Debt-Management58438

Are you complaining about the high price for gasoline and the obscene profits of oil companies? If so, you might want to check your pension plan (401k, 403b, TSP, etc.) to see if you own their stock! Why would stockholders complain about profits at "their companies"? Could it be they're not aware they own stocks? This disconnect is because many workers and retirees put their money in employer-sponsored pension plans without really paying attention to where it's invested. It's going mostly into mutual funds whose underlying assets are stocks and bonds of domestic and foreign companies. Since many are unaware of where their money is invested, are they similarly unaware of the risk they're taking? Unfortunately, many are and this risk could spell big trouble over the horizon in retirement.

For those up to about age 50, this lack of attention to risk is not a major shortcoming because they have time on their side: time for market downturns to correct; time to increase contributions; time for the magic of triple compounding tax-deferral; time to adjust their savings/spending. Unfortunately, there is also time to develop habits that freeze them into their investment pattern. As you near or enter retirement, "time" becomes the enemy because there is not enough time for markets to correct, salaries to rise, and investment growth to occur. Yet, far too many, out of habit, still hold their retirement money in the same risky places. You must make lifecycle adjustments in your investments to lower risks as you near and enter retirement because there is less time to overcome setbacks. This hard lesson was most recently taught during 2000-2002. The previous stock market high was six years ago, or 30% of your retirement years ago. How long until we reach the previous high? The risk: no one knows!

At the end of 2005, approximately 90% of pension fund moneys were invested in assets whose value was determined by the financial markets - stocks, bonds, mutual funds and the like. According to one study, 39% of the 60 to 65 year old participants in 401(k) plans left their money in the plan upon retirement. What does this tell us? Many in their 60's and beyond are investing like they were still working and could afford the risk they're taking. Their do-it-as-always habit has prevented them from making the needed lifecycle investment changes. This could lead to their greatest fear: outliving their money.
The $14.5 trillion in pension plans is being eyed by Wall Street. They would like for you to put and leave your money in the market. That's why you don't get good advice from firms and people who manage and account for your retirement money: if you move it, they lose business. Accordingly, their answers regarding moving your retirement money to a safer place is always going to be "don't". It is in their best interest for you to keep it where it is. They're not taking the market risks that could wreck your retirement plans.

As has been stressed repeatedly, retirement is not a time to make money by taking risks but a time to keep what you've got by not taking risks. If you're in or near retirement, reduce risks by moving to safer places because you don't have time to recover from bad markets. The investment habits of a lifetime have prompted many to leave money in their employers' plans when they retire. This decision could be lethal if you can't afford the risk. The need to change investments in response to aging was well thought-out by our lawmakers as they provided for transfer of pension money so that risk could change in response to your lifecycle. The process is called "rolling over", and you should ask your financial advisor for my free DVD "Rolling Over Retirement Money: Good or Bad" which discusses the pros and cons of this topic.

Summers Asset Management Group
Russell D. Summers, CAC
Certified Annuity Consultant
http://seniortaxsavings.retirerx.com/

727-678-2778

Russell Summers, CAC

Shopping around for mortgages is so popular these days that many people can be excused for thinking that switching lenders is the only way to save money on your home loan. But there is a much easier way that does not require phone calls, computers connected to the internet, or trips to your bank or building society.

Did you know, for instance, that making overpayments on your mortgage can slash thousands of pounds off your interest bill? Additionally, it will cut the length of time taken to repay your home loan so you get to own your home sooner.

Imagine, say, that you have a 100,000 repayment mortgage, with a 25-year term and an interest rate of 6%. Your monthly payments will be 644, and after 25 years you will have paid back a total of 193,290. In other words you will have paid back 1.93 for every pound borrowed.

If, however, you were to overpay your mortgage by just 50 each month, your total payment would be reduced to 177,279 -- a saving of over sixteen grand in interest. Furthermore, this overpayment shortens the length of the mortgage by 45 months, which means almost four extra years of bliss.

