This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

Haiti Cash Donations Still Deductible Until March 1, 2010 (Today)

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

Sometimes it seems cold and heartless to think about money and tax deductions. With hundreds of thousands dead and untold masses homeless, not to mention a country destroyed, this can seem like one of those times.

On the other hand, when people choose to open their hearts and give money to help those in need, the U.S. Government thanks them in the form of the charitable tax deduction. Typically, donations to charity must be made by the end of the tax year, December 31st, in order to be deductible in that year. However, with the tragic earthquake that struck Haiti, Congress passed a law and the IRS implemented an exception to the rules for certain cash contributions for Haiti Relief.

In order to qualify, the donations must be considered “cash” donations (checks and wire transfers, and so on do count as cash). They must also be made to a qualified organization, typically a non-profit 503(c) organization in most cases. The donations must also satisfy all other normal requirements for deducting cash gifts to charities.

The deadline for making a cash donation for Haiti relief and being able to deduct it on your 2009 Federal Income Taxes is March 1, 2010 (today).

If you already made a donation, you can deduct it from your income taxes as well.

Unfortunately, one of the requirements for taking a tax deduction for a cash contribution to a charity is retaining proof of the contribution, most often, in the form of a receipt. However, in the aftermath of the Haiti tragedy, numerous new methods of making quick and easy donations to relief organization were created, including the ability to donate via text message.

A live television show broadcast nationwide ran numerous donation options across the bottom of the screen during the Haiti Relief telethon, including the option to donate $10 via text message. The $10 donation was then added to the phone bill of those who sent such a text.

Fortunately, the IRS has clarified that a phone bill from your cell phone company or other telecom provider will satisfy the record of proof requirement. This 2009 tax trick is particularly helpful for those of us who made donations upon seeing the devistation without pausing to think about the tax implications.

Be sure to hold on to your phone bill, however, for your records. If you follow smart financial advice about paying your bills automatically and opt-in for electronic statement delivery as one way to help prevent identity theft, then you need to log on to your account and print out the electronic statement to ensure that you have a printed record of your donation.

Related posts:

1. How To Deduct Property Taxes
2. 2009 End of Year Tax Strategies – Calculate Dollar Amount of Tax Moves
3. End Of Year Tax Tips – Save Money On Taxes By Donating Clothing and More

This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

How To Get Government Grant Money Free Step By Step Instructions

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

If you are wondering if getting free money from the Federal Government by getting government grants is a realistic and true way to make money and profit by knowing what other people don’t know, then read Free Government Grants For Moms Dads Business and Others. You may also be interested in other personal finance tips and advice.

If you are already convinced that you can go out there and get your share of this multimillion dollar giveaway from the Federal Government just by finding and winning grants from the government, then read on.

How To Find Government Grants

Do a Google search for government grants or US Government Grants and you’ll see that the top result is grants.gov

Notice that it is dot GOV and not dot com. If grants.gov is not your top search result, then you got a little too fancy with your search. Remember that nobody pumps up the real government grants webpage. There is no profit in that. If you want to shortcut the process, you can just trust me about the website and go to grants.gov directly.

(Do yourself a favor and open it in a new window so you can follow along here.)

While the Federal Government Grants webpage looks simple, reading a little bit of what shows up on the screen should convince you that this isn’t as easy as it looks. If it was, everyone would be doing it, right?

You’ll notice that the Grants.gov website includes not only regular government grants that they have all the time like grants to business owners, minorities, women, and for enterprises in specially designated area, but also all of the Federal Government grants from stimulus funds issued by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or Recovery Act. So, whether you are looking for normal grants or stimulus spending grants, they are all here.

Getting started finding grants can be tough. The Federal Government is very big after all, and they do offer TONS of government grants for all kinds of things from numerous government agencies.

The best way to get started finding government grants you qualify for is to take a look around at all of the different grants out there. So, click on “Find Grant Opportunities.”

Find Government Grants That I Qualify For

Now, the whole key to getting big money from the Federal Government in the form of grant money is to find which grants that you can qualify for. To find the grants that you qualify for, use the different search options in the middle of the Find Grant Opportunities webpage.

