Look Out for the Debt Settlement Tax - What to Do About It

By Sean Payne

If you're still in debt, you're probably thinking about talking to your creditors about settling your debts for less than you owe. Beware, though. What you probably don't know about debt settlement is that it can have a great impact on your taxes.

When you pay off the debt for less than you owe, you're effectively "earning" money. For example, if you take out a loan for $10,000, and then were unable to pay it back, but settled for $6000, you've effectively pocketed $4000. This kind of thing gets the IRS's attention in a hurry.

At some point in the past, there probably was a loophole in the U.S. tax laws that allowed for this kind of thing to happen. Sadly, the IRS quickly gets smart about these things. Like many other loopholes in the tax law, this one has been closed.

As in our example above, if you settle credit card debt or any other type of debt for less than you owe, you will probably be held liable for whatever "profit" you realize after settling your debt. Remember this when it's time to file your taxes after settling your debts.

Even though this may sound like a bad thing, you still come out ahead after taxes. In our example above, the $4000 you realized as a gain might be taxed at 30%, depending on your tax bracket. However, even when you add the $1200 tax, you've still only paid $7200 to clear a $10,000 debt. That's still a bargain in my book.

Because the debt settlement tax comes as a surprise to many people, they don't do anything about it until the IRS comes to audit them. Don't let this hidden tax take you by surprise.

If you need any more details on how to deal with this tax, please check with your CPA or another tax expert. - 23218

About the Author:

Sean Payne is a personal finance enthusiast who has learned through trial and error (and a lot of advice) how to get out of debt. Discover how to avoid the debt settlement tax at Sean's website, which can be found at http://www.debtpayofftips.com

Principles of Physics According To A Penny Stock Advisor

By Malcolm Torren

Imagine you penny stock advisor as a physicist? What would investing be like for him? Would he have invented something beneficial for everyone? Or would he have created something for world domination? Would he be formulating new laws for the stock market for every one to gain? Or would he be outlawed for disclosing too much information to the public? How would the stock market look and sound like?

It can be quite interesting. You'd probably end up analyzing too much on some empirical formula and how it works. Perhaps you'd be challenged about momentum penny stocks. Is there really gravity in these numbers? What could be your learning curve? If the penny stock advisor was a physicist, would he be interested in the stock market just the same? What laws of physics could there be?

- Law no. 1 - What goes up must come down. Well for sure, the numbers will still behave as usual. Think of your penny stocks as bubbles. The smaller the price, the lesser its weight. Then the easier for it to float. When it gets bigger, the more volatile it becomes and the easier it bursts. Then you may lose the bubble forever.

- Law no. 2 - There are no horizontal lines, only horizons. A good penny stock advisor will tell you that your penny stocks cannot move sideways. It's only up or down. Therefore, if it goes up, you don't see horizontal lines but new and better horizons for you.

- Law no. 3 - Think big but start small. You start with a cheap small cap share and imagine it to grow bigger. But it needs energy if you want it to grow. Penny stock brokers will help bring in the investors to fuel the energy for you. At the end of the day, your profit is realized. This theory explains that with positive energy, your penny stocks can only grow.

- Law no. 4 - Time is inversely proportional with money. The longer you keep your penny stocks in, the more risky your investments become. Professor penny stock advisor can prove this by applying this fourth theory with the first law. If your penny stocks are subjected at a longer time at its current size and weight, it will eventually drop.

- Law no. 5 - The theory of the penny stock trajectory. A trajectory is defined when an object is thrown up into the air. Because of the magnitude of force it is subjected, it will take time before it comes down again. This imaginary curve is formed. With this curve includes the time factor when how long it stayed up and the distance it has covered with its travel. If the penny stock trajectory is perfect, an investor and penny stock broker would be able to pinpoint the exact time when the peak happens. Unfortunately, there is none.

The laws of the stock market can be compared to physics. But the difference is that the penny stock trading cannot be an absolute science. You cannot calculate risks accurately. But you can trace the irregularities of the trend. Your best fallback is your empirical analysis. That means your ability to decide. - 23218

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Discover more about day trading penny stock. Consult the best penny stock pick online.

Investing Tips For The Beginner

By Micheal Jones

There are few general rules to remember and follow if you are starting to invest your money in the stock market. The first and most important thing to remember is that you will be contending with the ups and downs. You should not freak out when your stock takes a down-turn and then immediately react by pulling out your money; that is actually the quickest and most effect way of losing you money.

People watch their stocks go down a bit, get scared and decide they need to abandon ship before they sink any farther. When that happens, they usually notice it going back up and then immediately regret the decision.

