Suze Orman Fan Club Blog Community

Suze Orman has a great post on how you can save money on your taxes, and help the environment at the same time. In her post on Going Green, Suze talks about IRS tax credits that you can claim when you upgrade your home and make it more energy efficient. Tax credits are better than tax deductions. A tax credit will reduce your taxes, dollar for dollar. A tax deduction reduces the amount of income you have subject to tax. So a $100 tax credit will save you $100 in taxes. A $100 tax deduction will save you $0-$39, depending on your tax bracket.

Energy tax credits are a win-win-win situation. You save money on your taxes, you save money on your energy bill, and you get to live in a more comfortable home!

You can claim up to $500 in tax credits for energy efficient improvements you make on your home. Here are some examples of the credit amounts you can claim. You can mix and match up to $500.

You can get a $300 tax credit for upgrading your heating and air conditioning system.
You can get a tax credit for 10% of the cost of new windows and doors. How about $300 for installing a new water heater?

To claim the residential energy tax credits file form 5695 with your 1040.

Look for my next post on what Suze Orman would want you to do with your tax refund!

Visit Kat’s Money, Debt and Taxes for more information on how to get out of debt and save money on your taxes. 

Suze Orman has given advice on almost every financial situation that you could imagine. One thing recently that I was particularly interested in is what Suze Orman calls her Action Pledge for 2009. In a given month Suze Orman wants everyone to take her pledge that says: “Do not spend money for one day. Do not use your credit card for one week. Do not eat out at a restaurant for one month.”

Obviously this had a huge impact on chef’s all across America especially in these days of recession. Suze Orman’s pledge doesn’t take into account the effect it would have on the food industry if everyone chose to eat at home for one whole month.

Restaurants, and the many people and businesses that supply them with their food, are already under threat and financial crises. Many restaurants are being forced to close due to bankruptcy. Although Suze Orman believes that her pledge will lead many to financial freedom chef’s across America are outraged.

I believe that Suze Orman has a valid point although instead of choosing to not eat in a restaurant for one whole month, spend according to your budget. If that means you can only afford to eat out once a month then so be it, but if you can afford to safely eat out more than once a month then enjoy. Maybe you could consider only eating out in less expensive diner’s that belong to struggling communities. That way you’d be saving money and helping out at the same time.

There are a large number of restaurants that do not serve wholesome food instead of using these types of restaurants use one that serves high quality food. Think healthy and purchase what’s good for our bodies, our taste buds, and our money.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

Suze Orman is a financial expert, if you have problems with finances then Suze Orman is definitely the person to seek advice from. Suze Orman would be a great friend to have espescially in financial crises.

Suze Orman has written seven New York Times Bestsellers in a row:

Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan
Women & Money
The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom
The Courage to Be Rich
The Road to Wealth
The Laws of Money, the Lessons of Life
The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke

It is definitely worth investing in Suze Orman’s books as you will learn how to save money rather than spend it. If you want to watch Suze Orman on television she hosts “The Suze Orman Show” on Saturdays on CNBC. As well as writing many wonderful books and appearing on several television shows, Suze Orman is a two-time Emmy Award winner.

She won two Daytime Emmy Awards in 2004 and 2006 for her PBS pledge drive specials, The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life and The Money Show for the Young, Fabulous, & Broke, she is the winner of more Gracie awards than any other recipient, 2007 top female motivational speaker by Business Week, 2008 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine and contributing editor to O, The Oprah Magazine and The Costco Connection.All in all Suze Orman is miles ahead of the rest when it comes to financial advise and in this day and age we need more Suze Orman’s. I’d advise anyone to take a leaf out of Suze Orman’s book.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

During the “Make Your Life Better TODAY” series, Suze Orman shared good advice about hot to cope with five specific situations in your life that you could be facing. During this post I will summarise the advice that Suze Orman gave about saving for your child’s future.

If you are a parent saving for your child’s education you might find it a real worry or anxiety. Parent’s base their lives around children and saving for their education can be very important. You might have to make the decision whether or not you can afford to save for your child’s education.

With mortgages rising in price many parent’s are finding it difficult to contribute to their retirement savings and have no money for emergencies. Many families are finding that they have to put their own needs before their children’s.

