Serious Money explains why stockbrokers, investment firms, financial consultants and the mass media do not always have your best interests at heart. In this hard hitting book, author Richard Ferri takes the investment industry to task for spending too much effort on selling and too little on meeting the needs of serious investors.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 6 Comments »
Recently, I have been avoiding reading more investing books that were basically ‘invest in index funds, invest in index funds, invest in index funds’. Great message, but I get it already. I wanted a more detailed analysis of the different asset classes, and more advice as to what to actually buy. And so I found All About Asset Allocation by Richard Ferri, which does exactly that.
The beginning of the book starts like most other index fund books: great investment skill is very rare, asset allocation determines much of your investment return, expenses matter, and you should invest for the long term. The book also explains (better than I can here) how asset allocation works by reducing your overall portfolio risk by introducing asset classes that have a low correlation to each other.
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Posted in Book Reviews | 10 Comments »
Emigrant Direct is now at 5.0% APY. [Emigrant Review] [$10-$20 Opening Bonus]
Presidential also raised rates last week to 5.12% APY on their Premier Savings Account. [Savings Review]
Added: VirtualBank is keeping their base rate of 4.60% APY, but if you keep $100,000 in there you’ll get 5.13% APY.
Posted in Banking | 17 Comments »
This week’s Carnival of Investing is up at Mighty Bargain Hunter. Next week’s edition will be hosted at Experiments in Finance. For more information on participating and the updated hosting schedule, please check out the Carnival of Investing Information Page.
In addition, MyMoneyBlog participated these other carnivals as well:
Carnival of the Capitalists at MyMoneyForest.
Carnival of Personal Finance at Raising4Boys.
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Commenter Rummy on my last net worth update asks a good question - What’s our income? After all, I sure spill a lot of financial beans on this blog. You guys know how much debt I have, how much savings, even where my money is invested. Why not disclose income? I agree, it would help complete the financial picture and give things context.
The main reason why I’m not giving out exact numbers is that this blog is not a completely anonymous anymore. If it were, I think I would share. But family, friends, and co-workers know about it now. And for some reason income is very, very personal. Even more personal than net worth. If our co-workers knew our salaries, there is a good chance it could create tension, and I *hate* office politics. My old boss specifically asked me not to mention my salary to others.
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Posted in General | 29 Comments »
Everyone who sent me their Form #2 in May for my Emigrant Direct Referral Bonus should have been paid. If not, please e-mail me. If you’re interested in moving to Emigrant Direct’s 4.80% APY with no minimums, why not get up to $20?
Posted in Deals & Offers | 2 Comments »
My local grocery stores (mainly Safeway) are having some great prices on BBQ staples competing for your July the 4th money. Check if yours is too, and stock up!
Ground beef - 5 lbs for $5 ($1/lb.)
Salmon fillets - $4/lb.
Chicken breasts - $1.29/lb.
Coke - Four 12-packs for $10 - $10 mail-in rebate = Free
Mmm… meat, fish, and soda. Grill-tastic! By the way, our no-grocery-shopping month went very well. We only spent about $20 on produce and fruit instead of the usual $200-$300, and we cleared out a lot of various stuff. It was like Spring Cleaning for our cupboards.
Posted in Frugal Living | 5 Comments »
