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Tom Wheelwright's Articles in Finance

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  • Why Investing in Mutual Funds may be worse than Investing in the Lottery
    Even though I am not an investment advisor and never hold myself out as one, clients continue to ask me what to do to prepare for retirement. Should I max out my 401(k) contribution? Should I do an IRA? Should I put more in my profit sharing plan or pension plan? My response - putting your money into the lottery may be a better investment.
  • Who Wants to Take a Home Office Deduction?
    The home office deduction allows individuals to deduct expenses that are not otherwise deductible such as utilities and homeowners insurance. There are certain requirements you must meet to have a home office.
  • What Story Do Your Financial Statements Tell about the Value of Your Business?
    Every company's financial statements tell a story about the value of the business. That's why the financial statements are the starting point in any appraisal of a business (commonly referred to as a business valuation).
  • What Does it Mean to be a Real Estate Professional?
    Let's dispense with one myth: Real Estate Professional status does not mean you have to hold a real estate license. Rather, it is a designation you obtain by meeting certain specific requirements.
  • Wealthy or Rich
    I have often thought over the past couple of years about the difference between being rich and being wealthy. Is there a difference? If so, what is it? And how do we become wealthy?
  • Using Cap Rates in Real Estate Investing
    If you are new to real estate, you are probably wondering about some of the terms you have heard at your real estate investment group or seen on the Internet. Understanding these terms is important to successful real estate investing. One of these terms is "Cap Rate."
  • Two (2) Ways to Take Your Rental Real Estate Losses
    Even if you have strong positive cash flow from your rental real estate, chances are you still have a loss for tax purposes due to the depreciation deduction. This is a great tax strategy because your positive cash flow is sheltered from tax.
  • Three (3) Things You Can Do To Be Prepared For An Audit
    The number of IRS audits increased in 2007. What is causing this increase and who is targeted? What can you do to be prepared? The number of IRS audits increased in 2007. Remember, the IRS can audit a return 3 years after it has been filed (and 6 years if the tax return filed was considerably incorrect).
  • The Three (3) Pillars of Financial Health
    This is all about the foundation of financial success: wealth strategy. My key purpose here is to draw a clear, unmistakable distinction between wealth strategy and what usually passes for "financial planning."
  • The Fast Track to Your Financial Freedom (Part 2) - Adding Velocity to Your Investments
    This whole idea of LEVERAGE is great and earning $81,000 on a $20,000 investment over seven years would be terrific. The problem with this is "IT'S STILL TOO SLOW." We can still do much better. Besides leverage, we need to add the principle of VELOCITY. Here's how it works:
  • The Fast Track to Your Financial Freedom (Part 1) - Leveraging Your Money
    Say you deposit $1,000 into your bank. The bank will happily pay you interest on your deposit, and the longer you leave it there, the higher the interest rate the bank is willing to pay. Did you every wonder why? The bank is very happy to pay you 2% interest when they will lend out up to ten times the amount at, say 6%. So on your $1,000 deposit, they pay you $20 and they earn $600. Not a bad return, considering they are using YOUR MONEY!!
  • Tax Returns - Should you E-File?
    Over the last few years, there have been several incentives, or even requirements, provided by the IRS and state governments to encourage tax filers to file their returns electronically. Statistics show the percentage of e-filers is on the rise. With tax return deadlines right around the corner, we want to share our thoughts on the questions we receive most often from clients about e-filing.
  • Tax Law Changes That Will Impact Your 2007 Tax Return
    Do you own real estate? At the very end of 2007, Congress passed a bill with several tax law changes impacting real estate. Expect some changes when you file your 2007 tax return! Here are a few highlights from the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007.
  • Tax Law Changes That Impact Homeowners
    With foreclosure rates at an all time high, a new tax law was passed at the end of 2007 to help homeowners avoid unmanageable income tax debt due to income created from a foreclosure. The new law also covers mortgage renegotiations and other real estate related benefits.
  • Stock Options
    One strategy companies have used in recent years is to reward employees with options to purchase a certain amount of the company's stock for a fixed price after a defined period of time. The employee is not required to exercise the option. A stock option is a contract which allows the holder to purchase stock at a fixed price.
  • Rent Fees Can Pay You Back
    If you ever mailed an envelope containing a monthly payment to a landlord, you qualify as a rent payer. What you might not realize is that the owner of that real estate is getting lots of deductions for expenses related to owning property.