September will soon be here and college education can run to as much as $35,000 a year. Although it is better to save sooner rather than later you need to take into consideration if you can afford to save. You can take out a 529 savings plan which is sometimes the solution for many parent’s. Your own state will probably run a 529 savings plan. With a 539 plan your money is invested either in a contract that promises to pay for at least part of the future tuition costs for your child (this is called a prepaid tuition plan) or in a combination of stock and bond mutual funds (this is called a college savings plan). Either way, the value of your investment grows tax-free until withdrawn. In the years when withdrawals are used to pay for college costs, the growth is taxed to the student, not to you.

Paying for your child’s education is an investment that you need to start saving for. If a family starts saving $100 a month and their child is in middle school by the time they are ready for college you could have $11,000. If you have continuously saved for your child’s education by the time they are ready for college you will find this money extremely helpful.

If you put your child’s education savings on autopilot the money will come out as an automatic deduction from your earnings. You might also like to look at financial aid options, but all the time you need to be realistic about what you can afford.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

There have been some changes made to how these things work.  The IRS private letter rulings (PLR’s) often prove useful to those of us who are trying to find out how our situations can be affected by certain aspects of our investments (i.e. the technicalities).  The following are some tips on both IRA’s and beneficiary issues.

-Thanks to IRS Notice 2008-30, non-spouse beneficiaries can transfer a qualified retirement plan to an inherited Roth IRA…as long as the transfer is allowed by the plan and the Roth conversion eligibility requirements have been met by the beneficiary.  Beginning in 2010, all plans must allow these transfers.

-IRA owners may be able to avoid the 10% penalty on SEPP (substantially equal periodic payment) distribution problems due to a custodian failing to make the payment, by asking the IRS for relief.  It seems that they are more understanding now that problems such as this could become more and more common as financial institutions engage in mergers.

-Naming an irrevocable discretionary trust as your beneficiary, instead of a revocable trust, can help keep creditors from claiming your IRA funds upon your death.

-Be sure your beneficiaries are “readily identifiable”, by the IRS’ standards, to avoid tax trouble for them in the future regarding the inherited IRA.

-When considering disclaiming an IRA, consult a professional for advice.  A mistake in the disclaimer could spell lots of hassle later on.

-When naming a minor(s) as a beneficiary, make sure you also name a custodian or trust to hold the inherited IRA.  Again, failure to do so could create unnecessary tax problems.

I hope these tips are helpful.  If any of my information is ‘off’ or otherwise not useful, please feel free to school me!  I’m not an expert by any means and am always looking to expand my knowledge.

Visit Ambrosiavenus’ Chronicles of Caelan Where a rogue Elven Princess can be herself!

After some crappy vacations I learned from some mistakes and I want to share my wisdom.

1) What is Cheap, it can become Expensive: Be aware of shady promotions on the net, they will offer everything you want and it won’t come cheap at the end.

2) Bring your own medicines. Some medicines can be expensive depending on the country you are visiting and some others are sold by prescription even if in your home country they aren’t sold that way.

3) Investigate the socio-political environment of the country you are going to visit: Simple as it sounds, if you want to avoid an incident of bigger proportions you better stay away.

4) Know the places where you can buy your memorabilia or things, it is better to avoid buying something bootlegged that will turn to be more expensive in the end and a big disappointment

5) If you are traveling with babies, always be prepared and bring extra formula just in case, as well diapers. Also research with your pediatrician about how to make the experience more comfortable to your child while flying.

Visit Gustavo R. LeQuerica’s The Pop Culture of Gus Lequerica Today.com’s Pop Culturist.

This is going to be a short review. I want to say that the book is really good, but it doesn’t reflect reality at all of personal economies, it can give an idea if you don’t know about home economies but overall is not the best book about personal finances. If I have to recommend a book about personal finances, I don’t think I would recommend any because they all can give an idea but not the complete truth as home economies varies from people to people.

Visit Gustavo R. LeQuerica’s The Pop Culture of Gus Lequerica Today.com’s Pop Culturist.

So, you lost your job.  Maybe you lost your home.  You had to downsize or sell one of your cars?  Were you unable to give everything you wanted to for Christmas?

As you’re going through this difficult period, you may be wallowing in self-pity and wondering when the economy is going to turn around.  When will things change for you?  More specifically, when will your economic situation change?  With all this talk of “bailouts”, who will save you?

Yes.  You’ve had a tough break, but Suze continues to remind us “Only YOU can save yourself.  Nobody can ever save you.”  We can’t look to the economy…or the government…or charitable organizations to change our situations.  Sure, they may help to give us a boost, but the real change begins with ourselves…our inner selves.

