HOME BUY TAX CREDIT EXTENDED!…& BETTER THAN EXPECTED
November 6, 2009 by Dan · Leave a Comment
Congress just extended and added more eligible buyers to what started as the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit. This credit was due to expire November 30. This extends the likelihood of stimulating the housing market as more people are eligible for these credits.
The existing tax credit of $8,000 was for home buyers who have not owned a primary residence in their own name in last three years. It now offers a $6,500 tax credit for move-up home buyers.
A $6,500 credit can apply to investors choosing to buy a move-up and rent an existing home. They can move out of an existing primary residence, provided they have lived there for five consecutive years in the last eight, buy a new house and rent the previous home used as a residence.
The tax credit applies to homes purchased under a binding contract for less than $800,000 before May 1, 2010 and closed by July 1, 2010. It works kind of like a gift certificate that can be redeemed for cash. You simply file a form with the IRS right after you buy your home, and the IRS will send you a check for the full amount of your credit.
The income limitation for single tax payers went up from $75,000 under the old rules to $125,000 under the new rules. For married tax payers, the income limitation went up from $150,000 to $225,000. This means that more people will qualify for the credit – especially in parts of the country with higher costs of living. This should help stimulate parts of the housing market that may not have been impacted by the old version of the credit.
The following details apply to the homebuyer tax credit expansion:
Who is Eligible
- First-time homebuyers, who are defined by the law as buyers who have not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase, may be eligible for up to an $8,000 tax credit.
- Existing homeowners who have been residing in their principal residence for five consecutive years out of the last eight and are purchasing a home to be their principal residence (“repeat buyer”), may be eligible for up to a $6,500 tax credit.
- All U.S. citizens who file taxes are eligible to participate in the program.
Income Limits
- Homebuyers who file as single or head-of-household taxpayers can claim the full credit ($8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers) if their modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $125,000.
- For married couples filing a joint return, the combined income limit is $225,000.
- Single or head-of-household taxpayers who earn between $125,000 and $145,000, and married couples who earn between $225,000 and $245,000 are eligible to receive a partial credit.
- The credit is not available for single taxpayers whose MAGI is greater than $145,000 and married couples with a MAGI that exceeds $245,000.
Effective Dates
- The eligibility period for the tax credit is for homes purchased after Nov. 6, 2009, and before May 1, 2010. However, home purchases subject to a binding sales contract signed by April 30, 2010, will qualify for the tax credit provided closing occurs prior to July 1, 2010.
Types of Homes that Qualify
- All homes with a purchase price of less than $800,000 qualify, including newly-constructed or resale, and single-family detached, townhomes or condominiums, provided that the home will be used as their principal residence. Vacation home and rental property purchases do NOT qualify.
Tax Credit is Refundable
- A refundable credit means that if the amount of income taxes you owe is less than the credit amount you qualify for, the government will send you a check for the difference.
For example:
- A first-time buyer who qualifies for the full $8,000 credit who owes $5,000 in federal income taxes would pay nothing to the IRS and receive a $3,000 payment from the government. If you are due to receive a $1,000 refund, you would receive $9,000 ($1,000 plus the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit).
- A repeat buyer who owes $5,000 would pay nothing to the IRS and receive $1,500 back from the government. If you are due to get a $1,000 refund, you would get $7,500 ($1,000 plus the $6,500 repeat buyer tax credit).
- All qualified homebuyers can take the tax credit on their 2009 or 2010 income tax return.
Payback Provisions
The tax credit is a true credit. It does not have to be repaid unless the home owner sells or stops using the home as their principal residence within three years after the purchase.
NEWS: Extending Home Buyer Tax Credit?
October 28, 2009 by Dan · Leave a Comment
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US Senators Near Deal On Extending Home Buyer Tax Credit
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S.senators are nearing a deal on a measure to extend the first-time home buyer taxcredit through next April and expand it to some buyers who already own a home.