  • Mortgage Interest Deductions - Get Your House In Order
    Many people recognize that the deduction for home mortgage interest is one of the most potent tax breaks available today. Most people are surprised at how complex and full of pitfalls the mortgage interest deduction rules really are and more are surprised about how big of a role their house plays in their wealth strategy.
  • LANDLORDS: Looking for the Top Ten Tax Deductions?
    No landlord would pay more than necessary for utilities or other operating expenses for a rental property. But, every year, millions of landlords pay more taxes on their rental income than they have to. Why? Because they fail to take advantage of all the tax deductions available for owners of rental property.
  • John McCain's New Tax Plan
    Recently John McCain announced his idea for how to simplify the tax filings for mllions of people. Finally, a workable idea!!! His idea is quite simple and would solve many problems. For those of you who didn't hear about it, here it is in a nutshell.
  • Is The IRS Sending You a Rebate Check? Find Out If You Are Eligible
    ARE YOU GETTING A REBATE CHECK? There are two groups eligible to receive rebates. You can only be in one group so if you qualify for both group, be sure to pick the group that results in the highest rebate amount. Group 1: Those who paid taxes in 2007. Group 2: Seniors, disabled veterans and widows of veterans.
  • Is Legally Lowering Your Taxes Ethical?
    When the income tax was first introduced in the early 20th century, it was a flat rate on high-income taxpayers. As the Government needed more money, the rate increased and the tax base broadened to include more and more people.
  • IRS Ramps Up Audits
    The IRS is under great pressure from Congress to show results in closing the $300 billion tax gap, the difference between what taxpayers owe and what they pay. Remember, the IRS can audit a return 3 years after it has been filed (and 6 years if the tax return filed was considerably incorrect).
  • IRA's, SEP's, 401(k)'s, and RRSP's
    My gripe with SEP's, IRA's, 401(k)'s and RRSP's is that the financial institutions and the government push them so hard that people think they are the ONLY alternative. There are many other ways to save taxes that are much better for many people.
  • Inside Secrets of Failed Tax Strategies
    I have seen the inner workings of hundreds of tax strategies. I recently did a study of tax strategies to reveal the inside secrets of failed tax strategies. I was searching for common causes of the failures. The most common causes all centered around cost, but not in a way you may expect.
  • How the New Tax Law Can Help Your Business: Two Tax Breaks for Businesses
    Congress recently passed the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. It's designed to inject $152 billion into the U.S economy. As a business owner, what does this mean to you?
  • How Should Your LLC be Taxed?
    Understanding the fundamentals of entities, particularly LLCs, is a key part of building a wildly successful tax strategy. Do you know how your LLC will be taxed?
  • How Do I Find the Right Tax Advisor?
    This is the time of year when all Americans think about their tax situation and what they might do differently to reduce their heavy tax burden. There is a record of an ancient civilization that was required to pay 50% of their earnings to their captors.
  • How Can You Take Advantage of the 0% Capital Gains Rate?
    The capital gains rate for certain taxpayers will drop to 0% for tax years 2008 through 2010. How can you take advantage of this 0% capital gains rate? First, let's review the capital gains rate in general.
  • Business Start-Up Costs
    When you launch your business and incur expenses before your business is "open for business," then you have start-up costs. Start-up costs are not deductible until your business begins. Your business begins when it is first open for business - meaning it is ready to service customers.
  • Building your Wealth Team
    the three most expensive words in the English language are, "do it yourself." When we try to do things all by ourselves, we are ignoring the fact that we all have only 24 hours in the day. By building a wealth team, we are leveraging those hours into hundreds or even thousands of hours each day.
  • Are All Tax Returns Created Equally?
    As we approach Tax Season, I wonder how many people understand the potentially vast differences in the quality of tax return preparation? Are tax returns really the commodity that they seem to be? Is a tax return prepared by the tax service in the mall of the same quality as that prepared by a major CPA firm? What does it mean to have a "quality" tax return? In fact, can a tax return be prepared in such a way as to reduce income taxes?
  • A Key Real Estate Tax Advantage That's Generally Overlooked
    One of the biggest tax advantages of owning a rental property is the depreciation you can take on the amount you paid for the property. Of course, the IRS understands that land does not wear out. So, only the portion of the purchase price related to the building and the contents is subject to the allowance for depreciation.
  • 13 Tips to Finding the Right Tax Preparer for Your Team
    Having the right team of advisors is critical to achieving your financial goals faster than you ever thought possible. For most people, taxes are the SINGLE BIGGEST expense. This makes finding the right tax preparer for your team extremely important.
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