According to Suze, recessions come and go.  They are a “natural part of economic life”.  We just have to make sure we are prepared for them.  If we are not prepared, we must also blame ourselves.  While it’s easy to blame the economy, it’s our choices that have helped to put us in the positions we are in by not planning for the future and by living above our means.

Therefore, when it comes to ending financial troubles, Suze enlightens us:  “It’s going to end when you change your mind about how you perceive what’s happening.”

In order to save ourselves, we have to:

1.  Get real with ourselves.  Know what we can afford and learn to live with that.

2.  Remember what’s important, like good health and a strong family.  We are more than our possessions.

3.  Keep our money safe by diversifying banks and making sure our accounts are FDIC insured.

4.  Make a financial plan and stick to it.  Budgeting is essential.

Even if you were not adequately prepared for this downturn in life, it is not too late to make changes and get it together.  What we do today will affect tomorrow.  By taking the proper steps for our future now, we can make sure we are in a better position the next time there is a financial crisis.  You can save yourself!

Visit Glue 4 Families for more posts on family life by Davida.

I wonder what Christmas gifts Suze Orman received or what she would suggest people buy to help themselves financially? Did we have a good Christmas without spending over our limit or did we budget sensibly and not break the bank this Christmas?

Christmas might not be the same for many of us in the coming years. As money tightens and we experience changes in fortune we might need to keep a close hold of our money. Many shops are noticing a change whereas once Christmas was their busiest times now it is slowing down and pushing many shops into bankruptcy. Credit cards are becoming a thing of the past, but there is a glimmer of hope. Although you might not be able to shop until you drop with some careful planning there are many affordable gifts still available.

• Personalised gifts are not too expensive and give your loved a gift personal to them.
• Personalised mugs, aprons, calendars and many other gifts are delightful to give.
• Shopping in charity shops is less expensive and if careful you can find plenty of new gifts.
• Take photograph’s of the children or loved ones frame them and give them as gifts.
• Make scrapbooks or other hand made goods again these are very affordable.
• Make your own gifts are becoming increasingly popular and affordable.
• Why not give a money box? This encourages your children to save rather than spend.
• You could give money boxes to adults as well. The beer fund money box or handbag fund.
• If you are good at knitting, sewing or dress making you could make some clothes as gifts.
• Why not make someone a scarf or a pair of gloves?
• Try making jam, bread, cakes and you could always make a hamper with your own home made food.
• You could grow your own food over the year then at Christmas time give to loved ones.
• Why not encourage loved ones to do some gardening and give gardening gifts.
• What about cutting flowers from your own garden and giving as gifts in a nice bouqet.
• You could give people packets of seed so they can grow their own vegetables.

If you have any other ideas please feel free to leave them. I’m sure Suze Orman would be pleased to know that we are thinking of ways we can save money at Christmas and during other times of gift giving throughout the year.

Visit Mickie at either of her Today.com blogs, The Osbourne’s or her blog about the Performing Arts.

Ok, so Christmas is a few days from now and people are going in frenzy. Going to malls is a bad idea as people go there as cattle, so then if we want to do some last minute shopping’s you have to think in the alternatives, going online, which is a cool option; going to the mall sales, which is the best and the most terrible option, going to backyard sales which you can find cool things or going to the second hand stores if you have a restricted budget.

Every option is a good option, but if you are in a hurry, I recommend going online and pay the excessively overprice of the shipping fees, which in my opinion if you do your shopping on time you will save a lot of money even if it’s online, I did and my parcels arrived on time and I didn’t had to go to the mall.

The other best option is going to the second hand stores, not because of the budget but to avoid the traffic jams in the malls, they are hellish, and if you go to the second hand stores you will save plenty of money, and you will pay less price for products that are like new.

And the last option I can say, the least favorable, go to the mall on Christmas Eve if you want to lose some of your sanity and a limb, yes you will see the best sales ever but at the same time you will fight with people not only to get the items but to get a parking lot. I guess I don’t say too much about Yard Sales as they are similar to second hand stores, except more harder to find, but you get tranquility while shopping and even you can get discounts.

Remember for next year don’t do your shopping’s at a last minute, do them on time.

Visit Gustavo R. LeQuerica’s The Pop Culture of Gus Lequerica Today.com’s Pop Culturist.