Manage your investments for potential tax savings
It’s smart to think ahead—especially if your investments have fallen behind. If you decide to sell losing assets before year-end, you can use those capital losses to offset taxable capital gains.

Review your portfolio
Major market swings can cause your investment allocations to shift. By rebalancing, you can restore your target allocation, manage investment risk, and keep your portfolio in good health.

Maximize your retirement plan contributions
If you haven’t reached this year’s contribution limit for your retirement plan, kick the funding up a notch for the rest of the year and plan to maintain that contribution in 2010. The sooner you maximize your contributions, the more time your investments have to benefit from potential long-term growth. For any IRA you have until April 15th 2010 to make contributions for the 2009 year.

Make the most of your philanthropy
Planning to make a contribution to a charitable organization? Donate before December 31 so you can write it off on this year’s taxes.

Get smart with college savings plans
You can take advantage of potential tax benefits if you open or contribute to your kids’ or grandkids’ college savings plan, such as a 529 plan, before the year ends.

Spend your flexible spending account
If you’ve covered the basics but still have some remaining funds, check your plan’s list of eligible expenses for last-minute ideas. Make sure you use the money that’s left in your account by the end of the year, or you’ll lose it. It’s also enrollment time for 2010 FSAs, so consider whether you’ve spent all your funds in the past and make any necessary adjustments.

You can see in the picture above that my statement clearly says I carry a balance, and my minimum payment is zero.

My message to Chase was this, “I am a little confused why my last statement says minimum payment due is 0 dollars?” Here was the response I got from Chase…

Awesome! Thanks for the good news Chase, but this is a total scam. They want me to skip this payment so they can charge me interest. I’m posting this because as soon as I read this email, I had to let everyone know about it. If they allow you to “skip” a payment don’t do it. The minimum payment for my balance would have been about $18. If I had taken Chase up on this wonderful offer I’d be charged $12 dollars in interest. So this only benefits Chase. Maybe if you were really short on cash this could help you out, but for people like me who pay all their balances in full, this is just a scam to try and make a buck off you. I know $12 dollars doesn’t seem like much but multiply that by all the accounts Chase has.

What if you had setup automatic payments? Would this not go off because the minimum payment due is zero? If so, that would really screw people over.

If you liked this, or know anyone that should know about this, please share and let me know what you think below.

I tried to logon this morning to check my account and got an SSL security warning. This raise red flags for me because I’ve never had a problem with their site before. I then went to GMACbank.com and it said “Page not found”.

I looked it up and it turns out GMACbank has now changed their name to AllyBank. It would be nice if GMACbank.com forwarded you right to allybank.com. Instead I had a panic attack.

Ally Bank

The reason for the name change is to disassociate them form GM, who is known to be hurting these days. When asked about the name change, chief marketing officer Sanjay Gupta said, “Ally conveys the sense of a trusted partner, the attributes we are trying to convey.”

Here is a WSJ article more about the Bank’s new name: GMAC Will Change the Name of Its Bank

By David Goldman, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — GMAC LLC is still counting a crucial vote Monday that could determine if the auto finance company turned bank can stay afloat.

GMAC bondholders had until midnight last Friday to accept a bond exchange for corporate equity that would provide GMAC with necessary capital.

The company, which provides auto loans to General Motors’ customers and dealers, has been trying to convert 75% of its $38 billion of issued debt into preferred stock holdings to raise $30 billion in capital necessary to become a bank.

But bond holders have been reluctant to make the exchange. Earlier last week, GMAC said only about 58% of its bond investors were committed, so it extended the deadline to Friday – the fourth such extension.

“The offer did expire on December 26, at 11:59 p.m., as planned,” said GMAC spokeswoman Gina Proia. “We have not yet finalized results. We intend to make them public in the near term.”

The company is currently 51% owned by Chrysler’s parent company Cerberus Capital Management and 49% by GM. General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler were set to receive $4 billion each in emergency aid from the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

GM said Monday it was hammering out the details of its federal loan. “GM continues to work with the federal government on the final stages of the loan agreement and we remain confident a timely signing of the federal loan agreement will occur prior to our needs,” a GM spokesman said Monday afternoon.

GM has previously stated that GMAC’s viability is critical to the automaker’s recovery. GMAC has lost $7.9 billion over the past five quarters, mostly from risky subprime mortgage bets made by its Residential Capital division. The holdings plummeted in value when the housing market began to decline in 2007.

Despite lacking sufficient capital, GMAC won approval from the Federal Reserve last Wednesday to become a bank holding company. The Fed cited “emergency conditions” for its approval, saying the company was important to the future success of GM.

As part of the conditions outlined by the Fed, Cerberus must reduce its stake in GMAC to 33% and GM’s share must drop to less than 10%. Cerberus will distribute the remainder of its stake to its investors and GM’s share will go into an independent trust to be sold off within three years.

The status change would give GMAC access to much-needed funds from TARP and other government bailout programs.

According to a recent note from CreditSights analyst Richard Hofmann, GMAC requested a TARP capital investment and may get as much as $6.3 billion. The analyst also said the company could issue up to $17.5 billion in government-backed debt through the FDIC Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program to shore up its capital position.

And even if it cannot raise the $30 billion that the Fed mandates for bank holding company status, analysts think the Fed will be satisfied with the effort.

“The Fed pointed to GMAC’s successful efforts to raise additional capital in approving the company’s bank holding company application,” said Hofmann. “With the primary regulator on board, the capital raise machinations seem almost a moot point.”

Don’t be shy if you don’t know exactly what it means. Here is an article that explains it “like you were a 8 year old.”

By DAVID SCHECHTER / WFAA-TV

DALLAS – The federal bailout is running a staggering price tag. Some estimate it is as high as $8.5 trillion.

