Microsoft Layoffs About Nokia and New CEO

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Microsoft recently announced a big round of layoffs. According to reports, this is Microsoft’s biggest round of layoffs ever, at nearly 18,000 employees, all within the next year. Often, layoffs are all about Wall Street, rather than the company itself. Cutting jobs shows you are serious about cutting costs, which investors seem to care about more than the admission that your company no longer produces the products or revenues to fully use your workforce. In this case, the motivation is different. New Microsoft CEO Stamps Microsoft has a new CEO after years under Bill Gates replacement Steve Ballmer. The company, which still generates plenty of revenue and profit, is frequently criticized for not growing more, for “losing” its dominant position, and for missing out on big technology shifts, primarily mobile technology. When Ballmer stepped down, nothing was more important than the next CEO making big, drastic moves to “right the ship.” New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is doing just that. First, there was a company-wide memo (gladly made public) about how Microsoft would make be making major shifts in its focus and in how it develops, markets, and sells products. Next up, Nadella is “proving” he is serious about changes by …

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Capital Gains Home Sale with Home Office Depreciation

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If you have a small business, the taxes can be pretty tough to swallow. That’s why you need to be sure that you take all the tax write offs you possibly can to lower your small business tax bill. These small business tax deductions are particularly important for solo entrepreneurs and other self-employed business owners who get stuck with additional self-employment tax. For many business owners, one important tax deduction is the home office tax deduction. This deduction allows home owners who use part of their home for business purposes to write off expenses including deducting property taxes, a portion of utilities and other costs of owning and maintaining a home. How Home Office Affects Capital Gains on Home Sale When you sell property, like your home, you typically have to pay taxes on any increase in the value of the asset. These taxes are called capital gains taxes. Fortunately, these taxes are often taxed at a lower tax rate than your standard tax bracket rate. Unfortunately, on the sale of a large asset, like your home, these capital gains can still be substantial. Luckily, there is a special home sale exclusion for capital gains on the sale of your …

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Do I Need an Accountant?

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The only question I get asked more often than, do I need a financial advisor, is do I need an accountant. The answer isn’t that complicated for most people, however, as with all things money and finance, there are always some exceptions that seem to throw off the ability for anyone to give a straight answer. So, let’s start with with what an accountant does and does not do, and then move on from there. The spoiler, if you are chomping at the bit to get a quick answer, is probably not, but let’s examine the angles to be sure. What Does An Accountant Do? First of all, before deciding whether or not you need an accountant, you should probably understand what an accountant does. More importantly, you should probably understand what an accountant does not do. Now, just like other professions, there are accountants who do more than accounting. I actually know some accountants who are also financial advisors. After all, there is some merit to wrapping all of your financial needs into one little package from the same professional you already trust. But, for our purposes here, we are going to focus on just accountants. That is, do …

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Save Money on Vacation Travel Airfare

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Most of the time, if you find information for saving money on travel, you’ll find tips on how to get the lowest airfare, or how to get discounted hotel rooms. Unfortunately, these tips are often impractical for the vacation traveler, or even the business traveler. While it may be true that new airfares on released on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, I never seem to be going to the kinds of places that have a cheap fare just because it is Tuesday. In fact, what is seldom mentioned in these travel tip articles is that the most volatile airfares occur either on the least popular routes, or on travel at the least popular times That is because those planes are not already full, so the airlines have to jockey around on the price in order to sell the seats. Realistic Airfare Savings Tips There really aren’t any secret airfare tips that you can use, unless you can be pretty flexible in your travel. If you need to leave on a certain date, or even at a certain time, the “tricks for saving money on airfares” won’t help you. To see what I’m talking about, open up any travel website you like. Try …

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US Economy Not Doing So Well After All?

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Is the U.S. economy falling? Recently reports from various economic organizations, including the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, have begun to predict that the American economy will not grow as much as had been predicted by many organizations at the beginning of 2014. So, what does that mean? Is America Heading for Another Recession? Thanks to the extreme polarization in American politics, these reports have been met with either an uninterested dismissal, or with warnings that the end is nigh. As always, neither is completely accurate. So, what is really going on? The northeast part of the United States holds not only a lot of the population, but it also contains some of the biggest financial and manufacturing centers. So, when something affects the Northeast, it affects all of America, at least statistically speaking. The long, harsh winter weather, now being referred to as a deep freeze, appears to have substantially affected everything from customer spending, to shipping goods, to manufacturing. In other words, that long spell of adverse weather put a break on economic activity in that region, enough to affect the overall numbers for the U.S. economy. Economists now suggest that the American economy contracted at an annual …