Its is worth being prudent though and ensuring that your will not be penalised by your lender for changing your standing order or making overpayment. In the main, most flexible mortgage lenders will allow you to make overpayments of up to 10% each year. But if your lender doesn't allow this, you have another trick up your sleeve!

Lessening the term of your mortgage from 25 years to 21 years would increase your payments in exactly the same way as overpaying by 50 each month. Mind you, this is a much harsher way to do it because payments are fixed. However, it doesn't prevent you from increasing your term again, should you need to, by simply writing to your provider.

At the end of the day, paying off your mortgage early is simply the best and least risky ways of saving money. By making overpayments to your mortgage of around 6%, your money would be working harder than if you had invested it into a savings account with 7% earnings.5% for a basic-rate taxpayer. For a higher-rate taxpayer, this risk-free and tax-free rate is equivalent to 10%, which is practically unbeatable!

Many people forget that even though we sign up for a 25-year mortgage term there is no earthly reason why we have to stick to this. If you have any extra cash each month, using it against your mortgage can make a huge difference and it can save you thousands of pounds in interest each year.

Good luck on removing that mortgage millstone from around your neck!

Peter Spyr

There have always been 4 basic ways in which a Home Based Beginner could make money online from their Business website and if you want to Work From Home it is vital you make the right choice.

Which one you decided to choose will make the difference between Home Based Business Success and Home Business misery. If you are already skilled your path to success may be a little easier but Home Based Beginners have no chance of success by just Jumping in the deep end.

Most Internet Beginners start out with a rough idea of what Home Business Venture they want to get involved in, but the truth is, very few people actually know what they are doing.

And That Is Why Over 95% Of Home Based Business Beginners Fail Before They Even Start. And Of Those People Who Last Their First YearLess Than 3% Will Ever Make Any real money!

Which one of the 4 ways you choose will depend on your knowledge, your experience and your Business background. But be absolutely sure that you cannot make it alone and you cannot find Success without the right knowledge.

How successful you become is dependant on many things, but one thing is for sure

Choose The Wrong One For You, And You Will Spend Everyday Wishing You Were Back In Work Earning A wage!!

1. You could sell your own products from a Home Business website.

2. You could sell Other Peoples Products on your website.

3. You could sell Banner Advertisements to other website companies.

4. You could show banner ads from one of the many advertising networks on your Home Business website.

Each One Of The Above Require A Lot Of Time And Dedication. Some Methods Require A Great Deal Of Knowledge And Luck. I Dont Believe In Luck And Neither Should You!! Especially When Youre Financial Future Hangs In The Balance.

Selling your Own Products is by far the hardest and most time consuming way to make money online. If you have dreams of selling Physical products you will have to work 7 days a week.

The rewards are potentially massive if you know youre Niche and if you have a strong grip on the competition but remember, selling your own products from a Home Business is a 24 hour job if youre looking for genuine financial results.

Selling Other Peoples Products is a relatively easy procedure to follow as long as youve spent a good amount of time researching the company and the products youre aiming to promote or Presell then the Financial rewards can be staging!

There are some very Essential Rules you must learn to master before you begin to understand the skills involved in Preselling other website products but it is not difficult to learn and is one of the most stress free and rewarding ways to make money online.

You Take NO FINANCIAL Risks What-So-Ever When You Presell Other Peoples Products And You Could Be Making Money In Less Than 24 Hours!!

The risks are far less than if you were selling your own products and the rewards can be just as good. Working from home should not be a 24 hour day and should definitely not be stressful!

There are some pitfalls when you sell other peoples products or services from your own website and getting paid can be a real burden if you dont spend enough time Researching the Affiliate Program you are thinking of promoting.

Selling banner advertisements and using your website to promote banner advertisements is the hardest way to earn money as a Work At Home Entrepreneur. If you are an Internet Beginner the task will seem almost impossible. It is a never ending task of chasing and Researching.