If you don’t know what government grants you qualify for, start by choosing either Browse by Category, or Browse by Agency. These choices allow you to dig through the thousands of government grant programs to find the ones that fit you. As you look through all of the many, many, available grant opportunities, make some notes about which ones you qualify for. With so much grant money available from the government, it might be hard to find the best grants again later.

For example, under Browse By Category, there are government grants for Business and Commerce, the Environment, Health, Education, and even the Arts. Also, there in the right hand column is the listing of all the new grants created by stimulus spending, and triggered by the Recovery Act.

When you have found a dozen or so grants you qualify, it is time to move on to How To Apply For Government Grants Step By Step

If you couldn’t find very many grants you qualify for (or if you did not qualify for any of the many government grants you saw) keep reading this series on Getting Government Grant Money for further tips that might help you find more grant opportunities.

Remember, these grants are given away by the Federal Government everyday, but only a select few are willing to learn how to find government grants, how to apply for government grants, and then how to win government grants.

If you are beginning to have some doubts about whether or not grants from the Federal Government are easy money that anyone can get as long as they know a few secrets, then read about Free Government Grant Money For Moms, Dads, Business Owners, Minorities, Women and More…

Related posts:

1. Free Government Grants for Moms and Government Grants for Dads
2. US Government Money Help

This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

Free Government Grants for Moms and Government Grants for Dads

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

When I write personal finance articles for Finance Gourmet, I put on my Financial Planner hat. Just a few short years ago, I was a professional financial advisor with all of the required securities licenses. I had my Series 7 License, my Series 66 License, and my Life and Health Insurance licenses as well. In addition, I was a Certified Financial Planner, or CFP if you prefer. Most of my clients were upper class, high-income, people with either a high-paying job, or they owned their own business.

As a result, most of the people I worked with day in and day out as a financial consultant were well educated, either through formal education, or as graduates of the School of Hard Knocks. They also knew a little something about money. While it might be those who don’t have any money, or those who really don’t know anything about personal finance who need the most help, they also are the ones who can’t or won’t seek professional financial advice.

As a financial adviser, you find out quickly that trying to “win” discussions with clients who believe something that is incorrect is not worth the effort. No matter how many facts or how much evidence you show them, they will not accept the truth. In fact, a lot of them will stop speaking to you altogether rather than abandon what they “know” to be true, because you are one of “them” or just too dumb to know about the really great thing they learned since it is “outside of the normal system.” It’s a little bit mean, but as we used to say, “You can’t fix stupid.”

Secret Federal Government Grant Programs Give Millions of Dollars Away Every Day

I don’t know if the guy with the green question mark covered jacket on late night infomercials was the first to get people all riled up about government grants with his manic insistence that the government just gives away millions, or billions, of dollars in grants every day of the week. (Presumably just on weekdays. This is the government, after all.) Whether he was the first or not, he was one of the first ones I saw on television.

I got burned many years ago as a 15-year old by the lure of “secret financial information” or “unknown ways to make money or save money.” Using well-known (to the scammers) tricks of the trade to entice the naive, inexperienced, and just plain unintelligent, they made me salivate at the prospect of buying up fancy cars, expensive jewels, and maybe even big houses at police auctions for just pennies.

These things were all the result of busting crooks and seizing the property of drug dealers. The cops, the ad said, didn’t keep this stuff. They sold it at police auctions! But, most people didn’t know about police auctions, so the smart, savvy, insiders, were able to snatch up great deals. The ad said that there was a money back guarantee. How could I lose?

When my mother wouldn’t write a check for me (even if I gave her my own money), I rode my bike to the grocery store and bought a money order. I was “lucky.” I actually got something in the mail instead of my money just disappearing into a Post Office Box somewhere. However, that is where my luck ended. What I got was a plain paper booklet that told me where to look to find police auctions and other government agency property auctions.

As I read it, it dawned on me that I had been had. Sure, there were government auctions, but they were not a secret, not even close. In fact, the best way to find “amazing police auctions” was to LOOK FOR THE ADS IN THE NEWSPAPER advertising them! An ad in the newspaper? That doesn’t sound like much of a secret.

