Denali Flavors

Free $25 from LendingClub!

As many of you know, I recently gave away five $100 gifts courtesy of LendingClub. There were only five winners of those, but today I have something for everyone.

Every reader here that qualifies (more on that later) can get a FREE $25 from LendingClub just for opening an account with them (which is free as well.) Once you do, you can lend the $25 as part of their program or withdraw it if you like. Here's how it works:

1. Go to LendingClub using this link.

2. Open a lender account.

3. The money will automatically be in your account and will be ready to lend out. 

There are state and financial suitability conditions, so not everyone is eligible. In addition, you may be able to lend in the secondary market if you they can't lend in the primary. Details and specifics are here.

Free Money Finance March Madness, Round 2, Posts 5-8

We're now into round two of Free Money Finance March Madness (if you wonder what's going on in these posts, see my article announcing March Madness and/or click on my March Madness category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject.)

I've listed each "game" (one post versus another) in segments along with the wording provided by the author when the post was submitted. I've also listed a keyword(s) after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Game 1 - Saving; Game 2 - Investing, etc.) Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two -- you will help determine the winner! Criteria for the best article is somewhat subjective, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) practicality of the post 2) how interesting/provocative/unique it is, 3) the "personal-ness" of it and 4) its impact on net worth.

Here are today's games:

GAME 3

• 100 Money Saving Tips for the Holiday Gifting Bonanza Post (Bonanza) - Don't let the title fool you, these money saving tips are applicable at any time of the year, they just seemed especially useful so that you could save money to buy your friends and family more gifts! They are categorized by what aspect of your life they apply to (from eating & drinking to your home) and come with pretty pictures to boot! You are guaranteed to find at least one or two (or twenty) tips that you didn't know before or you will get your money back!

VERSUS

• 36 Ways to Earn Extra Money (36) - What should you do if you've cut your budget to the bone and you still can't make ends meet? Earn more money! This post lists three dozen practical tips for bringing home a bit more bacon.

GAME 4

• Airport Car Rentals are a Ripoff (Ripoff) - Short, sweet, and to the point. You can save a ton of money by skipping the airport rental desk and catching a cab to a nearby location.

VERSUS

• Discussing Retirement with Parents: Is a Comfortable Retirement No Longer an Option? (Option) - This post has been among my more popular articles because it hits a subject area we're all thinking about, that causes anxiety just by seeing the title, but yet, we neglect to really confront the issue.  Writing this was probably one of the most difficult post I've done to date since I've looked up to the gentleman in this post all of my life.  It's a post that everyone can related to on a personal level in terms of concern for their parents quality of life as they age.  It also suggests a few ways to approach the issue with your parents, as well as illuminates segments of parent-child relationships that we might not want to visit because it's a taboo subject.  Best part is that I've had younger adults, as well as those reaching retirement age leave comments, but also contact me directly.

Star Money Articles and Carnivals for the Week of Feb 23

As you might imagine, I read (or at least skim/review quickly) hundreds of personal finance articles every single weekday. I can only feature a handful of those pieces on this blog and a lot of great stuff goes to waste. I've tried to combat this in part by having a weekly roundup of what I've called "star money articles" -- articles from around the web that I thought were especially good -- but a lot of good stuff still goes without a single mention. I think I now have a solution for that.

I've started to post pieces I find interesting on a Twitter account I just started. I list a few words of commentary and then a link to what I consider to be interesting posts, but ones I probably won't cover here at Free Money Finance. If you're interested in checking these out, simply visit my Twitter site or follow along on the bottom left side bar of this blog. In addition to personal finance articles you may get a bit of insight into my private life, for those of you interested in that sort of stuff (not too much of that -- and mostly on nights and weekends.) I know there's only so much kids/soccer/chess posts that people can handle. :-)

I'll still post some links here every other week or so, but for now this will be my main way to get through all the good stuff I find in a week. I may throw in a giveaway or two there, so keep your eyes open!!!

For now, here is the list of the carnivals Free Money Finance was in this week and my posts that were included:

• Festival of Frugality - Paying Off a Mortgage by Brown Bagging Your Lunch

• Carnival of Personal Finance - My Thoughts on the Economic Stimulus

Enjoy!

P.S. Carnival Hosts -- If my post is in your carnival in a given week, please send me the URL to the carnival and I will include it in my weekly roundup.

Frugal Millionaires on Taxes and Accountants

Here's an excerpt from the book The Frugal Millionaires: 70 millionaires anonymously share their ideas about money to help each other and you. Today we're seeing what the millionaires have to say about taxes and accountants. Since I use a CPA to do my taxes, I'm on the same page as they are.

FYI, these are some representative tips from The Frugal Millionaires. There are over 800 tips in the book. The frugal millionaires are only referenced by their initials. The author signed a confidentiality agreement that the millionaires' identities would never be disclosed in exchange for them saying whatever they wanted. If they chose not to have their initials used they were given the initials AFM which is an acronym for Anonymous Frugal Millionaire.

