Posted February 14, 2009 - 12:50 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Taxes, Credit Cards, Consumer Affairs
On Friday both the House and the Senate passed a new $789 billion stimulus package as a continuation of the efforts by the United States Government to jumpstart the economy. A significant portion of the package gives a tax cut of $400 to each individual worker and $800 to a couple starting in June 2009. This works out to a paltry $13 per week for individuals making $75,000 or under per year and couples making $150,000 or under per year. How will you stimulate the economy with $13 a week?
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Posted January 14, 2009 - 11:20 by Philip Brewer
Taxes
A lot of taxpayers missed out on getting their IRS economic stimulus rebate last year, even though they qualified. If you're one of them, you'll be glad to know that there's a way to get your check.
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Posted January 9, 2009 - 07:41 by Julie Rains
Taxes, Real Estate and Housing, Investment
The borrow-at-a-low-interest-rate-and-invest-to-get-greater-returns mentality was so embedded in our belief system that there almost seemed to be a stigma attached to not carrying a mortgage balance forever. Some financial experts indicated that the early mortgage payoff had merely a psychological benefit but no clear financial benefit or worse, a financial disadvantage. I won't tell you what to do because personal financial circumstances vary, and vary greatly over the life of a 15-year or 30-year mortgage. But I'll tell you what some of these experts were thinking and what they forgot to mention when it comes to paying off the mortgage.
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Posted October 20, 2008 - 13:48 by Xin Lu
Taxes, Consumer Affairs
2008 will probably go down in history as the year of bailouts, crashes, and meltdowns. Here is a quick run down of all the laws and bills congress pushed through with lightning speed in this election year. With two months left in the year, we may see some more bailouts and stimulus packages to come.
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Posted October 3, 2008 - 14:07 by Andrea Dickson
Taxes, Consumer Affairs
You might have thought that the $700 billion bailout bill seemed a bit excessive. You'll be relieved to hear that the bill that the President will sign tonight is worth a mere $800 billion dollars. Wait, what?
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Posted September 26, 2008 - 10:10 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Investment, Taxes
Last year I wrote an article about how I used my Vanguard Tax Exempt Money Market Fund as a high yield checkings account, and this week I suddenly got quite a few hits for that article. So I wondered why that was and found that the yield for the tax exempt money market funds have shot up significantly.
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Posted September 17, 2008 - 15:17 by Paul Michael
Personal Finance, Lifestyle, Credit Cards, Consumer Affairs, Real Estate and Housing, Taxes
I don’t know about you, but I’m more than a little worried by recent economic events. First Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, then Lehman Brothers, and now an $85 billion loan to AIG. Some people would have us believe that despite all of this, the foundations of our economy are strong. But with trillions of dollars in debt now on the table, how long can this country keep racking up the red ink?
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Posted July 24, 2008 - 15:05 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Consumer Affairs, Real Estate and Housing, Taxes
In my last article I wrote about the one aspect of the $300 billion dollar housing bailout that I thought made sense, but the full text of the bill known as H.R. 3221 is over 700 pages so it is too complex to discuss in any one blog post. Today I shall highlight some of the more questionable and dangerous aspects of the bill.
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Posted July 17, 2008 - 12:56 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Real Estate and Housing, Taxes
My husband said that when we do buy a house he wants to just buy it with cash so we can own it outright and in our way say "screw you" to the banks. I like that idea, but just like any financial decision, there are pros and cons to doing this.
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Posted July 4, 2008 - 00:00 by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Real Estate and Housing, Taxes
To all the Americans out there, happy Independence Day! I think this a great day to reflect upon how personal finance and patriotism is so intertwined in America. So I dug up a few tidbits from American history and summarized them here.
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