Ways to Increase Income

Living frugally is important but not sufficient to building wealth.Increasing income above maintenance levels is a important element for building wealth. Here are some ways that I've found to be successful for increasing income.

More jobs.  The simplest way is to work at more jobs.   A second job will increase income by a factor of the hourly rate times the hours worked.  The challenge is the extra time worked takes away from personal time and there are only 168 hours in a week.  There is a limit as to how many more jobs that can be worked.

An alternate way is to work overtime in a current job.  This option is not always available.

More responsibility.   Getting promoted is another approach.  Typically, the higher level or higher skilled job title will provide a higher pay rate.   Moving to higher pay grades requires demonstration of capability prior to being promoted to the new level.

More sources.  Working a job is one way to acquire income.  Other ways include investments (stocks and bonds),  CDs,   rental property, or collectibles.    While these sources don't require constant attention, they do require some minimal level of work to create positive income.

Before retiring, getting promoted was the most effective way to increase income for me. Investments were a good source of supplemental income, but not sufficient to support our lifestyle. Now that I'm retired, I work additional part time jobs when I want to increase our income in the short term.

For more on  The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every  Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or earning advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Links to Carnivals from February 21 - 27, 2012

Here are the links to the Carnivals in which My Wealth Builder participated from February 21 - 27, 2012:

The Wealth Builder Carnival #67

Road to Financial Independence #40

Baby Boomers Blog Carnival #132

Carnival of Financial Planning #225

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #68

Welcome to the sixty-eighth edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

Earning

Jon Rhodes presents How To Make Money From Your Hobbies posted at Affiliate Help!, saying, "This article shows you the benefits of earning money through your hobbies. There are also some suggestions how how you can achieve this."

Insuring and Protecting

Joe Morgan presents Save Money on Insurance – Skip These Insurance Policies You Don’t Need! posted at Simple Debt-Free Finance, saying, "Some insurance policies are a waste of money, and some are essential. The trick is knowing which is which. Here's a quick guide to some of the most unnecessary insurance policies available."

Liana presents Chargeback Policy Report posted at CardHub.com, saying, "What happens when you disagree with a charge on your credit card? Find out how networks and issuers may respond to some common “chargeback” scenarios and see which credit card companies were found best for customers when disputing charges!"

Dr. Dean presents Giving Credit Card Info To Social Media? Come on! posted at Dr. Dean's TheMillionaireNurse.com Blog, saying, "Around the corner is a marketing explosion that will allow us to shop while visiting our favorite social media site. It’s going to happen. Is it a good idea?"

Investing

Dividends4Life presents 11 High Yield Utilities With A History Of Growing Dividends posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "It is human nature to want to jump on the what's hot bandwagon and ignore what is considered boring. Long considered the domain for “widows and orphans”, utilities have developed a somewhat stodgy reputation. Why are utilities considered good for widows and orphans? Here a few reasons:"

The Passive Income Earner presents How To Review Your Portfolio posted at The Passive Income Earner, saying, "Everyone needs to review their portfolio and having a process to do so is important to take actions at the appropriate time."

Living Frugally

Super Saver presents Surviving the Great Recession posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "The Great Recession has truly been a test of economic survival capability. Here are some of the actions we took and how they helped us survive so far."

Retiring

Theresa Torres presents Is Your Military Pension Enough to Retire On? posted at Retired Pay World, saying, "If you're a career military person, here are some facts about your military retirement money as well as some tips on how you can stretch your military pension so that you can make the most of it in your retirement years."

Taxes

Bill Smith presents Best iPhone Apps to Help You with Your Taxes posted at 2012 Taxes - Free Tax Filing Options, saying, "Once again it’s the most boring and stressful season of all: tax season."


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Finding Customers is Job One

My dream of being self employed was being able to focus on what I love to do best.  I soon learned that my view of self employment was not correct.  The number one job of the self employed or small business owner is finding customers, otherwise known as marketing.

No matter how good the product, service or company is, it won't be successful unless people know about it and purchase it.  In my younger days, I always imagined that if I had a great product or service, customers would be beating a path to my door.  Ah...if it were only so easy.

Here's a great example.   One of my part time jobs was working for a franchise.  The workers were doing an excellent job.  The franchise was consistently in the top 100 revenue producing stores, but didn't change ranking very much.  The franchise then changed owners.  The new owner had no expertise in the actual work of the business.  He delegated that work to a general manager.  The new owner made finding new customers his primary job.  The franchise is now in the top 5 of revenue producing stores.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday  for a new segment.


This is not financial or business advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Making Tax Refunds Harder to Get

In addition to Federal and State income taxes, my state has a city income tax.   It used be relatively simple to get a refund when taxes were over withheld for a city.  The taxpayer would file a non resident return with some details explaining the over withholding and get a refund check for the amount in the mail, usually, with no questions asked.

In the past two year, the process has become more laborious as the local tax offices are doing more reviews and sometimes incorrectly refusing the refund.   I suspect this is due to the decline in tax revenue and each tax office is trying to keep more of the revenue received.   In stories I have heard, the tax office has been the one in error.

City #1.   In the past, a taxpayer could file non-resident returns with a detailed letter explaining days out of office instead of using the city's adjustment form, some   Recently, the tax office started refusing the refunds because the city's  "official" form was not used.    