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Discipline: 7 Great Steps for Entrepreneur’s!
Do I need to join the Military or something to get my discipline back up to par???
During my mediation time this morning I started really thinking seriously about getting a business coach. I need to get some more accountability in my life besides myself and business partners. (OneCoach, 6 Advisors, and Jeffrey St. Laurent This isn’t how a real business would be run, if I was a salaried employee tied to my desk from 7am-6pm. I’m almost crying out for that kind of bondage right now…sounds absolutely nuts to me as I write this, but it’s true.
In a job, you have supervisors and managers making sure quotas are met, tasks are completed and your time has been spent as efficiently and effectively as possible. But, at home, you’re the supervisor and your responsibility is to make sure every action you take has the best interests of your business at heart.
Speaking of “Par”, my productivity has greatly decreased this past 6 months, ever since I took up the beautiful game of golf. Not saying I’m going to give it up by other means, but something has to change.
If you are like me at all lately…don’t know what it is…the colder weather, the 3 weeks of overcast, the flu & cold that is kickin’ my butt…wow! I have really been lazy lately. I can’t believe how little time I have given to my business and my clients, and I’m feeling it.
You need more than skill, knowledge and passion to build a profitable home-based business. You also need discipline to make every minute count.
Here are seven simple steps to help you make the most of every day in your home-based business, whatever it is, from MLM (Multilevel Marketing, i.e. Vitamins, Cards, Drinks, utilities, Trump, etc.), to a Private Equity Company & Dental Clinics.
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Have a clear vision.
Sit down and write out your ideal vision for five to ten years from now so you have a target to aim for. Once you’ve determined your long-term vision, break it down into smaller chunks. For example, in order to be where you want to be in five years, where do you need to be in two years?
And in order to be where you need to be in two years, where do you need to be in one year?
Now, every time you’re faced with a decision ask yourself, “Would this bring me closer to my vision for this year or take me further away from it?”
When you know where you need to be in order to realize your vision, it’s easier for you to maintain discipline because you know what the right thing is to do. It gives you strength when you need to push through uncomfortable situations and to say no to something that might feel good in the moment but doesn’t serve your end goal.
2. Create structure.
Without it you are susceptible to every distraction that crosses your path.
In order to build discipline, set specific work hours and create routines. Your hours don’t have to be as rigid as when you had a job, but they do need to exist. Once your hours are set, tell others that you are not to be disturbed during these times. You will not accept phone calls or drop-ins because you are working.
Creating routines allows you to gain control over how you spend your time. If you begin your day with no set goals or tasks, you lose a great deal of time wandering from activity to activity. Spend the last 15 minutes of each day mapping out your tasks for the next day and don’t end your day until each task is complete.
3. Out of sight, out of mind.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Energy flows where attention goes”, and when you’re thinking about the laundry piled in the corner, the dishes in the sink and that chocolate mousse cake in the fridge, you’re not focusing on your business.
This is one of the biggest challenges for home-based entrepreneurs because at your job you didn’t have to worry about who’s going to vacuum the floor or clean the lunchroom. You also didn’t have a fridge chock full of food a few feet away.
Designate specific days and hours of the week for household chores and stick to them. You may need someone to help out instead of doing it all alone. You will never see the CEO of a company washing windows or emptying trashcans. It’s not the best use of her time. She might do it at home, but not at the office and the same goes for you.
If the refrigerator or television are calling your name, use the tough love approach. Don’t allow your favorite desserts or snacks in the home. Instead, reward yourself at the end of the week (or day) for being disciplined by going out to celebrate.
It’s easy to get caught up in regular visits to the fridge or to watch TV, and this is where you might need to bring someone into the mix to hold you accountable until you’ve established the discipline you need.
Make it hard to gain easy access to certain things. Have someone hide the remote, the chips, and anything else you have trouble saying no to. Stick notes on the TV and fridge asking you what you’re thinking.
