Carnival of Personal Finance #242 – Fun Tax Facts

Welcome to the 242nd edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. There were well over 80 entries this week, and I’ve pared it down to the best articles in each category. For those of you who haven’t yet been exposed to blog carnivals, they are a collection of recent blog articles on a similar topic, in this case, personal finance. The entries are limited to one per blog, and they must meet certain guidelines to be eligible, including being a recent article, topic, etc.

Because it’s tax season, I also added some fun tax facts after each category. I thought some of the fun tax facts were amazing, and others a testament to our bloated system. But like it or not, taxes are here to stay! I hope you enjoy these fast tax facts!

Editor’s Choice Selections

These were my personal favorites from this week’s entries. They are well written and get a point across that either reached me on a personal level, or was so well executed that it deserved a special mention. I hope you enjoy these, and the rest of this week’s entries.

Joe Plemon from Personal Finance By The Book shared his article, Unemployed? Are You Rocking or Are You Rolling?. Joe’s article is an encouragement to those who are currently unemployed, and offers tips to spur you to action. I left a long comment on this post because it spoke to me. I’ve been unemployed and it’s tough. But through hard work and dedication, I am much better off than I was before I was unemployed. I hope you will end up in the same situation if you ever face unemployment.

Mike from Personal Finance Ninja shard an awesome in-depth article titled, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Your Credit Score. The article includes graphics and information about your credit score, why it matters, how it id determined, and how to increase it.

EM from The Everyday Minimalist presents Confusing frugality with minimalism. I like this article a lot as it delves into the personal side of money and life… getting by with what you need, avoiding excess, and using what you have to maximum effect. Great article.

Pop from Pop Economics presents Paralysis and other effects of distrust. This article covers the psychological side of investing, dealing with up and down markets, chasing returns, and letting the media and other factors influence your decisions, and more importantly, your actions.

Fun tax fact: As of 2000, the Internal Revenue Code, not including the regulations, ran to 1.4 million words (according to the Joint Committee on Taxation), making it six times longer than War and Peace and nearly twice as long as the King James Bible or the complete works of Shakespeare.

Money Management

• Ron from The Wisdom Journal presents Royalties: How the average person can work once and get paid over and over and over. Ron shares a few tips on how you can set up investments and other assets to receive recurring income streams.
• Kevin from No Debt Plan presents I Coached My Wife On Budgeting Before We Were Engaged. Kevin shares a few examples of how he and his wife first started budgeting, and how they do it today.
• Mike from Gather Little By Little presents Teaching Your Children About Money Lesson #1: Money is not Free. Mike shares some of his son’s first impressions of money and how it works.
• Lakita from Personal Finance Journey lists 7 Ways to Prevent Bank Overdraft Fees.
• Nicole from Rainy-Day Saver presents Protecting Privacy in the Information Age.
• Len Penzo shares his 2009 State of the Household Financial Report.

Fun tax fact: The related income tax regulations ran to another 8 million words spanning over 20,000 pages in six volumes. Together the Internal Revenue Code and the regulations are at least ten times longer than the King James Bible.

Investing

• Austin from Foreigner’s Finances presents The 5 Minute Guide to Roth IRAs (Video). this is a short video guide explaining how Roth IRAs work. It’s a great primer for anyone who wants to learn how to open a Roth IRA.
• Mike Piper from The Oblivious Investor presents Financial Advice: Hourly Fees, Asset-Based Fees, or Annual Fee?. Essential reading before hiring a financial advisor.
• Darwin from Darwin’s Finance presents Short Leveraged ETF Pairs Strategy – Simply Incredible. Darwin outlines an Inverse Leveraged Short ETF Strategy designed to short opposing leveraged ETFs and ultimately make profits. Click through for more information about his process.
• D4L from Dividends Value presents 10 Stocks With 100+ Years of Dividend Payments. Great resource if you are looking for companies with a positive dividend culture.
• 2 Cents from Balance Junkie presents RRSPs: What Should You Put in Them?. This article covers investment options for RRSPs, which are similar to a Canadian version of 401k plans. Although RRSPs are a Canadian investment option, readers in the US and other locations may find value here because many of the investing, retirement, and tax planning options outlined in this article are general in nature and can apply to other situations.
• Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog from Canadian Finance Blog presents How Much Do You Need To Retire? The 10% Rule.  The 10% rule simply states that you should save 10% of your gross income. Is this a good rule of thumb for retirement planning?
• Helen from Science and Money presents The ABC’s of IRA inheritance for LGBT’s, and says, “LGBT couples are treated differently than heterosexual marriages when it comes to inheriting IRA’s. Here’s how to avoid having disapproving Aunt Sally end up with your dough. “
• Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents How To Buy Stocks At The Prices You Want.
• Mr. GoTo from Go To Retirement presents Forecasting Retirement Income Success, and says, “Investing towards a long term goal is important. When that goal is retirement, forecasting your retirement income is the proper test.”
• Simon Zhen from Realm of Prosperity presents 5 Signs You Are Addicted to Investing.
• ElizabethG (Modern Gal) from Modern Gal presents The Challenge of Investment Income.
• Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Why Direct Stock Purchase Plan Still Makes Sense.
• Dividend Growth Investor writes about how Dividend growth stocks are attractive buyout targets, and says, “The problem with many dividend stocks is that they could be attractive buyout targets by larger rivals or by companies which are looking to diversify into a new line of business. Shareholders usually receive a big premium which ensures that almost everyone makes a profit in the process. This doesn’t take into consideration the fact that a growing company might deliver much higher total returns if it stayed independent.”