I soon found out the real reason few people ever went to police auctions. They don’t often have anything “good” and when they do, there are suddenly plenty of people there to bid on that.

Money Back Guarantee Is Not Worth The Paper It’s Printed On

The second lesson I learned was that “Money Back Guarantee” doesn’t necessarily mean what you think it does as an honest, upstanding person. The money-back guarantee with my purchase was probably legit. I don’t know, because to fulfill the requirements to get a refund would have taken more time, effort, and money than the original wonderful money making opportunity cost me in the first place. To redeem the guarantee, I had to register for and attend at least 3 police auctions, in at least 3 different jurisdictions, in at least 3 different months. I bet you can guess how often they were supposed to refund people’s money, even if they were honest enough to do it at all.

How To Find Government Grants You Qualify For and Get Your Share of Free Money From the Feds

Why did I tell that story in an article about how to get millions of dollars in Government Grants just by learning about some secret, insider, information about a way to get a too good to be true deal from the government just because nobody knows about applying for these grants, which makes them so easy to get that you would be dumb not to find out about it right away?

Oh, and by the way, there is a money back guarantee.

Hopefully, this helps those of you willing to be helped.

How To Avoid Being Scammed and Conned Out of Money By Promises of Free Government Money For Moms, Dads, Entrepreneurs, Education, Veterans, Women, Minorities, and so on…

For those of you who KNOW that free government grant money is out there waiting for you if you are just smart enough to know what to look for and smart enough to know how to apply, then I offer you this chance to prove to yourself what the reality is before you send anyone any money.

Remember how it turned out that police auctions aren’t secret? Government grants aren’t either.

Here are the Step By Step Instructions To Get Government Grant Money For Free

Related posts:

1. How To Get Government Grant Money Free Step By Step Instructions
2. US Government Money Help

This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

United Dining Rewards Earn Airline Miles for Dining Out

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

In order to make it worthwhile to get airline miles without being a frequent traveler, it is important to take advantage of every mileage program bonus, special offer, deal, or coupon. For United Airlines Miles, one of the great ways to earn miles free and easy is to join the United Dining Rewards Program, which offers miles for every dollar spent eating out at restaurants.

Signing up for Mileage Plus Dining is free and easy for Mileage Plus Rewards Members. Just go to the United Airlines Miles Plus website and login with your Mileage Plus Member Number. Find the link to dining rewards and click the button to sign up.

The program works by allowing members to register credit card numbers with the Dining Rewards Program. Then, whenever you dine at one of the participating restaurants, you earn points on United Airlines for free just buy paying for your tab with one of the credit cards you registered.

To really make this offer pay off big, use the best rewards credit cards in your wallet. Since United Dining miles are not related to your credit card account issuer or bank, you still earn your regular credit card points and credit card miles. It is a double-dip earnings situation.

Redeem credit card points for hotel stays and use your United Miles for free airfare, and you have a two-for-one free trip, all by just registering your credit card numbers and eating at restaurants you would probably eat at anyway. Of course, you can always select something from the Mileage Plus Reward Catalog instead.

Current United Dining Rewards Special Offer

Right now, and through the end of March, earn double Mileage Plus miles eating out with the United Mileage Dining Miles offer. It works just like it always does. Eat at any dining establishment listed in the Dining Rewards restaurant list and instead of regular number of miles earned, you earn double miles. It’s a great way to rack up United points fast and free.

You have to register for the special double miles dining deal, even if you are already signed up for United Mileage Plus Dining. It is a separate add-on registration, probably to help determine how many people just float along in the program and accidentally earn miles when their credit card just happens to get used at a restaurant, and how many people actually read the United rewards emails about dining that they send out with special offers.

To register, you have to answer a few really simple, basic questions about how many kids you have, your age range, and so on.

United Dining Rewards Restaurant List Participating Locations

Sure, all of those personal finance books or retire rich books tell you to stay at home to eat and brown bag your lunch to work, but taking advantage of offers like this will allow you to have fun and live a little while still practicing smart personal finance advice strategy.

The list of restaurants that participate in the United Airlines Dining Rewards Mileage Plus program is updated frequently online. In the Denver area, for example, new restaurants often are added within just a week or two of opening. There are both high-end fine dining restaurants and fast food restaurants, and everything from local Mom-and-Pop places to national chains like IHOP.