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Investing Scams Newsletters

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Scamming investors is a very old practice. Way before a centralized stock market institutionalized the dreams of investors looking to get rich, there were unsavory tricksters looking to pray on those dreams. Are Investing Newsletters Scams? Not all newsletters are scams. However, it is important to remember that even legitimate newsletters seldom have a solid, long-term, track record of beating the market. The statistics and returns are often carefully calculated in the just the right way as to show the newsletter in the best possible light. For example, a newsletter may only report it’s “best picks” returns. This allows a retroactive look at what the “best picks” were. For newsletters that are scams, there are some useful ways to spot them. Other FinanceGourmet articles on finance schemes: Credit Karma Is a Scam? Is Quizzle a Scam Is Credit Sesame Safe? FAFSA.com scam First, a legitimate newsletter won’t promise the sun and the moon, especially, after you have subscribed to it. Companies frequently boast a little big when they are advertising to new customers. However, once you buy that new car, the manufacturer doesn’t include a section in the owner’s manual about how to beat a fighter jet in a drag …

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Make Money Working From Home Online Scams

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Virtually every one of the so-called work from home jobs is a scam. Keep in mind that while plenty of Americans work from home, they do it for their regular jobs that they already have, and they probably still have to go into the office some times. These people did not find an online ad and get a working from home job with no experience by just filling out some forms and information over the Internet. Just think it through for one minute. Doing something like data entry from home would be a great job, especially if you could get a job like that without any experience. That means TONS of people would want these jobs. If that is the case, then why would any business pay high wages for that, especially to someone with no experience? In fact, if you think about it for just one more second, you should end up with another conclusion. A job that can be done by anyone, from anywhere, without any extensive training, or previous experience is EXACTLY the kind of job that you can outsource overseas to someone making $5 a day. How could it possibly be that any company or business …

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Mid-Year Review 2014

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Here it is, June 2014, the middle of the year. So, what do things look like for your personal finances in 2014 at the half-way point? Let’s jump right in and find out. 2014 Taxes You’re going to pay taxes in 2014, and in every year until you die. Right now, is a good time to handle a few tax issues before the second half of 2014 gets rolling. First, use the IRS withholding calculator to see if your tax withholdings are set properly. Grab a paystub and enter your information for so far this year. Add in a best guess of your various income tax deductions, or use last year’s tax forms to make estimates. Of course, if you prefer, you can use the 2014 standard tax deduction rate as well. Either way, if you are way off on your withholdings (you’ll owe a fortune, or get a fortune back as a refund), it’s time to submit a new W4 form to your employer. Grab your nearest HR person and ask for one, or just get one from the IRS website and turn it in. You only need the bottom part and filling in the worksheet is not necessary, …

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Debit Card Fraud Protection Gets Better

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One growing method of card fraud and theft is stealing credit card or debit cards and their PIN numbers. Unlike swiping a credit card, not all financial institutions that issue debit or credit cards offer a zero-liability guarantee to users who enter a PIN number. The idea is that the PIN number itself offers security. Unfortunately, that is becoming less true. Today, sophisticated reader devices are attached by thieves to ATM machines, gas pumps, or other devices that accept cards. These attachments do not impede the ability for the real machine to read the card. That way, you have no idea that your transaction did not go as planned. However, your card information has been copied, and coupled with a small camera that watches you enter your PIN, the thieves have everything they need to empty your account. Although it was eventually revealed that the recent breach at Target did not compromise PIN numbers, no one was very sure of that fact in the beginning. In other words, having your card information and PIN stolen is a real risk. MasterCard Steps Up MasterCard announced on May 28, that it will offer (and by extension everyone who issues MasterCards) the same zero-liability …

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Coming to FinanceGourmet – Personal Finance Blog

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This coming week, we have some interesting new articles for Finance Gourmet to help with frequently asked about and requested personal financial health topics. First up, as May draws to a close, June marks both the end of the second quarter, and the midpoint of the year. What kinds of things should you be aware of at this point for optimal financial health? We’ll discuss quarterly tax payments, how the markets are looking at the half way point, what things you might want to be thinking of for minimizing your taxes, and more. Next, we tackle signing up for a 529 plan, step by step. Not long ago, I wrote about how a financial planner can help keep you from getting stuck on your financial planning actions such as setting up a 529 plan. But, when you can find them, a detailed step-by-step guide to setting up financial accounts such as a 529 plan can be just as valuable. We’ll give you a detailed guide on how to open a Colorado 529 plan, including how to fill out all the Colorado 529 plan forms to set up an account. Then, we’ll look at some of the new IRS numbers that …

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