- RT @ScottATaylor: Get a Daily Summary of Your Friends’ Twitter Activity [FREE INVITES] http://bit.ly/4v9o7b #
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- RT @susantiner: RT @LenPenzo Tip of the Day: Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night. #
- RT @ScottATaylor: Some of the United States’ most surprising statistics http://ff.im/-cPzMD #
- RT @glassyeyes: 39DollarGlasses extends/EXPANDS disc. to $20/pair for the REST OF THE YEAR! http://is.gd/5lvmLThis is big news! Please RT! #
- @LenPenzo @SusanTiner I couldn’t help it. That kicked over the giggle box. in reply to LenPenzo #
- RT @copyblogger: You’ll never get there, because “there” keeps moving. Appreciate where you’re at, right now. #
- Why am I expected to answer the phone, strictly because it’s ringing? #
- RT: @WellHeeledBlog: Carnival of Personal Finance #235: Cinderella Edition http://bit.ly/7p4GNe #
- 10 Things to do on a Cheap Vacation. https://liverealnow.net/aOEW #
- RT this for chance to win $250 @WiseBread http://bit.ly/4t0sDu #
- [Read more…] about Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-19
Cut Your Business Costs with Eco-Friendly Energy
This is a guest post.
Improving your carbon footprint can fall low on the list of professional priorities for many business owners. Yet, as we all become increasingly aware of the implications of ecological practices, opting to go green is an appropriate business decision.
As suppliers and business to business contractors tailor their products in favour of conservational customs, it is likely that adopting eco-friendly operations within your company will benefit both your books as well as the environment.
By making small, uncomplicated steps, government research proposes that, together, UK businesses could save in the region of £23 billion per annum. This proposed figure suggests that snubbing sustainable efforts is at an economic cost to owners individually, in addition to any ecological expense.
As the importance of your carbon footprint is established, deciding which areas within your company can be conveniently ecologically enhanced is a simple way to get started.
Speak With Your Energy Provider
Many energy providers now offer guidance to their customers surrounding any eco-friendly improvements that could be made.
Business electricity from British Gas comes complete with free energy efficiency advice to help ‘cut down your energy consumption and reduce your electricity bill’. The advantages of this initial consultation are augmented by the ongoing provisions incorporated in all business electricity from British Gas packages.
Select a supplier who is willing to help you and your business reduce the impact of your Climate Change Levy (CCL) and is eager to invest in renewable energy resources.
Say ‘Goodbye’ to Guesstimates
According to research completed by British Gas in 2011 ‘companies typically spend as much as 46 per cent of their energy usage outside of business hours’.
Although it is relatively easy to predict the periods when your business’ energy usage is at its greatest, monitoring your actual consumption may highlight any unexpected wastage.
A facility such as Business Energy Insight™ – available with business electricity from British Gas – does exactly what it says on the tin, giving consumers an awareness of their confirmed energy consumption.
Combined with accurate meter readings from Smart Metering or similar, energy insights eliminate any estimation and uncertainty. Through this perceptiveness, business consumers are able to monitor, measure and model their energy utilisation, saving money and resources.
Don’t Go It Alone
Being unsure of how to go green is one of the reasons many businesses choose to linger with standard systems. As well as expert assistance from energy advisory services, schemes are in place which can structure your steps into the world of energy efficiency.
The IEMA Acorn Scheme presents a progressive profile of six stages for business owners to accomplish. These stages ensure that legal requirements are covered and can be completed over a phased period to fit with other business demands.
On completion of the scheme, an IEMA Acorn Certificate is attained to confirm your businesses compliance with British Standard (BS) 8555. Your details are also entered onto the IEMA Acorn Register.
Organically Positive PR
Every organisation needs their Unique Selling Points. Though your services, products or facilities may speak for themselves, going green is the current way to enrich your business.
Clients and customers want to buy from those they trust and often those who follow an ethical ethos. Choosing to ‘go green’ and consistently demonstrating and delivering ecological practises will verify the concerned culture of your company.
While investing your time into employing eco-friendly systems may not reap instant rewards, the positive connotations surrounding conservation will always ensure that you are ahead of the game when in competition with a company that doesn’t deliver on these principles.
Whether you choose to be officially certified via IEMA Acorn or you simply state your environmental policies on your website and company literature, being ecologically aware can cause an upturn in capital as well as cutting resource costs.
Taking Things Further
When you are hoping to tackle more than the basics and want to do more to aid our environment, there is a myriad of informational services willing to help.
Making this move doesn’t have to cost the earth, business grants are available to help you render these affirmative changes. Check online at www.grantsgreenmachine.com for any that may be applicable for your industry.
Locally, councils may be able to offer either erudition or funds specifically appropriate to your project within your region.
Conservation doesn’t have to be costly; check your books and you may find that going green could profit both your environment and your enterprise.
All About Tax-Sheltered Annuity Plans
This is a guest post.
