Home Office Tax Deduction
When I started blogging, I talked to my accounting friend who is a CPA about taking home office tax deduction. Besides the trouble of maintaining and documenting the exclusitivity of the business usage, and sending a warning flag for audits, he advised me not to take any such deductions for the following financial reasons: If […]
Continue readingDefinition Of Being Frugal
Very early in my adolescent life, I’ve learned a wise Chinese saying: “When you must spend, you spend; when you could save, you save.” It’s a short and plain sentence. It may not strike any accord to your mind, if you simply scan through it. But for me personally, it has taught me everything about […]
Continue readingCautions On Rich Dad: Robert Kiyosaki
Many thanks for one of my readers, BlueDaze, for posting this link in the comments: http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html If I recall correctly, I visited this very same link probably three years ago, when Kiyosaki only had his very first book on “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I got all the negative information on Kiyosaki, which I never thought […]
Continue readingRoyalty Trusts
This is the third article in the my dividend investing series. Actually most of these current income investments do not pay out the so-called traditional dividends. For royalty trust companies, they pay out royalties to the owners, instead of dividends. For investing purpose, there is not much difference except the origins of the income. However, […]
Continue readingA Hard Lesson On Money
Throughout my early life until age of twenties, I didn’t know what money was or what money meant. I was very fortunate that everything that I needed was there for me. My family was slightly above middle class, but we lived within our means, and no extravagance of any sorts. Because of my father’s profession […]
Continue readingForeign Taxes Withheld Problem
A reader John has asked me about how to get the withheld taxes out of the paid dividends back, in my post of “My Dividend Investing ($11775.91 for 2005)”. He said that he has 28% withheld. 28% is a very weird withholding percentage. For all of my stocks, I had 15% withheld for foreign paid […]
Continue readingThe Importance Of Knowing How To Budget
How can you keep the money in your pocket, if you don’t know how it comes in and how it goes out? Granted, the most painful part about saving money is not to spend it. Deferring immediate gratification for the future takes some real discipline. Having a realistic financial goal in sight with a proper […]
Continue readingHow I Bank: Online Banking
I actually started online banking back in 1998/1999 when I first read an article on online banking in BusinessWeek. The article was comparing two internet banks, and I chose to give NetBank a try. NetBank was one of the highest yielding banks in the nation at that time according to www.bankrate.com, and has been so […]
Continue readingSteps To Wealth: Saving and Networth
Saving = Income – Expense Networth = Asset – Liability Accumulating networth is a process by which one controls the expenses and trickle down the savings into growable assets, while reducing liability. Sounds simple? Yes, it’s easier said than done. But that’s how it always is. If you don’t get a lottery income, or don’t […]
Continue readingWhy Is Your Home The Best Investment
Well, I should really qualify the title of this, by not buying the home in a bubble. Whether our current housing market is a bubble or not is debatable. Under normal circumstances however, buying a home is usually your best investment. And the reason is inflation. Historically, housing price tracks inflation fairly well. Since inflation […]
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