Date: Fri, 16. May 2008 23:31:36

Suffering the biggest-ever loss in our portfolio -- a total of $60,000 -- our net worth took a nosedive again in January. That is, the second month in red in the last three months. For the month, our net worth declined by 4.8%, or over $42,000. I would be lying if I say I don't miss the good old days when we can count on consistent net worth improvement month after month. On the other hand, it is probably not a bad thing if one takes a long-term perspective. After all, it could be much worse if this happens after I finally bid good-bye to my corporate life -- that extreme early retirement scenario has been in our plan for many years and all we wait for is we hit a certain net worth number. If anything, the recent market turbulence serves as a timely wake-up call in our last stretch toward millionaire club that early retirement is only the means to an end, and risk management is more important than ever in our ride toward financial independence. Fortunately, our core income streams are still well-oiled machines. My daily job is still generating five-figure monthly cash flow even after paying all taxes and living expenses. Our sideline business also delivered a big surprise in January with monthly net proceeds topping $10,000 again. All together, our family is little affected by the paper losses (or gains) in our portfolio. Bottomline is, even with the market slide in recent months, we still added more than $190,000 to our net worth in the last 12 months. READ FULL POST ... Hot Deal: 5% cashback on everything from Citi CashReturns Mastercard Read more news like this from PFBlog.com, The Unique Personal Finance Blog Since 2003.

Date: Mon, 16. June 2008 06:00:00

Lenders are shrinking these lines of credit, making it harder for Americans to finance major expenses.

Date: Sun, 10. August 2008 01:21:32

Campaigner not registeringNewstalk ZB - 1 hour agoA campaigner against the Electoral Finance Act says he has no intention of registering as a third party. People who want to spend more than $12000 on election advertising are required by the act to register.Electoral Act fight stepped up TVNZall 4 news articles

Date: Sat, 11. October 2008 07:02:41

SifyFear, greed produce wild ride for stocks on Wall StreetLos Angeles Times - 8 hours agoWild fluctuations in the Dow cap the worst week in its history. It ends down 128 points. By Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer NEW YORK -- In a fitting end to the worst week on Wall Street since the Great Depression,the stock market ...Video: Wild Swings Drive Morning Trading AssociatedPressState Street Sets Restriction On Securities-Lending Funds Wall Street JournalBusinessWeek - guardian.co.uk - Lower Hudson Journal news - The Associated Pressall 3,269 news articles

Date: Mon, 5. May 2008 06:00:00

Have a personal finance question? E-mail Steve Dinnen at work@csps.com

Date: Fri, 16. May 2008 23:31:36

Now you can always choose to tackle the annual chore of filing tax return by 1) learning to file tax yourself, or 2) paying someone else to file your tax. You may think the difference is just the $100 or so you pay someone sitting in the booth in Walmart in April, but it can be much more than that. Take myself as an example, given that I'm working in Asia, taking paycheck from a US-based company corporate entity, running a sideline business and still having to pay federal income tax in the States, my tax profile is on the complicated end of the spectrum. I'm thankful that my employer is paying KMPG several thousand dollars a year to file my tax. I will never be able to figure out how to navigate the intrigue laws governing federal tax on foreign earned income. Now I also need to confess I'm a control freak when it comes to managing money, so in each of the past two years, I took KMPG's draft return, and crunch every line again in a mass-market tax software, until I can satisfactorily say I understand how all numbers are tied together to produce my total tax number. This exercise took me about 10 hours every year, and it is worth every minute I put to it. Why? In each of the past two years, I found at least $2,000 worth of error in my favor. The first year, KMPG classified my business income as US earned instead of foreign-earned, effectively depriving me of the opportunity to offset some of my foreign-paid tax. The second year, KMPG even forgot my employer withhold taxes from my vested restricted stock grants. READ FULL POST ... Hot Deal: 5% cashback on everything from Citi CashReturns Mastercard Read more news like this from PFBlog.com, The Unique Personal Finance Blog Since 2003.

Date: Tue, 28. October 2008 22:37:41

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=in/17-0fd=Rurl=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp%3Fnewsid%3D1201941cid=1263853897ei=xdMHSbDZL5nK8ASOyumdAgusg=AFQjCNE3tdZEh_2EwTNNvZyG_8Tc_hD6ewbThe FM?s wrong, early govts followed fiscal discipline/b/abrfont size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fDaily News Analysisnbsp;-/font nobr4 hours ago/nobr/b/fontbrfont size=-1The Union finance minister has been speaking about the budgetary position of the Union government both inside and outside Parliament./fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=in/17-1fd=Rurl=http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php%3Fclid%3D12%26theme%3D%26usrsess%3D1%26id%3D228776cid=1263853897ei=xdMHSbDZL5nK8ASOyumdAgusg=AFQjCNGSeEJWBVy3-euvFJVILfwJcZFb2QJD(U) cautions govt against high deficit/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Statesman/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?ned=inncl=1263853897hl=ennobrball 2 news articles/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Date: Fri, 16. May 2008 23:31:36

CNN Money's Jeanne Sahadi did an amazing job in compiling the different opinions on tax policy from all presidential candidates. Given the fact that I have a portfolio that briefly crossed seven-figure mark lately, I'm naturally interested in how they think on the investment taxation: Currently they're both taxed at 15 percent (less for low-income taxpayers), and they are scheduled to rise by 2011 to 20 percent for capital gains and to ordinary income tax rates for dividends. Edwards: Would make the first $250 of interest, capital gains and dividends tax-free for everyone, although he would favor raising the capital gains tax rate to 28 percent for taxpayers making more than $200,000. Obama: Would eliminate capital gains taxes for business start-ups, although he would favor raising the capital gains tax rate to somewhere between 20 percent and 28 percent for taxpayers making more than $250,000. Romney: Wants to eliminate the tax on interest, capital gains and dividends for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes under $200,000, and would make the Bush investment tax cuts permanent for everyone else. Giuliani, McCain and Thompson: Would make Bush investment tax cuts permanent. Huckabee: Has called for the elimination of the income tax system and for a consumption tax to take its place. Under his plan, you would be taxed on what you buy, not on what you earn or save. So there would be no investment taxes. READ FULL POST ... Hot Deal: 5% cashback on everything from Citi CashReturns Mastercard Read more news like this from PFBlog.com, The Unique Personal Finance Blog Since 2003.

Date: Sat, 23. August 2008 22:02:12

Daily MailSupermarket price comparison: Middle classes face their Ocado momentTelegraph.co.uk - 5 hours agoIT IS the great Ocado debate. When Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, with his annual politician's salary of £61000 and marriage to a successful lawyer, announced he was giving up his weekly grocery deliveries from online supermarket Ocado, ...I feel your financial pain, says Clegg as he gives up Ocado IndependentNick Clegg on the credit crunch: 'I share your pain. I've switched ... Daily MailThis is London - QCK - Europinions Finance - Telegraph.co.ukall 18 news articles

Date: Sat, 23. August 2008 22:02:12

Daily MailSupermarket price comparison: Middle classes face their Ocado momentTelegraph.co.uk - 17 hours agoIT IS the great Ocado debate. When Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, with his annual politician's salary of £61000 and marriage to a successful lawyer, announced he was giving up his weekly grocery deliveries from online supermarket Ocado, ...Nick Clegg on the credit crunch: 'I share your pain. I've switched ... Daily MailI feel your financial pain, says Clegg as he gives up Ocado IndependentThis is London - QCK - Europinions Finance - Telegraph.co.ukall 18 news articles