If you’ve previously heard of tax-sheltered annuity plans but are unsure of what they are, let this guide help you. Here’s what you need to know about tax-sheltered annuity plans.
What is it?
First things first, what are tax-sheltered annuity plans? A tax-sheltered annuity plan, or a 403(b) plan, is a retirement plan for some employees of various institutions to participate. This plan allows employees to contribute a portion of their salary to the plan. The employer may also contribute to the employee’s plan.
Who is Eligible?
Eligible Code Section 501(c)(3) employees tax-exempt organizations may participate, an employee of a public school, a state college, or a university, and eligible employees of churches. Employees of public school systems organized by Indian tribal governments, Ministers employed by Code Section (501)(c)(3) organizations, and self-employed ministers may also participate. Ministers must be employed by organizations that are not Code Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations, and they must function as ministers in their day-to-day professional responsibilities with their employers.
What are the Benefits of a 403(b) plan?
In a 403(b) plan, contributions are tax deductible. Taxes are paid on distributions in retirement, which is when a lot of people are in a lower tax bracket. As mentioned earlier, employers can match 403(b) contributions on a pretax basis. Loans can be taken against a 403(b) plan, which will help in certain situations, like buying your first home.
What types of contributions can be made?
In a 403(b) plan, you can have several types of contributions:
- Elective Deferrals – These are contributions made by the employee under a salary reduction agreement. This allows an employer to withhold a certain amount of money from an employee’s salary to deposit it in their 403(b) account.
- Nonelective Employer Contributions – These are any contributions to the 403(b) plan that were not made under a salary reduction agreement, which include matching contributions, discretionary contributions, and certain mandatory contributions that were made by the employer. The employee will pay income tax on all of these contributions, but only when they’re withdrawn.
- After-Tax Contributions – These are contributions made by an employee, which are reported as compensation in the year they were contributed and are included in the employee’s gross income for income tax purposes.
- Designated Roth contributions – These are elective deferrals that the employees elects to include in their gross income. The plan must keep separate accounting records for all contributions and for all gains and losses in the designated Roth account.
Can Employees Exclude Employees From Contributing?
Absolutely. The 403(b) plan must allow allow employees to make elective deferrals under the plan, but under the universal availability rule, if the employer permits one employee to defer salary by contributing it to a 403(b) plan, they must extend the offer to all of their employees. The only exceptions are employees who would contribute less than $200 annually, those employees who work less than 20 hours a week, employees who participate in a 401(k) or 457(b) plan, or students performing services that are described in Code Section 3121(b)(10).
So When Can Employees Get the Dollars?
Employees may withdraw from the 403(b) plan when the reach the age of 59 and a half, have a severance from employment, have a financial hardship, or become disabled. Money can also be taken out if an employee passes away. The employee will have to pay taxes on the amount of the distribution that was not from designated Roth or after-tax contributions, and they may have to pay an additional ten percent early distribution tax.
Are There Rules for In-Service Transfers or Exchanges?
Yes. Contract exchanges with a non-payroll slot vendor are permitted only if the plan permits it, the accumulated benefit after the exchange is, at the very least, the same as before the exchange, if the employer and the non-payroll slot vendor agree to share information regarding the plan’s terms, if any pre-exchange benefit restrictions are maintained after the exchange, and if the vendor complies with the terms outlined in the plan.
How Much Can be Contributed Annually? Does the Employee Have to be Current?
As of 2013, the maximum combined amount that an employer and an employee can contribute to a 403(b) plan is $51,000. That number may go up, depending on the annual cost-of-living.
If the plan allows, an employer can contribute up to the annual limits for an employee’s account for up to five years after the date of severance. No portion of the contributions can come from money that was due to be paid to the former employee, and these contributions must cease if the employee passes away.
There’s much more to learn about a 403(b) plan, but these are the basics. Does your company have a 403(b) plan?
3 Worst Things About Being Financially Responsible
Everybody talks about all of the wonderful things that happen when you’re saving money and being responsible. I know I do. It’s true, good things do happen. There’s really nothing like the feeling that you’re suddenly not living paycheck to paycheck.
But what about the other side of the coin? What sucks about staying in the black?
1. You have to make choices. When you’re living on credit, you can buy a car, charge an expensive dinner every week, and go on vacation. If you’re not spending real money, then who cares? When you’re living for real, you have to prioritize. Do you buy groceries or video games? Do you buy sexy lingerie or a fancy dinner? Braces or college? You’re given a lot of choices, but you can only pick the ones you can actually afford.
2. You’re no longer the Joneses other people are trying to keep up with. The guy down the street, with the fancy car, big screen TV, and artificially perfect noses on his teenagers? You’re not him, anymore, but that’s okay, because he’s financing his lifestyle 9.9% at a time. Yes, a bit of incoming envy can give you a warm, tingly feeling, but it doesn’t put food on the table.
