Stimulus tax refund check SSN digits based
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Where is my Stimulus payment check ? If you haven't received it that means your Social security number - SSN number is not yet on the date list. Check out the dates below from IRS.
If you filed your 2007 taxes and requested direct deposit then you would get the stimulus payment ACH credited by US Treasury under tax refunds.
Here is the official IRS link
BookMark in Onlywire
If you filed your 2007 taxes and requested direct deposit then you would get the stimulus payment ACH credited by US Treasury under tax refunds.
Here is the official IRS link
Labels: 2008, Investing, taxes
written by Kalyan @ 11:37 AM,
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Income tax checklist & File your income tax return by April 15
Monday, March 03, 2008
IRS waiting for taxes - Credit : GOODMagazine.com
Here is checklist of documents required to file taxes:
Proof of the income:
This includes W2s which are proof of income made through employers, interest from checking/savings accounts, dividends from stock investments, income made through self-employment like say Google Adsense or some other advertising revenues, and any other income. In my case I have my partial MBA Student tuition payments and other types of loans may also be considered income for the purposes of income tax, as can winnings from a lottery, casino, or other contest.It is always good to contact your tax adviser to know what qualifies as income for tax purposes
social Security Numbers:
You should have handy all social security numbers for everyone you will claim on your income tax return. That includes social security numbers for your spouse and any children you will claim. Without social security numbers, proof of residence, and birth dates, you cannot claim deductions on your income tax return for these individuals.
Deductions:
I have a mortgage, and interest paid to the mortgage company is tax deductible. If you use a vehicle or computers for business purposes, you can claim a tax deduction for mileage/usage.You can also claim tax deductions for charitable contributions.
Self-Employed:
Gather all your receipts for tax deductible expenses. A tax deductible business expense is any expense that is used solely or primarily for the business you are involved in. The tax deductible expense must be documented in order to claim it, so any receipts you have, usage logs for computers and vehicles, etc. should be gathered so that you can take the highest deduction possible.
Tax Forms:
An individual with few tax deductible items can file simple tax return. However, if you are self-employed you must also file a tax form called Schedule C.For lot of tax deductible items, you will want to file a more complex tax return to itemize your tax deductions.
Start gathering all of your required tax documents as early as possible, and be organized.
I like this video from "GOODMagazine" showing how our tax money is spent.
Labels: Adsense, Investing, taxes
written by Kalyan @ 2:04 AM,
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House Swapping -- homeowners get creative as sinking demand for the houses continue
Friday, February 22, 2008
"House swapping" joins to the list of innovative sell/buy strategies in troubled housing industry in US.
How does house swapping work?
Sub prime mortgage crisis made many houses face foreclosures. Almost all big banks wrote down billions and billions of dollars absorbing all the losses of sub prime crisis. Economists warn that more danger is yet to come in fall of this year as many ARM mortgages are up for renewal and financing conditions put forth by lenders are becoming stingier day after day. Selling a house in this kind of market requires creativity. The last trend that impressed me was article about woman raffling off her home to avoid facing foreclosure.
BookMark in Onlywire
How does house swapping work?
Sub prime mortgage crisis made many houses face foreclosures. Almost all big banks wrote down billions and billions of dollars absorbing all the losses of sub prime crisis. Economists warn that more danger is yet to come in fall of this year as many ARM mortgages are up for renewal and financing conditions put forth by lenders are becoming stingier day after day. Selling a house in this kind of market requires creativity. The last trend that impressed me was article about woman raffling off her home to avoid facing foreclosure.
Labels: Investing
written by Kalyan @ 3:43 PM,
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Thirties age makes one think and feel bad for the past as well as the future
Monday, February 18, 2008
I stopped many times at this site (Zenhabits.net) through Google searches or some social bookmarking site where this particular blog or journal posts made it to the front page many times.
This below post is a master piece and a must read for all age groups, if you are in thirties then you know what you have missed all along and at least start the repair work OR worst case start "thinking" of what is been missed.
Many of twenty misses are big coincident s for me barring a few ones that I did not sell my car to a friend's friend or bought a utterly useless used car.
Reducing the debt that we have accumulated because of tuition costs or some unnecessary impulse online buys have been on my top list these days. Personal finance is where I've started taking a serious note -- probably call it a thirties financial insecurity syndrome.