Unless youre skilled, I would advise you to stay well away. If youre just starting out on the road to internet success I would recommend you keep things simple. Advertising can be a cut throat business.

But Its Not All Gloom And Doom For The BeginnerOr the UnskilledOr Those People Who Have No Idea What They Want To Do There Is A New Way To Make Money And All You Have To Do Is Learn To Write!!

The Internet has been moving at a speed which is faster than a speeding rocket and thankfully for all us work at home business people, the internet is fast becoming the Only Place To Be!

With The Introduction Of Goggle Adwords and Goggle Adsence the Work At Home Revolution Is At The Very Beginning Of A Very Profitable Golden Journey To Success.

All you have to do is jump on board, read the rule book and hold on for the ride of your life. I kid you not!! There has never been a better time to find genuine success from a Home Based Business than there is RIGHT NOW.

There has never been an easier, safer way for you to make money from the comfort of your own computer chair. You wont need to spend your savings and you wont have to wait to get paid.

All You Have To Do Is Provide The Search Engines With The Content They Need To Keep The Web Surfers Happy And Let Goggle Do The Rest!!

You wont have to package any products, youll spend zero time answering emails and if you want to work out the back in the sunshine with your laptop, thats cool too!

And thats the beauty of Working From Home. All you have to do is write about your passion or your hobby or even your skills. The more you research and write the more potential you have for earning more money.

The more money you earn, the more youll want to write and the better your home business website will stand out. The more your online business stands out, the better youre Search Engine ranking.

The more you impress the Search Engine Spiders the more money youll earn. Its a great circle and none of it is vicious! The only risk you take is giving up some time to concentrate on living the DREAM in real time instead of when youre sleeping!

Start Your Journey To Home Based Millionaire Today! Do Not Put It Off And Do Not Think Its Just A Dream. It Is As Real As Monday Morning For Millions Of Unhappy Working People!!

If you need more time to convince yourself at the EASE at which you can achieve Home Based Business Success then I suggest you go to http://Honest-HomeBusiness.com

John Adams has been a Successful Home Based Business Entrepreneur since 1987 with more Business Ventures than you can shake a stick at!

What if you were able to buy a decent two bedroom home for about $30,000, fix it up a little and put it on the market for $80,000? Do you think you could make some money that way? This is the story of a man who lost it all that way, followed by a few lessons to be learned from his sad tale.

The story takes place in 2002, in a mountain town in Montana, where the last of the good jobs had left town twenty-two years earlier when the copper smelter closed. It is a beautiful town, but the resulting economic decline caused a population decline of more than 30%, down to about 7,000 or 8,000 people. My wife and I bought a great little house there for $17,500, so home prices had obviously tumbled along with the population.

A neighbor, at eighty-years-old, decided to become a real estate investor. He bought the house next to us for around $30,000, and borrowed more from the bank to fix the place up. Given the price of our own home and the fact that this other house wasn't nearly as nice, I wondered if he had overpaid. He seemed sure that he had a good deal, though and could make some money.

As the weeks went by, he did get the place looking better. He put in an incredible fireplace, and new carpeting. The electricians worked on the old wiring on and off for a long time, always finding something else that needed to be done, and then taking their time doing it. The old guy was paying by the hour, with no contract, of course. The heating system needed replacing, at which point our neighbor mentioned, "I didn't know the house had so many problems." At some point his enthusiasm started to fail.

His bank account started to fail too. Eventually he admitted to me that he had over $65,000 into the place, but still seemed certain he could sell the home for $80,000. I politely nodded. It was too late to say anything anyhow. He didn't even have money to fix up the rusty iron fence around the house. In fact, from the outside, the appearance had hardly changed at all, since all his money went into the interior.

The sign went up, though I am not sure why the real estate agent wanted such a listing. Perhaps it was with the hope that he would maintain the listing when the bank took the house and dropped the price. In the end, that is exactly what happened. "I gave the house back to the bank," the old guy told me one day.

