Banking
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Bank accounts typcially are not a difficult proposal, but when you venture into something like a sole proprietor LLC bank account it can be a little tricky.
- Each bank may have slightly different requirements, but you will need documents that prove your business is an actual entity.
- Any money that you spend, period, whether or not it is from the initial $1,000 or from your sales revenues, will be eligible for a tax deduction according to IRS rules.
- You’ll most definitely need an EIN and have to provide your Social Security number.File a Schedule C and disregard your entity for income tax purposes.
- Report your business as a sole proprietorship.
- You need to keep your business money separate from your personal money in order to retain your limited liability status
Each state has its own rules, so you will need to research what your state requires.
It is not as much of a chore as it might seem, but hopefully it will all be worth it when your LLC bank account is loaded with your profits.
Written by Nagel on March 23rd, 2007 with no comments.
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When saving to buy a house there are many issues to consider. One is what you do with the money you are saving to buy a house?
The rule of thumb is to put this money into a safe investment vehivle like a money market account or savings account. The logic behind this is that you do not want to be in the stock market and have a correction when you need access to the money. Also, you do not want to invest in anything illiquid or volatile.
Now I have heard stories about those that were saving to buy house buy investing the money they saved. Yes, it turned out well for them and they grew their money that way. However, if you followed that path recently last week’s stock market drop and continued volatily could put your home purchase on hold because your $50,000 has become $45,000 all of the sudden.
It is silly to risk your savings to buy a house because currently there are many online saving account options that offer an APR over 5%. The safety, liquidity and growth really cannot be beat.
Remember that any money you will need to access within the next three years should be in a high yield savings account or money market. It was tough gfor my wife and I to avoid the stock market with this money, but we did it. And near the end each month we were seeing a big chunck of interest being deposited into our account.
Written by Nagel on March 19th, 2007 with 1 comment.
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Bouncing checks? You are not alone. Now you know you need to be careful when paying with a checking account. However, ignoring your overdrawn checking account will only lead to further problems. One one-time bank fee left unpaid can swell into a charge you can no longer afford. You do not want to left this gone without addressing because it will only get worse. Your overdrawn checking account morphs into a closed checking account then an 800 credit score or even a 720 credit score become sub-prime credit. That is not what you want because it will be more difficult to get credit and you will receive a higher interest rate on the money you borrow.
Tips to avoid an overdrawn checking account:
- Enter every transaction into your checkbook register, even direct debits. Be detailed with dates, checks, debit card purchases, deposits, automatic or preauthorized withdrawals or deposits and ATM withdrawals. Keep a running total of the balance of available funds–if you lose track call your bank’s 800# to find out your standing.
- Make sure there is always at least a couple hundred dollars for an account buffer. Your checking account gets low: you are still ok.
- Protect your account by signing up for overdraft protection either from a savings account.
- ATMs are not a cash machine in the sense of making money, though many treat them that way. Don’t withdraw money you do not have!
Written by Nagel on March 11th, 2007 with no comments.
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As you know I have had issues with Everbank since I signed up for the account a few months back. The saga continues . . . I have literally been trying to get my wife put on my checking account (the original paperwork I filled out had her on it, but they did not register the account that way) for 2 months. It is simply ridiculous. I blew a gasket as during this process I have been alerting them that my wife will need a ATM/Debit card, but now I was alerted via email that she needs to fill out a request form. Instead of getting up with a customer service rep over the phone I decided to vent through email. I explained the situation in full for the 10th time and said I was very disappointed in their inability to get us the correct information consistently. I told them this was basically their last chance. If this was fumbled my wife and I would take our business elsewhere (back to Netbank). I signed up for the account because of the teaser intro rate of 6.01% APR and we have done well by this. I am truly hoping after all of this is settled we will not to contact them again on any consistent rate. We shall see.
Written by Nagel on March 8th, 2007 with no comments.
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Many people want to learn more on personal finance and investing, but do not know where to start. Websites like this one and other personal finance sites are great tools. I also wanted to let you know of other resources available to get you up-to-speed on a wide variety of financial topics.
I would recommend watching Mad Money for investing. He is one of the few who will go step-by-step to help you invest smarter. This can buttress a general investing education you can get from doing some homework. Obviously, there are loads of investing books so look around and see what others have to say about it.
These are from from the only options available. You can easily go to Kiplinger, Money, Smartmoney, Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance, etc. These are all informative and can hold your hand until you get the hang of certain topics you might not have mastered yet.
