Personal Finance | FavStocks

Last chance for tax cheats to get their tax affairs straight

1 March 2011 – 2:20 pm PDT

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Last week HMRC published a statement about how they are going to manage deliberate defaulters by a new programme of special rules. The intention is that anyone who is identified as a deliberate tax defaulter will will have their tax affairs closely scrutinised – not just when they are caught but for the next five [...]

Tax amnesty for Plumbers is a good thing but it’s not an amnesty

1 March 2011 – 12:15 pm PDT

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You’ll see lots of reference to this so-called tax amnesty’ for plumbers over the next few days. HMRC says: The Plumbers Tax Safe Plan (PTSP) is designed for people working within the plumbing industry who have not told HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about all their income in the past and who now want to [...]

How Are You faring in the â€œJobless Recoveryâ€?

28 February 2011 – 3:58 am PDT

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By Kevin M Jobless recovery–thatâ€™s an obvious oxymoron if ever there was one. I first heard the term coming out of the last recession in the early 2000s. Then as now, the economy was somehow miraculously growing without worker participation. Now the term is starting to be heard in connection with the latest â€œrecoveryâ€, and [...]

Buy a Business OR Build One From the Ground Up?

24 February 2011 – 5:42 pm PDT

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Buy a Business OR Build One From the Ground Up?

By Kevin M Youâ€™re over it, all of itâ€”the job, your career, the nine-to-five routine, the morning commute, the cubicle in the cornerâ€”you want to ditch it all and finally start your own business. Youâ€™ve already decided what that business will be, and now youâ€™re setting down to consider the details of how youâ€™ll get [...]

CRS Report Reviews Retirement Plans

23 February 2011 – 6:20 am PDT

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Source: Congressional Research Service 401(k) Plans and Retirement Savings: Issues for Congress (PDF) Over the past 25 years, defined contribution (DC) plans–including 401(k) plans–have become the most prevalent form of employer-sponsored retirement plan in the United States. The majority of assets held in these plans are invested in stocks and stock mutual funds, and the [...]

Health Insurance Premiums Continue Upward Trend

23 February 2011 – 6:10 am PDT

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Health Insurance Premiums Continue Upward Trend

Source: Congressional Budget Office Private Health Insurance Premiums and Rate Reviews (PDF) Health insurance premiums have been trending up, while the value of coverage has trended down. Available data indicate that both administrative and medical costs continue to rise, but the rate of growth in these expenses slowed between 2008 and 2009. The data also [...]

A Truly Simple Way to Invest in Stocks

22 February 2011 – 4:54 pm PDT

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Beyond Buy-and-Hold #27 By Rob Bennett Most people acknowledge that valuations affect long-term returns and therefore that the idea of adjusting your stock allocation in response to big price swings (Valuation-Informed Indexing) makes a good bit of sense. An objection that I often hear, however, is that Buy-and-Hold is more simple. Most middle-class investors lead [...]

NO. The Revenue do NOT approve Disclosed tax schemes

21 February 2011 – 11:30 pm PDT

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I was at a business networking event last week and found myself talking to ‘Bill’ from ‘XYZ Capital management’. He will have seen my name badge referenced the ‘Tax Advice Network’. This is pretty much how the conversation went: Me: And what do you do at XYZ capital management? Bill: We help wealthy people manage [...]

Barclays paid 1% in apples of tax on its pears of profits

21 February 2011 – 12:30 pm PDT

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Another day, another spurious tax statistic enters common parlance. I have heard three separate references today to the ‘fact’ that Barclays paid “only one per cent in corporation tax on its 2009 profits of Â£11.6 billion”. The People, for example, are fanning the flames here. According to the Guardian, the 1% rate was first disclosed [...]

Even With Car Repairs It PAYS to Shop

20 February 2011 – 8:18 am PDT

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By Kevin M If you get a repair estimate of $1000 on your car, do you sense desperation, turn the car over to the mechanic and tell him to do what needs to be done? If you do you could be making a mistake that will cost you hundreds of dollars. Most of us, I [...]