Just search the dining miles rewards restaurant list online by entering your zip code to get all the food places near a location that offer miles to diners. Match them up with a special credit card offer earning extra points at restaurants, for example, and you can earn enough free stuff to pay for annual fees or even earn cash back in your own pocket, all courtesy of UAL Dining Rewards.

Related posts:

1. United Rewards – Mileage Plus Dining from United Airlines
2. Capital One Rewards Catalog – No Hassle Miles – Travel Rewards
3. Credit Card Rewards Catalog Update

This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

How To Deduct Property Taxes

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

When it’s tax season, everyone’s thoughts turn to tax deductions. Financial advisors and accountants alike are flooded with calls from frantic clients looking to save money on taxes by finding new deductions or other 2009 tax tricks. The most common question by far is, “Is this Deductible?”

Unfortunately, many tax deductions are either too small to have very much impact on how much taxes you pay, or are too narrowly tailored to actually be a tax deduction that most people can take. Add into the mix the fact that many of the things that people “just know” are tax deductible, actually are not tax deductions until they are higher than a certain “floor”, and most searches for new tax deductible items end in dissapointment.

The good news is that some big items are deductible for almost everyone. These are the best tax deductions out there and they are good for high-income taxpayers and lower-income taxpayers alike. These include deducting mortgage interest, many educational expenses, and tax deductions for children, and the related child tax credit. One of the other biggies that can bring tax burden relief is deductible property taxes.

Deducting Property Taxes on Income Tax Forms

Many people are surprised to find out how much property taxes they pay on real estate, particularly on their primary residence. This is because a large percentage of home owners pay their property taxes via their mortgage loan.

That is, that the mortgage company collects an extra amount of money with each payment which it keeps in an escrow account. Over the year, that extra money adds up to enough cash to cover the amount of property taxes due. If it the escrow account comes up short, the mortgage company fronts the money and then increases the part of the monthly loan payment for escrow.

Even though the mortgage company handles paying the property taxes for you, it does so with your money, which means you are the still the one who paid the property taxes, and therefore, you are the one who gets the property tax deduction. Check the 1099-INT tax form the mortgage company is required to send you each year. Both the amount of mortgage interest paid for the year and the amount of property taxes paid annually should be listed.

Don’t forget about other property taxes too! The most common type of property taxes that are deductible, other than real estate property taxes, are the property taxes on cars. Automobile property taxes are deductible if they are computed based upon a percentage of the car’s value. In other words, the taxes that are levied by the state, county, or city that are a variable amount depending on how much the car is worth are deductible. Flat taxes and fees, such as a $25 annual fee,  that are the same amount no matter what the car is worth are not deductible.

Keep an eye on the mail for all tax forms, including 1099 Forms for real estate and brokerage and banking accounts. There are important tax numbers on each of these.

Related posts:

1. 2009 End of Year Tax Strategies – Calculate Dollar Amount of Tax Moves
2. End Of Year Tax Tips – Save Money On Taxes By Donating Clothing and More
3. How To Pay Less Taxes Next Year

This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

Business Tax ID Number – FEIN and EIN Explained

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

There is an unfortunate amount of confusion surrounding the concept of the Federal Tax Identification Number. It is ironic, because the whole Tax ID, FEIN, and EIN thing is actually very simple, mostly because they are generally all the same thing. However, it isn’t surprising that this concept confused many personal finance students because when it comes to things like laws and taxes, tiny variations in terms usually mean very different things.

What is a Tax ID Number?

Tax ID Number, or Tax Identification Number, and the like, all refer to the same thing. When taxes are filed, whether they are personal income taxes, or business income taxes, there must be a unique identifier used on the tax return. Likewise, if income is reported, that income must be reported to the IRS with a unique number identifying who it was paid to.

In the case of Federal Income Taxes, the tax ID number is a Social Security Number. However, businesses do not have SSN, so they need a different unique number to use for identification purposes on tax documents.

FEIN stands for Federal Employer Identification Number. It’s “brother” is the EIN which stands for Employer Identification Number.