Fun tax fact: In 1940, the instructions to the Form 1040 were 2 pages long. For the 2004 tax year, the instruction booklet alone was 79 pages long. The instruction to the supposedly simple Form 1040EZ for 2004 was 36 pages long.

Saving

• Lynnae from Being Frugal.net presents Move Your Money to a Local Bank: A New Trend. Lynnae grew frustrated with her large, national bank and transferred her assets to a local bank. Visit her site to read why she did, and how this is becoming a grassroots movement to get other to do the same thing.
• J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents 4 Old School Money Hacks – A Trip Down Memory Lane. J. had the Hustle working even as a youngster – check out how he scored money in his youth, and what he is doing now to keep the game alive.
• jim from Bargaineering presents Five Psychological Money Tricks.
• Fabulously Broke from Fabulously Broke in the City presents Haggling: Who does it?. Fabulously Broke shares her haggling experiences with Big Retail stores, and with independents.
• Single Guy Money stresses that Yes, the Small Amounts Matter.

Fun tax fact: As of 2000, the Internal Revenue Code, not including the regulations, ran to 1.4 million words (according to the Joint Committee on Taxation), making it six times longer than War and Peace and nearly twice as long as the King James Bible or the complete works of Shakespeare.

Frugality

• Mr. ToughMoneyLove from Tough Money Love presents When the Name Brand Purchase is a Bad Deal. Sometimes buying a name brand financial sense. But there are extreme examples of when it does not.
• Paul from FiscalGeek presents Why a Storage Unit is a Gateway Drug to Financial Ruin. Self storage units are great for one purpose only – short term storage in between moves, for home renovations, or similar purposes. They are rarely a good idea just to store “stuff” for an indeterminate amount of time.
• Chief Family Officer writes about The Importance of a Price Book. Do you keep a price book, while shopping?
• mbhunter from Mighty Bargain Hunter blogs about how he bought a used washer and dryer with a clear conscience. He writes, “This may not be for everyone but used is just fine for me … and I’m not losing sleep at night, either!”

Fun tax fact: Over 60% of Americans use a paid preparer to compute their taxes (compared to 47% in 1986).

Debt

• LeanLifeCoach from Eliminate The Muda! presents Good Debt, Bad Debt… All Debt Sucks!. Some people claim there is a difference between good debt and bad debt; LeanLifeCoach disagrees.
• Kyle C. from Suburban Dollar presents When You Fall Behind on Your Mortgage – Mindset of the Collector. Kyle takes a look at life from through the eyes of a debt collector when you fail to make mortgage payments on time.
• Jason from Live Real, Now presents 10 Ways to Secure Your Kids Against Debt.

Fun tax fact: Compliance costs associated with the income tax are conservatively estimated to be approximately $140 billion per year. This cost is roughly the same as giving $1,000 to every family in America, or the amount of money needed to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, NASA, HUD, the EPA, the Department of Transportation, the United States Congress, our Federal courts, and all foreign aid..

Credit

• David from Credit Card Offers IQ presents How to Cancel a Credit Card, and says, “There may be a variety of reasons you have for wanting to cancel you credit card. You simply want to stop going into more credit card debt, and canceling your card would help you accomplish that goal. Perhaps you have a card you simply no longer use, or one that charges an annual fee you no longer want to pay.”
• kyle from Amateur Asset Allocator presents 5 New Rules Of Credit Cards, and says, “The post-recession rules for using credit cards responsibly.”

Fun tax fact: There are 15 common tax benefits available to families – including provisions that relate to children, education and retirement savings – that provide 14 different phase-out provisions to reduce benefits above specified income levels that, in turn, contain 9 different definitions of income.