City #2.   To minimize the amount of taxes owed, a taxpayer would estimate the amount of days that would be worked in a city and had that amount of taxes withheld.  In previous years, the taxpayer would reconcile the actual days worked (and salary earned) and file for a refund or pay additional taxes.   The city would issue a refund or accept the additional tax based on the tax return.  Recently, the city stopped allowing taxpayers to revise the amount earned downward based on actual days worked in the city.

Since getting money back refunds from city income tax offices is more difficult, my solution is to pay less than the expected taxes and then pay the difference when a tax return is filed. The city income tax office will always accept additional tax payments and that way the city income tax office cannot refuse a refund.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

How the Economy Will Help Obama Get Re-elected

President Obama's re-election campaign will be helped no matter what the economy does.  A better economy will help get Obama re-elected and a worse economy will help Obama get re-elected.  Here's how I see both sides helping Mr. Obama.

Improving economy.  This one is easy.  If the economy gets better, President Obama will claim credit.   Even with the current poor economy, the Obama re-election campaign has published an infographic on how jobs are being created (or saved :-).

Declining economy.  If the economy gets worse, President Obama will continue to blame the previous administration.    The administration will provide more bailouts, unemployment extensions, and other government handouts to unemployed and underemployed voters.   He will make the case that he "deserves" another term since the economy needs more than four years to fix.

I look for the economy to be a non issue in the 2012 campaign. Either way, the economy will benefit President Obama's campaign.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial or political advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Living to 100

11 Health Habits That Will Help You Live To 100 shares eleven traits that centenarians have in common.  The article suggests using acquiring these traits may also extend my life expectancies.  Here are the traits and my assessment of how I'm doing.

	Description of Trait
Category	Centenarian	Personal Experience
Retirement	Stay active after retiring from work	Active
Oral Care	Floss every day	Twice a day
Physical Activity	Exercise	One time a week
Food	Fiber rich breakfast	Varies
Sleep	More than 6 hours	Over 6 hours
Vitamins	Eat whole foods	Food and supplements
Mindset	Low worry, low stress	Medium worry and medium stress
Body Care	Don't abuse body (e.g. smoking)	Don't abuse body
Routines	Keeps routines and habits	Many routines and habits
Social Contacts	Stay connected	Medium connections
Life Approach	Prudent, persistent and well organized	Prudent, persistent and somewhat organized

Overall, I feel am doing pretty well, with some areas that can use improvements.  For more research on characteristics correlated with longevity see Life Extending Habits.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday  for a new segment.

This is not financial or health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Imparting Wisdom

"Good decisions come from good judgement.  Good judgement comes from experience.  Experience comes from bad judgement." ~ paraphrase from new hiring training in Liars Poker.


I enjoy watching my  daughter learn and grow up.  She loves to be doing things that older children and adults do.   She is learning what she is capable of doing and she is motivated to try some new things.  Occasionally, she will venture into activities or areas that she shouldn't try yet.

I know my seven year old daughter often wonders how I know what she's been up to or how I can guess what she's thinking.   She still hasn't figure out that I once had the mind of a seven year old boy.   (Some might claim that I still do :-)   Simply, I've been there and done that and my daughter actions will remind me of what I did next.   So I can sometimes anticipate the next action she is considering and help her make a good decision.

At seven, my daughter still gives me some credit for knowing a little bit more than her.  She will listen to coaching tips for most areas, but generally not in math homework.  So my experience does benefit her

The same phenomenon happens also for the college students and young professionals with whom I work.   By that age, some of the individuals no longer believe that my experience is relevant to their situation.   After all, it's been over 30 years since I was in their situation.  In fact, some individuals feel they are already far better prepared than those that preceded them.  So I don't provide unsolicited guidance to people in this age group.

However, for those that ask, I am always willing to provide my perspective.


For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a  new segment.

This is not financial or parenting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Roth IRA Contributions for Higher Income Individuals

In 2010, Congress removed the income limitation to do a conversion to a Roth IRA.  This created a loophole for high income people unable to make Roth IRA contributions due to income limitations.   These people could now open a Roth IRA account via a two step process: make a non-deductible contribution to a traditional IRA and convert the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.  In certain cases, the Roth conversion may even be tax free.

According to the IRS tables, in 2012 Single taxpayers making over $125,000 and Married Filing Joint taxpayers making over $183,000 are not eligible to make a contribution to a Roth IRA.  Here's how these taxpayers could contribute to a Roth IRA  for the 2012 tax year.

Contribute to a Traditional IRA.  Make a contribution to a traditional IRA in 2012.  Everyone with wage income can contribute up to their earned income or $10,000 ($11,000 for 50 and older), which ever is lower.   High wage earners can make a non-deductible (after tax) contribution to a traditional IRA. 

Convert to a Roth IRA.  In 2012,  convert the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.  Taxes will be owed on the contributions that were previously deductible or rolled over from a 401K plan.  The IRS won't allow taxpayers to cherry pick and roll over only the non-deductible (basis) portion.   The taxpayer's entire amounts in all IRA will need to be included.   However, if the 2012 contribution is the only IRA the taxpayer has, most if not all of the conversion will be not taxed since only the earnings above the contribution will be taxed.

File form 8606.  For the taxpayer's 2012 tax return, file form 8606 to inform the IRS that a Roth conversion has been done.