What Is The Difference Between an EIN and a FEIN?

Let’s start with the easiest part of the tax number concept to understand. There is no difference between a FEIN and a EIN.

To be more technically correct, there is no such thing as a FEIN. While there may be State based employer identification numbers, the Federal Government makes no allowance for them in its official terminology or within the tax code. Thus, if someone is talking about Federal and state tax ID numbers, then they are technically discussing Employer Identification Numbers (EIN) and State Employer Identification Numbers. In other words, there is no “Federal” label for official purposes.

The arbiter of all taxable information and tax numbers is the Internal Revenue Service. No one else counts when it comes to Federal Income Taxes. It is not surprising then, that the IRS is who issues EINs or Federal Tax Identification Numbers.

Do I Need an EIN (Employer Identification Number)?

For many entrepreneurs, their small business is a separate legal entity. Such a business structure limits personal liability for business owners, whether it is via a S Corp, Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), or Limited Liability Company (LLC). In some cases, a business tax ID number is required. In others, it can be optional.

The thing that throws most people and generates plenty of questions for those who provide personal financial advice and tips, is the word “employer.” Many entrepreneurs have small businesses which have no employees, or only family members as employees. Thus, the inevitable question is whether or not such a business requires an EIN.

Despite the name, an EIN is merely an identification number used for tax purposes. While only businesses with employees are required to get an EIN, businesses without employees can use them as well.

In fact, every small business owner should get an EIN tax ID number whether they have any employees or not. This is not only good business practice, it is also very necessary in order to protect privacy and prevent identity theft.

Whenever a business pays more than $400 in a calendar year to a business, whether a small business or otherwise, they are required to report that payment to the IRS. To do so, they must file an IRS form that, not surprisingly, requires the recipient’s tax ID number to be listed. As a small business owner, you have two choices:

1. Use Your Own Social Security Number
2. Use a Tax ID Number or EIN

It shouldn’t be rocket science why you don’t want to be handing your SSN out all over the place. Obviously, if your business is a small sideline thing and you only do work for people you know and trust, or well-known reliable companies, then the risks are lower. However, the fewer places you can give out your social as you go through life, the better.

Related posts:

1. More Tax Deductions for Small Business Owners and Sole-Proprietorships
2. 2008 Tax Tips for Small Business and Self-Employed
3. Section 179 Deduction 2009 Limits for Small Businesses, LLC, Sole-Proprietorships, and More

This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

How To Fight Credit Card Company Interest Rate Increases

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

With Congress passing legislation to reign in some of the worst credit card abuses, credit card companies have been scrambling to get their terms and conditions, also known as the card contract, changed to terms more favorable to them before the new rules take affect. By changing your credit card agreement before the new credit card law takes affect, these card issuers can avoid having to play fairly as dictated by the new rules. However, this can mean bad things for customers and credit card account holders. Apparently, the banks aren’t concerned about losing business, because they are modifying terms on credit accounts left and right regardless of the person’s credit score or credit history. What can the average credit card customer do to fight back? Unfortunately, not too much, but there are some things that you can do to keep the credit card companies from cheating you out of your hard earned money.

Credit Card Interest Rate Increases

Under the old law, whenever a bank wanted to increase the interest rate it charged customers, it just sent out a letter saying that they were changing raising the interest rate. Consumers had no rights to do anything about it. The only option was to pay off the full balance immediately to avoid the higher interest rate, or transfer the balance to another credit card. In fact, when credit card companies needed to improve their balance sheets they would routinely do just this. If customers paid off their balances, then the company’s outstanding credit balance decreased. If customers didn’t pay off their balances, then their interest income from those balances increased. It was a no lose situation.

The new credit card law requires banks to give customers another option. Under this option, you can notify the credit card company that you reject the new interest rate which prevents your interest rate from increasing. In exchange, the account can no longer be used for new charges, but you may continue paying off your credit card balance under the old terms of the agreement. That means that you can still make the monthly payment, whether the minimum payment or otherwise, at the normal, sane, interest rate that you agreed to when you opened and used the credit card account. Obviously, this is not advantageous to the bank, so they are raising interest rates now, as fast as they can so that they won’t have to live by the provision once the law changes.

