Rules for Simplified Employee Pension Plans better known as a SEP Plans
May 23, 2008
A SEP is a special type of IRA. Under a SEP plan the employer creates an IRA account for each eligible employee, hence the name SEP-IRA. A SEP is funded solely with employer contributions. Employees do not make contributions to their SEP-IRA retirement account. Any money that goes into a SEP automatically belongs to the employee. Thus, the employee has the right to take his SEP IRA account money with him whenever he stops working for the company.
Any size business can establish a SEP, but the SEP retirement plan is utilized mostly by the self-employed and the small business with few employees. The SEP IRA rules dictate that if the business contributes for one employee, (i.e., the owner), then the business must contribute proportionately for all of the employees. With few exceptions, anyone who works for the business must be included in the SEP. However, you can exclude from participating in the SEP plan anyone who:
1. Has not worked for the company during three out of the last five years.
2. Has not reached age 21 during the year for which contributions are made.
3. Received less than $450 in compensation (subject to cost-of-living adjustments) during the year.
Feed Your Desire To Become Debt Free
May 22, 2008
Feed Your Desire To Become Debt Free
by: Stuart Laing
This site will show you how to wipe out your debts. But before you make a start, let me remind you that it won’t be easy. In fact, it could be one of the hardest things that you’ll ever do in your life.
Don’t be under any illusions about this. Enormous self-discipline is required from you. The more you owe, the harder this will be, and the longer it will take.
You must genuinely desire to become completely and utterly debt free. Achieving such a difficult task is only possible if you’re 100% committed to it. Clearing your debts is an all or nothing decision. Ninety-nine percent is no good!
If you’re at the stage where you’d ‘like’ to pay off all your debts, I can tell you now that you won’t get very far. That’s nothing more than a vague pipedream that ranks up there with ‘I’d like to go to the moon’.
Make a promise to yourself to repay your debts as soon as possible. Get the bit between your teeth and keep plugging away at it until you’re completely and utterly DEBT FREE! Then vow never to borrow ever again!
Pitfalls of Casual Friday
May 21, 2008
Pitfalls of Casual Friday
by: Mary Arnold
Imagine this: You walk into a prominent, international business office, up to the receptionist’s desk - and you see she’s wearing flip-flops and blue jeans with holes in them. How do you react to this? I bet your opinion of that business just dropped quite a few notches, right?
Do you think this is an extreme example of some people’s taking Casual Friday too far? Do you think it would never happen in your office?
My husband didn’t think so - until it did happen in the office of his place of employment, an international, very prosperous company.
He’s told me several stories of the inappropriate attire the receptionist has worn to work on Casual Friday over the years such as the aforementioned flip-flops and ripped blue jeans. Also she’s shown up wearing a feather boa, tight T-shirts, shorts (during the summer), and miniskirts, among other unacceptable items of clothing.
Company Politics and Six Sigma by Peter Peterka
May 20, 2008
Company Politics and Six Sigma by Peter Peterka
by: Peter Peterka
No grouping of human beings is without some amount of politics. Managing deployment of Six Sigma in your organization will unavoidably run into some personal issues and conflict. However, with deft handling of the personal and political issues that come up, along with patience and perseverance, your Six Sigma deployment will not get derailed.
Political factors that can affect a Six Sigma project include personal resistance to change, inflexible company policies, and incompatibility with existing organizational methods and goals. Not surprisingly, all of these factors also affect business processes of any kind. They are not unique to Six Sigma. This is one of Six Sigma’s strengths: realistically acknowledging the way politics work in an organization. Six Sigma is not just number crunching. It understands the importance of and encourages the involvement of people throughout and at all levels of the organization working together toward a common goal. Six Sigma encourages planning, communication, and openness about processes, procedures, and information.
Lies, Damn Lies and Mutual Fund Returns
May 19, 2008
How many times has this happened to you? You’re at a social function and the conversation turns to investing. Pretty soon, people are comparing how well their investments are doing. As you might imagine, being an investment advisor this happens to me a lot. However, I recently had an experience with it that startled me.
Bob, one of the guys I was chatting with at a party, asked what kind of returns I had made for my clients with my methodical no load mutual fund strategy during the past year. I replied that they had unrealized gains of slightly over 29%, after management fees, for the 8 months that we were invested.
Bob countered with a smirk that he had made a 40% return. I raised my eyebrows and told him that was darn good-and suggested that maybe he ought to be managing my money. At that point we were interrupted and, as the evening went on, I began to wonder exactly how Bob had gotten his great return.
I cornered him a little later on and, upon digging a little deeper, the story looked somewhat different. Yes, he had made a 40% return on a mutual fund he had some money invested in, however, we were comparing apples and bananas.