4. Create a business environment.
Make your office look like an office and you’ll be more inclined to take your business seriously. If your office also serves as a spare bedroom and you’re surrounded by stuffed animals, knitting needles and magazines, it’s hard feel like a real entrepreneur and your actions will reflect this.
5. Create accountability.
Maintaining self-discipline isn’t easy, but when you have to account to someone for your efforts, you bring your game up a notch and aren’t as inclined to slide into complacency or bad habits. If you tell someone you’re going to make seven calls and close one deal today, you don’t want to report in the next day and tell them you decided to drive to the beach to collect shells instead.
We are much more likely to disappoint ourselves than we are to disappoint someone else.
6. Learn to say no.
And if this is tough, it’s time to learn assertiveness. You are captain of your ship and must keep it on course. You cannot allow others to chart it for you by dropping in unexpectedly or asking for favors that interrupt your day.
Your sister wouldn’t stop by your employer’s office to drop off her kids and the same applies to your home business. Create pockets of social time so you’re not tempted to pick up the phone to call friends. Isolation is a big challenge for home-based business owners, but when you create quality time to be with them outside of your business hours, you’re more focused when you’re working.
7. Toughen up your mental muscle.
Discipline requires will power and conscious awareness about the thoughts you have. When you’re faced with a decision and you choose the option that is not in the best interests of your business, catch yourself in this moment and ask yourself why you are making this choice.
This simple exercise may uncover some underlying beliefs that are causing you to sabotage your efforts such as, “I won’t make it. It’s too hard. I’m not good at this.”
Once you identify these underlying beliefs, you can then examine them and take the necessary steps to replace them with more empowering thoughts.
Great Thought…
October 8, 2009 by Dan · Leave a Comment
Have you noticed, that the more you hurry, the slower you go?
The more you wait, the longer it takes?
The more you worry, the less you dream?
But the more you live, love, and laugh, the more you live, love, and laugh.
- Thought provided by TUT Universe
The Paradox of Our Time…
September 28, 2009 by Dan · Leave a Comment
(A great quote I heard many years ago from a great mentor of mine, and recently reminded of it. Enjoy!)…
“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too seldom, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years.”
My First Event…Teaching TEEN Financial Literacy!
September 10, 2009 by Dan · Leave a Comment
The participating teens were ages 18-23 (yes, they had to step aside from “vampire diaries” for a little while), where I was able to teach the basic principles of managing personal finances and blow their minds into brand new concepts to them in the way how business owners/real estate investors are taxed vs. how employees (w-2 income) are taxed. The most exciting part to me was to share ideas that I have taken for granite over the past 6 years, that was life changing to them.
We had some great active learning, using breakout sessions, interactive exercises, and assessments, you name it. We wrapped up around 1:30pm and could have gone longer…starting at 9am. What a powerful experience, and I very excited to do it again.
Some Topics We Covered:
- Learn the “Cashflow Quadrant“
- Understand financial literacy terminology
- Discover What is a ‘Real’ Asset, a Liability, & Income vs. Expenses
- Learn why it is important to live within your means
- Learn about various financial management vehicles
- Understand the nature and benefits of good credit
- How to invest in Real Estate with little to no money
- Find your passion in life and become an Entrepreneur NOW!
We were able to use Real-world examples to help the teens see how real this is to do NOW…and especially so they don’t get started down the path to financial destruction.
That Which You Resist…Persists
August 27, 2009 by Dan · Leave a Comment
Are you repeatedly struggling with the same issue, no matter how hard you have worked to ignore, avoid, run away from or change it? You may have noticed in the past that you could simply push something away and you seemed to be rid of it. Or were you really rid of it?
The truth is, the more you push something, the more it comes back-now or later. This is Isaac Newton’s third law, which provides the theory of relationship between the forces acting on a body and the motion of the body. This physics and metaphysical law is often summed up as: “That which you resist persists.”