To fight back against credit card interest rate increases, the only thing you can do is pay off or transfer your balance before the new rate takes affect. If this isn’t practical, then continue making payments and pay off the card as quickly as possible. If you don’t carry a balance, the new rate won’t affect you until you do. The best vengeance is to never carry a balance on that card, ever. Credit card companies don’t make as much money off of customers that don’t pay interest, so keep using the card and pay it off in full every month. You’ll be fighting back against the credit card issuer and costing them profits. To really make them pay, be sure to take full advantage of their credit card rewards program to cost them even more money and make the card companies pay you!

If the way the company is treating you makes you so mad you want to close the account, don’t! At least not right away. Closing the account means you lose all of your reward points or miles. Instead, make sure you redeem every single credit card miles point you have earned before closing the account. Also, be sure you understand the effect closing an account can have on your credit score.

Finally, the most important thing is to REMEMBER. Banks are counting on their customers being mindless consumer sheep who don’t take the time to properly manage personal finances. They figure if they screw you over now, you will have forgotten all about it in six months. Don’t let them win! Remember exactly who did what and either close their accounts, or use them in a manner that makes them unprofitable for the company. If enough customers fight back, maybe next time, the banks won’t be so eager to try and cheat their customers.

Related posts:

1. Credit Card Company Tricks and How To Beat Them
2. New Credit Card Laws Change the Rules in 2009
3. New Credit Card Law Starting To Affect Credit Card Companies

This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

Give Gift Cards for Christmas The Finances Pros and Cons

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

Thinking about giving someone a gift card for Christmas? You are not alone. Last year, billions of dollars of gift cards were purchased in the days and weeks leading up until Christmas. In fact, Google reports that searches for "Gift Cards" continue to rise until December 26th when they finally peak. I guess some people are looking for after last-minute gift ideas.

Not long ago, Gift Cards replaced the gift certificate as the present to give to someone that either you don’t really know what to get for them, for people who are very picky (and thus better off picking out their own gift), for people you don’t want to bother shopping for, and for people on your gift list who live far away because gift cards can be shipped easily and cheaply tucked into a Christmas card.

Reports about gift card tricks and things to beware of when buying gift cards have those with savvy financial planning skills looking for unbiased financial advice about whether or not giving gift cards is a good idea. Fortunately, in most cases, giving them as presents works out just fine for everyone.

Gift Cards Losing Value

There are some concerns regarding Gift Cards, particularly around the "features" that cause them to lose some of their value over time. Fortunately, the most egregious of these terms have been pretty much weeded out by continuous news coverage and frequent sob stories regarding small children, or little old ladies whose gift cards ran down to zero value while they were unable to shop.

Even so, many gift cards continue to come with a provision that has them expire after a certain amount of time, or to slowly lose their value each month. The truth is that there is a very legitimate reason for treating gift cards this way. A gift card is a debit, or liability, for the business that issued it. Since they were already paid cash for the card, and they are obligated to redeem the card for an equal amount of goods or services, a gift card acts like an IOU on the books of a business. However, unlike other debts, the business has no way of projecting when, or if, the liability will ever come due. Carrying around $1 million worth of liabilities for gift cards issued so long ago that there aren’t very likely to ever be cashed in, is a headache for all kinds of companies. The expiration date, or the countdown value draining ticking time bomb gives the accountants an end date when they no longer have to account for the possibility that cards will be redeemed.

This is not a new practice. Gift certificates had expiration dates printed on them as well. The problem that gift cards had was that the expiration date, or the terms of use that stated when and how the gift card lost value were either printed in fine print on the back (that no one read) or, even worse, not on the card at all and part of the terms and conditions that were published elsewhere on the website or contract / agreement that one had to specifically ask for. So, when people went to use their gift cards, they were surprised, and very angry, to find out that they had lost value or expired.