After completing these steps, a taxpayer will have a Roth IRA even though he was above the income threshhold to contribute directly to a Roth IRA in 2012.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, tax, or retirement saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Links to Carnivals from February 6 - 20, 2012

Here are the links to the Carnivals in which My Wealth Builder participated from February 6 -20, 2012:

Baby Boomers Blog Carnival #131

Carnival of Financial Planning #224

The Wealth Builder Carnival #66

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #67

Welcome to the sixty-seventh edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

Earning

John presents College and Future Earnings: What’s the Connection? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, "School for school's sake, not necessarily the best way to plan for your financial future. Look at the overall picture first, then pick the path to success that is right for you!"

Jon Rhodes presents Can You Handle Money Success? posted at Affiliate Help!, saying, "Suppose all your financial plans have come to fruition. Can you really handle this new lifestyle you have worked so long and hard to acquire?"

Investing

Dividends4Life presents 20 Dividend Stocks Giving Shareholders A Raise posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Dividend stocks are sometimes referred to as defensive stocks since many investors flee to them in an economic downturn. Their dividends, if sustainable, provide a minimum level of positive return. This cushions the downward pressure from the market. Better yet, great dividend companies not only sustain their dividends in a downturn - they actually raise them."

Dr. Dean presents Can You “Like” This Post: On Facebook? posted at Dr. Dean's TheMillionaireNurse.com Blog, saying, "You may already have shares of Facebook in your mutual fund or retirement account. Will you be rich when they finally go public? Read on-but don’t buy that Lexus, yet!"

Living Frugally

Paul Vachon presents Personal Finance for College Graduates posted at The Frugal Toad, saying, "Graduating college is an exciting time in your life. You are finally on your own and facing many important decisions such as what career path to choose or where to relocate. Decisions made now can have a big impact on your potential income and living expenses. If I could offer one piece of personal finance advice to a new college graduate it would be to start saving money as soon as possible. Here are several other tips to get you on the road to financial success."

Theresa Torres presents Getting the Best Workout on a Shoestring Budget posted at Muscle Building Daily, saying, "You don't need to break the bank to get in good shape. Here are some suggestions to guide you in the right direction to keeping fit and healthy."

Retiring

Super Saver presents Ten Worst States for Retirees posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "Here is a list of the ten worst states in which to retire posted at TopRetirements.com."

Taxes

Bill Smith presents The Relationship Between Capital Gains And Economic Growth posted at 2012 Taxes - Free Tax Filing Options, saying, "Find Out whether or not lower taxes on capital gains promote economic growth."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Reducing Bread and No Eating After Dinner is Working

My weight reduction strategies of Cutting Back on Bread and No Eating After Dinner  seem to be working.  I've lost about 2% since starting about 2 weeks ago. This is a significant change, since I gained about 5% up through September 2011 after I Made my College Freshmen Weight in May 2011.  The best part about this "diet" is that I don't feel like I'm dieting...yet. 

Reducing my bread intake was easy once I found out that two slices of bread was equal to about 10% of the daily requirement of sodium.  I have been avoiding adding salt to my food since I know many processed foods have a high level of salt.  However, I didn't realized I was getting so much sodium from bread, which doesn't even taste salty.   

Stopping eating after dinner required a little more discipline.  However, each night I'm motivated by the knowledge that I will be able to eat a big breakfast the next day.  As a result, I get up early and energized since I'm hungry.  For reference, I've been eating a large salad for breakfast on most days :-)

My next step is to add an increased level of exercise once the weather warms up a bit.  My plan is to get back into a at least three times per week jogging schedule.

I expect that I will be able to maintain this diet because I am only following it for meals at home.  I'm allowing myself to deviate from the restrictions when eating out and on vacations.  Since I am not completely eliminating bread and eating late from my diet, I won't be tempted to abandon this diet...I think :-)
For more on Strategies and Plans Ideas, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Expect More Unnecessary Government Intervention

"I'm a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more." ~ President Barack Obama 2012 State of the Union Address

No surprise, I agree with President Obama on this point, with one important difference. President Obama believes the government can do everything better than people can and I believe that people can do most things better for themselves. 

The Obama administration wants to be involved in many things that people could do for themselves.  For example, in January 2014, individuals will have to purchase health care insurance or pay a fine of up to 1% (rising to 2.5% in 2016) of income, with a $2085 family limit. In January 2011, the manufacture of incandescent light bulbs began phasing out because consumers were not buying the higher efficiency light bulbs that cost more. Recently, the government has effectively eliminated the majority of tax refund loans on the premise that the IRS would shorten refund times.

In contrast, I think the people should have the freedom to choose what to do when it doesn't impact another  person's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  People should be able to choose how to pay for their health care including whether or not to have health insurance. ( I have health insurance coverage.)  People should be able to choose whether to buy an incandescent, CFL or LED bulb.  (I prefer incandescent bulbs.)  People should be allowed to get a tax refund loan.  ( I avoid short term loans due to the high interest.)

However, based on President Obama's statement, I expect the Federal government to take a greater role in doing more things for people that I think we can do for ourselves.  I wouldn't be surprised if we were all required to buy GM cars in the future :-)

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or policy advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Where's My Refund?

"Get used to disappointment." ~ man in black in The Princess Bride

Over the past couple of years, the U.S. government has been slowly eliminating the Rapid Refund loans that used to be prevalent in the tax return preparation industry.  The loans enabled taxpayers to get the majority of their refund immediately, but for the cost of fees and interest that often exceeded 36%  APR.  Last year, a couple major tax preparation companies reduced or eliminated Rapid Refund loans due to government intervention.  This year, more companies have eliminated the offering.

