November 5th, 2009 at 12:58pm Under Credit
Is it 600 or above? I am working on fixing my credit and I have an auto loan that will help rebuild my credit. I need a credit card for emergency’s and to help my credit, just wandering when I should apply for one. Right now Its not near 600.
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October 29th, 2009 at 06:04pm Under Small Business
What are small businesses?
Small businesses are businesses with less staff. The staff limit is different for different areas. These businesses are generally owned by individuals or are started in partnerships. Other criterions to decide small businesses are the turnover and profit. The less is the turnover or the profit, the smaller is the business. The smallest businesses are called as ‘micro businesses’ and those managed by families are called as ‘mom’s and pop’s business’. These smaller businesses generally have employees in number from 0 to 10. Many a times, the owners are the workers in these businesses.
Advantages in small business:
The basic advantage of starting a small business is that you need less capital and money to start the business. Also, one can start a small business on part time basis. The basics of a successful business are the regular modifications that one does to it. In small businesses these modifications can be easily done as one does not need to follow any trend or face any compulsions in small business unlike in big businesses. Also, a small business can give much more to its customers than a big one as they have the power to provide each and every customer the required personal attention and take into account all the suggestions and even implement some of them. Small businesses provide daily bread to many a people and thus are very important.
Marketing small businesses:
The most common methods of marketing small businesses are customer referrals, mouth publicity, radios, newspapers, internet, directories, boards, etc. Television ads can be a bit expensive for advertising small businesses. Internet marketing is considered the most cost effective and result oriented method of marketing small businesses. The ads can be placed on websites or even search engine web pages. The costs are decided on the size of the ad and thus can be easily moderated.
Small business ideas:
- Franchisee business: this is one of the extremely profitable ideas of a small business. The only things that you need to start this business are a place and some capital. The best part of this business is that the things that you sell are already quite famous in the market and thus you need to do very little expenses on the marketing.
- Event planner: if you know the knack of organizing things perfectly, then you can become an event planner. You need to plan out meetings, parties, weddings and other such get-together for your customers in the given budget. The best part of this job is that it is extremely interesting and your work does the marketing for you.
- Computer repair: if you have done any hardware or software course or have learned any computer language then you can start the work of computer repairing. You just need to sort out simple problems in computers. The best part of this job is that you get to learn a lot more than you have about computers. But, you should do only the work that you can manage and avoid doing any guess work.
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October 28th, 2009 at 05:59am Under Home Business
The home office deduction gets a bad wrap. There are so many rumors out about the home office deduction that you may want to avoid the whole subject. But if you have a home office and aren’t deducting it, you could be missing out on some very valuable tax savings. Let’s take a look at the truth behind the myths about the home office deduction.
Myth Number 1 – The home office deduction is a red flag for an audit.
Twenty years ago, this might have been true, simply because it was unusual. Now, the home business seems to be almost as popular as home ownership! Millions of individuals operate some kind of business activity out of their homes. Others telecommute, and deduct their home office expense as an itemized deduction. The home office deduction is no longer an automatic flag for an audit.
The key to avoiding an audit is reasonableness. The IRS uses computer analysis on all tax returns. Any deduction that is excessive on your income and the benchmarks for your industry may be questioned.
Bottom line: Deducting a portion of your home expenses as a cost to operate your home-based business is expected!
Myth Number 2 – If I take a home office deduction, I can deduct all the costs of my home.
You deduct a portion of your home expenses as a home office expense based on the square footage of your home office space. If you have a 2000 square foot home, and a 200 square foot office, you could deduct 10% of your home expenses.
Unless you operate a day care center, your home office space must be exclusively used for business. Your kitchen will not qualify as home office space simply because you use the table to complete paperwork. If you use the space for personal and business, it does not qualify.
The easiest way to keep track of this is to designate a room or rooms for home office purposes. If you don’t have a complete room to use as office space, use furniture to separate the personal part from the business space.
Of course, there is an exception to this rule. If your business is wholesale or retail and you do not have any other fixed location, you can include any space you use for storage of inventory or product samples as part of your home office. This space does not need to be used exclusively, but must be used regularly, and be suitable for storage.