Furthermore, resistance tends to strengthen the opposing energy by giving it power and energy to work against-credence. Resistance keeps one from learning more about what one resists. To fully understand anything, one needs to be open to it, to the degree that one knows its energy, otherwise one remains ignorant of its purpose for showing up in one’s life. The story of a Tibetan monk who retreated to meditate in a cave only to discover he was faced with demons clearly explains this phenomenon. He did everything he could think of-hiding, chasing, fighting, ignoring-to get the demons to leave or at least leave him along, but nothing worked. He then decided to learn what he could about them and then they disappeared.
This same wisdom can be applied to anyone’s circumstance or situation. This story conveys the truth that our demons are inside. What plagues and pursues us on an inner level has a way of manifesting itself in our reality as people, events and issues that seemingly are beyond our control. As the monk learned once you face your demons they disappear. Ergo the axiom, “We met the enemy and he is us.”
Bottom-line…
“What we resist will persist.” This is true in that nothing changes until it’s fully accepted. Example: An “angry person” will not change until he/she allows him/herself to be angry. Nothing will change if this person says to him/herself “Now I must not be so angry anymore.” This is resistance and will drive the issue in deeper. Resistance will in other words cause the anger (in the case of my example) to persist. In fact, the problem is perpetuated by fights against it.
So Eckhart Tolle continually says “Allow” “Accept” “Let things be as they are”. Things will then begin to change on their own. But you may as well not attempt to be passive in order to get control that way. That’s just trying to do passively what you haven’t been able to do actively (and is what the mind will do to hopefully remain in control). Radical acceptance is just that – allowing matters to go in the direction they need to and not being invested in the outcome of things. There’s no need to attempt to control outcomes. You are that FREE.
Money=happiness?
We all like to think that more money won’t bring real happiness for us. Yet, the truth is, our thoughts, actions, and behavior belie that. Aren’t we buying more stuff, eating out more, traveling around a lot, upgrading faster, and trying to earn as much as we can as fast as possible, somehow to feel happier?
The truth is, money does make us happier, but only to a certain extent. All the recent research and scientific evidence point to the fact that once we reach a comfortable lifestyle,when we don’t worry about our basic needs, having more money doesn’t bring more happiness. Science Magazine concludes:
“While those with incomes of $90,000 and more were nearly twice as likely to report being “very happy” as those with incomes below $20,000, there is hardly any difference between the $90,000-and-more group and the $50,000-to-$89,999 set.“
We also tend to compare ourselves with those in our age bracket (I know I do), and that can be the source of our content or discontent. Jason Zweig’s “Your Money and Your Brain” also mentions that we get a bigger thrill anticipating a reward (like a new car, a new laptop, whatever) than actually receiving it, and between things and experiences, our memory leaves longer, positive impressions about the latter (never mind if you and your spouse had a big fight during your beach vacation three years ago, you probably remember it now more for the other fun, happy experiences you had at that time…and I speak from experience).
So what does all these mean? If we want to be happier, here are what we need to do:
1. Make enough money to live comfortably. Being poor sucks. Being heavily in debt sucks. Not having enough money sucks. There is no virtue in poverty. So it’s important that we earn enough to meet our basic needs and then some.
2. Don’t aim to be filthy rich. The good news is we don’t have to be billionaires to be happy (besides, you’ve certainly read about billionaires who live miserable lives).As the data shows, there’s scant difference between someone earning $50,000-$89,999 and someone making $90,000 or more. We just have to aim for a debt-free, comfortable lifestyle with occasional splurges and luxuries.
3. Be content. Having a content heart and thankful attitude will lead to a happier life. That’s why the Bible warns against covetousness because “the love of money is the root of all evil.”