Well time to repair and move forward :)
BookMark in Onlywire
This below post is a master piece and a must read for all age groups, if you are in thirties then you know what you have missed all along and at least start the repair work OR worst case start "thinking" of what is been missed.
Many of twenty misses are big coincident s for me barring a few ones that I did not sell my car to a friend's friend or bought a utterly useless used car.
Reducing the debt that we have accumulated because of tuition costs or some unnecessary impulse online buys have been on my top list these days. Personal finance is where I've started taking a serious note -- probably call it a thirties financial insecurity syndrome.
Well time to repair and move forward :)
Labels: Investing
written by Kalyan @ 8:08 PM,
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E-Trade Superbowl 2008 baby ads -- Quite entertaining with brand rebuilding
Monday, February 04, 2008
I have TD Ameritrade brokerage account for stocks and have no idea how E-Trade is compared (with transaction commissions or research tools) to TD Ameritrade. Last time I went in and punched E-Trade stock symbol for stock price check was when it was in bankruptcy news. Rumor was started by Citi Investment Research analyst Prashant Bhatia who published that E-Trade “Bankruptcy risk cannot be ruled out.”
I think E-Trade did respond back very strongly with their Superbowl ads to build the brand image again. They chose babies ad theme sending in clear message that it easy to work with online E-Trade account.
I some how feel their stock will go up for few days with this effect and is a good bet for day traders.
I liked 1st ad more than the second one.
Here are the ETrade Superbowl 2008 ads :
Baby 1
Baby 2
BookMark in Onlywire
I think E-Trade did respond back very strongly with their Superbowl ads to build the brand image again. They chose babies ad theme sending in clear message that it easy to work with online E-Trade account.
I some how feel their stock will go up for few days with this effect and is a good bet for day traders.
I liked 1st ad more than the second one.
Here are the ETrade Superbowl 2008 ads :
Baby 1
Baby 2
Labels: 2008, ads, Babies, Investing, stocks, superbowl
written by Kalyan @ 2:17 AM,
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Will Gold prices cross $1000 in February ?
Saturday, February 02, 2008
In 2001 when gold price was $280 and it was a trend those days to buy 4 or 5 of these gold biscuits to take them to India. I now regret that I missed almost 4 times (400%) of returns. Currently gold price is hovering around $930 (per ounce price) and is still below the inflation adjusted (the money that was worth in 1980 say $800 if adjusted to inflation would be somewhere equivalent NOW to $2000) all time 1980 peak price of gold which was $2000 plus.If we irrationally go by this statistic then there is chance for gold price to cross $1000 and $2000 very soon. Of course that depends lot on other factors like deteriorating economic conditions. When economic conditions are bad people tend to lose confidence on currency and flock to heavenly gold investments. If you see historic prices gold did drop from its peak of 1980 $847 to $250 in 1999. The downside of investing in gold is risk of drastic price drop.Gold bugs (referred to people who is bullish on Gold and they advocate heavily to spur up the demand of gold) don't agree with the cons of gold investing citing rising oil prices and the unwillingness of China to significantly de-couple the value of its own currency from the US dollar.
Why I think price of gold will cross $1000 in February ? Valentines day . Demand for gold is historically high in the month of Feb as either increase in valentines gold gifts or proposals of marriage with rings on valentines day.For years the jewelry industry has done their best to provide shoppers with an all in one opportunity to select gifts for the special people in their life.It seems as though regardless of the individual or their personality there is something for them in the vast network of jewelry shops.
Buying the same gifts year after year can get monotonous, however, and jewelry stores have to constantly fight to stay on top of the market. They are consistently coming up with popular new products created out of gold to attract in the needy consumer.
To sum up, I predict gold prices will hit $1000 unless there is total economic turn over from recession to expansion.
Gold Stool (Image courtesy - Bornrich.org)
Labels: gold, Investing, valentinesday
written by Kalyan @ 4:35 AM,
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Tax rebate/refund checks - $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples ?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
--------
Update : May'9'2008 - Direct deposits are made by US Treasury and you may see it soon in your bank accounts like the one below.
This is $600 + $600 + $300 (Child) = $1500, The amount may vary depending on dependents and the income level.