The reason the government got involved was to protect the consumer.   First, the government wanted to address the issue of high interest rates charged to get money 1-2 weeks earlier.  Second, the IRS expected to be able to reduce refund times to less than a week, perhaps even 2-3 days with a new e-file process, although the expected time was still 8-15 days this year.   The government's logic was that the government could do something better than private industry could and therefore, the government got involved.

So how has this change worked out this year?

The new process has been a small disaster.   Instead of meeting the typical 8-15 day refund time period, tax refunds are now taking 10-21 days (which the IRS is notes is the historical range).   In some cases, the Where's My Refund Tool  is giving incorrect information, such as the IRS "has no information" on an individual's return.

It is not surprising that this "glitch" by the IRS is causing anxiety among some taxpayers.  This article describes taxpayers that were counting on their timely refund to make necessary payments.  Now they need to deal with the potential late bill payment issues.

I am definitely personally against using Rapid Refund loans. To me, using short term loans is not a good financial practice.  However, I am even more against the government legislating away a service that doesn't have legal, moral or ethical issues.  Instead of legislating away Rapid Refund loans, I would have liked the government to simply eliminate Rapid Refund loans through simple free market competition.  If the IRS could reliably reduce refund times to 2-3 days (very reasonable in today's digital world), more taxpayers would likely move to a 2-3 day refund instead of paying Rapid Refund fees.

However, competing in a free market environment is not an approach the government seems to use.  Legislating away competition is the typical operational method.  As the government takes over more (formerly private) services, expect to get used to disappointment.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Making Every Moment Count

"If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."  ~ Steve Jobs

Recently, a former boss at the company from which I retired was killed in a biking accident. He was about my age but had started working later since he had a PhD.  So he had been with the company 27 years He had everything going for him.  He was a vice-president in a Fortune 100 company.  He was physically fit, regularly competing with athletes 10 to 20 years younger. He had a great future ahead of him.

It all ended one morning as he was riding his bicycle to work   He was struck by a truck and died two days later from severe brain trauma. 

However, based on my experience working with him, he probably didn't have any regrets.  He always put his family first.   He would work 8 hour days and leave the office.  He took vacations. He took care of himself and stayed in shape.  He was one of the few people I knew that had achieved work/life balance. 

Although I lost touch, except for a LinkedIn connection, with him after I retired,  I will definitely miss him.   He was truly some one that made every moment count.

For more on  Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial, career or lifestyle advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Working with College Students

In my 2011 temporary full time job, I did  a significant amount of work with college student volunteers with majors that qualified them for my professional field.  I was very impressed with the quality of ideas and work of the students.  I was also very impressed with the commitment to the work needed by our non-profit. 

In addition, I enjoyed having career conversations, offering my perspective on being successful and helping them prepare for upcoming job interviews. It brought back memories of my youthful experiences over 30 years ago.  If I only knew then what I know now :-)  Hopefully, my conversations were able to transfer some of the wisdom from my experiences to them.
 
For more on  Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.
This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Deal with IRS Notices Immediately

When ever I get an IRS notice, I deal with it right away.  Procrastination doesn't work with the IRS, even when one is right.  When one doesn't respond or make payment, the IRS assumes noncompliance and escalates the matter with a second notice, then penalties and interests, and finally a collection agency.  Once the issue is passed to a collection agency, there isn't an opportunity to resolve the original issue.

Here's what I've learned about IRS notices.

The IRS can be wrong.  In my experience, I estimate the IRS notice is incorrect or missing information about 60% of the time.  In these cases, gathering the necessary information and sending a copy to the IRS will resolve the issue.

Information request.   Sometimes the IRS is just asking for documents to support deductions or credits taken on a tax return.  For example, a colleague of mine received a request for charitable contribution receipts.  He immediately made copies of his receipts and mailed them.   If he had ignored the request, the IRS would have eventually denied his deductions and sent him a bill for taxes owed.

Use the provided phone number.  The notice will provide a reference number, contact number and sometimes a contact name.   Use these contacts instead of calling the general IRS number.   These allow the taxpayer to make quick contact with the IRS to resolve the issue. 

Personally, I have received four IRS notices.   The first was a notices of an increased refund due to a math error I made.  (Bonus:-).  No response was needed.   The second was a notice that my mom's tax return was not signed and the refund was denied.  Once we faxed the IRS contact a power of attorney signed copy, the return was approved as is and the refund was sent.   The third notice was a confirmation of an additional refund from an amended return.  I was surprised to receive multiple notices, called to confirm, and found out the IRS sends a notice to confirm revisions made to each section.  Again, no response was needed.  The last notice I received was for the non-profit at which I worked.  Unfortunately, I did not get the notice until several months after the first notice was sent.   The IRS has already assessed penalties for not responding. However, with several calls to the contact number, I was able to explain what had happened (original notice mailed to wrong address) and find out what was need to eliminate the penalty.   The non-profit filed the necessary paperwork and the penalty was removed.

Finally, when the IRS is correct in assessing more taxes (e.g. missed reporting income from a W-2), one can just pay what is owed and the matter is resolved.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #66

Welcome to the sixty-sixth edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

misst presents How Anyone Can Create Passive Income posted at Prairie Eco-Thrifter, saying, "Typically, passive income is portrayed as a device for the rich to get richer. Those that have the money invest in passive investments such as rental units, property, big businesses, or large amounts of stocks that yield dividends. Each one of these investments can provide an excellent income with very little amounts of work, but they also need a large amount of up-front cash! So, how in the world do average Joes begin to earn a passive income?"

