Date: Mon, 5. May 2008 06:00:00

Have a personal finance question? E-mail Steve Dinnen at work@csps.com

Date: Fri, 16. May 2008 23:31:36

Now you can always choose to tackle the annual chore of filing tax return by 1) learning to file tax yourself, or 2) paying someone else to file your tax. You may think the difference is just the $100 or so you pay someone sitting in the booth in Walmart in April, but it can be much more than that. Take myself as an example, given that I'm working in Asia, taking paycheck from a US-based company corporate entity, running a sideline business and still having to pay federal income tax in the States, my tax profile is on the complicated end of the spectrum. I'm thankful that my employer is paying KMPG several thousand dollars a year to file my tax. I will never be able to figure out how to navigate the intrigue laws governing federal tax on foreign earned income. Now I also need to confess I'm a control freak when it comes to managing money, so in each of the past two years, I took KMPG's draft return, and crunch every line again in a mass-market tax software, until I can satisfactorily say I understand how all numbers are tied together to produce my total tax number. This exercise took me about 10 hours every year, and it is worth every minute I put to it. Why? In each of the past two years, I found at least $2,000 worth of error in my favor. The first year, KMPG classified my business income as US earned instead of foreign-earned, effectively depriving me of the opportunity to offset some of my foreign-paid tax. The second year, KMPG even forgot my employer withhold taxes from my vested restricted stock grants. READ FULL POST ... Hot Deal: 5% cashback on everything from Citi CashReturns Mastercard Read more news like this from PFBlog.com, The Unique Personal Finance Blog Since 2003.

Date: Thu, 4. September 2008 20:05:00

Shares of Legg Mason fall about 10%, retreating as Credit Suisse analysts downgrade the asset manager to underperform, based on valuation and its outlook for redemptions.

Date: Wed, 24. September 2008 23:01:00

Counterparty credit risk in the derivatives market rose again on Wednesday as investors were spooked by indecision in Congress on the $700 billion government bailout plan.

Date: Tue, 28. October 2008 22:37:41

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=in/17-0fd=Rurl=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp%3Fnewsid%3D1201941cid=1263853897ei=xdMHSbDZL5nK8ASOyumdAgusg=AFQjCNE3tdZEh_2EwTNNvZyG_8Tc_hD6ewbThe FM?s wrong, early govts followed fiscal discipline/b/abrfont size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fDaily News Analysisnbsp;-/font nobr4 hours ago/nobr/b/fontbrfont size=-1The Union finance minister has been speaking about the budgetary position of the Union government both inside and outside Parliament./fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=in/17-1fd=Rurl=http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php%3Fclid%3D12%26theme%3D%26usrsess%3D1%26id%3D228776cid=1263853897ei=xdMHSbDZL5nK8ASOyumdAgusg=AFQjCNGSeEJWBVy3-euvFJVILfwJcZFb2QJD(U) cautions govt against high deficit/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Statesman/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?ned=inncl=1263853897hl=ennobrball 2 news articles/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Date: Wed, 4. June 2008 02:15:42

RTE.ieForex - US dollar eases slightly in Sydney morning trade after ...Forbes - 49 minutes agoSYDNEY (Thomson Financial) - The US dollar was trading slightly lower mid-morning in Sydney on Wednesday after being boosted overnight by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke signalling an end to the central bank's aggressive rate-cutting policy.Dollar holds big gains after Bernanke warning ReutersBernanke Says Rate `Well Positioned,' Watching Dollar (Update5) BloombergInternational Herald Tribune - MarketWatch - Nightly Business Report - Times Onlineall 1,371 news articles

Date: Wed, 17. September 2008 08:00:00

The Christian Science Monitor - Physicists and financiers have much in common these days ? they're both hunting basic reality in their realms. Last week, physicists at a giant particle-collider in Europe began to search for a subatomic entity so fundamental, they claim it creates mass. On Wall Street, a credit crisis has financiers seeking the fundamentals of what creates market value.

