FINANCIAL HINTS FOR A CARELESS FUTURE

The tax collectors office are able to help you with a deductible fiscal supplementary pension, but there are other possibilities to optimize your saved capital:

Let the tax collectors office pay for your supplementary pension
Through individual pension savings you can collect money for your pension on a friendly fiscal manner. In 2006 is an amount of 800 Euro savings (yearly indexed) fiscal deductible. That’s a profit of 240 to 320 Euro, dependent from your taxable wage and family situation. If you invest each year 800 Euro in a pension fund, you will receive around 90.000 Euro gross after 35 years.

Let your company pay for your pension
If your company pays the premiums for your retirement and old age pension insurance, the savings will be kept out your taxable wage and notional amount for your social cost.

Try to get the best out of your company
The money that stays in the company can on a friendly fiscal mode different directions out. A part can be used for current service pension. During several years you will have build up a nice capacity of money in your company.

Gain in clearness from an expert
Private secretaries: some of them are working totally independent and just offering objective advice, but they sell no financial products. There fee is a stable.
Specialized insurance brokers: There fees are commissions on premiums or an expendable fee for a financial plan.
Banks: Sometimes they figure out a financial plan for “good” customers, even completely free.

Visit your notary
A visit to you notary can produce highly decreases for yourself and the descendants. Is your marriage contract tuned to your professional situation? What happens when you or your partner dies? ...

Nowadays a legal pension wouldn’t suffice to guarantee a careless future. It’s obvious that we choose for a systematic current service pension.


Jan

http://www.tijd.be/geld_beleggen/vermogensbeheer/artikel.asp?Id=2188144

Plan the perfect party

You have to make sure that your party is THE party, everyone’s talking about. Host it in grand style and at a great price with following tips from pros.

You want to have a big blowout, and make sure that the party is truly memorable, the type where everyone has fun and guests are still talking about the details for weeks to come. You aren’t sure whether you know the right little touches that will take the event from ordinary to extraordinary without spending a small fortune for it.

· Choose the right place, it’s a key consideration, count 4 to 5 square feet for each person. Cost and convenience are also factors. But always remember: easy doesn’t come cheap! To keep the price down you can ask the manager if you can bring in your own wine and spirits.

· Hire help, a planner can be an ideal solution if you’re too busy to deal with all the party details. You can find him by asking advices from friends or contact the International Special Events Society’s online directory at www.ises.com. Waiters, catering, entertainers… can also be hired.

· Know where to splurge… But never skimp on food, people remember what they ate a lot more than fireworks or a hot-air balloon.

· …and know where to save. The surest way to cut the expense of throwing a big bash is to cut the guest list. Nor is there any need to go high-end on printed party material and other froufrou. And in terms of flowers and other decorations, simply almost always wins out over elaborate.

· Party like it’s $ 19,99: ° go back to school

° limit the libations

° don’t do dinner

I chose this article, because I think it’s interesting knowing how to throw a party, which costs are avoiable and how you can evoid them. It also shows where you can find party planners and other interesting things that I didn’t know. Many people would love to throw a part, but just don’t know where to start and how to do it in the right way. So most of the time, they underestimate expenses or just look over certain details, but these details can make a big change in appreciation for the guests.

Laura

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/19/pf/party_party.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2007101911

Is marriage a dumb move?

Falling in love afters years of building wealth can make life complicated. Marrying can sometimes make it worse.

Michele Mann had launched a successful interior design business. And she had nearly paid off her condo.
Then Mann, met Charles Wally. And love changed the game plan.
Not getting married never crossed their minds. But had they simply opted to live together, they would not have had to deal with sorting out the ownership of two homes, deciding on a succession plan for Mann's business or protecting the inheritance for Wally's kids.
No wonder that over the past decade the number of unmarried partners over the age of 65 has increased by 70 percent.

be sure to ask yourself these questions first.

Will marrying lower your income?
if you are collecting alimony from your ex, you will give that up when you remarry. Remarry before age 60 and you will lose any Social Security income you are entitled to from a previous marriage.

Will marrying raise your taxes?
You can inherit all your spouse's assets tax-free, but an unmarried partner must pay federal estate taxes on any amount over $2 million through 2009.

Will marriage increase your liabilities?
As a married couple, you will pay lower auto insurance premiums. You may also do better by joining your new spouse's health insurance plan. But being married can obligate you to shoulder some big expenses, such as your spouse's loan payments or credit-card debts.

Will it disinherit your kids?
Adult children can pose a problem, because marriage would give your spouse first dibs on your estate. You will need to draft a new will to keep your kids' inheritance intact.

This only becomes a problem when you are already a bit older. Because, when you are still younger, you do not have so much wealth. I think this article gives you something to think about, because not everybody knows all of this.

