Now that your taxes have been filed, there are probably more than a few of you that went head to head with the Alternative Minimum Tax, or as the financial’s like to call it, the AMT.

For those still unfamiliar with the AMT, just wait. That next pay raise may throw you into a head to head stand off with Uncle Sam’s dirty little tax secret.

The alternative minimum tax is really a loop hole that was design to end all loop holes. Mathematically speaking, it’s a tax calculation that adds certain tax preference items back into adjusted gross income, or AGI. If AMT is higher than the regular tax liability for the year, the regular tax and the amount by which the AMT exceeds the regular tax are paid.

I got a statement in the mail today from Bank of America indicating I have made too many withdrawals from a money market account.

I am allowed 6 transfers out of the account, of which only three may be made by check, draft, or CheckCard. Evidently, when I set up my Emigrant Direct account, the account verification process made two individual withdrawals to remove the verification deposits from the account.

So now I will get dinged $10 for each additional withdrawal I make from the account.

The way I see it, Bank of America doesn’t pay enough interest to keep …

I ran across an interesting blog while cruising the ‘net the other day called Remarkable Lives:
Real People. Really Remarkable Lives.

Paige is working on a book that profiles some prominent people (like Lance Armstrong, Bill Clinton and Richard Branson, just to name a few) and how they got to where they are today. An interesting post gives some insight as to what the book might reveal.

Her discussion with Lance Armstrong revealed why he achieved the things he did:

“I worked harder than anybody else in the group in the race. I say to myself, I’ve worked harder than anybody else and I deserve to win. Work hard …

Read more…

I finally got my act together and converted my COSI Home Loan to a fixed rate, 30 year mortgage. For those not familiar with a COSI loan, the interest rate is based on the prime rate, less a fixed percentage. Therefore, if the prime rate goes up (as it has), so goes my loans interest rate.

It’s a bit like an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) with a few caveats. An ARM is traditionally “fixed” for a short period of time. After that period of time, the rate resets to whatever the current rate is. In my COSI loan, the rate is constant for a year, but …

A while back I wrote about Duncan Energy Partners (DEP: chart, web, Y!), and how their structure as a Master Limited Partnership (MLP) could work to an investors favor.

So what is an MLP, and how does its structure work to your advantage?

A MLP is a unique investment that combines the tax benefits of a limited partnership (LP) with the liquidity of common stock, and as such maintains the ability to trade on an open stock exchange. To qualify for the MLP structure, the company must earn 90% of its income through activities, or interest …

AT&T’s new television service, U-verse is now available in my neighborhood, and after watching several U-verse signs get posted in neighbors yards, I decided to sign up.

U-verse is basically television over the internet. It’s a little more complicated than that, but I’ll leave the technology tidbits out for those less interested.

I chose to take the U200 package, which basically provides 200 television channels, plus digital music, for $74 per month. Also included in the package is the basic internet service.

However, if you chose the U300 package (which also includes Starz, Encore, and other movie channels) they give you …

Yesterday I contributed $2,000 to both my wife and I’s Roth IRA (for a total of $4,000).  I’m trying to get back in the habit of contributing to the retirement funds before we run out of time each year.

But as always, that money had to come from somewhere, and we ended up dipping into the car savings fund, bringing us back to a total of $18,200 in savings earmarked towards a car.

Of course, we don’t need a car just yet, and if old faithful rolls over anytime soon, we can just finance the difference and pay it off quickly…

Last Friday I bought 20 shares of Duncan Energy Partners (DEP: chart) at $26.69.

Today, DEP set their initial quarterly cash distribution at $0.40 per share, which works out to just under 6% on the year.  However, I expect the distribution, as well as the price to continue to rise.

On this news, I bought 30 more shares in the Roth.  The fact that they set a distribution takes away some of the risk in the stock that has less than a years worth of history.  Even if the price falls a bit, I’m still getting the distribution.

I’ll continue to watch the stock, and will continue to add …

I dumped my Ford shares today for a $100 loss.

Here is why:

I’m not impressed with the direction Ford is taking with their product. It’s almost as if they’re trying too hard to create something new and different. What they really need to do is focus on quality.
While I’m still a big fan of Alan Mulally, I have come to the realization that there is something different about his task to restructure Ford. More on that further on down the post.
I feel that slowing capital expenditures, on both a high and low level, will really take a toll on auto makers over the next …

I had a post a while back about how AT&T’s U-verse is coming to town, and is a welcome form of disintermediation to the likes of Comcast, of which has done nothing but raise cable and internet rates for the past couple years due, in part to a lack of competition.

Well, I’ve been following the U-verse movement both in my own neighborhood and on the internet through an on-line forum called uverseusers.com.

Needless to say, the U-verse service is in its infancy and there are a few current subscribers who are not happy with the service despite …