Change Counts

Often, social security benefits are taxable. It really depends on how much money you make.

You can do a quick calculation to see if any of your benefits may taxable as follows.

1. Add up all your income, including tax-exempt interest income, all income besides your Social Security benefits. This includes any taxable pensions, wages, interest, dividends, etc.

2. Add one half of your Social Security benefits to the number you got in “1.” above.

3. Compare this amount to your Base amount. If it exceeds the base amount, it may be taxable. Your base amount is as follows

$25,000 if you are single, head of household, or a qualifying widow(er),

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I did a post a while back on my Live Streaming Camera that I have located outside my house and I thought it was time to update that a bit.  I think I have one of the better PTZ webcams on the net. You may be interested in more of the details about this camera and how I put it all together. You see, I am a hacker.  A good hacker, that is.  I like to take stuff apart, re-use old stuff that others might throw away, etc.  My outside camera is no different.  It is an old video conference camera made by Polycom, model PTZ-2N, that has long since been replaced with “better” ones.  Some other hackers before me figured out how to connect these cameras to a serial connection on the computer to control them.  The camera specs include a 10X optical zoom lens that makes it really nice to use outside.

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This is a question that is coming up frequently these days, due to the new deductions regarding Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). The quick answer is NO, your homeowners insurance is usually not deductible. Be careful not to make that mistake when filling out your taxes this year. Be sure to take the PMI deduction, though, if you are qualified. See my post on that topic - New Tax Deduction For PMI.

There are some cases where your homeowners insurance may be deductible on your income taxes. These cases would be for either a rental property or using part of your home for business. Each of these cases would involve forms related to a Schedule C tax form. If you are a typical homeowner, not operating a business out of your home, then very likely your homeowners insurance premiums are not tax deductible. Sorry.

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Ok. You now realize you shouldn’t have done that car lease. What can you do about it?

Well, there are a number of things. First of all, you need to identify what changed. Why do you want out? Did you come to your senses and realize that a car lease (or Fleece as Dave Ramsey calls it) is probably the worst financial move a person could make? An unevaluated life is not worth living. That is a quote I have heard, not sure who said it, but it is oh so true. When we make mistakes in life, we have to learn from them. Own up to them. Don’t blame everybody else. So you learned your lesson. No more leasing!

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In 1990, the price of gold was $423.80 an ounce.  I got that price from the usual benchmark for the price of gold, which is known as the London Fixing.  This is where the price of gold is established; and it is done twice a day by five representatives from bullion trading firms.  The price of gold as of February 29, 2008 was $971.50.  Wow! Big increase!  We should have invested in gold in 1990.  Not really.

Let’s say we had 1000.00 dollars to invest in 1990 and we could pick either gold or large cap growth mutual funds.  Which would have been the smartest investment?

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If you have read much here at my site, you know I am a Christian and I believe in the 10-10-80 rule of investing. Simply put, it means you give 10% to God first, then 10% to savings (investing, retirement, etc) then you live on the remaining 80%. See my post about it to learn more.

This year, when you are filing your taxes for 2007, you need to be aware that the “proof” required for giving cash to a charitable organization has increased. We need to be sure we have this proof if asked. Your church or synagogue, needs to give you the correct document so we all stay out of trouble. I remember way back when, we didn’t need a lot of proof, but now we need more . Here are some of the changes to the rules for 2007 tax year.

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