A Few Real Estate Lessons

I like this story because my old neighbor did so many things wrong. This makes it a great teaching story. Often real estate success consists as much in avoiding common mistakes as knowing intricate techniques. Here, then are some of the mistakes he made.

1. He had no plan. He had only a vague idea about what he would do and how much the home would sell for.

2. He had no idea of how to value a house. If he had compared the home to recent sales (like our $17,500 purchase next door) he would have realized that the most he would get for the home was probably around $30,000, if that.

3. He had no concept of his market. This was a two bedroom starter home. Buyers for these homes are not looking for a fancy fireplace.

4. He had no contracts or firm quotes from contractors. He let them find as much as they wanted to do and charge him by the hour.

5. He didn't get an inspection. Had he gotten the home inspected, he might have had some idea of how many problems it had, and how much it would take to correct them.

6. He didn't understand the concept of return on investment. Even if buyers liked the fireplace and other features he put into the home, these features probably increased the value less than what they cost.

7. He didn't have enough money or financing lined up. This was a fortunate mistake, perhaps. Since the project was doomed to fail, it may have been good that he ran out of money.

Why not learn from the mistakes of others? As a side note, we selectively put $1,900 into our home there for a total investment (with purchase price and closing costs) of $19,800, and sold it for $28,000 four months after we bought it. We might have been lucky, but we also avoided some common real estate investing mistakes.

Copyright Steve Gillman. For a Free Real Estate Investing Course, visit: http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com.

I am always advised by some of my friends and relatives that I'd better to find a job and spend some time out of home. I really don't know why they advise me to do that while they are not happy with their jobs, getting up early morning everyday, taking the kids to daycare or leaving them with the babysitter and ... . The worst part of their life is the money they make with their full time jobs. The luckiest one can have 10 bucks per hour after paying tax. They also have to pay for gas and other expenses that their cars have every month.

So what advantages does working out of home have for them? Why do they encourage me to do something that they are not happy with it? The advice I always give them is much better. I advise them to stay at home and let their kids grow under their nose. They don't know how pleasant it is when you see your baby takes his first step or says his first word. Most of them are used to hear these news from their babysitters.

You may be a mom or dad with the same issues and problems with your full time job. I don't want to ask you to quit your full time job right away, stay at home and think about working from home. I always try to teach people on my weblog and articles to be broad-minded and not to make any limitation for themselves. They can use their extra time they will have when their kids are slept or at the weekend to find some extra streams of income. Even if you don't need to make any more money and you are happy with your current income but sooner or later you will need some more money. Your children will grow up and there will be many new things that you will have to provide for them. So it does worth if you spend some of the time you are used to spend to take nap or watching TV on finding good ways to create some new streams of income.

But how to get started?

1- First of all please keep in your mind that I do not want to tell you that you will become rich by working from home in a few weeks or even months. In fact you have to avoid all the get rich quick programs. I emphasized on this because I know as soon as people decide to try a working at home business, they turn on their computers, look for a easy work at home job that fits stay at home mothers or dads. It is the time that they can be cheated by scammers. So this is the first thing that you have to take into consideration if you want to work at home and make some extra money.

2- You need to get organized for spending some time on this business every week. This is like other businesses. Only serious and organized people can succeed. If you are a person who starts several businesses and becomes interested in different things but gives up at the first steps or if you become interested in different things just because one of your friends or relatives calls you and talk about it for a few minutes and then you lose your interest even before trying, just because one of your other friends calls you and says she doesn't like it because of this and that, then you have to change yourself before you start a work at home business and become a stay at home mom (or dad).