Super Saver presents My Career Turning Point posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "The first twelve years of my career were mediocre at best. I was doing good work and I had advanced the required one level to maintain employment. I was definitely a journeyman. Four years later, I was promoted to a first line manager. Three years after that I was promoted to the next level, which was part of the top 5% of our organization, and. I was able to take early retirement from this position seven years later. Here's what I changed."

Investing

Dividends4Life presents 24 Stocks Growing Their Cash Dividends posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Dividend growth investing in its classic form focuses on identifying solid companies with a long record of growing their dividends each year; and an expectation that they will continue to do so into the future. The focus is not solely on yield but a combination of yield and dividend growth. Often it is the lower yield, higher growth, security that will provide the best return over time."

Dividend Growth Investor presents Dividend investing for monthly income posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, "Many novice investors are focusing on stocks that pay monthly dividends. However, by laddering dividend stocks with different payout dates, investors can generate a dividend stream of income every month."

Living Frugally

Dr. Dean presents A Valentine’s Day: Make A Choice! posted at Dr. Dean's TheMillionaireNurse.com Blog, saying, "Just like Christmas, it’s easy to let commercialization and materialism ruin a beautiful idea. Don’t stress your relationship over this over-hyped holiday. Now-go make love not war!"

Saving

Paul Vachon presents Key to Saving Money is Controlling Impulse Spending posted at The Frugal Toad, saying, "Have you gone to the grocery store for milk and eggs and come home with steak and eggs? Have you ever been tempted to buy something just because it was on sale? Impulse spending can wreck your finances and is a major reason why most people have difficulty saving money. Learning why you buy on impulse can be the key to saving more money."

Taxes

Jessica Bird presents How CO2 Affects The Cost Of Your Car Tax posted at CarTaxBands.org, saying, "The amount of pollution that your car emits can have an affect on how much tax you pay. This article shows you how to find out what the CO2 emissions are on a car."

John presents Do You Have to Pay Taxes on Your Rewards? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, "A-tisket, A-tasket, a green and yellow basket Citi sent a letter in the mailt hat links rewards to taxes…With the issuance of 1099 forms to it's customers, Citi brought forward the big question--are rewards taxable or not? Can it be that it's not just for fun and games any more?"

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

No Eating After Dinner

One of my goals is to get down to my starting college weight, which is a 10% loss from my weight at retirement..  Although I have achieve the weight twice, I haven't been able to maintain it.  Typically, I will hold the weight for about a week and then regain about 2-3% of the weight lost.

Although I've used a number of strategies for losing and maintaining my weight, there is still one I haven't done:  not eating after dinner.   This has a few benefits.  I am not eating for about14 hours (6PM to 8AM) and therefore, will be using calories stored in my body.  I go to bed earlier because I'm not snacking and feel tired.  I get up earlier because I am hungry and can't wait to eat a big breakfast.

I've been doing this for about a week and I've lost about 1% of my weight.   It also feels like this approach is sustainable.   So I'm going try this approach for the rest of February and check my results.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday  for a new segment.

This is not financial, health or weight loss advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Cutting Back on Bread

Bread is one of my favorite foods. I love sandwiches and dinner rolls.  However, I just read about bread being the number one source of sodium in a typical diet.  Snack foods, such as potato chips, actually ranked 10th.

I've always been careful with salt.  My principle is to never add salt since I already get enough sodium in processed foods.  However, I didn't realize how much.  A slice of bread can contain 80 to 230 mg of sodium with the daily recommended maximum being 2350 mg.  So four slices of bread could use up 10-40% of the recommended maximum.   Unfortunately, cold cuts and pizza, two of my other favorites, were second and third on the list.

So starting today, I'm cutting back on bread when eating at home.  Tonight, we ate hamburgers without bread by sandwiching the meat between two large leaves of lettuce.  I will continue to limit the amount of bread the rest of the week and determine if I can get to a very low bread diet at home.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Extended Low Interest Rates - Another Bubble or Deflation?

In January 2012, the Fed announced that it would maintain near zero interest rates until 2014. So how will low interest rates affect the economy.  There are two possible scenarios based on recent history

1. Bubble. The first scenario is a repeat of what has already happened in the U.S. When the Fed began by lowering interest for Y2K, the economy experienced a tech stock market bubble and then a housing market bubble.  Based on this experience,  the current low interest rates could be expected to lead to another bubble.
2. Deflation.  The second scenario is a repeat of what happened Japan. Despite the reduction of interest rates by the Bank of Japan, people didn't spend more nor did banks lend more.  Thus, there was reduction in the velocity of money and a contraction in the money supply.

I'm torn between the two scenarios.  While low interest rates have led to asset bubbles previously, credit is very tight despite the low interest rates.  And the average consumer is saving more instead of spending more. At this point, a good hedge would be to own commodities/hard assets and cash.  That way one could benefit from either scenario :-)
For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment. 

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Ten Worst States for Retirees

Here is a list of the ten worst states in which to retire posted at TopRetirements.com.

