Thursday, February 28, 2008

How are your taxes coming?

Well, have you filed your tax returns yet? I've efiled my federal return and have also received my refund. I direct deposited it into my checking account. I'm holding off filing my State and City returns as I owe. I'm earning interest in my savings account from my federal refund until April 15th. At that time, I'll pull the funds out to send in with my State and City return.

If you are not one of the do-it-yourself people when it comes to you taxes, that's ok. However, I did come across an interesting story on Yahoo Finance titled "10-Things your tax preparer wont tell you". Its an interesting read. Check it out.

Happy filing.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

How much will my Rebate be?

President Bush receintly signed the economic stimulas package into law. This means that sometime this summer, you'll be getting a rebate check in the mail from the IRS. This is an advance on the reduced taxes for 2008.

According to the IRS, the vast majority of Americans who qualify for the payment will not have to do anything other than file their 2007 individual income tax return to receive their payment this year. The IRS will use information on the tax return to determine eligibility and calculate the amount of the stimulus payments.

Please be aware that there are identity theft scams involving the proposed advance payment checks.

So exactly how much will your rebate be? Flexo at Consumerism Commentary recently shared a handy little tax rebate calculator. Check it out.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Never give up.

Today at church I had the opportunity to talk with some people who recently graduated from one of NewPointe's Financial Peace University classes.

One lady is a widower and she shared with my how much FPU has helped her and made a positive difference in her life. She is passing along what she learned to her adult children.

A married couple, who moved away last year were back for a visit today. It was great to see them and catch up with them. They shared with me how the principals they learned in FPU are giving them as she said, "Peace".

My heart was leaping for joy as I got to listen to the positive life change taking place. Although both stories were different, they both said it's hard work but it's worth it. I've come to realize anything in life that's worth having takes hard work and discipline.

Getting to financial peace is so worth it. Don't let anything get in the way.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

More free Money

As you know, I'm a big, big fan of online savings accounts. AmTrust Direct is my favorite. They are paying 4.10%. If that's not enough of an incentive for you, here's one more reason to consider saving at AmTrust. Free money.

I received and email from them letting me know all I have to do is set up an automatic transfer from my checking account to AmTrust with a minimum of $100 a month for 3 months and they will deposit $50 into my savings account.

So, that's $50 in interest on $300 in 3 months. That's a 16.67% return in just 3 months. Now that's a serious return. I'm off to set up the automatic savings transfer.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Financial Lesson Learned by my 12 year old

My two kids have had a family share cell phone plan for about 4 months now. I must admit I was a little apprehensive in saying yes to a 12 & 14 year old having cell phones. The deal was $10 per week out of their commission goes toward paying their monthly bill. The are also responsible for any "Texting" overage.

This past month, I noticed my daughter, the 12 year old was texting a lot. About every other day, I'd ask her if she was getting close to her 1,000 text messages. She kept telling me "no dad". It's ok. Long story short, she is about 1,000 texts over this month. Roughly $150 dollars over.

I stayed calm and cool, asked her to hand over her phone and that she was grounded from the phone until she repaid the overages. Based on her "spendable" weekly commission, it was going to take her about 7 weeks before she would have her phone back or any spendable money.

My daughter is very, very opportunistic. She rounded up her Nintendo DS and 8 games. She told me she doesn't play with it anymore and asked if I'd help her list it on Ebay. I said sure and it was truly a fun father, daughter and son, (he did most of the work) evening.

We put a "buy it now price" of $140 and in less than 5 minutes after it was listed, it was sold and she has her cell phone back.

Lesson Learned. . .
  1. She said she won't go over he 1,000 texts anymore. No DS to sell next time.
  2. She didn't like owing me money.
  3. She was depressed she wasn't going to be able to go to the skating this Friday because she wouldn't have money to get in.
  4. She sold something she didn't use anymore to get out of debt fast. (Great principle)
  5. She's practicing Financial Peace! (Ya Baby!)
I'm off to pack and ship the DS to California.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Morning Coach. . . .

I'm always on the lookout for ways to continue to improve myself and to grow. I recently came across a website and podcast that is helping me do both.

MorningCoach.com is a 15 minute a day pick-me-up and it's the second best way to start my day. (The first is prayer) Morning Coach covers a variety of topics that range from motivation to health to tips and tricks to improve your day. I get my 15 minutes via their podcast. You can register on their web site for Free and be part of their daily conference call at 7:45 in the morning 365 days a year.

Morning Coach has a 4 1/2 star rating on Itunes and they are located under the self-help category. So check it out, learn and grow.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Life Change! (14 Credit Cards destroyed)

Tuesday night at our Financial Peace University class we had three couples say good-bye to a total of 14 credit cards. Four of them were cut up right there in class and 10 were cut up at home.

I get so excited when families say so long, no more to credit cards. Credit card debt is destroying lives. The number one way to start on the road to Financial Peace is to stop borrowing money.

I'm very humbled to be part of the life change that goes on here at NewPointe. Financial Peace University plays a big roll in that.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Opt Out - for (5 years)

Are you still getting unsolicited credit card offers in your mailbox? Do you ever wonder how and why you keep getting these?

Credit Card companies take a look at your credit report and based on what they see, decided to send you offers for their credit card. This blows my mind that any company can look at a credit report to determine if they want to market to you.

You can say good-bye to unsolicited credit card offers. All you have to do is go to OptOutPrescreen.com. If you complete the form online, you opt out for 5 years. Opt out via mail and you are out for life. Either way you need to Opt Out.