I have been working from home online for many years. I could achieve to refer 22,000 people to one of the legitimate work at home programs and teach them everything that I knew but only few of them could make money. Not that it was hard to do. It was not hard because I could do it and a lot of other people could do it before me. Just because they were not serious and organized. They had not made a serious decision. This is the most important step. If you decide seriously and then take action and don't give up, you will be able to become a successful stay at home mom who not only enjoys being with her family and children - and of course her children enjoy her presence at home - but can make reasonable amount of money.

3- Improve some of your computer skills. You don't have to be a rocket scientists to work at home but you need to know the basics of computer and internet. When you want to work online and through the internet, you will be dealing with these terms very frequently:

- website
- weblog
- web directory
- email
- link
- search engine
- search engine optimization
- electronic newsletter or ezine
- autoresponder
- forums or discussion boards
- internet marketing
- advertising
- email advertising
- banner and banner advertising
- pay per click advertising and pay per click search engines (PPC)
- joint venture
- link exchange
- domain registration
- web hosting
- auction websites; e.g. eBay

Do not scare if you have not heard about some of the above terms. They are very easy. Soon you will know that working from home and through the internet is much easier than what you thought.

Just open one of the main search engines like Google and enter any of the above terms that you are not familiar with. You don't have to learn in detail. Just the basics is enough for getting started.

4- After improving your knowledge, decide what you want to do to make money. There are zillions of ways to make money from home by using your computer. You will have main options:

- Sell your own products or services
- Sell others' products or services

Don't think that you have to have a factory for having a product which can be sold through the internet. Your product can be very simple things from candle, wooden cross and ... to your articles, cookie recipes and e-books.

It is also as easy as 1, 2, 3 to promote others products and earn commissions. There are thousands of affiliate programs that you can join and become able to promote thousands of different products. Some affiliate programs pay as much as 75% commission to the affiliates.

Good Luck!

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Copyright 2006 Judy Taylor. She is a stay at home mom who has been working from home since 2001. Visit her new weblog: Stay at home mom.

Judy Taylor is a stay at home mom who has been working from home since 2001. She has created a weblog to keep in touch with parents easier: http://i-am-a-stay-at-home-mom.blogspot.com.

The basic style of living that we follow nowadays demands a lot of amenities. Fulfilling these may require some extra money in addition to the regular income. It may seem like a problem when a needful person does not have an asset to pledge. But actually it is no more a hindrance. Low rate unsecured loan solves this problem.

A low rate unsecured loan provides money for any and every purpose of the borrower as it is a personal loan. It can be used for debt consolidation, home improvement, a vacation or educational expenses.

As the name suggests, low rate unsecured loan does not require any collateral for its approval. The borrower can borrow money without pledging any asset with the lender. Inspite of no assets attached to the loan, the lender provides a low interest rate to the borrower.

To apply for the low rate unsecured loan, the borrower has to fulfill some basic requirements like:

* Proof of employment
* Residential proof
* Age proof of over 18 years
* Proof of regular monthly income

With all these details in place, the low rate unsecured loan is approved easily. The approval is a fast process as there is no evaluation of assets required in it. As a low rate unsecured loan, an amount of 1000-25000 can be borrowed. This amount is borrowed for duration of 6 months to 10 years.

Bad credit people also can avail low rate unsecured loan but that is available at a slightly higher rate of interest to make up for the high risk involved in the deal. This rate can be brought down either by proving good repayment ability and also by researching online. Timely repayment can help in improving the credit history of the bad credit borrower.

Low rate unsecured loan can act as a support for people who want to improve their credit history in addition to fulfilling the need for money. A genuine step in this direction can help a borrower achieve contentment.

Andrew Baker has done his masters in finance from CPIT. He is engaged in providing free, professional, and independent advice to the residents of the UK. He works for the UK finance world for any type of loans as low rate unsecured loan, bad credit secured loan, personal loans, cheap secured loan, loans, unsecured loans please visit http://www.ukfinanceworld.co.uk/

One Idea to save money is to not have your wedding on the weekend. Many vendors will offer substantially lower costs because weekdays they are usually free and not booked.