1. Connecticut
2. Illinois
3. Rhode Island
4. Vermont
5. Massachusetts
6. New Jersey
7. Minnesota
8. New York
9. Maine
10. Wisconsin

The criteria used were state fiscal health, taxes, cost of living and climate.  It's interesting that many of the states are located in the Northeast.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday for a new segment.
This is not financial or retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Transition from Young to Old

One way I think about aging is a continuum of potential and capability.   A newborn baby is 100% potential.  He has the potential to become or do anything in the future.  However, he has 0% capability since he is unable to do anything productive yet.  As he gets older, potential will decline as he shows preferences and dislikes.  On the positive side, he will also develop new capabilities.

To me,  aging is the transition of potential from 100% to 0% or a transition of capability from 0% to 100%.  Being old is having low potential and high capability, being good at some things but not being able to expand. Being really old is having no potential and only having capability, which may start declining.

My key to staying "young" is to have an attitude of  keeping my potential relatively high (versus peers), and preventing declines in capability.   As my daughter once showed me, looking forward to the "new ones" can be a way to maintain a youthful perspective.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial or aging advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Cavalcade of Risk Sesquicentennial

Welcome to the 150th edition of the Cavalcade of Risk. As the name indicates, this Carnival is about risk - e.g. insurance, health, financial, and other types. Thank you to all bloggers who submitted a post to this Cavalcade. I enjoyed reading each one. While every post was a great article, I selected only those primarily related to risk.

Barbara Friedberg presents WHAT'S THE BEST AGE AT WHICH TO EXPERIENCE A STOCK MARKET CRASH posted at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance. A fascinating look at the impact on your portfolio of a stock market crash. The risk varies depending upon the age at which you experience the crash. Rob Bennett wrote this thought provoking guest article.

Emily presents The Costa Concordia Tragedy and the Need for Travel Insurance posted at PT Money Personal Finance. Emily uses the cruise ship tragedy as a springboard for a discussion on the necessity of travel insurance.

Thomas Jensen presents Top 10 Myths About Life Insurance posted at Penge Snak!. Life insurance is among the most misunderstood financial concepts out there. But when you break it down to its components, it’s not that complicated at all: Life insurance just replaces the future income of the people in the risk pool who don’t make it to life expectancy. They do that by taking their premiums and saving it on their behalf – paying claims and investing the difference. This post explores the top ten myths about life insurance.

Henry Stern, LUTCF, CBC presents Can you hear the risk? posted at InsureBlog. InsureBlog's Henry Stern explains why the risk of getting hit by a car -- as a pedestrian wearing ear buds -- may be overblown.

Echo presents Health And Dental Insurance: Not Really Insurance posted at Boomer & Echo. Our health and dental insurance plans aren't really insurance - they're just benefits. Insurance is intended to cover catastrophic financial loss.

Jared Wade presents The Risks of Social Media: Developing a Social Media Crisis Response Plan posted at Risk Management Monitor. Social Media Influence highlights the recent bad press Carnival Cruises and McDonalds have received. Fortunately, they also have some advice for companies who suffer such a fate. Enter the social media crisis response plan. They have created a flow chart to help guide your decision making after the worst occurs.

Jaan Sidorov presents A Thousand Dollars Says Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel Is Wrong About The Long Term Prospects Of ACOs posted at The Disease Management Care Blog. Dr. Jaan Sidorov wants to bet former White House golden boy Ezekiel Emanuel MD that he is wrong about the future of U.S. health insurance. Writing in the New York Times, Dr. Emanuel predicts "accountable care organizations" will drive health insurers out of business. Dr. Sidorov draws on the published medical evidence and demolishes all of Dr. Emanuel's assumptions. While Dr. Sidorov wonders why his challenge hasn't been answered, he's not surprised that the White House is in such deep trouble over health reform.... not with advisors like Dr. Emanuel!

Jason Shafrin presents Does Obamacare Limit Profits for Health Insurance Companies in Your State? posted at Healthcare Economist. One of the provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a ACA, a.k.a. Health Reform, a.k.a. Obamacare) is that it limits the profits of health insurance companies. Even though this is a national law, it may not be applied in your state. The Healthcare Economist investigates.

Nancy Germond presents Beware of Pumping and Pedaling posted at Insurance Writer. If you knew what some women are doing behind the wheel, you'd be very, very scared.

Louise Norris presents Retiree-Only Health Insurance Plans and the ACA posted at Colorado Health Insurance Insider. I don’t know what percentage of the population is covered by retiree-only health plans, but it seems that group might be more likely than others to have children who are young adults. I’m sure Sandy and her husband aren’t the only parents to have found out that the ACA doesn’t apply to their retiree-only health plan.

This concludes the 150th edition of the Cavalcade of Risk. The next edition will be hosted at Insurance Regulatory Law.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance , check back every Wednesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or risk advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Links to Carnivals from January 31, 2011 to February 6, 2012

Here are the links to the Carnivals in which My Wealth Builder participated from January 31 to February 6, 2012:

Baby Boomers Blog Carnival #129

Carnival of Financial Planning #222

Top Personal Finance Posts of the Week

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #65

Welcome to the sixty-fifth edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Kevin presents These Three Jobs Are a Great Way for a Teen to Earn Money and Learn Something About Life at the Same Time posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, "My opinion is that one of the best ways for a teenager to learn about making and saving money is to get a summer-job, or work part-time. These are absolutely amazing ways to gain valuable experience in helping others and learn about responsibility, endurance, and teamwork, and earn money in the process."