If you didn't receive the tax refund yet then your last two SSN digits condition may not have met, check your payment schedule from IRS -
Previous update : President Bush signed the stimulus package on Feb'13'2008. Earlier both House and the Senate passed the economic stimulus bill. This means we can expect refund checks in May'2008.
---------
Original post :
Soon we can see some fat checks in our mail. Top on my list is to pay off some high interest credit card balance.
Strong evidence is emerging that consumer spending, a factor in determining recession is in a visible distance as energy prices surged and the housing market sputtered, has begun to show its ugly shocks at every level of the American economy, from the working class to the wealthy. Slowness in US consumer spending is effecting US GDP.
GDP is made up of these components : (Simplifying)
GDP = consumption + investment + government spending
Recession has many definitions as one says continuous six months of declining GDP pushes economy into recession.
The Bush administration is calling for temporary tax relief worth about $140 billion or more, reportedly in the form of tax-rebate checks of up to up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples.These rebates may not be available to all and would be available to those below a certain income cap, likely $75,000 adjusted gross income for individuals and $150,000 for families.
This refunds are supposedly be sent in June if everything goes okay and relief is accepted by the house.
The idea behind these ‘Economic Stimulus’ plans is to get money into the hands of consumers who will spend it quickly, thereby revving up demand and "stimulating" the economy back to good health.
On the investment component of GDP, Fed is trying to cut interest rates drastically (75 basis points on last Tuesday) making it possible for ailing banks to borrow money at lower rates.
These two news 1) Economic stimulus package and 2) Fed cutting interest rates is giving temporary relief to Stock market as witnessed this week.
We gotta see if these measures are short term or fix the economy some what long term.
BookMark in Onlywire
Update : May'9'2008 - Direct deposits are made by US Treasury and you may see it soon in your bank accounts like the one below.
This is $600 + $600 + $300 (Child) = $1500, The amount may vary depending on dependents and the income level.
If you didn't receive the tax refund yet then your last two SSN digits condition may not have met, check your payment schedule from IRS -
Previous update : President Bush signed the stimulus package on Feb'13'2008. Earlier both House and the Senate passed the economic stimulus bill. This means we can expect refund checks in May'2008.
---------
Original post :
Soon we can see some fat checks in our mail. Top on my list is to pay off some high interest credit card balance.
Strong evidence is emerging that consumer spending, a factor in determining recession is in a visible distance as energy prices surged and the housing market sputtered, has begun to show its ugly shocks at every level of the American economy, from the working class to the wealthy. Slowness in US consumer spending is effecting US GDP.
GDP is made up of these components : (Simplifying)
GDP = consumption + investment + government spending
Recession has many definitions as one says continuous six months of declining GDP pushes economy into recession.
The Bush administration is calling for temporary tax relief worth about $140 billion or more, reportedly in the form of tax-rebate checks of up to up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples.These rebates may not be available to all and would be available to those below a certain income cap, likely $75,000 adjusted gross income for individuals and $150,000 for families.
This refunds are supposedly be sent in June if everything goes okay and relief is accepted by the house.
The idea behind these ‘Economic Stimulus’ plans is to get money into the hands of consumers who will spend it quickly, thereby revving up demand and "stimulating" the economy back to good health.
On the investment component of GDP, Fed is trying to cut interest rates drastically (75 basis points on last Tuesday) making it possible for ailing banks to borrow money at lower rates.
These two news 1) Economic stimulus package and 2) Fed cutting interest rates is giving temporary relief to Stock market as witnessed this week.
We gotta see if these measures are short term or fix the economy some what long term.
Labels: Investing
written by Kalyan @ 11:20 AM,
,
Buy foreclosure homes for good real estate investment
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Image via WikipediaWe all look for deals or bargains before we invest either in stocks or real estate and Sometimes (or mostly) price (property buying price) may become a decision factor in real estate investing.If the price is the factor then buying foreclosure homes is an excellent choice. In order to turn your real estate investing into profit then you may consider foreclosure properties which are often sold far below their real property value as these foreclosure homes has fallen into disrepair.Foreclosures -- The act of foreclosing, especially a legal proceeding by which a mortgage is foreclosed. These are the properties that lenders take back if the owners were unable to make the payments that they committed when signing up a mortgage. Probably the owners are in financial troubles and the houses may have been vacant for long times especially when real estate is a buyer's market. We can normally expect the foreclosure houses to be in some kind of financial or other disrepairs. The advantage for foreclosure home buyers is that lenders want to recoup their investment by taking out the house from the market as early as possible and lenders are willing to take a price cut for this reason.