Bottom line: Calculate the square footage you use exclusively for business and the square footage of your storage space for inventory to determine your home office deduction.
Myth Number 3 – I can only take the home office deduction if I work at home exclusively.
Old rule! Congress expanded the home office deduction to allow business owners without any other fixed business location to take a home office deduction regardless of the number of hours they spend at home. If you provide services to customers or clients at their location, you can still qualify for the home office deduction. You simply must use your home office for administrative and management duties.
Bottom line: You can deduct your home office as long as you don’t pay for other office space to run your business.
Myth Number 4 – The home office deduction will make me lose my tax exclusion on the sale of my home.
The rules have changed here, too. If you use 10% of your home for business purposes, you no longer have to recognize 10% of the gain on the sale that could have been excluded if you meet the requirements for the sale of your principal residence.
What you do need to do, however, is include any depreciation deduction you took in prior years as a taxable capital gain. You still benefit, because your capital gain rate is most likely lower than your ordinary income tax rate. You are able to take the original depreciation deduction at ordinary income tax rates, and bring it back into income when you sell your home at the lower capital gain rate. Your depreciation deduction can also reduce your self-employment taxes.
Bottom line: You can still save taxes overall by taking the home office depreciation deduction each year.
Operating your business from home is a very smart move financially for the new or small business owner. You can save yourself thousands of dollars in rent by operating at home rather than renting business space.
But the cost of housing your business is an expense, and should be treated that way. You would not hesitate to deduct rent expense for your business. Treat your home business expense the same way. The tax money you save can be used to grow your business, or even to fund your family vacation! Talk to your tax preparer if you have more questions, and get ready to take that home office deduction on your next tax return!
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October 14th, 2009 at 03:44am Under Investing
i was thinking of entering the stock market world and start investing, i have to admit that i am young and only in high school, but i have such an attraction to the stock market. i plan to use the money to save up and help pay my tuition for college. Ive been reading about stocks and researching but i need help in going into it.
How could i start ? What could i do as of now to help me invest properly, and what tips could you give me once ive started ?
thanks in advance.
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October 11th, 2009 at 02:20pm Under Internet Marketing
I’m from Malaysia but I’m keen to work overseas as I believe the wages in other countries are much higher than in my own country. What is the average wages in India for an Internet-related position such as Internet Marketing Associate?
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October 8th, 2009 at 08:20am Under Internet Marketing
I am 24. I play guitars (advanced) and the piano. I am good at programming and puzzle solving. I am pretty much everything a perfect computer geek needs to be. I am planning to start off a company before which I will need to get a feel of how marketing works on the internet. I would like to create niche blogs but I don’t see where I should start and what topic would be ideal for me. Could you suggest a way for me to get things going.
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October 1st, 2009 at 10:25pm Under Affiliate Programs
Before buying a product or service as part of an affiliate marketing program, it’s important to figure out how to drive traffic to a site. Find an affiliate program that is you are comfortable usin…
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September 29th, 2009 at 12:54am Under Credit
I have a credit score of 700 and wanting another credit card. I was thinking about citi bank or bank of america. What one should I get? I only have one other credit card from Wumu. I want a credit card that report to the 3 credit bureaus every month. Anyone has either one of these cards, if so, what one did you like and why?
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September 27th, 2009 at 08:54am Under Credit
I am trying to rebuild my credit after ID theft, a couple of problems that were mine and years of basically not having any credit reported. (I primarily use my debit card and pay cash for everything). I make good money now and am trying to rebuild in order to purchase a condo in the next couple of years. My good accounts (rental, club, cable, cell, etc.) have not reported my good credit. So how many cards should I take out that will help boost my credit score but not hinder my credit. Thank you!
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September 9th, 2009 at 10:05pm Under Make Money
I’m 22 years old, and wanting to purchase a house in the next year or two. I have money in savings right now which is making terribly low interest. What would be my best move? I’d like to invest the money short term, but I’d like to make a good amount of money doing so. Is that possible and how? CD’s and Money Market accounts just aren’t gonna give me the results I want.
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