Upromise

The Tulsa State Fair started this week.  Going to the fair has been a tradition in Dayna's family for many years.  We pick one night and make sure we eat a large turkey leg, grilled corn and cotton candy.  This year Dayna's friend Julie went with us.  A good time was had by all.  We particularly enjoyed the wine tasting booths.  Hopefully, after my comments in yesterday's blog about reading IRS literature, you don't think I'm a freak.  Yes, I am a bit weird in that I find the information interesting.  There is so much to keep up with regard to financial rules and regulations.  Sometimes it's possible to find some real helpful nuggets of information that can make a difference in one's finances.  Briefly continuing the education funding discussion from yesterday, you might find the website upromise interesting.  Apparently, lots of companies have teamed up with upromise and will throw in money toward your child's education whenever you make a purchase at one of these companies.  There seems to be some pretty big names associated with upromise ( i.e. McDonalds, Coke, Kelloggs ).  This may not necessarily be for everyone, but it seems to be a pretty good concept.

"Employing" Children

Well, since we're on the topic of children, I guess it's never too early to start thinking about college funding, etc.  Of course, it's very clear WHERE this child will be attending school, right?!?!  If he/she would like to remain in good stead with a certain soon-to-be-father, then the choice is easy, correct?!?!  Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a big talker.  It really does not matter to me.  I just pray for a well-rounded and thoughtful child.  My goal is to just not screw the child up like I have so many of my pets in the past.  Anyway, back to the topic at hand - financing a child's education.  Ideally, I'd like to help the child do that themselves.  I've read some good material from the IRS and other sources regarding "employing" your children.  I call it "employing" children, but in reality you are giving them a gift.  Yet, I think it's important that kids work (i.e. take out the garbage, other household chores ) hard for their "allowance".  As of 2004, the IRS allows EACH parent to give EACH child $11,000/yr without paying a gift tax.  That's $22,000/yr!  Then, you allow the child to contribute to their "401K" plan by having the parents deduct a certain percentage of their allowance for investment purposes.  The great thing is that children under 14 do not pay taxes on the first $800 of investment income in the form of interest and dividends.  Plus, the next $800 is only taxed at 10%.  That allows a child under the age of 14 to have $1600 of investment growth/income a year while paying minimum taxes.  Remember, that's investment INCOME, not the amount they actually put into an investment account.  In other words, if the child invests $8000 in one year and earns 10% ( which would give them $800 in investment income ), then that $800 is tax free money.  This is a good deal since parents are taxed at 15% on capital gains and dividends for their investments.

11 Week Baby Check-Up

Dayna and I had our 11 week baby check-up today. We hoped to hear the baby's heartbeat today. The doctor pulled out her hand held ultra-sound, but was unable to find the baby's heartbeat. It's still very early, but it did make Dayna a bit anxious to not hear the heartbeat. Apparantly, at this age, the doctor is only able to hear the heartbeat about 50% of the time when using the small tool. Dr. Blackstock decided to use the internal ultra-sound device to ensure everything was ok. We're glad she did because we had a chance to see the picture of the baby on the monitor. AMAZING! I have seen these images before, but it set me back slightly when I saw that was OUR baby moving around in there. He/She was absolutely beautiful and quite healthy I must add. We were able to see all the baby's limbs. Apparantly, the baby was so active it made it difficult for the doctor to get the heartbeat using her small tool. Anyway, needless to say, we are pretty darn psyched about this little tike. I've uploaded the ultra-sound pictures under the Baby Karas link on the right. Enjoy!!!

I'll work to keep it fresh...

I've begun pulling together my resources for sharing on this blog. I hope folks find this information as useful as I have. I'll work to keep it fresh. The site is pretty basic at the moment, but it shouldn't be too long before it's spiced up a bit.

The Wonderful World Of Finance

Although it’s no scottkaras.com, I felt a need to resurrect my presence on the web. For now, I’ll hang my Amberskor shingle on this blog. Of course, Amberskor is near and dear to my heart. It was the name of my independent technology consulting firm during the glory days of the dot com era in Austin. Technology remains a significant part of my life and continues to serve as my primary means by which I feed and cloth my family, but I’ve also slowly begun to develop a taste for the wonderful world of finance. My primary desire with this blog is to share helpful thoughts regarding financial matters. It’s more important than ever to take ownership of one’s personal finances as our culture moves more toward personal responsibilty when it comes to our money. Gone are the days when companies “take care of us” ( i.e. pensions, retirement health insurance and often times life-long employment ). My father was fortunate enough to work for IBM for 35 years. In today's economy, it’s very difficult for one to anticipate such job security.