When buying a wedding gown check your local newspaper for slightly used dresses. Shop in bridal outlets they usually will offer substantially lower costs than your local bridal store. Shop consignment stores you can usually find great deals and slightly used dresses. Don't buy a designer dress if you don't have to. Designer dresses will definitely cost you more money and usually you can find similar dresses at a much lower cost than you would a designer dress.

When purchasing your cake try to keep it all the same flavor and keep it simple. Use your own decorations for the cake like fresh cut flowers or pearls. Doing this is minimizing the hand made designs that the baker does which will lower your cost of the cake.

Deciding on video and pictures have a friend with a nice camera usually 4 pixels and up take your pictures. Take your pictures to your local photo lab and edit them yourself or use your computer and add your own effects. This will save you a ton of money. Your video you can do the same. Have a friend with a nice camera and a tripod the tripod is important because you want steady video and have them shoot your wedding.

Have your wedding at home or at a friends house. When you have a wedding at home you do not pay any fees that are associated with renting a hall or ball room. Also you can bring whatever food you would like and you don't have to pay for a bartender if you do not want too.

When deciding on entertainment have a friend with access to the internet download your favorite songs and burn them to a disc and play them at your reception. This will be a huge savings.

When deciding on your wedding accessories such as your flower girl basket you can usually go to a local craft store and purchase a plain basket and decorate it yourself. You can pick up some material while your there and some pillow stuffing and a little needle and thread and make your own ring pillow.

When trying to match all of your colors together go to your local paint store and get a paint card of the colors you are using and take this everywhere you go. This will help you with matching flowers and all of your decorations you are using in your wedding.

If you are having an outdoor wedding have it in the fall. The fall time is the most beautiful weather and most likely not as hot as it would be in the summer time. Also prepare yourself for rain. Have a plan to get the cake and other decorations that are sensitive to rain put up and out of the way.

Do not be afraid to ask for help. Ask groomsmen and bridesmaids to help decorate before the wedding and assign each one of them a couple of simple tasks each. This will save you on decorating and clean up before and after the wedding.

Most of all remember it's your wedding and just enjoy yourself and have a great time.

Yolanda Nash is the owner of http://www.yolandasweddingfavors.com and wedding planner. She enjoys seeing all the different table decorations, flowers and wedding party favors on the wedding day.

In the past I have fallen for the hype and wasted a lot of money because I really did not know what I was doing or did not have the experience and knowledge to put everything together to make an online home business work, so here are some tips to start your own online home business off on the right foot and how to make money online.

When you think about it, having a successful online business means that you will need to own your own domain, which will enable you to alter, add to and change your web site when necessary. You ideally need the opportunity of offering a free newsletter that visitors to your site can subscribe to, so you will require an autoresponder to be installed and a series of follow-up emails will need to be written. You will require products to sell and ideally you need to use companies who ship the goods on your behalf, otherwise you will need to get involved in accepting payments and shipping the goods, which you will have had to purchase first yourself. These are only a few of the basics and one can see that it can be very involved and complicated.

But let us look at what else may be required, just so that you are fully aware of what starting an online home business is all about. Owning your own domain and having access to your source code gives you the freedom to do what you like to your site, which means you have control of your business, but this will require knowledge of html. Internet Marketing is another animal altogether! You need visitors, lots of them, to your site to generate signups and sales, so ideally the online home business opportunity should offer a full training program and a forum where you can go to discuss your business, get assistance and ultimately you can offer help to others.

The ultimate of course is to find a business-in-a-box. This means that your website will come fully set up with the affiliate programs loaded and you will be able to select your own domain name and then be in a position to add any other programs to the site. The all important autoresponder should also be installed and ready to fire off emails to your subscribers, plus you will be able to add more follow-ups to your autoresponder.