Let's dig into more to learn - why any property goes into foreclosure property? Oh well there are so many reasons but the one that stand out for all of these reasons is money. Heard about subprime interest rates that lenders gave ridiculous loan amounts during the real estate boom? Home owners are now struggling to pay high interest rates for the loans and altogether giving up the hands or the home would not be in the state of foreclosure. Secondary issues for old constructed houses with constant unseen maintenance costs like leaking roofs, spoiled carpeting, or some plumbing maintenance are another reason that makes home owners default on loan payments.
Also sometimes the owners may vandalize the property as they have nothing to lose as they know that any way their home will be foreclosed. As a foreclosed home buyer these repairs may not be that expensive but somewhat bothersome. This comes as golden bargain point when negotiating home with the seller (or lender) during the home closing.
The investors can buy larger homes in good school districts than they would ordinarily be able to afford. Also an excellent addition to the real estate investment portfolio.
The question at hand - How do you buy foreclosure properties? Seen all those annoying ads that you need to buy a list to find about all foreclosed homes in your area. The road less taken these days as realtors can help you match the right foreclosed home for your needs. Also remember when you are the buyer you pay nothing to realtor as realtor gets commission from the seller. GO with the expert realtors as they will be able to negotiate good bargain prices for your investment.
Foreclosurenet -- An excelent listing state by state foreclosures.
Foreclosurelistingsnationwide -- Another listing with foreclosure prices.
Labels: Business, Business and Economy, Foreclosure, foreclosures, House, Investing, Real estate, realestate, Trisha Allen, United States
written by Kalyan @ 1:02 AM,
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Intuit buys Homestead Technologies - Is Intuit stock now worth investing?
Monday, November 26, 2007
Stock to watch on Tuesday (November'27'2007) is Intuit(INTU).Intuit announced on Cyber Monday 2007 (i.e November'26'2007) that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Homestead Technologies Inc.If you own or maintain or host a website then we know that one key component of overall marketing mix is a website that has to work for your customers and for you.Homestead Technologies from Menlo Park, California offers paid web hosting service and also is a home to Photosite, a web hosting service tailored to amateur digital photography for creating free online albums.Homestead Technologies has made web site construction much simpler with its QuickSites, a service for people who want a nicely designed Web site as fast and easy as possible.Also it has some SEO (Search Engine Optimizations) that can help increase web traffic, selling online, accepting credit card payments, designing ones own website.
Also remember that in past Intel Corp has invested an undisclosed amount in Homestead Technologies Inc.
As consumers increasingly shop online, creating a Web presence is one of the most important factors for small businesses.Just for today's Cyber Monday 2007 it is expected that the business is around whopping $770 million dollars.Since 1996, more than 12 million businesses have used Home Stead's award-winning products and services to establish their presence on the Web, maintain and promote their site, and sell or market their products and services—all without mastering programming or design.has been the recipient of numerous awards including: CNET "Editor's Choice;" PC magazine "Editor's Choice;" PC World "Best of the Web;" and Forbes "Best of the Web.I feel Homestead is in the right business at the right time which made Intuit buy this company.
A bit of Intuit news :
Intuit said the buy will enable it to offer Web-site creation and e-commerce solutions that help small businesses acquire and serve customers through the Internet. Intuit makes the popular personal finance programs Quicken and TurboTax (and its Canadian counterpart, QuickTax - TurboTax became an Intuit product via the 1993 acquisition of its creator, the California-based company Chipsoft), as well as the small business accounting program QuickBooks. Intuit has been ranked in Fortune Magazine's "Top 100 companies to work for" for the past several years.
Google announced a strategic alliance with Intuit in the year 2007 designed to help millions of small businesses promote themselves online using a variety of popular Google services built into most QuickBooks 2007 products. The alliance combines Intuit's deep knowledge and experience solving small business problems with Google's expertise and reach on the Web to help small businesses address their number one objective – attracting new customers.For the first time, small businesses can use QuickBooks to market themselves online by listing their businesses on Google Maps?, creating and managing advertising campaigns with Google AdWords? and posting their products for sale on Google through Google Base? – a free product listing service.