4. Don’t compare. This is a tricky one. We do tend to compare ourselves with peers of roughly the same age, or with siblings (even our parents). Wealth is really relative. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s “Fooled By Randomness” noted, even if you’re doing well but live in a neighborhood where everyone else is doing better than you, you’d feel miserable. Move to an area where you’re relatively better off than most and you’d feel much better. Not exactly the morally soundest advice, but certainly a pragmatic one.
5. Buy experiences, not things. Accumulating stuff doesn’t make us happy. The research shows it. So where and how you spend your money will increase or decrease your happiness. And the evidence proves that doing things (experiences) generate more happiness than having things (stuff).
6. Focus on what’s important. That means your family, your health, your calling, and your relationships with other people. The research also shows that people with a deep and meaningful spiritual relationship with God are generally happier.
7. Be happy. That may sound counter-intuitive, but just having a positive, happy attitude will make you, well, happier. If you’re basically a happy person, you can just have enough, a lot, or a little, you’d still be happy. But if you’re a negative person, you can be the richest person in the world and still be miserable.
7 Ways To Cultivating Good Relationships For Business Success
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Evelyn Lim of Selfgrowth.com
The world today is getting more interconnected. Success cannot happen if you are in isolation. For your business to be successful, you need to build good relationships. It is inevitable that you need the support of your clients, suppliers, friends, family, and colleagues. You need to interact with all parties. In fact, your business success grows in tandem with the health of your relationships with the world. The more harmonious your relationships, the more your business thrives.
Here are 7 ways to cultivate good relationships for a successful business:
1. Show care. When you show care, you will be surprised how much happier the other person will be in his or her interactions with you. When customers know that you care for their interests, they will invariably give you business. Customers can also become friends when they know how much you care. Likewise, when family members and friends know that you care, they give you loving support.
You also need to strike a balance in your relationships. Having only good relationships with customers but without the blessings of your family can create a strain. It also means that sometimes no matter how busy you are at work, you need to find time for your family.
2. Share your knowledge. When you share your knowledge, you are also empowering others. Customers appreciate information to help them make decisions. Your business partners also prefer to work with someone who knows his or her stuff.
3. Create open lines of communication. Be open to feedback. Refrain from viewing feedback as criticisms. Instead, use the feedback to look into areas for improvement. Hence, set up customer support networks that have friendly representatives at your front desk. Invest in training programs for your customer service support staff, so that they are able to handle feedback professionally.
4. Commit in your relationships. Show commitment by spending time in your relationships. Do not expect others to treat you nice if you do not take the time to cultivate relationships. It may mean spending time to do leisure activities together. Within your company, you may want to host events like sports day or family outings. With your business partners, it can be about playing golf, going out for meals and plays together. Needless to say, spending time bonding with your family is crucial.
5. Be positive. Everyone likes to hang around with positive and inspiring people. If you are negative all the time, no one enjoys being near. Positive people have an energy about them that draws loyal relationship partners.
6. Increase lines of communication. There are several ways that you can connect with others. With advances in technology, you can connect via the handphone, email, twitter, facebook, letter, etc. More and more businesses are using social media. It is a good idea to use the various web channels to increase lines of communication.
7. Participate in interest groups. The best way to connect is to show your support for interest groups. Of course, do not fake your support. Participate actively if you have a genuine interest in the welfare of a specific cause. It may be for a charity organization or a hobby. Having a presence can also be free publicity for your business.
It Worked! +22 FICO Increase!
May 13, 2009 by Dan · 11 Comments
For those who didn’t read my previous post, you need to!
http://wannabepreneur.com/2009/04/17/raise-your-credit-score-7-to-30-points-now/
Here are my results after just 4 business days…a 22 FICO Score increase! I highly recommend it and only takes a minute to “opt-out” of the credit card soliciting and thus raise your score.
Daniel,
Your FICO® score has increased by 22.
P.S. You may also want to sign up for a service to check your score and notify inquiries and issues that come up. I have 2 services I use:
www.MyFico.com and http://www.identitymonitor.citi.com (Great because it checks from all 3 leading credit bureaus)