Archive for January, 2011

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Cost of Living Comparison and Difference Between Cities

In the last three years I have lived in three different states and one of them twice. I lived in Southern California from 1996 – 2008, then in New Mexico from 2008 – 2009, then Colorado from 2009 – 2010, and then I arrived back in California again late last year to set up shop. The story behind all those moves is long-winded so I will spare you from the details, but that’s not really the point of why I am writing this post– I really wanted to discuss the cost of living in different communities and what effect that can have on your financial well-being and stability.

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Lifestyle • real estate
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14 IRS Tax Audit Red Flags – Minimize Your Chances of Being Audited by the IRS

Nobody wants to be audited by the IRS, period. Although only about 1% of taxpayers actually get audited each year, many worry that this year may be the year that they get chosen for an in-person meeting with an IRS agent. Audits are not chosen at random willy-nilly, but rather by a computer-generated score given to each return by the IRS. Scored by their “discriminant function” system, or DIF, the computer takes into account common variables that may show a need for an audit. Once picked for an audit, an actual human agent takes a look at the return to determine if it is truly necessary or not.

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taxes
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How to Spend Money – What Would You Buy or Do with $10,000?

What would you do with $10,000? That was the subject of a recent article over on CNNMoney.com, where the editors decided that because of this wishy-washy economy, you probably have cash sitting unused in an account somewhere — and that you should be doing something with it.

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saving • shopping
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How to Buy Cheap Discount Car Tires Online and Save Money

Buying a set of new tires for a car is not for the faint of heart. Sure, buying a replacement tire now and then isn’t all that bad, especially if your car has really small tires. But when your car needs all four tires replaced at once, well, the expenses sure do add up. I bought my Mini Cooper S used last year, and even when I bought it I knew that the tires weren’t going to last all that long for two reasons:

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  1. The treads on the front set are different than the rear set, meaning it doesn’t track all that well
automotive • saving
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How to Calculate Your Net Worth – How Much Are You Worth?

Wondering just how much you are actually worth? You aren’t alone – people put a lot of time and effort into figuring out their “net worth”. In basic terms, net worth is determined by adding up everything you own and subtracting the things you don’t own outright, giving you your total financial worth. I am not big on the idea of using net worth as a deciding factor in many decisions because I believe that quality of life is an important part of the equation that isn’t counted, but for this post we will ignore anything other than the numbers themselves. An upward trending net value is seen as a positive thing and a downward trending net worth is seen as a negative, but please don’t get too down on yourself if you feel as though you aren’t living up to the expectations of others. At minimum, this is just a good thing to do once in a while to at least get a general idea of where you are financially. Let’s take a look at what goes in to figuring out your net worth.

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saving
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