Conclusion:
Intuit stock over a 5 year time sloped downwards starting with $50 and is currently now at $19 (Nov'26'2007).It might not be a coincidence that Intuit revealed this acquisition on one of the most busiest online shopping Cyber Monday 2007 day. Small businesses is the key to this acquisition and I feel this may be good short term investment promise from Intuit.
BookMark in Onlywire
Also remember that in past Intel Corp has invested an undisclosed amount in Homestead Technologies Inc.
As consumers increasingly shop online, creating a Web presence is one of the most important factors for small businesses.Just for today's Cyber Monday 2007 it is expected that the business is around whopping $770 million dollars.Since 1996, more than 12 million businesses have used Home Stead's award-winning products and services to establish their presence on the Web, maintain and promote their site, and sell or market their products and services—all without mastering programming or design.has been the recipient of numerous awards including: CNET "Editor's Choice;" PC magazine "Editor's Choice;" PC World "Best of the Web;" and Forbes "Best of the Web.I feel Homestead is in the right business at the right time which made Intuit buy this company.
A bit of Intuit news :
Intuit said the buy will enable it to offer Web-site creation and e-commerce solutions that help small businesses acquire and serve customers through the Internet. Intuit makes the popular personal finance programs Quicken and TurboTax (and its Canadian counterpart, QuickTax - TurboTax became an Intuit product via the 1993 acquisition of its creator, the California-based company Chipsoft), as well as the small business accounting program QuickBooks. Intuit has been ranked in Fortune Magazine's "Top 100 companies to work for" for the past several years.
Google announced a strategic alliance with Intuit in the year 2007 designed to help millions of small businesses promote themselves online using a variety of popular Google services built into most QuickBooks 2007 products. The alliance combines Intuit's deep knowledge and experience solving small business problems with Google's expertise and reach on the Web to help small businesses address their number one objective – attracting new customers.For the first time, small businesses can use QuickBooks to market themselves online by listing their businesses on Google Maps?, creating and managing advertising campaigns with Google AdWords? and posting their products for sale on Google through Google Base? – a free product listing service.
Conclusion:
Intuit stock over a 5 year time sloped downwards starting with $50 and is currently now at $19 (Nov'26'2007).It might not be a coincidence that Intuit revealed this acquisition on one of the most busiest online shopping Cyber Monday 2007 day. Small businesses is the key to this acquisition and I feel this may be good short term investment promise from Intuit.
written by Kalyan @ 9:50 PM,
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Vioxx settlement -- Is it right time to start investing in Merck's stock
Friday, November 09, 2007
Investing in Pharmaceutical stocks is always risky and comes with a big disadvantage as how anyone supposed to anticipate the right price for a stock like Merck's, when the company is facing potential legal liability estimated as high as one-fourth of its entire value in vioxx settlements.Remember the predictions that the liability could run anywhere from $4 billion to $18 billion? It is glad that Merck had fallen on the lower side of settlement i.e. $4.5 billion.
Merck's Vioxx settlements are far less compared to asbestos or tobacco law suits.Merck made its money from initial launch of Vioxx but discovering the trials result of heightened risk of diseases they were able to quickly remove Vioxx from pharmacies.This prevented extended damage.If you see their stock growth it is consistent over last two years.
What other investments does Merck is into these day ? It has been quietly building a cancer franchise since it bought gene-chip maker Rosetta InPharmatics several years ago for $600 million.Recently it announced a $1billion investment in cancer pill which will be jointly developed with Ariad Pharmaceuticals.
This settlement news comes at a good point and may be a best time for stock investors to grab some of the Merk stocks that are currently priced at $57.33 (Nov'9).
Merck's Vioxx settlements are far less compared to asbestos or tobacco law suits.Merck made its money from initial launch of Vioxx but discovering the trials result of heightened risk of diseases they were able to quickly remove Vioxx from pharmacies.This prevented extended damage.If you see their stock growth it is consistent over last two years.
What other investments does Merck is into these day ? It has been quietly building a cancer franchise since it bought gene-chip maker Rosetta InPharmatics several years ago for $600 million.Recently it announced a $1billion investment in cancer pill which will be jointly developed with Ariad Pharmaceuticals.
This settlement news comes at a good point and may be a best time for stock investors to grab some of the Merk stocks that are currently priced at $57.33 (Nov'9).
Labels: Investing