Kathleen

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/24/pf/marriage.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2007102506

Britons lending their friends £510m a year

Britons are handing more than £510 million a year to their friends and family. The average amount that is given is £116. Before you do this, you must concern all problems you can face. Almost 3.5 people have said that their friendship ended because of money. Those amounts don’t need to be this high. 29% says that is was an amount below £100.
Several reasons are revealed to declare this situation. The first one is that people just borrow the money to help their friends until pay day. So people don’t have to lend money at the bank and so they don’t have to pay rents. The second reason is to pay off personal debts, like holidays, home improvements… Also helping set up a business, buying presents and medical expenses are reasons to lend money from friends. Of course is the best thing to do when you need a large amount of money, to go to the bank. Yes, indeed, you must pay the rent, but isn’t that more worth than your friendship with other people? It’s a well-know fact that people split up for money and that friendships and for money. But I think that people ignore the fact that they can lose their friends, however it’s something very common.

Els

source: http://www.myfinances.co.uk/insurance/news/loans/unsecured-loan/britons-lending-their-friends-510m-year-$477180.htm

EIGHT MISTAKES OF FINANCIERS TO AVOID

Choose the strongest climber
Most of the financiers choose for popular, high stocks. You have to look up and study the losers of the past years. The losers has to prove them, but the combination between risk and gain is a lot advantageous.

Unknown investments
You have to choose two studies that consider to sell a stock and two with a positive advice. It’s possible to estimate the dis- and advantages.

Afraid to sell with loss
You can keep a stock when you know it very well and you’re abreast of the fact that the bad news is only expendable. But you better sell your stock immediate when the news is very bad. Example: An important product that catches a serious delay.

Sell the winners to fast
You have to make a difference between stable and secure values (ex: Unilever) and speculative and risky stocks (ex: Option). You can’t hesitate to carry in the profit when it’s 50% on speculative and risky stocks, because they are to dynamic.

Bet on one horse
It’s recommended to have ten, preferably twenty, different stocks in one portfolio from several sectors and to diversify between small, large and medium-sized concerns.

Search confirmation for your own opinion
You have to search elements that contradict your studies and investigations. The best investments were made by thinking in the opposite direction.

Unknown investments capacity
You have to make a decision that has a substantial influence on your investments portfolio, namely: how long would and could you miss your money?

to under-appreciate dividends
The half of the total benefit of stock investments on a long term comes from dividends. The importance of exchange profit is reducing as your investments term becomes longer.

Investments gain more and more importance. It’s possible to gain a lot of money but also to lose. It’s necessary to know useful, profitable things about the investments market. Investments are a very complex matter, it’s not enough to be the smartest.

Jan

http://www.trends.be/nl/moneytalk/acht-te-vermijden-beleggersfouten/site72-section83-article8498.html#articleContainer

You have to cover many bases when preparing a will

There are many practical issues that you should deal with to ensure that your affairs are in order. The first thing you should have is a valid will. Next, ask yourself if you are still happy with the beneficiaries you have named. Also consider whether your will is properly witnessed.

There are a number of things you should consider:

How you are married
If you are married in community of property, you and your spouse own all your assets and your debts. When you die, half of the joint estate will be that of your spouse.
If you are married out of community of property, you and your spouse each retain separate estates.

Appointing an executor
After you die, somebody needs to make sure your debts are paid and your assets transferred to the right people in terms of your will. That “somebody” is referred to as the executor of your estate.

Reducing executor fees
If you appoint anyone other than your spouse or a family member as the executor of your estate, your estate will have to pay the executor the fees set out by law. The maximum fee is 3.5 percent of the assets in your estate.

Cash for surviving spouse
Your surviving spouse will need cash to live on after they die while the estate is being wound up. once your bank gets wind of the fact that you are dead it will freeze your account. For this purpose, the spouse should have his or her own bank account.

Choosing your beneficiaries
If you belong to a retirement fund, you may nominate your spouse or children as beneficiaries of the fund.

Final wishes
Don’t forget to leave some instructions to your family about funeral arrangements after you die

I think that when you are a bit older and already have a familly, you should do this even when you don't think about dieing at all. You never know what could happen.

Kathleen Aps

Source : http://www.persfin.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=706&fArticleId=4070426

Why $5 million is the new $1 million

Who wants to be a millionaire? A lot of people I guess, but nowadays it isn’t longer a synonym for being rich. With the rising costs of living and with the long retirements, financial experts say that that the new benchmark is $5 million. Financial advisers say that the multimillionaire clients are the fastest-growing segment. Though we must ask our-selves the question why we need more money to survive. The answer is easily. Because we live longer, we spend longer money. Of course, as we see in the article isn’t money as much worth in one part of America as in the other part.
Most of the multimillionaires today made their wealth in three ways. The first one, the real estate market created an enormous wealth. The baby boomers have gained a lot of money with it. The next one is the business buyouts. The third one, the technology boom has created a lot of wealth, but it has left also a lot of millionaires in its wake.
But the latest trend with millionaires is that they use their money to try to effect the global change. They put also money in social causes, but they want a social return on investment for it.
Being a millionaire is a dream for many of us, but I think you may not underestimate the social pressure. People expect a lot of the wealthy people, but it’s indeed a fact, that they also must secure their future. As we see in the article, you can’t stop working after winning the big lot. So being a millionaire is nowadays not a security of a nice and wealthy life.

Els

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20586948/