Top Christmas Toys Gifts 2009

Gift Cards Very Profitable

Gift cards are very profitable for businesses. Much like mail-in rebates, a lot of gift cards are never redeemed completely. Many people who get a gift card go to the store and pick out something that costs less than the total value of the gift card, so that they can get it for "free". The remaining amount on the card is often forgotten all about. Even if the person finds the card in their wallet or drawer at a later date, they likely remember that they already used it, and just throw it away. Or, the remaining value is so small as to not make it worth the hassle. All of this unused money adds up to big profits for businesses and retailers.

The major credit card issuers have an even better deal going. By offering card redeemable anywhere MasterCard or Visa are accepted, they can sell even more cards, and they have to do even less to process and account for them. Some banks let you double dip for more credit card rewards points by giving you miles or points for the full purchase price of the gift card.

In order to not kill the golden goose of gift cards, most merchants have much kinder terms regarding their cards. They either don’t lose value over time, or lose their value much more slowly. Many cards have no reducing amount feature and just have a regular expiration date, which people tend to view more favorably.

So, if you plan to give gift cards this holiday season, there is no need to worry as long as you are buying them from a reputable merchant. After all, it is worth much more to Best Buy to keep selling gift cards for years to come than it is to screw over a bunch of people this year and get a little extra profit, but a bunch of publicity that will keep gift givers from buying their cards next time.

Related posts:

1. Capital One No Hassle Rewards – Gift Cards
2. Save Money On Christmas Holiday Shopping
3. Credit Card Rewards Catalog Update

This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

End Of Year Tax Tips – Save Money On Taxes By Donating Clothing and More

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

As the end of the year races toward us, the opportunities to find and take advantage of tax deductions and loopholes to save money on income taxes are growing scarce. Fortunately, there are still plenty of tax saving strategies that you can implement even with just a few weeks to go until the end of the tax year.

One of the most effective ways for typical households to lower their tax bill is by donating items to charities. Unlike cash donations, donating used goods to charity is a free way to reduce the income taxes you pay. A quick trip to the basement or storage closet could turn up several trash bags worth of used clothing that no longer fits your children, or you. Other items like shirts, pants, suits, jackets, shoes and more may just be out of style, or no longer fit your current dressing manner.

For example, workers who used to have to wear a suit and tie to the office may now work in a business casual environment. Unless you live on the East Coast, suit and tie occasions don’t come up all that often. Hold onto one dark suite for funerals and formal weddings, and one less formal suit for other semi-formal events. Even clinging onto one fun suit, or stylish suit that you "might" wear to "something" someday can still leave you with a dozen suits that can be donated to local charities. Keep track of everything you donate with "contemporaneous records." Take the receipt from the charity and fill it out right away, but also keep a log in a notebook or a note card of everything you donate.

If you haven’t cleaned out your basement or storage unit in the last few years, there might be TONS of used clothing in there that you can donate. Don’t be afraid to donate it all and claim every last penny on your income taxes. Again, just keep very good records of exactly what you donated and when. Back up the charity’s receipt with your own logs, and, for extra measure, take some digital photos of the clothing. There is no need to capture itemized pictures, a few pics of a giant clothing pile and maybe one or two of the twenty bags being dropped off at Goodwill should be more than enough proof to head off any challenge regarding how much you donated. (How much you valued each item at, is a different story, which will cover next year when we talk about how to prepare your 2009 Federal Income Taxes.)

Don’t stop at clothing. Small appliances (think anything that could be used in a dorm room or small apartment), electronics, sporting goods, and more can all be donated to charities that would gladly accept them.

As an added tip, break up your donations by dropping them off over several days, or donating a portion of your used goods to various different charities. The IRS requires additional documentation for single donations that exceed $400. Keep each donation under that amount, and relive the extra burden of documenting larger charitable donations.

With many charities having one of their worst year ever raising money for good causes, now is the time to pitch in and help out. By donating unwanted items that are laying around your house, you not only help good causes that you believe in, you can also make some money and save on your taxes next year at the same time. Plus, you house will be cleaner, and you might actually be able to find some of those important things that are lost in your storage areas.

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This is an exclusive post from the personal finance advice blog at FinanceGourmet.com.

