Happy New Year!
Wishing you a safe and joyous New Year's celebration and tremendous prosperity in 2008!
Jackie and the entire Wealth Intelligence Academy team
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Wishing you a safe and joyous New Year's celebration and tremendous prosperity in 2008!
Jackie and the entire Wealth Intelligence Academy team
In their latest newsletter, here’s what Anderson Business Advisors had to say about the new tax laws:
IRS Will Have to Reprogram Computers to Account for the New Laws
After much debate and haggling, Congress passed a series of bills to create an AMT patch, to give debt forgiveness relief for beleaguered homeowners who endured foreclosures, to continue the mortgage insurance deduction and to give widowed spouses more time to sell their homes under the joint-filers' $500,000 gain exclusion.
The result of the tax law changes: the IRS will be scrambling to reprogram its computers to take into account all of the changes as the tax filing season gets underway. Estimates of 10 weeks have been given, so early filers may be facing a wait.
It's the time of year to be thinking about our New Year's resolutions. What are you planning to do -- or do differently -- in 2008? If you're making resolutions, please share them.
Jackie
The State of New York and the FBI have indicted six people, charging them with participating in a wide-ranging “home foreclosure rescue” scheme, in which they defrauded homeowners of the titles to their homes and caused lenders to hold millions of dollars of bad loans. The details are outlined in “Six Charged in Multimillion Dollar Foreclosure Rescue Scheme.”
What’s frustrating about this and similar stories is that it’s possible to make substantial amounts of money investing in foreclosures ethically, honestly, and without hurting anyone. How much you make depends, of course, on you. But the point is, you don’t have to defraud anyone to build wealth. And these criminals cast a shadow on the ethical investors and make it harder for them to invest.
This scam obviously took a lot of intelligence and work to put together. If these folks had taken that energy and use the legal, ethical strategies we teach, they would probably be getting ready for a wonderful Christmas with their families right now instead of facing criminal charges and possible lengthy prison terms.
Jackie
President Bush has unveiled a plan designed to reduce the rate of foreclosures by extending the period of “teaser” rate for subprime mortgage holders for five years.
If—and this is a big if—the plan works exactly as it’s supposed to, there will still be plenty of foreclosures. According to the news reports, to qualify for the plan, a borrower must have a loan originated between January 2005 and July 2007 with a reset scheduled between January 2008 and July 2010; made all payments on time; and can’t afford the reset payment. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who are now and will be in the next few years facing foreclosure who don’t meet those parameters. What’s more, it’s not clear just how much help this plan is going to provide people who do meet the parameters. Read “Up in ARMs – the Mortgage Bailout” by Matthew Graham for a view you’re not likely to get in your daily newspaper or on the network news.
This is still an excellent time to learn and use foreclosure investing skills and strategies.
As you’re shopping for your holiday gifts this year, consider a gift that will be kept and used forever: knowledge. Books, audio and video programs, training classes – all are truly gifts that keep on giving and will always be treasured.
Got someone on your list who is interested in investing in real estate or stocks? Wealth Intelligence Academy training makes a wonderful gift. Or the Millionaire Real Estate Mindset is an affordable book full of advice on how to create and manage wealth. For a business owner or manager, The Entrepreneur’s Almanac is a book they’ll refer to regularly for years to come.
The gift of knowledge is one that will increase in value and be appreciated forever.