With my girlfriend wanting to donate a car, my roommate donating old furniture, and minor cash donations, I thought that I’d do a little research into the rules and procedures governing the deduction of donations from your taxes. It’s a little early, considering 2005 tax returns aren’t due for another ten months (tick tock!), but it’s better to know the procedure before crunch time than scrambling last minute.
Ha, I saw this on the front page of CNN Money today. In a “highly unscientific and self-promotional survey,” it looks like Barclay took sixty thousand of their higher earners (greater than about $182,000 a year) and just tallied up their first names. Top name for the guys was David and tops for the girls was Susan. For the top twenty, check out CNN Money. James was ranked twelfth in yet another meaningless list that has no bearing on life. 
Every quarter, the FDIC analyzes each state and produces a state profile that summarizes the state of banking and the economy in the state. This is important in these times because a housing boom supported by an increase in income and jobs is one that can be sustained. A housing boom supported by speculators and investors stands a higher likelihood of crashing. Be sure to read your own state along with California, where the housing market is ridiculous, and Texas, which hasn’t been a part of the housing boom, for a comparison.
Much thanks to Calculated Risk for blogging about the FDIC’s reports.
This is brilliant! Days after the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing governments to exercise the power of eminent domain to seize property for economic benefit for the state, it was reported in a press release that Logan Darrow Clements, a businessman in New Hampshire, will attempt to turn Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s, home into a hotel, museum, and restaurant! Justice Souter was one of the five who voted in favor of the City of New London.
One of the reasons I joined Costco was because the price of gasoline at a Costco was about a ten cents (or greater) cheaper than the surrounding gas stations when I lived in College Park (the neighboring gas stations were two Exxon’s, a BP/Mobile, and a Gulf). At the time, even with a 5% rebate on gasoline credit card (AT&T Universal Cash Rewards), the difference in price was greater than 5% plus I had the benefit of buying in bulk at Costco for things like 7 lb. tub of nacho cheese. The downside of using Costco was that they only accepted American Express (1% cash back) or debit cards (0% cash back), so I couldn’t double dip and use a higher cash-back card with the cheaper gas, until I ran into a concrete and useful real life example of price competition.
Welcome to Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and the second Carnival of Personal Finance! Started last week by the esteemed Flexo at Consumerism Commentary, this Carnival is designed to highlight the cream of the crop of articles published by your favorite personal finance bloggers this past week. To hear Flexo’s words and his introduction, read this entry. For a future schedule of the Carnivals and their hosts, read this entry. While this article has been published, we are still taking submissions until midnight tonight (Monday) and add them as they come in, so if you were on vacation this weekend and want to put in your post, let me know. Thanks!
Flexo from ConsumerismCommentary, site of the first Carnival of Personal Finance, crosses the wire first with his article on Eminent Domain Rules Officially Changed. It’s been big news these days with the recent 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court effectively expanding the rules under which eminent domain can be exercised. It’s scary and you should read this article. [RSS Feed]
FMF at Free Money Finance has written “Yes, You Can Erase 15 Years of Debt in 14 Months” which talks about how someone wiped away $12,000 in debt in a mere fourteen months. [RSS Feed]
Nickel at FiveCentNickel wants to clue you in on how shipping really works and why you shouldn’t let vendor shipping times scare you. Read more about it in his article, “Online Shipping Upgrades Are A Ripoff,” and I’m inclined to agree because it makes a whole lot of sense. [RSS Feed]
Ironman at Political Calculations has a good article on Marginal Tax Rates and Investment Choices. He’s created a calculator that gives you actual numbers, specific to you, on how much money you would’ve saved if you went with a tax-exempt investment over a taxable investment based on your marginal tax rate. It’s a very worthwhile read and a very useful tool. [RSS Feed]
Mike Hillyer of The Wealthy Blogger wants to remind us all what’s important in life in his post titled “Death Is a Wakeup Call.” It puts a little bit of perspective in all of our lives and reminds us of what is important. Wealth is not always measured in dollars and cents. [RSS Feed]
JLP at AllThingsFinancial has a great post about life insurance, how many of you really know the answer to: How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? [RSS Feed]
Jon at Smart Money Daily has a great story about two MacDonald’s restaurants in South Africa in his post titled “Succeed By Embracing Reality.” It’s an interesting tale of “thinking outside the box” and it’s relevence in today’s political climate with the arrival of China as a major economic competitor/player. [RSS Feed]
Smarty at Growing Money writes about how his plans to Ebay His Junk and the his results. If you have some junk lying around, this is good inspiration to go out and turn it into a little spare cash. [RSS Feed]
Keep them coming!
There’s an incredibly insightful article on the NY Times website (login required, us BugMeNot) about the black market of stolen identities and credit card information. The article talks about two prominent black market forums, both accessible online to anyone who is willing to register for the forums, called Carders Portal (http://carderportal.org/) and the International Association for the Advancement of Criminal Activity (http://iaaca.com/). On these boards you can buy “cobs,” changes of billings, where they change the address to one of your choosing. For $50 you can score a Discover card, for $85 you can get an AMEX…
Any information shared on Blueprint for Financial prosperity does not constitute financial advice. The Website is intended to provide general information only and does not attempt to give you advice that relates to your specific circumstances. You are advised to discuss your specific requirements with an independent financial adviser.
