Economics Finance

Declaring bankruptcy can be a huge weight lifted off of your shoulders – but you must be extremely careful not to fall into debt again in the months and years after you file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. One of the best moves you can make after declaring bankruptcy is to make sure that you have a steady and predictable income. The best way to achieve that is through getting a job with a regular paycheck.

But is it more difficult to get a job after you have declared bankruptcy? Not really. Although it is becoming more and more common for potential employers to do credit checks on potential employees, your credit score would still have been quite low if you did not declare bankruptcy. Also, there are a few simple steps you can take in order to minimize the effect that your bankruptcy will have on possible employers. Continue reading ‘How Can I Find a Job After Declaring Bankruptcy?’ »

In this unprecedented erratic economy that we are living in today, you are not alone who is fighting the issue of past due medical bills – there are most others like you. As the accumulation of bills and the total owed amount keeps getting higher and higher, the chances of being able to clear the bills keep getting lesser and lesser. So let’s readily discuss some vital details with regard to clearing the hospital bills.

The first obvious thing that you ought to do is to look through your budget thoroughly. If the mention of the word budget creates questions in your mind, then that’s exactly the reason that you have unpaid bills in the first place because of which they have piled up and entered past due phase.

Preparing a budget is a very simple process of calculating your monthly income along with the expenses and savings to keep a tab on where the money is flowing to.

Get an itemized copy of your total past due medical bills that you owe and go through them quickly in details. The objective of going over these bills is to make sure that you have only been charged for the services that you were provided by the service hospital and nothing else. Continue reading ‘How to Handle Past Due Medical Bills’ »

Owning a rental property may be advantageous in some ways. The income you get from rental real estates can sometimes be a substantial amount, and this could increase your tax liability. However, landlords can reduce their income tax on their profits. This is possible through investments. To know more about rental tax deductions, read on.

There are two types of investors: passive and real estate professional. The losses of real estate professionals are deductible against all types of income, be it passive or non-passive. If the losses are passive, then the landlord is only allowed to deduct up to $25,000 against the rentals’ income. Conversely, losses that exceed up to $25,000 can be carried forward to the following year. Continue reading ‘What You Should Know About Rental Property Tax Deductions’ »

Self employed people are allowed to deduct several expenses from their income before working out how much tax they need to pay. Sadly, most self-employed people are unaware of all the expenses they can deduct, and so most end up paying more tax than they should.

By taking the time to learn about which tax-deductible expenses apply to you, you’ll be able to claim back the maximum allowable within the law, but without increasing your chances of being audited. The following are common mistakes which many self-employed people make, and which can end up being costly in more ways than one: Continue reading ‘Tax Deductible Self Employment Expenses – 3 Common Mistakes’ »

Though it may seem impossible, there are ways to plan ahead for Medicaid. Most people believe they have to rid themselves of all income and assets in order to receive benefits, but this is not always true. These strategies will help you plan for the future so your medical care expenses will be covered.

It is said that the average stay in a nursing home is 30 months. The cost can range between $3,000 and $5,000 per month or $90,000 to $150,000 in total. This is why it is so important to plan ahead. The financial burden can be massive if proper planning is not done. The eligibility requirements are based on the need for medical care as well as the individual’s financial situation. Since the program is controlled by the state government, each state may have different eligibility guidelines. Assets and income will always be the most important eligibility factors. In most cases, almost all of your savings and assets will have to be depleted to become eligible. Continue reading ‘Medicaid Planning Strategies’ »

United States citizens, who are living and earning outside the country, do not have to pay taxes on all or part of their income to the government. These citizens are entitled to an exclusion of up to $91,400 per annum, and are further entitled to exclude the amount that they spend for housing under the “Foreign Housing Deduction” along with the amount spent on meals.

To be eligible for these deductions, one must spend at least one whole calendar year abroad. This holds true even if the citizen returns to the United States for a short time. He can also go to other places for short visits, and still retain his eligibility to these deductions. A citizen can claim the normal tax exclusion of all other foreign earners if he is self-employed and working abroad. However, he is expected to pay self employment tax to the government. Continue reading ‘Foreign Earned Income and IRS’ »

When you retire it is more than likely you will be attempting to live on income that is as much as half of what you had while you were working. Even if you have a pension very few employers today offer a cost of living increase that comes anywhere near the actual increase in the cost of living-many companies don’t even offer increases to their retirees. This leaves those who are retired struggling to make ends meet as the cost of even basic necessities such as food, clothing, utilities, insurance, heat and gas go through the roof. This forces many people to continue working into their 70s and even 80s in order to keep a roof over their heads. Others are forced to sell their beloved homes and move in with their children because they can no longer afford the cost of living on their own.