The Ethics of a Christian Debt Consolidation Company
May 19, 2008
The Ethics of a Christian Debt Consolidation Company
by: Angela Rogers
There are a number of Christian debt consolidation companies which may appear to be against a lot of Christian’s beliefs. However, these Christian debt consolidation companies ensure fellow Christians that it is Biblical to take advantage of a program run by a Christian debt consolidation company.
Whether a Christian can get into debt (‘money or property which one is obligated to pay another’) is being debated within the Christian community. Some say it is not O.K. for Christian to owe any money, even for auto and/or home loans. Others say that it is O.K. to sustain some personal debt as long as the item purchased is an asset with the potential to appreciate. Another that it was purchased to produce an income or that the value of the item purchased equals or exceeds the amount owed against it or the debt is not so large that repayment puts undue strain on the budget.
Mastering the Mortgages Maze
May 18, 2008
Mastering the Mortgages Maze
by: Gay Redmile
So…you’re about to buy a property and need a mortgage…
Where do you begin?
Whether you are a first home buyer, have bought and sold several times, are re-financing, seeking an equity loan, or even a reverse motgage - there are a lot of thing to consider…
Do you choose fixed rate, variable rate, adjustable rate - or interest only.
Rates, fees, costs - can all vary.
Let’s have a look at the differences:
Fixed Interest Rate - usually fixed for the life of the mortgage, say 15-30 years, regardless of increases or decreases in market rates. This type of mortgage is ideal for those on a budget - as you always know what your repayments are.
Adjustable (Variable) Interest Rate - this type of mortgage allows the interest rate to be adjusted according to the current market rates -usually adjusted at the end of pre-determined periods. These tend to have lower monthly payments and are more flexible than fixed.
Balloon Mortgage - this is fixed amount payments for a period of time and then one large payment (balloon) towards the end of the term.
Winning at Stock Trading
May 17, 2008
Winning at Stock Trading
by: Gay Redmile
The world of trading and investment can be as frustrating as it can be rewarding! You need to be prepared…
Firstly, decide if you are a trader or an investor.
An investor is someone who enters the stock market inadvertently - usually via their superannuation policies. A trader is someone who makes a decision to buy and sell shares via the stock market. This can be done online or by using the services of a stock broker.
If you decide to become a trader - to win - you must have a survival strategy…
You need to study the market yourself - not just rely on ‘reading the news’, or listening to others advice and tips.
Take advantage of technology - computers, software, electronic data - all at your finger tips. Seek out charting software and appropriate internet sites - they are plentiful.
Ensure that you ‘manage’ your money and keep some in reserve.
Have the ability to quickly identify failures as well as successes.
Stock Market trading appeals to those who are a little adventurous - rather than just placing their capital into bricks and mortar.
Finding the Right Debt Consolidation Advice
May 16, 2008
Finding the Right Debt Consolidation Advice
by: Angela Rogers
If you are in debt and finding it difficult to pay your bills then one of the best sources of debt consolidation advice is a credit counseling company. A credit counseling company can offer you debt consolidation advice including how to use credit wisely, help you establish a workable budget, keep track of your bills and manage your money. A trained and certified debt consolidation advice specialist can, if appropriate for your situation, arrange a repayment plan with your creditors and place you on the track to financial security.
Once you have selected a reputable consolidation advice agency, you will be asked to provide information about your income, expenses and debts. The counselor then evaluate the information and discuss your situation with you before making recommendations and offering the most appropriate debt consolidation advice for your situation to help you address your financial problems. Some useful pieces of debt consolidation advice may be participation in an educational class, enrolling in a debt-management/repayment plan. However, the debt consolidation advice may extend to areas other than financial which include referral to another organization, such as a relationship counseling or state employment agency for assistance. After all, the debt consolidation advice service understands that there are many underlying factors that led to your financial difficulties and that these also have an impact on other areas of your life.
Five Strategic Management Tasks for the Small Business Owner
May 15, 2008
Five Strategic Management Tasks for the Small Business Owner
by: Marjorie Geiser
You have been considering starting up your own small business for some time, now. You have read books and perhaps subscribe to some magazines that focus on small business. Maybe you have started to investigate what exactly you would like to do or offer, and perhaps even started working on your business plan. Then you get stuck.
In order to successfully get a business up and running, you have to have a plan, and a strategy to make that plan become reality. Working through the difficult and insightful steps to set up that strategy is what will make the difference between your dream continuing to be just a dream and making that dream turn into reality.
When you create your business plan, you create your company mission and vision statements. From there, you need to create all the details on how you will implement strategies to accomplish your mission. Your strategic plan, I like to call marketing plan, will be your game plan for how you will run your business, how you will strengthen your competitive position in your industry or location, how you will best satisfy your customers or clients and how you will achieve your performance targets you set up.
