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In last week’s roundup I revealed my NCAA Final Four picks. I got 3 of the Final 4 correct, but the one I got wrong (Tennessee) really hurt me.

In my pool, the best I can do now is come in 3rd place - that’s if my teams make the Final and I pick the overall winner. In case you’re wondering, I have Kansas over Memphis in a tightly contested final.

And although I picked Kansas for my pool, I was desperately routing for Davidson to beat them yesterday. It came down to the last shot and sadly it wasn’t meant to be. Kansas was by far the better team on paper, but like everyone else, I think Kansas was drinking the Davidson Kool-aid and almost gave away a spot in the Final Four.

And what a great story Davidson was - a tiny school in (arguably) the biggest basketball state in the country and they made it further in the NCAA tournament than in-state Goliaths - Duke and Clemson. Davidson was the little train that could, capturing the hearts of American sports fans and reminding us what is great about sports, especially collegiate athletics.

Without further ado, the flavors of the week:

Continue Reading “Flavors of the Week - Final Four Edition”

A few weeks ago I received an email from someone I affectionately call Blogger X.

In that email, Blogger X asked me for some ideas on how to reduce his taxable income. I decided to write a post addressing some of his concerns and in that post I listed 3 different retirement plans that allow for self employed individuals to shelter gobs of income:

• The Pros and Cons of a SEP IRA
• The Pros and Cons of a SIMPLE IRA
• The Benefits of Owning a Solo 401(k)

Now, the reason I bring all this up is because earlier this week I received a very thorough email (below) from a conscientious reader, and in that email (as you will see) he references the above articles. So, I just want anyone coming across this post to be up to speed;) My answers to his questions are highlighted in blue.

Without further ado…

Continue Reading “A Reader Question Regarding Self Employment Retirement Plans”

Last week over on Get Rich Slowly I read a post about the recently deceased Hollywood star Heath Ledger.

In that post there was a snippet from the NY Times reporting that Ledger’s will was last updated in 2003. Because he met his girlfriend after that date and had a child years later, sadly, neither were included in his will.

JD goes on to write that even young people need to be mindful of proper estate planning. And I’m here to say that I totally agree, although for most (young people) I’d recommend focusing on the simple stuff, like crafting a will.

You would think I’m about to write about wills and the like… but I’m not going to right now. Though I will say (pun;), if you are married, have just had a baby, or have begun to build wealth, it’s important to have one. Any major changes in your life should have you thinking, “I need to update my will!”

With that said… when I read the Heath Ledger post it reminded me of an article I had seen years earlier - about the massive estate taxes that famous celebrities owed the US government upon their passing.

In memory of them all, I thought I’d share some of the basic tenets of current US estate tax law and list a few prominent Americans that gave much of their net worth back to Uncle Sam in the form of estate taxes.

Continue Reading “Deceased Celebrities and Their Shocking Estate Tax Bills”

On February 13th I wrote 10 Simple Tips to StumbleUpon Success (That I Wish Someone Had Told Me About). At the end of that post I promised a follow up post around St. Patrick’s Day, well here it is!

This post won’t be quite as altruistic as the last. Some of the points I’m about to make might be categorized as tips; others would be categorized as observations or actionable ideas. Extrapolate what you will, and I hope you can use some of these to your advantage.

Also, this will be the last post I write in regards to (SU) StumbleUpon. Going forward, I will concentrate on writing financial planning and wealth building articles, as I want to stay true to the mission of my blog. Without further ado…

Continue Reading “15 Actionable Ideas for Achieving StumbleUpon Happiness”

My Easter roundup post has been sitting on my computer for the last 2 1/2 days and (EXCUSES) with tax season in full swing, the investment markets swirling about - I have been so so busy and not had a chance to put the finishing touches on it .

I would like to wish everyone a very belated Happy Easter! My brother and I celebrated with our parents, who live about a mile from the letter E in my keyboard. It was a quiet Easter, very relaxing and fun to watch all the NCAA B-ball games. As of this writing, I am in good shape in my pool. My Final Four teams include Tennessee, Kansas, Memphis and UCLA. Big games coming up this weekend, and I’m looking forward to watchin’em all.

One other thing I’d like to mention - (TLSN) The Life Skills Network site is fully operational and looking rather lovely. A few of the other members put a lot of hard work into the site and I’d like to thank them for that… as they say in Hollywood, you know who you are:)

Continue Reading “A Very Belated Easter Edition Roundup - Backdated!”

