YodZiaN

Some things in life are taken for granted and the privilege of having health insurance may be one of them. Employers have to give their employees some kind of benefit program in their overall compensation package. The employee expects it and enjoys the security of having good health insurance. Everything changes when the employee leaves the employer. Insurance decisions have to be made. No one can escape from this process. The employee soon finds the cost to continue the insurance to be much more than expected and they start scrambling for alternatives. Are there alternatives? What can be done to reduce the cost?

There has been a major shift in thinking by the insurance buying public over alternatives to lowering the cost of health insurance. Low deductibles are a thing of the past. It has taken some time to change the thinking about having low deductibles. Low deductibles mean less out of pocket expense. It works the opposite in today?s market for health insurance. The premiums paid for lower deductibles are so high that it no longer makes sense to have them. The higher deductibles reduce the premium dramatically. There are deductibles as large as Read more…

Hi Folks,
I’m against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.
Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.
To make the math simple, let’s assume there are
200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.
Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18
and up..
So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billion that equals $425,000.00.
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend.
Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%.
Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it…instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( ‘vote buy’ ) economic
incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.
Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.
Sure it’s a crazy idea that can ‘never work.’
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!
How do you spell Economic Boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC .
And remember, The Family plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh…I feel so much better getting that off my chest.

Now here’s a bail out plan that works!
I’m against the $85,000,000,000 bailout of AIG.
Instead, I’m in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a “We Deserve It Dividend”.
To make the math simple, let’s assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.
Our population is about 301,000,000 ± counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might b e a fair stab at adults 18 and up.
So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00.
My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a “We Deserve It Dividend”.
Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let’s assume a tax rate of 30%.
Eve ry individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.
But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.
What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it’ll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent’s medical insurance – health care improves
Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces.
If we’re going to re-distribute wealth let’s really do it…instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( “vote buy” ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.
If we’re going to do an $85 billion bailout, let’s bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!
As for AIG – liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up a nd clean it up.
Here’s my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn’t.
Sure it’s a crazy idea that can “never work.”
But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!
How do you spell Economic Boom?
I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion “We Deserve It Dividend” more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC.
And remember, this plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.
Ahhh…I feel so much better getting that off my chest.
You don’t want to even hear what I think about the stupid mortgage companies that loaned out billions of dollars to people who they knew had no way of paying back the loans, with both sides of the equation interested in one thing…fast money.
But it didn’t work, and now we’re supposed to bail out those idiots too???
Kindest personal regards,
Fr. Dave Adams
————————————–…
Note: How is this any crazier than the plan already before congress?

Investment is a term that refers to the money used to buy capital assets, including real capital assets such as land, houses and buildings. Real capital assets are a special type of consumer goods, in that they are not consumed instantaneously but, rather, they are used for accumulating future wealth. In fact, since this type of assets are non-productive by nature, their sole purpose to exist serves the accumulation of capital.

Clearly, without investment the accumulation of capital would be at a standstill, since one?s personal capital stock would gradually wear out. This is, in fact, one of the axioms of economics, since for economic growth to occur, new investment must be sufficient not only to add to the capital stock, but also to replace what amount of capital stock is wearing out. Hence, for investment to generate growth, the rate of capital accumulation must be always over and above the current rate of inflation, to make economic sense. Furthermore, the more money that is saved, i.e. that is not spent on consumption, the more money is available for investment.

Investment operates as a function ? and as a direct and proximate cause and effect – of the equilibrium between income and interest rates. An increase in income will encourage higher investment, whereas a higher interest rate will discourage investment as it becomes costlier to borrow money. Even if an investor does not need financing and chooses to use his own funds, the interest rate represents one measure of the opportunity cost associated with the choice of investing those funds rather than putting them out to different uses.

Cost of opportunity is best described as the benefit or benefits forgone by investing capital stock in a certain way as opposed to the best alternative way. Given the innate scarcity of resources of investors, that is the limitation of capital available to them, investors will invariably try to maximize growth by, among other things, reducing costs. Suppose that an investor is willing to increase his investment so as to increase the accumulation of wealth. The investor will have to divert resources away from other purposes, to acquire a real or other capital asset. Therefore, the opportunity cost that the investor must bear is the loss of the gain(s) he would have received by investing the money elsewhere in the most valuable alternative.

Opportunity cost need not be assessed in monetary terms but, rather, it can be assessed in terms of anything that is of value to the person or persons doing the investing. The consideration of opportunity cost is one of the key differences between the concepts of economic cost and those of accounting cost. Assessing opportunity cost over a scale of values to investors is fundamental to assessing the true cost of any course of action. In the case where there is no explicit accounting or monetary cost (price) attached to a course of action, ignoring opportunity cost may produce the illusion that the benefits derived out of a certain course of action cost nothing at all. The unseen opportunity cost then becomes the hidden cost of that course of action

It is important to note that opportunity cost is not the sum of all available alternatives, but it is instead the benefit that could have been derived by opting only for the best alternative. Thus, the opportunity cost to a real estate investor might be the benefit he forwent by not investing his capital into stocks, or in a different property, or not at all (as in the case of an investment resulting in a capital loss, for example). Although opportunity cost needs not to be expressed in monetary terms, the following practical example perhaps best describes the cost of opportunity to be borne by a typical real estate market participant.

Let?s assume that an investor is given the choice to buy one of three rental properties Read more…

Building a home for yourself is the American Dream. For some people, it is important to build something unique.

Alternative Home Designs

You?ve worked your rear end off and reached a financial status where you can do some dreaming. One dream is to buy some land and build a home on it. You?ve found the perfect plot, and now you?re wondering about different styles of homes. Here are some alternative designs to get the creative thoughts flowing.

A very unique home design is the atrium home. An atrium home is designed to emphasize an open middle area, not an exterior appearance. If you?ve been to Europe, you?ve seen this design in larger cities. You?ll be walking down a street lined with bland looking windows. You pop into one of the buildings to find a bathroom and it is like entering another world. The exterior of the building is no great shakes, but the interior is a slice of atrium heaven with an open area covered in a lattice or left wide open. The interior is a collection of sitting areas, plants and perhaps small pools for fish. Not a bad idea, eh?

Taking the design to its full scope, the home is designed?underground. The design can be done in a variety of ways, but it is built below ground to take advantage of geothermal concepts. The primary idea is to use the constant temperature of the ground to regulate the climate in the home. The top of the roof is flush with the level Read more…

More and more taxpayers are finding a hidden tax on their individual tax returns. This tax was originally designed to not allow taxpayer in the higher income brackets take advantage of tax driven policy like deducting:

A lot of itemized deductions
High local and state tax deductions
Child exemptions
A Mortgage deduction

Just to give you a sense of who might get caught. If your joint income is below $150,000 you are allowed a $58,000 AMT exemption. What that means is that you can safely deduct up to $58,000 of the deductions listed above without incurring the AMT tax However, once taxable income climbs above $150,000 the exemption is phased out by 25 cents for every dollar earned above that until finally at $382,000, there is no exemption at all. This year only 1.8 percent of married couples with two kids and an adjusted gross income between $75,000 and $100,000 will be subject to AMT. However, about 73% of the taxpayers earning income above $382,000 will experience AMT.

The following tax planning strategies should be reviewed to help individuals counter the AMT and plan successfully for their financial future:

Acceleration of Ordinary Income. Individuals who expect to owe should consider accelerating ordinary and short-term capital gain income and deferring into the next year. Possible deductions to defer include state and local income taxes, real estate taxes, and miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the two percent floor, which are not deductible under the AMT system. This planning technique is contrary to typical advice, but it may lower the ultimate tax bill.

Acceleration of Expenses. Individuals who are not subject to the AMT in 2005, but who will be in 2006, should accelerate expenses that are not deductible for AMT purposes into 2005. Also, they should consider selling private activity bonds and or paying off home equity debt if the interest expense is not deductible for AMT purposes.
Blend Tax Rates between years. Some of the differences between the AMT and regular tax systems are merely matters of the timing when deductions are taken. For instance, the AMT generally requires slower depreciation than is permitted for regular tax purposes. Other differences are permanent; for example, state income taxes can never be deducted under the AMT system, while under the regular system, they are deductible when paid. Paying AMT in one year may generate a credit against a future year’s regular tax, particularly when adjustments are due to timing differences. Overall, an individual may be better off if AMT is paid in a previous year in order to gain a credit in a later year. Perform a multi-year analysis to anticipate the effect of planning techniques used in 2005 on future years.
Stock Option Exercises. Consider whether any exercised incentive stock options should be disqualified (a disqualified disposition) before year-end to minimize the AMT liability, especially if the stock has dropped in value.
Beware of the AMT Traps. Watch out for other AMT traps, such as income from private activity (municipal) bonds, which Read more…