The Business of Life

Good Debt, Bad Debt, No Debt?

Douglas J Utberg — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:26:02 +0000

Throughout the lexicon of financial advice in the marketplace, there are many different views regarding the role of debt in our lives. The traditional view is that debt causes us to make interest payments that deplete our wealth and erode our ability to build wealth. In the case of the current mortgage crisis, many lending institutions and government agencies encouraged excessive lending to borrowers that were in very high risk of default. This has even prompted some financial authors to proclaim that all debt is bad, regardless of what it ...

Translating ‘Lorem Ipsum’: This Site Is in Trouble

Business of Life Network — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:57:21 +0000

There is no better time to review a web page than while it is still in development. Often, changes are resisted after a site has found its way to the web. The problem is that, even late into their development, many sites seem to be selling something called “Lorem ipsum dolor” that doesn’t do much more than “sit amet.” In other words, the site template design has neared completion, and the content is still filler. This can be trouble for sites that want to generate leads or sell something. According to Fun ...

Suze Orman’s Stock Secrets

Business of Life Network — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:14:18 +0000

What business has an estimated one million clients, operates on the fringe of securities law and can say just about anything without immediate consequences? It is the investing-newsletter industry. And the public should approach newsletters with caution, even when they come with a celebrity endorsement. Just ask followers of Suze Orman, the personal-finance icon. In March 2011, she and Mark Grimaldi, an investment manager in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., launched a monthly newsletter called The Money Navigator. Ms. Orman has since given away more than 50,000 trial subscriptions to the newsletter, which costs ...

Social Media Learnings From the Front Lines

Business of Life Network — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:41:07 +0000

There is nothing like experience to teach you some hard lessons. After numerous, successful social media launches, campaigns, and sweepstakes, our team has accumulated our share of well-earned bruises and scrapes. We have tried to learn from our experiences in order to alleviate some of the pain that can result and also to catalog a growing understanding of the best practices that drive brand results. Here are some of our social media life lessons. Your clients (internal or external) are new to this and will react in predictable ways. They will ...

AMT Complicates Tax-Payment Estimates

Business of Life Network — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:46:16 +0000

Many retirees make estimated tax payments four times a year. But due to uncertainty in the tax laws in 2012—in particular, the expiration of the patch for the alternative minimum tax—calculating those payments may prove more difficult than usual. According to the Internal Revenue Service, about 23.4 million U.S. taxpayers make estimated payments. Generally due on the 15th of April, June, September and January, the payments are filed on IRS Form 1040-ES. Among those who typically use such an approach are retirees and self-employed individuals, who typically earn at least some income ...

Ability vs. Production

Douglas J Utberg — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:05:08 +0000

Recently, much attention has been brought to the topic of inequality … most specifically, inequality of wealth and income. Underlying this attention is a fundamental belief that some people are able to earn a level of income that is disproportionately high relative to other people on the economic ladder. This belief stems from a misunderstanding of the difference between a person’s ability and their production. At first blush, these two attributes feel tightly related … and in many respects they are. Most people require some measure of ability in order ...

South Carolina Message

Thomas Sowell — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:27:19 +0000

Just days before the South Carolina primary, polls showed Mitt Romney leading Newt Gingrich. Then came the debates and the question about Gingrich’s private life, which brought a devastating response from the former Speaker of the House — and a standing ovation from the audience. Apparently the television audience felt the same way, judging by the huge turnaround in the support for Gingrich. The stunning victory in South Carolina brought Newt’s candidacy back to life. But the message from South Carolina was about more than a reaction to how Gingrich dealt with ...

Schools of Education

Walter E Williams — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:23:11 +0000

Larry Sand’s article “No Wonder Johnny (Still) Can’t Read” — written for The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, based in Raleigh, N.C. — blames schools of education for the decline in America’s education. Education professors drum into students that they should not “drill and kill” or be the “sage on the stage” but instead be the “guide on the side” who “facilitates student discovery.” This kind of harebrained thinking, coupled with multicultural nonsense, explains today’s education. During his teacher education, Sand says, “teachers-to-be were forced to learn ...

Tips to Help You Claim a Home-Office Deduction

Business of Life Network — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:18:49 +0000

About 52% of all businesses are run from home. The number of teleworkers is growing annually. It’s good to know that some tax savings can result from this work arrangement. A portion of personal expenses for your home can be turned into a business deduction — if you meet certain rules. To claim a home-office deduction, you must use the space in your residence as a principal place of business, as a place to meet or deal with customers on a regular basis, or as a separate structure used for the business. You also ...

One Cure for Accounting Shenanigans

Business of Life Network — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:59:34 +0000

Should accountants have term limits? One giant company after another has gone bust without any warning to investors from its independent auditors that it was in danger. Like the credit-rating firms whose triple-A seals of approval often turned out to be signs of impending doom, accounting firms appear to have analyzed many companies not with green eyeshades but through rose-colored glasses. One possible explanation: Auditors work for the same company for so long that instead of being independent, they end up co-dependent. Since the Securities Act of 1933, public companies have been required ...