If you’re a blogger, then you know what a ’roundup’ post is.

If you’re not a blogger - a ’roundup’ post serves to highlight your favorite articles from around the web each week. I typically write my ’roundup’ post each Sunday and call it ‘Chance Flavors’ of the week.

The purpose of a roundup is to network with other bloggers in your niche. It’s kind of cool to be recognized by your peers for something you’ve written, it makes you feel good about all the time and hard work you’ve put in, and God knows all bloggers need a morale boast from time to time.

The intricacies of a ’roundup’ post

A link from a roundup (to another blog) tends to be reciprocated at some point, although there are no rules here. Some of the best bloggers I know are also the strongest networkers, and they do a great job of linking out to other blogs and developing tremendous goodwill within their niche community. A good example of bloggers who are excellent at this, who I’d recommend modeling yourself after, are Pinyo from Moolanomy and Ron from The Wisdom Journal.

Continue Reading “A StumbleUpon Tip That Will Make Your Blog Roundups a Breeze”

If you’re self employed and feeling kind of down because you think your retirement options are limited to a SEP or a SIMPLE IRA… I’ve got good news for you… you can create your very own Solo 401(k)!

Similar in every way to it’s larger, more complicated, weighed down, traditional corporate 401(k) cousin, minus all the administrative headaches.

How does that sound? Hopefully, pretty good!

The 1 person 401(k) goes by a few different names, but is most commonly referred to as the Solo 401(k) or individual 401(k). Although the plan is designed for the individual business owner (or self employed), it is technically available to the spouse of the owner and any shareholder or partner in the business, as well.

A Solo 401(k) is simple and straight forward

Setting up a Solo 401(k) makes a lot of sense for sole proprietors, owners of an S Corp, C Corp or partnership. It would not make sense if you had employees or were thinking of hiring any employees in the near future. It’s specifically designed for you (and your spouse or partner) ONLY!

Continue Reading “The Benefits of Owning a Solo 401(k)”

I’m trying not to make a habit of this, but being a day or two late with my weekly favorites has it’s advantages. Least of which - I can see which bloggers were kind enough to include me in their round ups over the weekend:)

I think I’ll allow my roundup post to drift more towards a Sunday/Monday slot, it just works better for me as I’ll have a whole calendar week of StumbleUpon posts to choose from. And going forward, each week I will include my favorite posts from the dynamic Life Skills Network!

And before I forget, a belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I’m sure there will be more than a few nasty hangovers on this wee Tuesday morn…

Without further ado, Irish eyes were smiling on the following posts from the last week:

Continue Reading “My favorite stumbles of the past week - Happy St. Patrick’s Day!”

A SIMPLE IRA is what I like to call a ‘fall between’ plan.

It has some of the characteristics of a SEP IRA and some of the characteristics of a 401(k); because of the SIMPLE IRA rules, it kind of ‘falls in between’ the two different plans.

When an employer has less than 100 employees and wants an alternative to a 401(k) plan that is simple and less expensive to install, a SIMPLE is worth looking into. Under a SIMPLE plan, both qualified employees and employers can make contributions to traditional IRA’s set up in their name(s).

If you’re a self employed individual you can also have a SIMPLE IRA, but as I told Blogger X (in my email to him) it probably makes more sense to have a SEP or Solo 401(k), because the amount you can contribute to a SIMPLE is capped at a far lower level ($10,500 for 2008) then either of the other plans mentioned.

If you are anticipating growth in your business and want to eventually put away as much as you can, then the SEP and Solo 401(k) allow you more flexibility then the SIMPLE.

Continue Reading “The Pros and Cons of a SIMPLE IRA”

Last week I wrote a post on different ways you can reduce your reported taxable income. Besides offering some tax advice to one of my blogging contemporaries - Blogger X , I listed a few retirement plans (for those with self-employment income) that allow you to sock away large sums of pre-tax money each year.

I’d like to take a closer look at 3 of the plans I mentioned in that post. For the sake of keeping it simple, I’m going to breakdown each plan into an individual blog post. Let’s begin with the SEP IRA, the plan of choice for last week’s subject - Blogger X.

SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) Plan Suitability

A SEP IRA is the way to go if you’re a small employer (typically less than 10 employees and many times just one employee, YOU!) looking for a simple retirement plan that’s easy to install and administer. Most financial institutions will have the plan documents on file and it’s as easy as opening up any investment or bank account.

Continue Reading “Pros and Cons of a SEP IRA”