Obama and McCain Tax Plans

(Your Tax Bill: How McCain, Obama Differ) I think everyone should get a look at this article to understand how the different presidential candidates might effect your personal finances. It looks to me like the average middle income person doesn't seem to get much difference by either candidate. It is very interesting to me to see how dramatic the difference is for the very high earners. If the difference to me where half a million dollars in taxes I would have my mind made up on whom to vote for. I'm always curious why all us average earners don't band together and out vote the very high earners and have them pay more taxes and us less. Why doesn't this happen. We should have a majority. Is it the fact that we all hope some day to be in the top tax bracket and know that if we were in that situation we would not like that idea of the government taking an unfair portion of our money? Why don't we tax the crap out of the rich to make our government run better? Any ideas out there? It would seem that they have the most extra money to spare. Would inflation just negate any less tax the average person would pay, because the costs of all good would go up to cover the difference? What would happen?

Negotiation Techniques

(When It Comes to Negotiating, Ask and You Shall Receive) Here is a good article on how to negotiate. The tip to be persistent is a good lesson for us all. I usually give up after one no from the first person I talk to on the phone. The first person on the phone is no one special trained to answer the 50 basic questions asked most often. Move yourself beyond the first person and find something that can deal with your more advanced requests. If we could all negotiate a little better we all could be better off. All the little amounts add up quick and make for some money to put away and save.

Start Saving Late Here is Some Advice

(A Really Late Start on a Nest Egg) Here is a good article to look at if you are looking to start late in the game to save for retirement. I like this article because it gives simple advice. Not everyone can start saving young, but when you do start late you need to do it will.

Goverment Funding Retirement

(Uncle Sam can fund retirement - Obama) Here is an article detailing the plans for Obama to help lower and middle income families save for retirement. Can someone please explain to me why we are giving money away to people for retirement when our current government assistance for retirement (Social Security) is floundering. If we can come up with the extra money to hand out why can't we look into fixing the situation government already started? How in the world do you prevent people from dipping into that IRA match? People can't save, but they sure can look like they are saving if you are going to throw $500 a year at them. There is nothing in this plan to keep the money in the IRA. Everyone has been paying into Social Security and unless fixed it will have funding problems. Why do the low and middle earners get extra government assistance to save for retirement while we all still dump money into a program with a problem. Why can't we be fair and look at fixing a program that was already started?

A Quick Read to Help Your 401K

(5 Ways to Whip Your 401(k) Into Shape) Here is a nice simple quick read article for this morning. It is simple it is quick and to the 5 points it makes.

Prosper Peer-to-Peer Lending

(Navigating the Risks of Peer-to-Peer Lending) Here is one of the better articles that I have found about peer to peer lending that is not on one of the peer to peer lending sites. I like that she points out the risks of lending this way. I hate that she does not talk a bit about the innovation behind this type of system and how it is different from the traditional system. I love the idea of these sites and how they function. I just wish there was more that could be done to reduce defaults. The hardest part to me about these sites is that I don't have a real name or address of the person I'm lending to. The lending site is the person that has all the personal information to track down any one with a problem and I don't understand what their motivation would be to go after the people that default. Why would they hire a decent collection company. As soon as the loan is funded they get all the money they are going to get on the loan. They don't care what happens after that point. I wish they had some interest in what happened to the loans once they were funded being they are the people that would hire a collection company and possible push to collect something from people who default. I understand that the best collection company in the world can't fix the problem of people defaulting on loans, but I would feel better if the site would lose something if a loan defaulted.

Here's Some Motivation for Retirement

(How to retire on $12,000 a year) Here is an article I just read that says the best way to live on roughly what social security hands out is to room with as many people as possible. As the number of people living together and sharing things increases it become more and more possible to live off this small amount. I can't think of a better reason to save money then to purely avoid having to move in with 4 strange people in my golden years in order to make ends meet. I want a nice place all my own to enjoy the quiet and to spend time with the people I choose. There is going to be nothing there to bail you our in your golden years, so save while you are young and able.