Much of that money is handled by a part of the United States government few of us really understand, the Federal Reserve.

What exactly is the Federal Reserve and what do they do? The answer to the latter part of the question is apparently a lot of things.

Below the Dallas Federal Reserve building is billions of dollars in cash, which is the people’s money supply.

But, the most important job for the Reserve right now is to stabilize the US economy.

“Think of the thing as one giant lawn,” said Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve branch. “The object is to keep it green and verdant and beautiful.”

Running with that, the lawn is the economy and the Reserve is in charge of maintaining a stable money supply – or a consistent amount of water available to grow the lawn.

Typically, the Reserve stabilizes the money supply by lowering or raising interest rates.

“We have the spigot,” Fisher said. “That’s the typical tool we use that turn on by lowering interest rates, or we tighten.”

The financial system, banks and the like, act as the hoses. But, right now they’re are all twisted up and not letting the money through.

“When we would cut interest rates, we wouldn’t see the efficiency of the flow because the sprinkler system was out of whack,” Fisher said.

So, the Reserve is now trying to untwist the financial hoses by injecting huge sums of new money into the financial system. In some cases, the Reserve has taken the unprecedented step of laying new hoses of its own, new programs that stimulate lending for things like cars and credit cards.

“The grass is not brown,” Fisher said of the “lawn” right now. “But, it’s certainly not a vibrant green we would like to see it be. It’s a little spare.”

Who knew gardeners wear suits?

Give your portfolio a checkup
Assess your portfolio and make sure it’s positioned to meet your goals.

Maximize retirement plan contributions
Check your year-to-date contributions to retirement plans to determine if you’ve made your maximum pre-tax contributions to your IRA or company-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b) or 457. Remember you have until April 15 2009 to make contributions to your Roth IRA for year 2008. The max contribution is now $5,000.

Take a tax-smart approach to charitable giving
Consider donating appreciated securities you’ve held for more than one year to charities by December 31 for a full fair-market-value deduction and no capital gains tax.

Invest your year-end bonus
If you’re getting a year-end bonus, put it to work for you by contributing to your IRA or investing in a mutual fund. Remember that even during the most unpredictable and volatile markets it’s important to have—and stick with—a long-term investment plan.

Spend your flexible spending accounts
If you’ve set aside pre-tax money in flexible spending accounts, now is the time to check your remaining balances in these accounts. Plan to spend any remaining balances on out-of-pocket health-care and child-care costs, because any money not spent at the end of the year will be forfeited.

source: Charles Schwab

Full Story

Bill Gates has reclaimed the top spot with a net worth of $57 billion dollars. Gates lost his title to Warren Buffett for a few months in spring 2008. Buffett’s shares in Berkshire Hathaway have fallen and landed him in a close second at $50 billion.

Here is a run down of the list:
1 – William Gates III
2 – Warren Buffett
3 – Lawrence Ellison
4 – Jim Walton
5 – S Robson Walton
6 – Alice Walton
7 – Christy Walton & Family
8 – Michael Bloomberg
9 – Charles Koch
10 – David Koch
11 – Michael Dell
12 – Paul Allen
13 – Sergey Brin
14 – Larry Page
15 – Sheldon Adelson
16 – Steven Ballmer
17 – Abigail Johnson
18 – Jack Taylor & Family
19 – Anne Cox Chambers
20 – Donald Bren

Sources:
Forbes – The Forbes 400
Yahoo – The Forbes 400 Richest Americans
Photo – ©AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau, Bob Brye

me: Why is Obama a better choice as a young professional?

Jared: Because he understands young people. This is evidenced by the fact that he raised $66 million in the month of August, largely through online fundraising. Obama understands the importance of internet, just like young professionals, and is able to use it to his advantage – unlike John McCain who openly admits he’s never “done a Google.”

Obama also wants universal health care now. Young professionals jump around a lot between industries – they are trying to find their place in the work world. It becomes harder to do this if you have to worry about things like benefits and health insurance. If we all had health insurance, someone like you could take more chances, and maybe jump into that start-up. You could pursue your dreams like you always wanted to.

Barack is also brilliant – a Harvard Law graduate – he pays more attention to both sides of the issues, and would be more focused on diplomacy and less likely to start or prolong unnecessary wars. That right there should let you know he’d be a better leader for young professionals. People like you and I who are trying to get our careers started – we have no interest in things like war. That trillion dollars that we threw away in Iraq – that money could be spent right here at home, stimulating our economy and opening up job opportunities.

We also are not in that top .01% economic category that Republicans actually represent. We’re also not of the religious right. We support progress, and change – we represent the future, and that’s what Obama represents.

Additionally, Barack Obama supports renewable energies, and true investment in those technologies. He’s aiming to free our generation from having to raise our kids in the throws of a global warming crisis. Obama will forge ahead into the future, and bring these technologies to the forefront. He see’s where we need to go – and he’s willing to take us there.

Everyone needs to understand that this election is clearly a choice between the past and the future, and I suggest we proceed, onwardly and upwardly into the “next.”

The end of the article gives tips on how to safely make your resume stand out. Here is a excerpt from the article on lying effectiveness:

But there’s a line between bending the truth and outright deception. According to the CareerBuilder.com survey, these were the most common falsehoods people admitted to using on a résumé:

• 38 percent of those surveyed indicated they had embellished their job responsibilities

• 18 percent admitted to lying about their skill set

• 12 percent indicated they had been dishonest about their start and end dates of employment

• 10 percent confessed to lying about an academic degree

• 7 percent said they had lied about the companies they had worked for

• 5 percent disclosed that they had been untruthful about their job title

Photo by: SOCIALisBETTER – BlackBird Tees