3. It’s boring. Taking a trip in a fast car and picking up an entourage for a 10-day party is fun. Balancing your checkbook and spending 6 months saving up for your kid’s braces is not. If you’ve been living like a rockstar, rolling back to a responsible standard of living is going to come as a shock, but it’s better than suddenly running out of money and having your world come crashing down around you.
Being responsible comes with a lot of downside, but it’s all superficial. The benefits are real, and long-lasting. What’s the worst thing you’ve had to deal with by being responsible?
IRA or Powerball?
“When I win the Powerball, I’m going to buy that house and kick him out. I play diligently, so you know it’s going to happen.”
I had a friend say this to me this week. He’s poor–living on about $500 per month–and he was recently evicted from his apartment.
His plans for the future involve taking nearly 20% of his income and burning it playing the lottery. When he found out that I don’t play, he looked at me like I was stupid.
The odds of winning a life-changing amount of money are 1 in 5,153,632.65. That’s for a $1,000,000 prize. The next step down is $10,000, which, while helpful, won’t change many people’s situation for long. One in 5 million. That’s 5 times worse than your odds of being hit by lightning this year. It is, however, 4 times better than your odds of being sainted and 12 times worse than your odds of dating a supermodel.
It’s not going to happen.
Sure, play for fun–because turning cash into valueless slips of paper is a blast–but don’t play the lottery instead of working to improve your future. The lottery is NOT a retirement plan.
Instead, a much more reasonable plan is to date a millionaire. The odds of making that happen are just 215 to 1, and you can do things to improve your chances.
Improving the odds of dating a millionaire:
- Hang out where millionaires go. Yacht clubs, nice restaurants, rehab, that dark corner of their bedroom where the lamp never quite reaches that just looks perfect for a stalker-cam.
- Do what millionaires do. Golf, high-stakes poker, oppress third-world countries, Centrifugal Bumblepuppy.
- Look like millionaire-bait. For my friend, the 50-year-old black man, it might be hard to look like a 23-year-old blonde hardbody, but it’s worth the effort.
- Be nice, be polite, give good h…nevermind.
Seriously, getting a regular job and socking money away every month will give you a far better return on your investment than playing the lottery. Even if you’re saving it in a mayonnaise jar buried in the backyard next to that obnoxious guy who used to live next door, you will be building security and peace of mind. Every month, you will be better prepared for the storm of crap life tends to throw around.
Do you play the lottery? Why or why not?
How Do WWE Stars Make Money?
Have you ever wondered how your favorite WWE stars make their living? The answer can be complicated, because many of the biggest stars receive benefits above and beyond their salaries, and because the salaries vary
greatly between the true “star” wrestlers and less famous WWE competitors. Here is a look at how WWE wrestlers are paid:
Base Salaries
All WWE wrestlers are signed to a contract and paid a base salary. The contracts generally range from 1 to 5 years and the salaries vary widely. The biggest WWE names can make over a million per year, while the average WWE wrestler is more likely to make something just north of $100,000. The highest paid wrestler is Triple H, who draws a base salary of about $2,000,000 per year. Other superstars, like John Cena and Shawn Michaels, make about $1,000,000. Most other wrestlers hover closer to the $100,000 average, which sounds like a lot, but must take into account the fact that wrestling careers can be relatively short and physically demanding.
All WWE wrestlers are signed to a contract and paid a base salary. The contracts generally range from 1 to 5 years and the salaries vary widely. The biggest WWE names can make over a million per year, while the average WWE wrestler is more likely to make something just north of $100,000. The highest paid wrestler is Triple H, who draws a base salary of about $2,000,000 per year. Other superstars, like John Cena and Shawn Michaels, make about $1,000,000. Most other wrestlers hover closer to the $100,000 average, which sounds like a lot, but must take into account the fact that wrestling careers can be relatively short and physically demanding.
Licensing Deals
The gap between WWE’s stars and run of the mill wrestlers is even wider than the salary differences suggest. That’s because the stars’ contracts include benefits that pay off big time. Many of WWE’s biggest stars receive licensing deals to use their likeness in advertisements and WWE promotions. This can become a major source of income for top wrestlers like Triple H and John Cena.
PPV Bonuses
Additionally, wrestlers who participate in Pay Per View matches often receive bonuses on top of their base salaries. This again can be a major income boost for wrestlers whose matches are in high demand. In especially high profile PPV matches, this bonus can be as much as six figures.
Perks
The WWE also covers 100% of the costs of all in-ring injuries sustained by its wrestlers.
So in short, WWE wrestlers can expect to make at least $100,000 in any given year, with most receiving more once PPV bonuses, licensing deals, and other perks are taken into account. There is, however, a very significant gap in pay between top and average wrestlers. Most average wrestlers draw salaries very close to $100,000. Top wrestlers take in as much as $2,000,000.
