BofA Is Sick Of Square, Rolls Out New Mobile Payment System

The mobile payment system allows the use of any smartphone or iPad as a point-of-sale terminal and is aimed at small businesses. With transaction fees set at levels similar to those currently charged by technology firms, Bank of America is no doubt looking to gain a strong footing in the payments market with this new offering.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/11/21/bofa-is-sick-of-square-rolls-out-new-mobile-payment-system/

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?Stop Eating? Is Not The Kind Of Tip You Should Leave Your Applebee?s Waitress

Leaving a $0 tip on a $30 bill at Applebee’s is bad enough. But then taking the effort to write “Stop Eating B*tch!” as a “tip” is crossing the line from being a bad consumer into being a horrible human being.

But that’s exactly what some customer at an Applebee’s in Edison, NJ, recently did to their waitress. The receipt, … [More]

Source: http://consumerist.com/2012/11/21/stop-eating-is-not-the-kind-of-tip-you-should-leave-your-applebees-waitress/

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Toyota Rides Hybrid Sales To $91 But Competition Is In Overdrive

The automaker plans to roll out 21 new hybrid models by 2015 as well as expand its hybrid offerings in territories which have no or limited options at the moment.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/11/21/toyota-rides-hybrid-sales-to-91-but-competition-is-in-overdrive/

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Benefits of Credit Card Debt Consolidation

Consolidation Loans with Bad Credit Is debt consolidation a good solution for my credit card debts? Debtors, upon realizing that in a few years their credit cards would have accumulated thousands of dollars through interests ask the same question. Credit card purchases, in many instances are actually more expensive because of high interest rates. Someone [...]

The post Benefits of Credit Card Debt Consolidation appeared first on legal debt help online.

Source: http://www.legaldebthelponline.com/2012/06/29/benefits-of-credit-card-debt-consolidation/

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5 Steps to a Successful Stewardship Ministry

Over the past decade, Gateway Church has developed a stewardship ministry that serves more than 3,000 people a year with 170 stewardship classes. The charge is led by Gunnar Johnson, who is often asked: ?What does it take to develop and maintain a successful stewardship ministry??

Gunnar says it?s really an easy ministry to keep running if you start with a little bit of guidance on the front end. Too many churches start off just thinking in terms of curriculum. People from the congregation aren?t as receptive to this approach because the church is often violating the very principles they are teaching.

Gunnar has a passion to help other churches create thriving stewardship ministries like the one Gateway enjoys, so he has shared five steps that have helped to make theirs so successful:

1. Determining Vision

Gunnar said it's key for the senior leader to be involved in this discussion. The vision of the stewardship ministry must tie into the church?s other ministries from the get-go. Gateway?s pastor had a vision for the people of the church to be radical givers and good stewards. At the same time, God had spoken to Gunnar about building a comprehensive stewardship ministry. Their vision was birthed out of 1 Timothy 6:17?19:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

These verses lay out exactly what good stewardship looks like: People would be generous, have margin, and put their faith and hope in God. They would not be materialistic, and they would be building up their lives in contentment and serving the Kingdom.

?I think each church has its own unique vision,? Gunnar said. ?There?s not a single mission statement for every church. The leaders of the church have to get together and decide: How are we going to teach on money? They have to determine it from the head. It?s not about starting a class because we should or because giving is down.?

2. Creating Mission

This is when you ask: ?Why are we here? What are we doing? What is our purpose?? Gunnar says mission and vision are easily confused. Gateway sees their mission as being the Great Commission. ?We are going to launch these people out to do what God wants them to do. Our mission isn?t just to teach them biblical principles, it?s to get them active in their faith,? he said. ?At the end of all of our lives, each one of us has a date with Christ. I want every person in our church to hear, ?Well done, good and faithful servant,? because they have been faithful with their time, talent, treasure.?

3. Setting Objectives

Now it?s time to create something you can put your hands on and answer, ?How can we actually do this?? Objectives need to be meaningful, measurable, manageable.