Insuring and Protecting

Dr. Dean presents Disability: Nothing To Quack About! posted at Dr. Dean's TheMillionaireNurse.com Blog, saying, "You owe it to your family to make prudent plans to protect them in the event you are injured and can’t work. Read all about why you need disability insurance and what to look for in your coverage."

Investing

Paul Vachon presents How to Invest When You Have Little Money posted at The Frugal Toad, saying, "There is an old saying that it takes money to make money. The assumption is you can’t build wealth investing small amounts of money. You can build wealth when you invest with small amounts of money, you just need a disciplined approach. The key to building wealth is to start young, take advantage of tax sheltered diversified investments, and increase your investment contribution rate over time."

Dividends4Life presents 10 High-Yield S&P 500 Dividend Stocks With Growing Dividends posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "For many people the S&P 500 and U.S. Stock Market are synonymous terms. While in reality the U.S. stock market is much larger with public companies numbering in the thousands. The S&P 500 Index is owned and maintained by Standard & Poor's, a division of McGraw-Hill. The index was first published in 1957 and is the second most recognized index in the U.S."

Investor Junkie presents Morningstar Ratings — Are They Meaningful? posted at Investor Junkie, saying, "Instead of relying on Morningstar ratings, you might actually be better off checking into expense ratios"

MikeAhi presents Top Investing Websites of 2011: The Best Free Investment Resources on the Web! posted at After Hours Investing, saying, "A list of the top websites for investing information of 2011. There should be something of interest to everyone."

Living Frugally

Hayley Picchini presents Made to Order : How do you like your paycheck? posted at Classy Not Pricey, saying, "This article is focused on the often-overlooked valuable choices that can be made with each paycheck to live a financially savvy life in the present and future."

Kurt presents How to be Happier posted at Money Counselor, saying, "Psychologists have a pretty good handle on what gives we humans “life satisfaction.” The answer is important to setting goals and managing your time and money."

misst presents How to Shop for Furniture at Thrift Stores posted at Prairie Eco-Thrifter, saying, "If you are looking for ways to cut costs in your household, you should take the time to check out some of the thrift stores in your area."

DJ presents 5 Tips To Slash Your Food Bill posted at The Family Wallet, saying, "Feeding yourself and your family can be quite expensive. But there are many ways to save money. Here are some tips that anyone can use to slash their food bill."

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents Saving on Energy Costs: Insulation posted at Wallet Watcher, saying, "If you aren’t up-to-date with insulation in your home, you might be wasting plenty of money on energy. Take some of the following tips in stride – there is a lot of information that simply can’t be covered presently."

Retiring

LivingInVol presents Retirement planning posted at Living in volatility, saying, "Saving too much for retirement can be sub-optimal."

Steve presents My Secret to Get Rich Quick (Enough) posted at Money Infant, saying, "Getting rich quick is a nice dream and for almost everyone out there that is all it is…a dream. You can get rich quick enough though by following a conservative and consistent savings and investment strategy. Remember that only 2.5% of the U.S. population are millionaires so anyone who has reached that level of wealth has gotten rich quick enough (i.e. before they’ve died)."

Taxes

Jackson presents Chris Christie And 2012 Taxes Panacea Or A Pandora?s Box posted at 2009 Tax, saying, "The Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie has 2012 Taxes in mind with his ten percent income tax for the people of his state."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Waiting for the Greek Default

Although the market may continue to rise, I plan to maintain our cash position until March 20, 2012, the date of a potential Greek default.    I have no confidence in the EU politicians to negotiate a refinancing that isn't effectively a default.  I also have no confidence in the Greek government to actually govern and do what is needed.   At this point, I am uncertain of what the market reaction will be when the Greek default actually occurs.  While the default is likely, I don't know if the market will react positively or negatively once the default occurs.  However, I do believe the market will continue to rally up to the final date a default can be avoided.   The market wants to believe the crisis can be solved :-)

So for now, I will continue to hold the positions we have.  If my company stock advances, I will use the opportunity to execute the remaining stock options that expire in 2012.  If the stock advances significantly, I may even sell options that expire in 2013 or 2014.    Otherwise, I will continue to wait for the market decline that I have been expecting since the summer of 2011.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Stocks or Not Dilemma

Since June 2011, I have been mostly in cash, with the exception of my company stock and company stock options.   As a result, we have mostly missed the exciting volatility of the past eight months.   However, rally in December 2011 and January 2012 have caused me to reconsider our lack of stock investments, other than my company stock. 

For example, my spouse decided to stay invested  in her College 529 account, while I moved my entirely to cash.  While her account fell significantly below mine from August to September 2011, it is about 3% above mine at this point.  Also, several stocks that I sold in June 2011 are now above the price at which I sold.  

Friday's jobs and unemployment report was very positive.  In addition, the Fed has committed to a low interest rate policy until 2014.   These events point to an upward trend for the stock market in 2012.  However, the looming default of Greece remains a major negative.  The EU politicians continue to give the appearance of saving Greece and the EU, which investors read as a positive.  However, the charade cannot last past March 20, 2012 when 14.4 billion Euros come due.  It will be difficult for the markets to remain positive after a Greek default on that date.

Just like everyone else, I want to believe the politicians know enough to head of a financial catastrophe in March 2012.   Being a pessimist due to my experience in 2008,  I think investors are being overly optimistic.  I still don't think it's time to be heavily invested in stocks....yet.

For more on  New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.


This is not financial or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

GPS or Map in My Mind?