It won't always be the case, but it's a very good thing to remember as it very typically happens that way. If a stock goes down, then it will eventually come back up. The cases where this will not work is in the case of a company scandal where the company CEO's are involved in embezzlement; this is the only reason you should sell right away after a downward turn.

The nature of the beast is that the stocks will fluctuate, and some fluctuations may be scary. If you've done your homework and you are not just investing on a whim or a gut feeling, then have confidence in your research. Investing is all about knowing the stocks you are investing in and knowing what things can affect them.

Here's a great example: say you've hear some news about a new tax that will affect a clothing company and you know that this will adversely affect their bottom line, with this information you know that it would be a safe bet to steer clear of all textile companies as the new tax will surely be affecting them as well. Simply paying attention is all you need to be successful in the stock market.

Check out this great video; it has a number of questions and answers from an expert who can give you the low-down on investing. - 23218

About the Author:

If you wish to learn the best information on investing today you need to check out this free video right now!

Makings Of An Options Trading System Part 2

By Maclin Vestor

A covered call strategy within a cycle will require people to sell options against the stock. If the stock is above the strike price, the stock will be "called" away. The seller receives the premium, but the owner of the call receives the shares at the strike price. There are various strategies involving this covered call strategy.

Some people prefer to have the covered call eventually pay back the stock owner his investment, so that he or she can reinvest that money, and upon receiving the investment back, the person will let the stock run. If this is the strategy, ideally you want to sell covered calls as the stock falls, as it stays flat, and then you want to have your cash back and let the stock run when it is on its way up again. This can allow you to buy an out of favor stock that is still in it's decline, but in the second half of the decline, reduce your cost basis to zero, and still own the stock near it's bottom. In the cycle mentioned earlier, depending on how fast the yield will allow you to recover the price of the stock, You will invest in the stock as early as the beginning of "dogs" and as late as contrarian, and recover your cost as early as contrarian, and as late as the start of estimate revision.

Another covered call strategy would be to buy a neglect, contrarian, or positive earnings surprise stock, sell out of the money covered calls, and continue to do so until the end of the growth stage of the stock, and not only stop selling the calls, but to just sell the stock.

Yet another strategy would be to write a covered call until around 20% can be gained, either through capital appreciation or collecting the option, then to convert the stock into a LEAP call as soon as selling the stock plus the premiums collected can pay for the call. This allows you to have a quicker turnover rate in terms of getting your money out, and playing with the house's money.

This would be great for anyone who intends on having the stock paid for, and expecting to own the stock option through the entire length of the option or longer if they intend on rolling over the gains by buying another LEAP. It is also a good strategy if the stock's future becomes less certain, and the investor wants to protect his or her initial investment. Now if someone rolls a stock into a stock option that doesn't necessarily mean they are done collecting income from covered calls. There is far more to be learned about covered calls, so make sure to do your research before considering if its right for you. - 23218

About the Author:

Maclin Vestor teaches about How To Buy Stock Online. You can even learn about virtual stock markets and advice on the Stock Market For Beginners at his blog.

Put Away The Crystal Ball When Investing

By Micheal Jones

The truth is that there simply is no magic trick that will give you all the answers for how the market will move; if that were the case each and every one of us would be a millionaire. The only way we can try to predict the market is by using our gut intuition and analyzing trends to make a well-informed prediction.

A stock that has been hovering over a price for several days may make you less likely to purchase it over a stock what has risen several dollars over the course of a few days only return to its starting position and climb again.

This is a situation when you would purchase it at its low point, wait a few months for it to do its climbing and then sell it after a gain of a few dollars. This is what many people tend to do, but it?s not a creator of overnight millionaires.

Predicting the market is done through thorough examination and research; you watch a stock, take some notes, find out more and then hope for the best outcome. Make sure that you do investigate the stock you?re purchasing.

Which sector is it in? Is it Energy, Tech, Pharmaceutical or something else? When you?ve answered that question, your next step is to examine the other companies in that particular field to find out how they are doing. If there is a trend of interest rates you might see that it will have an indirect affect on the price of the specific stock in question.

You may be surprised to discover the fickle nature of stocks as well. Something seemingly inconsequential, such as a speech by Paris Hilton, can affect how it behaves; you just never know. Buy a few shares and see how well it does. Determine how well you took notes and did your research by the way the stock behaves. You can start small, there are no rules governing the number of shares you can hold.

Find out more about the Australian Share Market by someone who is in the business and has a lot of experience as well as a wealth of great advice. - 23218

About the Author:

If you wish to learn the best information on investing today you need to check out this free video right now!