Date: Mon, 15. December 2008 01:35:05

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.topnews.in/japanese-economy-contracted-18-cent-third-quarter-296736cid=1280489125ei=3MpFSa6IHIu-9gTuj-mbCwusg=AFQjCNEzX9G2jzdrsYYKo2agetYlSMZ7gQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=lX1aj58vI7kJimgurl=www.topnews.in/files/World-Economy3.jpg width=80 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2TopNews/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-0fd=Rurl=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/japan-inc-sentiment-plunges/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257BF6D63097-3608-450B-9929-71CFD77720DB%257D%26dist%3Dmsr_1cid=1280489125ei=3MpFSa6IHIu-9gTuj-mbCwusg=AFQjCNHKDKi5RFAL3gyKVmxLDlIpCH0HugbJapan Inc. sentiment plunges/b/abrfont size=-1bfont color=#6f6f6fMarketWatchnbsp;-/font nobr1 hour ago/nobr/b/fontbrfont size=-1By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Confidence among large manufacturers fell at its fastest pace since August 1974, the Bank of Japan#39;s quarterly tankan survey showed Monday, pointing to a deepening recession and rapidly b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-1fd=Rurl=http://www.forextv.com/Forex/News/ShowStory.jsp%3Fseq%3D186744%26category%3DMarket%2BUpdates,Day%2BAhead,Top%2BNewscid=1280489125ei=3MpFSa6IHIu-9gTuj-mbCwusg=AFQjCNHKCn4mrHuGefCVE2zn90bxwRVUGAJapan#39;s Disastrous Tankan Survey Means Recovery Far Off, BOJ Will Act/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrForexTV.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-2fd=Rurl=http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/12/14/afx5819428.htmlcid=1280489125ei=3MpFSa6IHIu-9gTuj-mbCwusg=AFQjCNGlOnNADBcgxsodaOUAd3TwEYTPmwINSTANT VIEW 4-Japan business sentiment dives, lowest since 2002/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrForbes/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-3fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601068%26sid%3DauPaBwMwwGtg%26refer%3Dhomecid=1280489125ei=3MpFSa6IHIu-9gTuj-mbCwusg=AFQjCNFegvnSoIe5nlseDErwawLnsCR-6gnobrBloomberg/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-4fd=Rurl=http://www.dailyfx.com/story/market_alerts/fundamental_alert/Tankan_Shows_Japanese_Manufacturing_Sentiment_1229304371635.htmlcid=1280489125ei=3MpFSa6IHIu-9gTuj-mbCwusg=AFQjCNHR3jrTRtEVjs1wNmJCJ53P8D0e5gnobrDaily FX/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-5fd=Rurl=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmfkCQFvxtt6IXRmfAjmFGTya2yAD952R7G00cid=1280489125ei=3MpFSa6IHIu-9gTuj-mbCwusg=AFQjCNE4FV8cuwzKM4AKDQ7Gc_ulxNHeMgnobrThe Associated Press/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?ned=usncl=1280489125hl=ennobrball 147 news articles/b/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Date: Sat, 6. September 2008 15:05:21

node7 writes "The FBI, NSA, and CIA are jointly supporting a newly created 'MySpace' for the intelligence community. Named 'A-Space,' the site will contain highly classified material, so naturally, it won't be available to the public. From CNN: '[Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis] demonstrated the program to CNN to show how analysts will use it to collaborate. "One perfect example is if Osama bin Laden comes out with a new video. How is that video obtained? Where are the very sensitive secret sources we may have to put into a context that's not apparent to the rest of the world?" Wertheimer said. "In the past, whoever captured that video or captured information about the video kept it in-house. It's highly classified because it has so very short a shelf life. That information is considered critical to our understanding."'"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Date: Fri, 16. May 2008 23:31:36

CNN Money's Jeanne Sahadi did an amazing job in compiling the different opinions on tax policy from all presidential candidates. Given the fact that I have a portfolio that briefly crossed seven-figure mark lately, I'm naturally interested in how they think on the investment taxation: Currently they're both taxed at 15 percent (less for low-income taxpayers), and they are scheduled to rise by 2011 to 20 percent for capital gains and to ordinary income tax rates for dividends. Edwards: Would make the first $250 of interest, capital gains and dividends tax-free for everyone, although he would favor raising the capital gains tax rate to 28 percent for taxpayers making more than $200,000. Obama: Would eliminate capital gains taxes for business start-ups, although he would favor raising the capital gains tax rate to somewhere between 20 percent and 28 percent for taxpayers making more than $250,000. Romney: Wants to eliminate the tax on interest, capital gains and dividends for taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes under $200,000, and would make the Bush investment tax cuts permanent for everyone else. Giuliani, McCain and Thompson: Would make Bush investment tax cuts permanent. Huckabee: Has called for the elimination of the income tax system and for a consumption tax to take its place. Under his plan, you would be taxed on what you buy, not on what you earn or save. So there would be no investment taxes. READ FULL POST ... Hot Deal: 5% cashback on everything from Citi CashReturns Mastercard Read more news like this from PFBlog.com, The Unique Personal Finance Blog Since 2003.