A GPS is another electronic gadget that I haven't purchased.  I used them a couple times. Most of the time, I am comfortable with reading and using a map. The time I found a GPS most useful was when I was in Germany and it was a little difficult to identify the autobahn exits and side roads. 

My mother-in-law recently gave her GPS to my spouse to use.  Although I haven't actually used the GPS, I am not to impressed based on the test I did in simulation mode.  I simulated a trip from our house to my mother-in-law's house.  The GPS simulation proceeded to drive into an adjoining neighborhood and tour several of the streets.  On the next try, the GPS route went on a 2 lane back road through several small towns.  On the third try, the GPS used the highway route, but didn't choose the best way to access the freeway that we have learned over the years.
Since this was the major brand GPS, I checked the Internet for reviews of the model.  It seems that 90% of reviewers had an excellent experience with the GPS.  10%  of the reviewers had similar or worse issues with the GPS model, and the issues were not correctable.  For now I am in agreement with the 10% minority.  I believe the local map that I have in my mind is much better.

On our next long trip, we plan to use the GPS, even though the route is well known to us. Hopefully. in real use, we won't get the same issues seen in simulation or experienced by the 10% reviewers.
For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial or navigation advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Avoiding Time Wasting Technology

Are We Worse Off Than Our Parents? made me think about the innovations that changed my parents' and our lives.    My conclusion is that most of the innovations for my parents saved time, money or both.   Some examples are the microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator, vacuum, washing machine and dryer, which all became common appliances during my parents lifetime.  While most of these appliances are costly, they easily reduce the work time by 70% or more.   On the other hand, I would classify the TV as a major time waster innovation, with people spending an average of 2.7 hours a day watching programming. 

During my lifetime, the personal computer and the Internet have been great time saver innovations.   I can do mathematical work and research in significantly less time than before.   With spreadsheets I can keep track of our financial situation with less than a hours work each month.  With the Internet, I can get answers to questions in minutes, when it used to involve significant investment of time, including travel to the library.  The digital camera is another time saver, allowing me to save only the good pictures and store them electronically.

To me, many electronics and social networking enablers are time wasters including flat screen TVs, video game players, cell phones, and Facebook.    These items result in activities that take time away from the important elements of my life.   I've seen how these items suck away time from other people and I don't what that to happen to me.   Now that I realize I may only have fifteen good years (180 months, 5475 days, or 131,400 hours), I want to make the most of time.  So for now, I still have no flat screen TV, video game player, cell phone nor a Facebook account to take my valuable time.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday  for a new segment.

This is not financial, technology nor retirement advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Speed Coin Collecting

My hunting for silver coins has led to a rediscovery of the coin collecting hobby from childhood.  Back then I would look through my change on a daily basis and pick out coins for my collection.  Nowadays,  I use a credit card for virtually every purchase and rarely get new change.  So I haven't been adding much to my coin collections.

However, I realized as we were sorting the coins (especially pennies and nickels), that we were seeing a lot of older coins.   So I bought my daughter coin books for halves, quarters, dimes and pennies at the Half Price book store.  (When I find the nickel book, I will also buy that one.)

Instead of waiting for loose change, I've been purchasing boxes of rolled coins.   This has really sped up the process of collecting coins.  With 90% one penny box (2500 pennies), we've nearly completed the 1959 to 2009 collection book.    The oldest penny we found was a 1936.  With 90% of one quarter box ( 2000 quarters), we've nearly completed the the state quarter book (96 out of 100). We've almost all of the Washington quarter book, missing primarily the silver quarters from 1959 to 1964.

After reading about the Top 10 Most Valuable U.S. Coins Found in Pocket Change ,  I  found an error "wide AM" 2000 penny worth about $10-20 retail.  I actually found it on with 10 pennies of starting to look for one, but haven't seen one since.  I also found a list of other error coins, but haven't found any yet. 

Anyway, I think I'm having more fun than our daughter and even more fun than my childhood. That's because purchasing rolls from the bank has compressed 2-3 years of looking through loose change into only a couple weeks.  Each day, we see great progress towards completing the collection.  I wish I had thought of the idea when I was a child.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial or coin collecting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

95% Copper Pennies Give a 50% Return

In April 2011, I started a silver coin hunting project with my daughter.  We ended the project in July 2011 after finding on 5 silver half dollars out of 5000 searched.     However, we decided to start a coin collection by continuing to obtain coin rolls in bulk and searching through them. 

Our first project was collecting on the state quarters.  After going through 1500 quarters we've completed 90% of the book.  (No silver quarters were found :-).  Concurrently, we have been searching through 2500 pennies and have nearly completed the 1959 - 2010 book.   We've only found four wheat back pennies so far.   However, I've just learned that copper pennies have a metal content value greater than face value.

 Pre-1982 pennies (and some 1982 pennies) are 95 % copper and 5% zinc, versus post 1982 pennies that are 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.  The copper in a 95 %copper penny is worth about 1.5 cents, giving the collector a 50% gain.    A great return in today's low interest environment :-)

Based on our experience, an average of 25% of pennies in a roll are copper which makes it easy to find a significant amount.   Of course the challenge is a 50% gain is still only 1.5 cents and making it tough to get rich.   2500 (or $25) copper pennies would still only be worth about $37.50.  However, for now it's inexpensive entertainment to build a coin collection.  And if copper prices fall, the penny will still always be worth at least one cent.

For more on  The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday  for a new segment.

This is not financial or coin collecting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC