New article posted at "Everything Finance"
Everything Finance
New article posted at "Everything Finance" |
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Three Tips for Work at Home Moms Posted: 02 Apr 2014 11:48 AM PDT Three Tips for Work at Home Moms is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
As a work at home mom, I have had to learn to do things more productively and efficiently. It can be hard to balance both, but I am so grateful for the opportunity. If you are a work at home mom, how do you balance it all?
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How I Plan on Saving Money with My Second Baby Posted: 04 Apr 2014 10:43 PM PDT How I Plan on Saving Money with My Second Baby is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
I would love to know your thoughts in the comments. How many children do you have, and how do you save on the costs? |
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5 Unexpected Expenses for First Time Homebuyers Posted: 04 Apr 2014 11:07 AM PDT 5 Unexpected Expenses for First Time Homebuyers is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
The prices in the Southern California house market are staggering enough, but there are always more hidden expenses that you need to think about than just the cost of the house. If you’re thinking about buying a house, you definitely want to increase your savings substantially. Will you have enough for 20% down payment? If not, you may have to look into an FHA loan which has lower down payment requirements. If you haven’t already done so, you may also want to think about lowering your debt as much as possible. Lowering your debt makes you look like a more stable client when a lender is thinking about lending you money. The bottom line is: if you’re thinking about buying your first home, get prepared to shell out lots of cash. You need cash for your down payment, you need cash to pay down your debt, and you need cash for a lot more things too. Here are five unexpected expenses for first time homebuyers. Closing Costs: Most homebuyers are aware that closing costs exist, but these days, closing costs can easily run five figures. And some lenders won’t let you roll that into your loan, meaning you need to have the cash on hand. Two months’ Rent: Other lenders require that even after you’ve paid your down payment and closing costs, that you still have two months’ rent in cash reserves immediately available. This is to ensure that you won’t be flat broke the minute you move into your house. Depending on the size of your mortgage, this can easily be a few thousand dollars, especially if you live n the southern California area or another high-real estate city. Property Taxes: In California, property taxes amount to 1% of the home’s sale value annually. However, there are additional taxes that can tack on cost to your annual property taxes. If you live in an area where property taxes are variable, your taxes can easily go up , costing you more over the life of the loan. Home Insurance: You just bought a new house, you want to protect it don’t you? Well, that’s going to cost you. Some lenders will roll in the cost of property taxes and home insurance into the loan, but it may be a better bet to purchase home insurance separately. Make sure you get several opinions and read the fine print on what your home insurance will actually protect you against. HOA/Mello Roos: If you live in a newer California community, you may be charged mello roos, which are an additional tax in certain neighborhoods to help build up public spaces, like parks, schools, and libraries. You may also live in a Homeowner’s association, which helps maintain public spaces within the neighborhood like pools, and grassy medians. Some HOA’s even cover the outside of the home, like roofs. HOAs and Mello roos can easily add on several hundred to your monthly mortgage payment. If you’re thinking about buying a home, make sure to look into all the additional charges of what it will actually cost to buy a home. |
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Choosing the Right Vehicle for Your Business Posted: 05 Apr 2014 05:07 PM PDT Choosing the Right Vehicle for Your Business is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money! A small business will go to great lengths to save money. Some ambitious entrepreneurs will sell their car and ride a bike to work. In sunny locales, a few have gone the Vespa route and visit the gas station once every few weeks. For a company that relies on cars for delivery or sales routes, thinking carefully about which vehicle they purchase is critical. In a few cases, a start-up can create name recognition by driving branded cars that stand out in a crowd, even if the vehicle is mostly for commuting to work and back. When choosing a car for business, there are a few options available. Check that—there are hundreds of options! Cars come in all shapes and sizes—and at many price points. You can go with a large delivery van like the Ford Transit, attract attention with something like the new Kia Soul, or go the more economical route with a staid (but wholly reliable) compact car. New tax limitations for 2012 continue to provide significant tax benefits to small business owners. Now when you purchase qualifying GM vehicles for your business before 12/31/12, you could earn a tax deduction of up to $139,000. Plus you can stack other available incentives to really increase your savings. That makes right now a great time to enhance your fleet while taking advantage of generous tax incentives. General Motors has produced a series of videos that highlight its fleet customers and how they use the automaker’s vehicles.  Via: Xero |
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What To Do If You Owe Taxes but Don’t Have the Money to Pay Posted: 10 Apr 2014 10:24 PM PDT What To Do If You Owe Taxes but Don’t Have the Money to Pay is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
First Things First Even if you don’t have the money to pay your taxes, try to file the return on time. You will be charged 5% for each month you file late. You will be charged .5% for each month that you pay late. Mathematically, it is better to file and pay late rather than file late AND pay late. Pay as much as you can when you file. This will lower your overall penalty payments because there will be a lower balance to apply the penalty APR to. Ways to Pay Your Tax Obligation In general, paying your tax obligation when you file your return is the best way to go. If you don’t have the money to do that, consider these alternative ways to pay, which may be cheaper than paying interest to the IRS. Pay by credit card. You will incur a convenience fee for paying by credit card (currently a little more than 2%) and you will still be required to pay the credit card balance, but the credit card minimum payment may be smaller than what you would have to pay the IRS monthly, and the interest may also be lower. Pay by bank loan. You can apply for a loan through your bank to pay your tax obligation. Again, the interest rate may be lower, but the monthly payment will be higher than what you pay on your credit card (though you will pay off the entire loan faster than if you paid only the minimum on the credit card). Borrow from a friend or relative. Though the least ideal of repayment methods because of the potential implications to your relationship, if you agree to draw up a contract stating how much you are borrowing, the interest rate you will pay and how much you pay monthly, this may be an option to pay your IRS tax bill. Just be sure to have it signed by a notary public and meet your monthly obligation religiously. If you find that you owe more to the IRS than you are able to pay, it may be better to look for alternative ways to pay your tax bill so you can pay on time. If you can’t use alternative sources to pay on time, you may be able to negotiate with the IRS to set up an installment plan. However, it is best to file your taxes on time and pay what you can to limit your overall penalty obligation. Image Source: spreadshirt.com |
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Posted: 10 Apr 2014 04:09 PM PDT How We Survived on One Salary is a post originally published on: Everything Finance - Everything Finance - Its all about Money!
The second time was when my husband hurt his back and had to take a leave from work unpaid and couldn’t get disability pay. With the first experience, we had eight months to scrimp and save to allow for a nice cushion to fall back on as emergency savings. The second time it was a lot harder because it was completely unexpected. We also had just moved into a new place where we had exhausted most of our savings for the deposit, and we were also now faced with emergency room visit bills thanks to my husband’s injury. Both those experiences taught us how to pinch our pennies in order to make it through. I’m not saying it was easy, but this is how we were able to survive on one salary. No Fun Money. When we were living on one income, there was no room for extras in our budget. This means we drastically cut down on eating out, and we didn’t allow for any fun things, like mani-pedis or clothes shopping. Cheap Entertainment. But just because we didn’t have fun money, didn’t mean we couldn’t still have fun. We just had to find different sources of entertainment. Saturday mornings were spent taking long walks around our neighborhood and getting a cup of coffee at our favorite local coffee shop ($2 for a cup of joe as opposed to $5 at Starbucks). And Friday nights we’d normally have a frozen pizza (no take out for us!) and catch up on our DVR. If we wanted to take a break from cooking, we’d make plans to eat at one of our parents’ house. The parents always enjoy having us over for dinner. Meal planning. Planning my grocery list became my new obsession. I had to keep our grocery budget to a minimum so I’d learn to track sales and menu plan what we were having for the week. Pasta became a meal staple and meat became a treat. Make more money. In order to help alleviate the pain of one income, I worked on selling items from our house that we simply didn’t need. We also held a garage sale which provided a nice one-time boost of income. Re-negotiate your living expenses. My husband and I downsized from a one-bedroom apartment to a studio in order to save more money. We also reduced our utilities simply by making calls and asking for cheaper rates and threatening to cancel. |