Online Bargains Aren’t Always Great Deals Check The Details First

Finance Gourmet - Personal finance advice and investing tips

Black Friday has come and gone. Cyber Monday is history. Yet, online shopping continues in full force. Various reports suggest that online shopping has increased dramatically this year, likely due to the increasing usage of broadband connections in the home, and the draw of huge savings secretly located on the Internet if you can just find the right combination of coupon codes, discount websites, and wholesalers online. However, as always, when it comes to personal finance what you don’t know can hurt you. Make sure you understand all of the details regarding online shopping for bargains. Otherwise, you may get burned.

Amazon Makes Online Shopping OK

Not long ago, online shopping was the exclusive providence of very specific people, typically techies, and ultra-bargain shoppers who linked together in electronic discount finding groups reminiscent of the old coupon clubs. A few appearances on Oprah by folks like "Coupon Mom" helped drive online shopping and deal finding to the forefront of the American consciousness. But, what finally pushed online shopping over the edge from the wary, angst filled, activity it used to be to a common shopping method used by teenagers, little old ladies, and the technological inept alike was the legitimizing factor of Amazon.com.

When Amazon burst onto the scene a decade ago, it was a revolutionary idea. Selling books online meant that not only could Amazon offer deep discounts on books, but it could also stock many more titles than local booksellers could on their shelves. Even the big national chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders couldn’t compete with how many books Amazon sold. The offer to order a book for you began to pale by comparison. Instead of waiting for the bookstore’s regular shipment of books to include the book title you were looking for, you could order the same book from Amazon and have it delivered directly to your house right away.

For a while, books, were one of the things that was OK to purchase online. There were many things that made them safe. First, any book Amazon.com sells is exactly the same as the books on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. In other words, there is no concern about quality or some sort of bait and switch scam. Secondly, shipping costs were relatively low. The savings offered on the price of the book was larger than the cost of sending it in the mail, which meant a good deal, was still a good deal even with shipping. This was no small factor as online pet supply websites found out when it turned out no one was interested in buy 50 lb. bags of dog food online due to the ridiculous shipping costs. Finally, Amazon had good customer service. Products could be returned, and exchanged, and over time, the company became a household name, erasing the fear of giving out your credit card number online.

Once Amazon started selling products beyond books, the barriers were officially broken, and online shopping was a common thing among all groups of people.

Not All Shopping Websites Are Like Amazon

Unfortunately, this familiarization with online shopping via a retailer like Amazon has made many Americans let their guard down when it comes to buying online. It is important to remember that not all merchants are Amazon.com. In fact, precious few are. That means that you need to find out all the facts about who you are buying from FIRST before placing an order, no matter how great of deal it is.

Top Things To Know About Online Shopping Websites

1. Return Policy – Not just that they accept returns, but the details as well. Who pays for shipping? How long is the return period? If it is also a brick and mortar store, can you return items to the store? Is there a restocking fee? Most importantly, under what conditions can something be returned? Many sites allow returns, but only for defective items. That means if you don’t like it, or it isn’t what you thought it would be, then that is just too bad.
2. Shipping and Handling Charges – Even on Amazon.com you have to be careful of this one. Amazon lets anyone sell on their website. Unfortunately, it sorts prices based on the cost without shipping. That means that the vendor who sells for $9.99 plus $8.95 shipping is listed as cheaper than the vendor who sells for $12.99 plus $2.99 shipping.
3. Is It Really Amazon – Speaking of Amazon. The website doesn’t always make it easy to tell if you are buying a product from Amazon, or from some third-party using Amazon as a store front. It matters because they have very different return policies and shipping time frames.
4. Who Is It?  – Amazon isn’t the only website that makes it harder to see who you are actually doing business with. Don’t check out the main website to see if they are legitimate, check out the actual seller. There is a big difference between how legitimate eBay.com is and how legitimate one of its storefront sellers is.
5. Privacy Policy – Will your name and address be sold on lists as a sucker who buys stuff online from unknown websites? You can never know for sure, but make sure you check the privacy policy to ensure that the vendor at least cares enough about their customers to make it look like they care.

Lastly, never forget that identity theft and credit card numbers are tasty targets for scammers. Protect them as much as you can by not signing up or registering for websites with your real name and address until you are actually ready to make a purchase. Whenever possible, use a temporary credit card number for all online transactions to avoid nasty surprises later.

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