While it may seem feasible for some to return to work if only part-time there is an important issue to remember-the money you make working is taxable and will have an effect on the amount of Social Security income that is taxable. In addition the money from a job is taxable as well. This is where a reverse mortgage is advantageous-the funds you withdraw from your reverse mortgage loan are not taxable! Whether you use the funds to supplement your monthly income, take a trip, pay for a child or grandchild to go to college or make home repairs the funds are still not taxable. You will pay interest on the funds but the interest you pay may indeed be less than you would pay in taxes if you were to obtain the same funds from a taxable source. Even the distributions from a 401K Plan are taxable when you make withdrawals. Continue reading ‘Use a Reverse Mortgage As a Financial Tool’ »

Commodity prices have increased over the last year and several major manufacturers of grocery products both food and beverage are increasing their wholesale prices to grocery retailers. That means the prices at your local grocer will be rising as well. Since your income is not going up and maybe has been reduced due to voluntary salary reductions or involuntary layoffs how do you keep your food costs within your budgeted limits? Here are several ways how to get free grocery coupons. You can turn to private label store brands or you can start clipping coupons. Many grocers offer to double manufacturers’ coupons to fifty cents.

Giant Eagle is an exception and offers double manufacturers’ coupons to ninety nine cents. If you can combine your local grocery shopping to items on sale and with coupons you can keep your grocery expenditures to a minimum. By signing up for their rewards card and using manufacturers’ coupons not only will you save on your grocery bill but you will get twenty ($0.20) cents of a gallon of gas for every $50 you spend at Giant Eagle stores.

There are a number of sites that you can sign up for that will notify you when new grocery coupons like couponmom.com, coolsavings.com and others. One – coupons.smartsource.com is the online version of the coupon tab that comes with the Sunday paper. Instead of having to flip through all the pages and clip which coupons you want to keep, you can view them online and print only the coupons you want to use. Continue reading ‘How to Get Free Grocery Coupons’ »

There are way too many families in America that are feeling this crisis to an extreme degree. The utility bills are piling up, the mortgage has been sitting there for weeks, there’s not enough food in the house, and the children need books for school again. It’s a real crunch on finances in the everyday life, but then the IRS goes and adds to this by giving you a bill for back taxes. Now you just don’t know what to do. You are already working as much as you can and the income simply isn’t going far enough. What do you do?

Check into applying for a tax settlement with the IRS. If you can prove that you are in a really financially tough situation right now and it certainly isn’t going to be looking up any time in the near future, then grab an application and start moving on it. The faster that you do this, the quicker you can have some of that debt removed and less penalties tacked on because for sure by now they already have done that. They will keep on adding them as well until you either pay if off or make this move. Continue reading ‘Are Your Back Taxes Getting You Down? Apply For a Settlement With the IRS!’ »

Despite the social stigma and horror stories attached to the word, ‘bankruptcy,’ it is actually a viable and legitimate means of putting an end to incredibly desperate financial problems. Of course, for some people it will be the best route to take, while for others, it would be more advisable to seek out bankruptcy alternatives first. Whichever way you do it, whether you proceed or not, you should ensure that you have weighed up all your options first as it comes with long term consequences.

Bankruptcy should always be the last resort and, as such, you should have exhausted all other bankruptcy alternatives by the time you come to file. Resolving your financial problems without resorting to bankruptcy could prevent a nasty blemish on your credit rating and be better for your long term financial security.

The best place to start when it comes to solving problems without bankruptcy is to get together all documentation relating to your income, your monthly expenditure and your outstanding debts. This can be a tricky task but it is absolutely imperative before you can even begin to consider your options, to know exactly the position that you are in at the very present. Continue reading ‘Try These Bankruptcy Alternatives Before You Decide to Declare Yourself Bankrupt’ »