You will be able to install a link exchange program to create linking partnerships, a stat counter, add banners or text links, change the colour and design of your site, choose your keywords and optimize your site for the search engines, link your blog to your site, add an article directory, stream fresh content onto your site, upload ebooks, software and more. Literally, you can do whatever you want as you have full control of your own online home business.

You may well be thinking that this is all too complicated and you do not have the knowledge, but that is the great advantage of joining an online program that sets your money making site up for you and with a comprehensive training program in place and an active forum which you can join and actively participate in, you will have all the help you need.

Starting an online home business does not mean that you are going to be generating an income immediately. You need to give yourself time to work through the training, learn and implement all that you can. It is a step-by-step process that takes time but each step you take builds your business. The marketing and advertising of a web site needs consistent, ongoing work, as you need to build momentum to ensure that your money making site is visible to as many people as possible.

If you have decided to start your own online home business you are in for an exciting time. You will experience frustrations and setbacks, but these can be overcome with the support and backup. The secret is just to press on and never quit. Remember, Rome was not built in a day. The learning curve may be steep, but work hard and have fun and once the momentum kicks in with your marketing and advertising you will start to make money online and reap the rewards of all the hard work you have put in.

Cynthia Minnaar works from home online and invites you to visit http://www.cyns-home-biz.com for ways to generate income online. Visit http://www.cyns-home-biz.com/pips.html to start your own online home business with a money making site complete with 400 day pre-written email autoresponder campaign.

Being an aspiring and even a published author is not nearly as lucrative as you had hoped. It takes time and investment, mostly yours, to build a fan base and promote your name and your work. While you are busy planning, promoting and writing, you may have overlooked one very important money making opportunity. Every year, people throw millions away because they just dont know any better. And who are they paying? Uncle Sam. Thats right, knowing the tax rules and how to take advantage them can save you a bundle of money. And that is money that you can re-invest to jump start that writing career of yours! What should you be doing to save everything possible each year related to your writing activities? Im glad you asked.

Business or hobby

Is your writing a business or a hobby? That is the first question that you need to answer. If you are like many people who are aspiring to write for a living, you have a full-time or part-time job that must be maintained until the money begins to roll in from writing. Your writing activities produce little income, but the expense side of the ledger is often full of entries. The result is that your writing activities are costing you money, sometimes lots of money. Is there any way to make that red ink work for you? There certainly is, and heres the key: If you are actively pursuing your writing as a business and expect (eventually) to make a profit, then the net of all that red ink can be used to reduce the money that you earn from your day job. For example, if you earn $40,000 from your regular job and you spend a net of $3,000 promoting and pursuing your writing activities, then you would be able to net the two amounts and pay taxes on only $37,000. In effect, you can fund your writing activities with before-tax dollars, reducing your overall tax bill to Uncle Sam. You dont need to itemize your deductions to take advantage of this opportunity. This reduces your income before you get to your itemized deductions. The key is that you are engaging in a business with the intent to make a profit. Actually making a profit is not required.

If you are writing on a more casual basis, for enjoyment and fulfillment, and you do not expect to earn a profit, the IRS will view your writing activities as a hobby. In that case the losses that you suffer from your writing activities (the net red ink) can not be deducted against other items on your tax return.

Business expenses are deductible against other income you make, hobby costs are deductible only to the extent of the income you make from the activity.

So, you know that you are pursuing your writing dream with every intention that one day you will be a successful and money-making author. How do you show the IRS?

My next article will focus on ways to distinguish between carrying on a business and pursuing a hobby.

James Kavanagh is a CPA and an associate writer for eWritingToday, a site focusing on the writing community and helping writers and authors promote their work. Mr. Kavanagh is also an editor at Seven Sisters Publishing, a small press that focuses on unique ways to support its authors marketing efforts. If you have a completed manuscript that you would like to submit to a press active in supporting you after publication, go to Seven Sisters Publishing . Mr. Kavanagh may be reached at Jkavanagh@7sisterspublishing.com.