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Articles from Justin Krane | Selfgrowth.com
- Long Term Care Insurance - by Submitted on Nov 04, 2011 from Justin KraneWhat if it was a requirement that you have a long term care conversation with your financial advisor on the same day you get your first colonoscopy? Talk about a double whammy! Did you know that nearly 40% of people over age 65 will spend some time in a nursing home? According to The Money ...
Views: 817 - McDonalds and Subway Have This. Do You? - by Submitted on Jun 08, 2012 from Justin KraneAccording to the U.S. Dept of Commerce, 95% of franchises are still in business after 5 years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the SBA, only 50% of small businesses survive within 5 years. So why do franchises succeed? One reason is that they follow an operations manual the ...
Views: 1133 - Mortgage Refinance to the Rescue - by Submitted on Oct 25, 2011 from Justin KraneRefinancers, HARP on This! A few years ago, you bought a house. You came in with your 25% down. And... poof, today, you've got nada, zilch, nothing, no equity in your house. It's gonzo and a mortgage refinance is next to impossible. Some of your peeps are able to do a mortgage refinance ...
Views: 1014 - Occupy Wall Street and Your Financial Plan - by Submitted on Oct 27, 2011 from Justin KraneThe Occupy Wall Street movement came out of nowhere. In just 4 weeks we have a movement that has gained some real traction. Here is where I agree with them. • Whatever happened to the executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? The company executives made gazillions of dollars at the expense ...
Views: 932 - Our Deficit, Our Financial Future - by Submitted on Apr 18, 2012 from Justin KraneOur deficit — still major, still huge. Over one trillion. To deal with our deficit, Obama is making the case for the Buffett rule to go into effect. It states that any taxpayer making over a million bucks should pay a minimum tax of 30%. Buffet made his case for this in a NY Times op-ed ...
Views: 828 - Protect Your Assets With Disability Insurance - by Submitted on Jun 22, 2011 from Justin KraneMost of us think that our portfolio, home equity or business is our largest asset. But what about our ability to produce income? Assume you and/or your business earns $200,000 per year: The present value of making $200,000 a year for the next 5 years is $890,364. In other words, if you ...
Views: 671 - Retirement Planning and Ingredients To Consider When Baking Your Retirement Cake - by Submitted on Jul 22, 2011 from Justin KraneIn the Olympics, you may have had a chance to watch a track and field superstar win a gold medal. Once they cross the finish line, their sheer excitement, happiness, and pride for their country is the engine that makes them take that victory lap. The pressure is gone, the results of the hard ...
Views: 1071 - Selling Your Business for Retirement Funding - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2011 from Justin KraneNot Selling Your Business? You Are Leaving Money on the Table Many of you business owners don’t realize that your business can be a great source for adding money to your retirement nest egg. Because of that, you don’t take the necessary steps and plans for selling your business as you near ...
Views: 806 - Should You Still Invest in Gold? - by Submitted on Feb 03, 2012 from Justin KraneInvest in Gold. Still a Smart Move for Your Portfolio Wow, another reminder to invest in gold! Debka.com is reporting that India will use gold to buy oil from Iran. India spends around $12 billion dollars a year to buy oil from Iran. China is expected to use gold as the unit of currency to ...
Views: 974 - Should You Still Short Sell Stocks - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2011 from Justin KraneThe Dow was at 11,000 5 years ago. And as I write this, it’s at 11,000 today! The Dow’s price hasn’t changed but the amount of stock held short (basically people betting that stocks will go down. Read below for an explanation of how short selling works) is higher than 5 years ago (Data ...
Views: 790 - Tax Loss Harvesting - Making Lemonade Out of Lemons - by Submitted on Jun 09, 2011 from Justin KraneHas the volatility of the stock market got you thinking about what to do? Now may be the right time to make your own lemonade stand. Consider doing some tax loss harvesting. So how does this work? Selling securities at a loss can offset your capital gains tax liability. At the end of the ...
Views: 525 - Tax Planning and Your CPA - by Submitted on Dec 21, 2011 from Justin KraneWant Smooth Sailing for Your Tax Planning? Get Your CPA On Board. Taxes, tax planning, estimated tax payments, your CPA. Feeling nauseous yet? Need a brown paper bag? It doesn’t have to be this way. Like most people, you are not wired to deal with this tax stuff. You are not supposed to be ...
Views: 765 - The Ins and Outs of Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) - by Submitted on Jun 09, 2011 from Justin KraneIf you work at a public company, chances are that your company offers you a way to buy stock in your company at a discount. It’s a way of saving and investing automatically where your investment gets deducted from your paycheck. There is no tax deduction – you are using after tax money to buy ...
Views: 653 - What is Alternative Minimum Tax? - by Submitted on Oct 31, 2011 from Justin KraneYou May Be Subject To Alternative Minimum Tax and Not Even Know The Consequences The Alternative Minimum Tax was introduced by the IRS in 1969 and instituted for wealthy people who were eligible for special tax benefits – and thus owed little or no taxes. Based on a number of factors, more ...
Views: 740 - What is Financial Risk and is it Quantifiable? - by Submitted on Jun 22, 2011 from Justin KraneFor most of us, when we think of the word risk, we think of losing money. We think of the unknown and what could go wrong. Have you ever heard of the term standard deviation? It may be the measure that you are looking for to assess the overall volatility of your portfolio and your financial ...
Views: 598 - Your Biggest Financial Risk - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2011 from Justin KraneWhen it comes to investing, many of us are so concerned about losing money that we forget why we are investing in the first place. We are investing to reach some goal, some goal that we set in today’s dollars in our minds. When we plan for a goal that is far away, say 10, 15 years in the future, ...
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