These are great personal finance education websites to start. Ask around and get people’s opinions on what sources to use. I would recommend using as many reliable sources as possible. It is not easy, but we all want to do better with our money.
Written by Nagel on March 4th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Banking and Budgeting and Credit Cards and Healthcare and Household and How To and Insurance and Investing and Real Estate and Retirement and Stock Market and Stocks and Taxes.
Although I do not recommend still writing a lot of personal checks Clear Checkbook is a source to keep track of all your transactions.
You should automate so you do not need to remember to:
- write a check
- get postage stamps
- send the check on time
Money Musings interview with the founder of Clear Checkbook:
Written by Nagel on March 1st, 2007 with no comments.
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I spoke a couple months back about opening a savings account with E-LOAN. Unlike my dealings with Everbank, E-LOAN has been smooth sailing so far. When I opened the account I deposited the minimum amount of $5,000. So far I have made over $42 in interest on that $5,000 deposit. Their 5.50% APY outstrips all other savings accounts (online or brick-and-mortar) I have looked in to as well as money market accounts. Once we finish our kitchen rehab we will begin depositing more money into this account.
I have had no problems with E-LOAN so far, but I guess there has not been much for them to screw up. Speaking of which, on Saturday I checked my Everbank checking account and I noticed a check was debited from my checking account. It was for $3,280 and I do not remember writing a check for this amount. Moreover, my records reflect that this check was voided to fulfill a requirement to set up a direct deposit for my wife’s work. I wrote VOID on the signature line and on the middle of the check. I hope my records are incorrect. I called Everbank and they said they could not do anything until Monday. I was not happy with that solution because I thought they could at least start an inquiry into the validity of the check. Needless to say, if this turns out to be fraudulent and Everbank does not correct this problem I will be leaving Everbank–their customer service has been ok at times, but the lack of information as well as the incorrect information has caused a lot of heartburn so far. We will know more soon.
Written by Nagel on February 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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Last year I began the process of opening a checking account with Everbank because I was enticed by their 6.01% introductory APR. The process has been tedious in many ways. A couple weeks back everything seemed to be corrected, but I noticed my wife’s name was not on the account when I received their checks in the mail without her name; her information was on the checking account application.
This has started another round of back-and-forth with Everbank that I have been assured is now being addressed. My wife had to provide of a copy of her social security card, proof of address and other forms of identification. The first attempt we had foillowed Everbank’s directions, but later I received an email from them saying it was insufficient information. Obviously, this has been a pain, but once her name is on the account we will move forward. I do not expect further issues, but if they arise I might have to pull the account. It will be another ugly process, but sometimes you have to vote with your checking account. I had problems with Netbank when I first started my account, but things calmed down after the initial set-up stage. I hope this is the same case with Everbank.
Written by Nagel on February 1st, 2007 with no comments.
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If you are sick and tired of paying fees to withdraw cash from an ATM there are ways around it.
- When you buy groceries at a supermarket get cash back–it’s free and you can get up to $100 sometimes.
- Only withdrawal cash from you bank’s ATM
- Find a bank that allows free ATM withdrawals from any ATM
Written by mike on May 6th, 2006 with no comments.
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Let’s say you have saved up some cash and you need it to be in a safe place in case of emergency or you are accumulating money for a large purchase and do not want the value to fluctuate dramatically. This money that you know you will need for one reason or another and you should not invest in the stock market because if it tanks in the meantime you will have less money than you started with.
www.hbscdirect.com, www.emigrantdirect.com, and www.ingdirect.com are some of the most popular online saving account providers. Often you will see commercials on television for their services.
Some offer a better savings rate than www.ingdirect.com, but I feel that the customer service aspect is really worth the lower savings rate. The customer service for other providers will not match ING and they have built a loyal following, myself included. My wife and I are saving money for a home. We could easily put that money in stocks and hope for the best, but we know it is wisest to put it in a place like ING and watch it grow why we wait to purchase a home. Setting up an account is a breeze and if you have any issues while doing it online you can call up ptheir customer service and they will walk you through it. So if you do not care about customer service the other savings account providers that offer a higher percentage rate might be your answer. However, if you are a little hestitant and not 100% sure of yourself and like to you a knowledgeable person to help you www.ingdirect.com might be your answer.
Written by mike on April 21st, 2006 with no comments.
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