Personal Financial Planning
Question: When do I have to file for a tax ID number? I’m selling hand-woven socks on Etsy and possibly expanding into other crafts?
Answer: Generally speaking, you will use your Social Security number as your Tax ID number if your business is not a corporation, partnership, and you don’t have employees. This IRS link will help you determine if you need an EIN:
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Do-You-Need-an-EIN?
Getting ready to do online shopping for the holiday season? Don’t miss out on discounts by finding coupon codes to apply before checking out your online shopping cart. A brief history of online coupon codes:
2003: Remember entering your email address to subscribe to deals and coupon codes? You would receive hundreds of emails that would go unread until you needed to buy clothing or get a rental car. Too many emails!
2010: Along came RetailMeNot, a website and then mobile app that provided a centralized site to find coupon codes to apply to online purchases, travel reservations, etc. You no longer needed to give your email address to get the discount codes for shopping online.
2014: There is a new and improved way to find coupon codes when shopping online. Coupons at Checkout have made a web browser extension that automatically finds coupon codes when you are shopping online and gives you a list to choose from without needing to search for them. Here’s how it works:
They also have an iPhone version that works in Safari.
Are you paying $35 per month for a phone line from your cable provider? You could lower your bill to $4 per month with Ooma. Follow these easy steps:
If you are among the 60% of US households that have a home phone line, take a look at switching from your cable provider to a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service. The phone call quality has greatly improved from years ago when VOIP made its first appearance as an alternative to analog phone lines. I prefer Ooma for the following reasons:
Other alternatives are Straight Talk Wireless, Vonage and Magic Jack.
If you want to save thousands of dollars over your lifetime and minimize the interest on your loan payments, check your credit score now and make a goal to increase it to over 720. How much does your credit score matter? Take a look at the FICO scores and their different APR, monthly payments, and total interest paid on a 5 year $20,000 car loan.
For this example, the difference between a credit score of 500 and 720 is $135/month extra interest payments and $8,100 extra interest paid in total over the five year loan.
How do you increase your credit score? First, let’s take a look at how your FICO score is calculated:
Next, follow these steps:
Are you interested in founding your own RIA firm? The process takes anywhere from 3-4 months depending on whether your firm registers with the SEC or the state and how long it takes to setup the 4 areas below: RIA, Core, Accounting, and Technology.
The purpose of estate planning is to help you get started in making decisions about your life while you are physically and mentally healthy through to the end of your life. Get started today.
More than 50% of Americans are not aware of how much they pay in annual administrative fees and expenses for their 401k and individual retirement accounts. Over the course of 30 years, those fees can add up to over $50,000 of lost savings and interest.
Recent legislation from the Department of Labor has required that 401k and retirement plan providers disclose fees and expenses on client statements. While this should resolve the problem of fee transparency, nearly 40% surveyed still believe that they do not pay any 401k fees! On top of that, 20% never even look at their statements.
Here are a few tips for the DIYers:
For the 20% surveyed who do not look at retirement accounts and avoid financial statements, there are important things that need to be done:
If you don’t have the time or don’t want to manage your portfolios, ask a financial advisor for help. A one time fee of $500 is worth the $50,000 in fees saved over your lifetime.
If you are an entrepreneur, consultant, startup or small business, Wave Apps is a great accounting solution. The setup to add business accounts is easy, and you can quickly run reports. The invoice system is simple and beautiful: add your logo, personalize content, and send via email from Wave App to your clients! Best of all, when clients receive the invoice in their inbox, the email is HTML formatted and they can pay by credit card provided by clicking the invoice link.
I can’t say enough wonderful things about Wave. If you have less than 10 employees and are a US based company, you should try Wave now and switch!
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Why Wave Apps?
I am very excited to present our new website. You will find interesting and useful information for managing personal finances as well as making a strategy for your future.
We are here to answer your questions. We offer a free meeting to provide objective advice regarding insurance, investment management, or any product or service recommended by other professionals. If you have a life event or need the big picture on your financial goals, drop us a line.