Adjust Your Charity Strategy

The recently signed ”Pension Reform” bill has a ton of changes for non-pension related items. Basically, Congress used this bill as another way to pass a bunch of tax-related crap under the radar. One important tax change is for charitable contributions. You have to be able to prove a bank transaction in order to deduct monetary [...]

Question of the Day Marathon: Day 21

JLP at AllFinancialMatters has organized a Question of the Day Marathon for the month of August. Each weekday during August, a different personal finance blogger poses a question for readers to answer. Today’s host is Pragmatic Finance.
What factors affected the career you chose? Was it purely about the pay or were there other aspects that [...]

An Interesting Tidbit

I was listening to the latest BusinessWeek cover story podcast on competition and they had an interesting stat. In a survey they conducted participants were given two choices. They could either receive a $20,000 bonus or a $10,000 bonus. Seems like a no brainer, right? Well, 40% of the participants choose the $10,000 bonus. Why would people [...]

Insider Trading

I’m shocked, SHOCKED! to learn that insider trading happens before big deals are announced. I can’t imagine Wall Street lining its own pockets while fleecing the rest of us! My whole world view is shaken to its very core! [/sarcasm]
Of course, it’s illegal to use insider knowledge to buy and sell stocks. But, really, when [...]

Frankie Sez Relax

Frank Quattrone has become the Apple of the business journalism world. He’s polarized the few people that care into two camps: apologists and haters. His every move has been rumored about and scrutinized for the slightest signal of what he’s going to do next. You know what? I don’t care.
Who cares what he does next? [...]

Question of the Day Marathon

I’ve fallen behind on the Question of the Day marathon because of work. Here’s a recap from Day 9 through today. 
JLP at AllFinancialMatters has organized a Question of the Day Marathon for the month of August. Each weekday during August, a different personal finance blogger poses a question for readers to answer.
Day 09 Young Finance [...]

GM Hybrid Credits Still Available

The IRS has updated the sales figures for GM hybrids for the second quarter and consumers that purchase hybrids made by GM will still be able to claim the full credit for the next six months. The amounts available are:

GMC Silverado Hybrid 2WD, Model Years 2006 and 2007 — $250
GMC Silverado Hybrid 4WD, Model Years [...]

Get Your Financial Life in Order (Day 5)

Over the past week (plus) I have been covering an article in Fidelity’s Investors Weekly newsletter regarding how to get your financial life in order between now and 2007. I covered August, September, October, and November last week. Today, I will be finishing up with the to-do for December.
December
Make smart tax moves before year end
The three smart tax moves that Fidelity [...]

Get Your Financial Life in Order (Day 4)

This week I have been covering an article in Fidelity’s Investors Weekly newsletter regarding how to get your financial life in order between now and 2007. I covered August, September, and October earlier in the week. Today, I will be covering the to-do for November.
November
Evaluate your workplace benefits
This is something that really has to be done prior to November [...]

Get Your Financial Life in Order (Day 3)

This week I have been covering an article in Fidelity’s Investors Weekly newsletter regarding how to get your financial life in order between now and 2007. I covered August and September earlier in the week. Today, I will be covering the to-do for October.
October
Plan for the Unplanned
I had actually planned to do an entry on planning based [...]