If you are like 40% of the population, you will file your tax return as soon as you possibly can in order to
A) get it over with and/or
B) receive your refund more quickly.
More than thirty-eight million taxpayers in the United States file by the end of February.
However, if you are one of those lifelong procrastinators who always waits until the last minute… This is your year!
When are taxes due for 2011? Instead of Tax Day falling on the usual 15th day of April, this year your 2011 tax return will not be due until Tuesday, April 17th, 2012.
Due to a combination of interesting circumstances, we all get a three day extension to file our federal income tax returns. In the United States, the tax deadline can never fall on a Saturday or Sunday. If April 15th lands on a weekend, taxes will not be due until the following Monday. Tax Day can also not be on a federal holiday.
Have you ever wondered if what your investing in is the right thing for you? If you have you are asking about investment management.
Investment management is the professional management of various securities and assets used to meet specific investment goals for the benefit of the investor (Wikipedia).
How would an advisor invest your money?
Every person has their own unique set of needs and goals for their future. Saying this, the same old cookie cutter” approach will not work for everyone. With this in mind you need to take some time to figure out exactly what you are saving for. [.....]
***UPDATE**** The contest is over! Congrats to the winners (you can see them below at the bottom of the post). Thanks again to Betterment for being awesome sponsors and thank to all the entries…..almost 10,000 of them. Wow! Merry Christmas.
***Update: There is only 10 days left before the giveaway is over. Have you entered? It’s not too late!
The giveaway just got sweeter. How you asked? Let me tell you……
Well, it’s not really our giveaway, but another personal finance blogger has stepped it up and giving away $5,000 in cold cash and 2 iPad’s as part of his giveaway.
Yes, 5 G’s and 2 iPad’s! Woot! Woot!
You can find this awesome giveaway at My Money Blog here. Go, enter, and good luck!
Ho! Ho! HO! Merry Christmas! It’s giveaway time at Good Financial Cents.
Who doesn’t like a giveaway?
Well, this is special giveaway for a few reasons:
1. This is my first giveaway on the blog. Woot!
2. There are 4 other awesome personal finance bloggers joining me.
3. We have an awesome sponsor that is stepping up to giveaway some really cool stuff.
Are you looking for higher rates of return than you can earn on certificates of deposit, online savings accounts, and bonds?
If you are willing to accept a bit more risk and want to mix up your portfolio to not rely solely on stocks then peer-to-peer lending can be a great option.
Prosper was the first successful company in the peer-to-peer space, and remains a great place for you to invest money in P2P lending.
What Problem Does Prosper Solve?
If you find yourself in a financial bind and in need of cash, you have several options. You can borrow from family or friends, use your credit card, a personal loan from your bank, or as a last resort use payday lending. These were your options up until about 4 or 5 years ago when peer-to-peer lending arrived on the scene. [.....]
How much life insurance coverage I need to buy was something that really wasn’t important to me until I got married.
My first policy was a $250,000 30 year term life insurance policy and I thought that was plenty. It was not until we had our first son that I quickly realized that was not nearly enough.
After his birth, I decided to increase it substantially. That was over two years ago. With us in the process of building our first home and a second son on the way, I’m left wondering even with that increase if I really have bought enough life insurance.
Update: We now have our third son and I have increased the amount of life insurance I have on myself. Check the end of the post to find what I’ve increased my term life insurance to and my rationale.
I know many struggle with this same decision so I wanted to shed some light how much life insurance is enough.
First things first, life insurance is for one purpose: income replacement. While there are times where life insurance can aid in more complex estate planning strategies, a majority of the time it’s purchased to take care of your family once you’re gone. My reasoning for purchasing life insurance is that I want to leave my wife and kids without any debt and the ability for my wife to not worry about finances in the event of my unexpected passing.
It all started in July 2008, when my blog, Good Financial Cents, was born.
I’ve always had a passion for educating people on the basics of investing and financial planning and I took that excitement to a whole new level with the creation of the blog.
I was fortunate in the sense that I had recently gone independent and after some convincing, my new brokerage firm allowed me to start blogging.
What was unfortunate at the time, was that I was a Series 7 Registered Representative, which basically meant that I could receive commissions off the sale of certain investment products, and even though my Series 7 only accounted for a fraction of my overall business, I still fell under full regulation of FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory).
This post is not about the latest investment advice or a breakthrough trend in personal finance, rather a reflection of my evolution from a Corporate professional to a full time internet marketer and blogger living the mobile lifestyle.
While there are several factors that contributed to this successful transition, one of the more critical ingredients that made the transformation possible is discipline; discipline in living, learning, applying and giving.
It’s amazing how successful individuals, no matter in what field of practice, always share certain characteristics and discipline is one of them.
For example, without a strong and disciplined approach to living and saving, an average couple making the average annual income in the United States would never be able to retire on time or early and with financial abundance. Similarly, without a disciplined approach to learning, applying, monitoring and tweaking, an entrepreneur cannot be successful at his or her chosen field. [.....]
That was a phrase that my father continually beat into my head harder than Lars Ulrich could pound on his bass drum. (In case there is a generation gap, Lars is the drummer from the rock band Metallica).
While I’m thankful that I followed my father’s advice and obtained my finance degree, an interesting article by Wallet Pop.com caught my curiosity. The article had taken a look at some of the highest paying jobs that one could get with no college degree.
College is freaking expensive! According to College Boards.com the average cost for one year of tuition is $7000. The cost of a full four year degree is increasing every year, making the idea of getting that beloved college a degree a pipe dream. So what are your other options?
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Break in the program. This is a good plug for joining the military. 4 years of college all paid for and then some. It worked for me Plug is over. Back to the post….
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There are many careers that you can obtain without an actual degree, but most require either a trade school certification, or just time on the job and working your way up through the ranks.
A trade school certificate can be obtained in as soon as six months, or as long as four years. [.....]
A good home appraisal is one of the most important components of getting approved for a mortgage.
This appraisal ultimately decides just how much a bank is willing to lend to you, and a bad appraisal can kill your plans for a new home faster than a bad credit score.
A home appraisal is the best way for a lender to see if they wont lose their seat on the deal.
The lender wants to make sure that they have an asset that they can sell to get their money back in case of default. The home appraisal is also a way for you to see if the home you are wanting is overpriced or not.
Lets say that John Doe wants to secure a mortgage on a home that cost $180,000. His credit score is very good, yet the home only appraises for $150,000. [.....]