Here's the excerpt:

Taxes

Paying taxes is not everyone’s favorite topic, but it’s a fact of life in a civilized world. There are no magic bullets or secret schemes below on how to not pay taxes. They are an expense, like a lot of other things that can keep you from growing your net worth.

Frugal millionaires are willing to pay their fair share of taxes, but not more than that. And avoiding taxes doesn’t mean evading them. Many of the legal “loop holes” have been eliminated over the years, so it’s back to using the basic common sense principals of planning ahead, knowing what you’ll be in for, and minimizing what you’ll owe. The frugal millionaires have adopted an attitude towards taxes that makes them a lot less frustrating to deal with.

• FJC – Just pay the taxes. I got burned several times trying various tax shelters based on the advice of friends and financial advisors (including real estate shelters, oil and gas shelters and commodity straddles).

• AFM – Avoid filing extensions and always pay your taxes on times. The penalties are a waste of money.

• MG&DG – You’ve got to do it. Don’t cheat the government. It will catch up with you.

• DTA – You have to do it. Don’t sweat the stuff you can’t control, but do minimize when you can. Don’t lose sleep over your taxes.

• AFM – The government is a bad investment, unfortunately it’s a necessary one. Explore your options, take no risks and carefully pay as little as possible.

• JSB – Pay them if you have to…be careful setting up elaborate shelters as AMT gets applied very quickly now and disqualifies nearly every write-off.

DEFINITION: Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT): An extra tax some people have to pay on top of the regular income tax. The original idea behind this tax was to prevent people with very high incomes from using special tax benefits to pay little or no tax. The AMT has increased its reach, however, and now applies to some people who don’t have very high gross income (now $75,000) or who don’t claim lots of special tax benefits. Proposals to repeal or reform the AMT have languished in Congress for years, but effective action does not appear to be on the horizon. Until Congress acts, almost anyone is a potential target for this tax.

The name comes from the way the tax works. The AMT provides an alternative set of rules for calculating your income tax. In theory these rules determine minimum amount of tax that someone with your income should be required to pay. If you’re already paying at least that much because of the “regular” income tax, you don’t have to pay AMT. But if your regular tax falls below this minimum, you have to make up the difference by paying alternative minimum tax. (SOURCE: Fairmark.com, with edits)

Accountants

• JKB – Tax laws are written to favor the government, not you. Seek the advice of a professional to minimize the impact and always consider additional taxes and save for them.

• AFM – I don’t spend large amounts of time and consideration here trying to save on taxes beyond my accountant’s advice. Try to keep your life simple and just take the hit.

• JC – Don’t waste your time preparing your own tax return. Hire an expert to file for you. Be careful of AMT.

Moose Tracks a Hit in Toledo

Toledo -- Introduced in 1995 at Toft's Dairy Inc., it took just one year to achieve super stardom. Moose tracks. "It's right up there with vanilla," Chuck Meisler, company treasurer said of the flavor that combines vanilla ice cream with fudge and peanut butter.

Here's the News!!

There's a brand new website at www.moosetracks.com!! It features the following:

• A flavors page -- where you can see all the great ice creams made by Denali.
• A store locator -- so you can find your favorite flavor of Denali ice cream.
• A store -- where you can get all sorts of cool moose stuff!
• FAQs -- Questions we get all the time -- and the answers!

Stop by and visit today -- then come back and let me know what you think.

Light Blogging

If you're wondering why blogging has been so light lately, it's because I'm working hard on something I'll be able to share with you very soon. ;-)

Email from Moose Tracks Lover

Here's an email I received from a new Moose Tracks lover that I just HAD to share with you:

Just wanted you to know how much I hate all of your for making the most kick-a** ice cream I've ever tasted. I thought I was a huge Ben and Jerry's fan until I tried Moose Tracks. It happened to be on sale so I gave it a shot and bought two containers. Now that I'm hooked, I'm sure I will gain back all the weight I've lost these past few months. Thanks a whole bunch!!!

I love to get emails like this (as you can imagine).

And while he's eating more ice cream than ever before, it's not costing him as much! (See this link for how great a deal Moose Tracks is versus Ben and Jerry's).

Top 10 Denali Flavors' Items, #1 Original Moose Tracks

Denali Top 10 flavor #1: Original Moose Tracks

VANILLA ICE CREAM WITH PEANUT BUTTER CUPS AND FAMOUS MOOSE TRACKS® FUDGE

What else could be #1? ;-)

Top 10 Denali Flavors' Items, #2 Extreme Moose Tracks

Denali Top 10 flavor #2: Extreme Moose Tracks

RICH CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM WITH MOOSE TRACKS® FUDGE-FILLED CUPS AND FAMOUS MOOSE TRACKS® FUDGE

Triple chocolate -- my kids' favorite!