CREDIT & FINANCE
MONEY IS THERE BUT CHECK BOUNCED!
By Tom Martino at November 1, 2017 | 3:23 pm | 0 Comment
“My bank says I bounced three checks! But I know for absolutely sure I had enough money in my account to clear them. Now I’m being charged bounced check fees. What happened?” This may sound impossible but you too could get lured into this common trap! Oddly enough, it has little to do with your actual checkbook balance. So let’s explore why this happens and more...
INHERITANCE TAX – MOST MISUNDERSTOOD!
By Tom Martino at August 23, 2017 | 9:39 am | 0 Comment
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I find that inheritance tax or estate taxes are the most misunderstood concepts in the U.S. It is really very simple: Right now, all of us get to give away at death or during our lifetime a total of $5.5M without anyone paying any taxes on it. That's right $5.5M. So what about this $14K limit I heard about. Here's how that works: Notice I said you could give away up to more...
BUY OR LEASE MY CAR? WHAT’S THE DIFF?
By Tom Martino at August 23, 2017 | 9:28 am | 0 Comment
Look at buying or leasing a car like this “fruit example”. It makes the concepts easier to understand. When you buy an apple (or a car), you pay for the whole apple (or car). When you lease the apple, you agree to eat only a portion of it, let’s say half. At the end of the lease, if you have half of the apple left over (as agreed), you can turn in that half without more...
WHY DO SOME CARS DEPRECIATE FASTER THAN OTHERS?
By Tom Martino at August 7, 2017 | 4:16 pm | 0 Comment
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Depreciation is determined by one thing and one thing alone: Perception. Perception drives buying decisions. When more buyers go after a particular group of cars (such as Japanese), the supply is lower and prices rise. When prices rise, depreciation lessens. Right now, perception is that Japanese cars are great values because they last a long time and have reasonable more...