Real Estate

• vh from Funny about Money presents Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage?. Paying your mortgage off early has no clear answer. vh covers this topic based on our current economic environment. With mortgage rates low and stock market returns recovering, she changes her mind on this endlessly debated topic.
• Craig Ford from Money Help For Christians presents 10 Tips For Knowing When To Refinance A Mortgage. A refinance can be a good move as long as a person has the right guidelines in place.
• J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly presents Does Renting Make Sense?, and says, “We’re not about to move, but you know what? If I had it to do again, I’d never buy this house. If we had stayed where we were, we’d now have just four years left on our mortgage. But knowing what I know now, I might even be inclined to rent. For most folks, renting isn’t a bad option.”

Fun tax fact: In 2003, the IRS received 89 million calls and had almost 9 million walk-in visits from individuals looking for assistance in completing their returns and understanding the tax code.

Taxes

• FFB from Free From Broke presents The Government Thanks You For Your Taxes. The government loves that you overpay your taxes and give them a free loan, but is it right for you?
• Jason from One Money Design presents Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Planning: The Grace Period and Run-Out Date. Jason covers great information about FSAs, and mentions that it’s important to plan properly when using a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) as well as understand if your employer provides an annual grace period with a run-out date.
• Wealth Pilgrim from Wealth Pilgrim presents Roth IRA Conversions Can Wreck Your Tax Credit for Homebuyers. Roth IRA conversions are a hot topic right now. The Pilgrim points out a fact that many people may not have considered: Roth IRA conversions (done incorrectly) can ruin your chance of getting your homebuyer’s tax credit. Here are some tactics to make sure you don’t blow it.

Fun tax fact: More than one in three households (approximately 40%) does not pay federal income tax, compared to 1 in 5 in 1986.

Career

• Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents Will You Work Past Your Normal Retirement Age?. Working past normal retirement age is not unusual. According to the Social Security Administration, 28% of individuals between the ages of 70 and 74 reported income from earnings in 2006, the latest year data are available.
• PT from PT Money presents Make Extra Money with Freelance Writing. PT has a very interesting interview with a successful freelance writer. Essential reading if you are interested in freelance writing for income (as is the next article).
• DR from DoughRoller writes about How to Make Full-time Money as a Part-time Writer.  More in-depth detail about how to make money as a writer.
• Squawkfox shares Free Cover Letter Examples with Cover Letter Tips. Excellent resource for those who are currently shopping their resumes.
• The Financial blogger shares his recent job interview story. He is currently shopping for new employment, but it also sounds like he has a decent gig right now, which puts him in the driver’s seat when it comes to what he is looking for.
• Miss M from M is for Moneyasks Do Women Undervalue Themselves?.
• Bob from Christian Finances presents The Difference Between a Multi-Level-Marketing Company and a Pyramid Scheme. These are a few simple ways to tell if an opportunity is a scam or not…

The IRS estimated that there were 1.2 million paid tax preparers in the United States in 1999. That amounts to more than twice the number of police officers in the United States and more than four times the number of firefighters. (The United States had 282,000 firefighters and 625,000 police officers as of 2002).

Other

• Sean from Growing Money presents Legitimate Charitable Organizations for Donations to Haiti Earthquake Relief. Make sure your donations go to the right charities for the right people.
• FMF from Free Money Finance presents Kiplinger Doesn’t Get It, and says, “Kiplinger rates the “best” colleges without considering the #1 factor that makes colleges better than others.”
• Mike from Four Pillars wrote an External Hard Drive Review. Backing up your data is essential and a hard drive is an important part of the process.
• pkamp3 from Don’t Quit Your Day Job… presents The United States: A Charitable Country. One thing the recession hasn’t decreased in this country is the rate of volunteering. In a recently released BLS report we find that volunteering has approached levels not seen for 4 years… in the midst of the current recession.
• Jason Unger from Automatic Finances presents When Will You Have Enough?.
• Wojciech Kulicki from Fiscal Fizzle presents How Personal is Personal Finance?, and says, “Thanks!”
• Revanche from A Gai Shan Life presents Pets and money: where do you draw the line?
• Connie Prater from Taking Charge presents Redeeming Citi rewards points even more rewarding for Haiti.

Source: Fun tax facts from President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, a now defunct federal advisory board charged with generating recommendations for reforming the tax system.

Note about rejected entries. There were several reasons for articles being rejected, including not meeting submission guidelines, inability to access website, relevance or quality of content, and other reasons. Next week’s host is Get Rich Slowly. Get your entries in before Sunday’s 5pm deadline!

Tagged as: carnivals