Gunnar explained Gateway?s five straightforward stewardship objectives:

  • To create givers: Not so we can raise the budget or bring in more money, but because God does something in people?s lives when they allow Him to change their perspective about money.
  • To have Christ-centered stewards: I don?t want them to just get wealthy. If they do, I?m okay with that. But whether they have a lot or a little, I want them to be Christ-centered and know what God has purposed them to do with money.
  • For people to be biblically literate: We want them to know what the Scriptures say?where it is and how to do it. Theories come and go. If someone comes in and tries to sell them a bill of goods, we want them to know how it violates biblical principles. If they are being told to leverage debt, they?ll know the truth of Proverbs 22:7 that tells us, ?The borrower is the slave of the lender.?
  • For people to be debt-free: Debt chains us to our past and robs us of our future. If I open a credit card to buy Christmas gifts, it chains me to that year?s Christmas and robs me of what God may have for me. I don?t want the mistakes of my past to hinder my future. That?s what inspires me about being a Christ follower. He gives us the opportunity to erase the past: sin debt and financial debt.
  • For people to be savers: The Bible tells us that wise people save money. A debtor loses opportunities, but a saver is ready when God presents them.

4. Building a Strategy

This is when you determine how, when and where you will meet your objectives. Now is the time to talk about the curriculums out there and how they might fit in. Gateway categorizes people as struggling, stable, solid, or surplus and ministers to each of those groups in different ways. For the struggling it?s a compassionate yet accountable process of benevolence. For the stable and solid, they offer all kinds of classes with practical application. Those with surplus are treated differently, but not better because they have wealth. They experience a time-intensive, slow-going process that helps them become good managers of their wealth.

5. Determine Your Tactics

This is where you lay out your plan. For example, Gunnar said they are planning to run Financial Peace University (FPU) in the spring. He knows how many memberships he needs to buy, has the room secured, a team to run it, registration set up. They do this for each area of their strategy. It?s a calendar-heavy step, and a lot of work goes into it based on their overarching visions and goals.

Once you work through these five steps, you can pull back at any time and ask: Are we meeting the goals we?ve set? Things are going to change from year to year, and that?s okay. ?God will give us a new revelation and call our church to do that, and we?ll move into that,? Gunnar said. ?But creating a healthy stewardship ministry is much deeper than just starting a class. ?

By laying a foundation of interconnectedness with other ministries with leadership support, you will invite a spirit of unity, and where there is unity, there is blessing.

Dave Ramsey has created a program called Momentum to lock arms with churches that want to do just that. Momentum is all about bringing people back to God?s view of money management and cultivating a culture of lasting generosity. Discover today how Momentum can help your congregation.

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Source: http://www.daveramsey.com/article/5-steps-to-a-successful-stewardship-ministry/lifeandmoney_church

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Year-End Tips to Trim Your 2012 Tax Tab

End of year taxesBy Susan B. Garland, Editor, Kiplinger's Retirement Report

It's a tricky time for taxpayers engaging in the annual ritual of year-end tax planning. Unless Congress intervenes, the Bush-era tax cuts expire when 2013 arrives. Also at risk if lawmakers don't act before Dec. 31 are many popular tax breaks that expired at the end of 2011 that have long been considered sure-shots for revival. Those breaks include the authority to make direct contributions from traditional IRAs to charity.

Despite the wide differences between the political parties over tax policy, Kiplinger's believes Congress will extend current tax rates at least temporarily and probably for all taxpayers.

And you still can engage in many tax-trimming strategies that should hold up no matter what happens. Many tax proposals being debated won't hike tax rates for married couples with adjusted gross income of less than $250,000 and individuals with AGI of less than $200,000. "For those folks, the status quo is the likely scenario," says Rande Spiegelman, vice-president of financial planning for Charles Schwab (SCHW).

Prepare for a new surtax. One of the biggest changes on the books for 2013 is a 3.8% surtax on investment income for married couples with modified AGI of more than $250,000 (singles, $200,000). As part of the new health care law, the tax applies to the smaller of net investment income or the amount by which taxable income exceeds the thresholds. Investment income includes dividends, interest, capital gains, annuities, royalties and rents. Investment income does not include distributions from IRAs or other retirement accounts.

Let's say a couple has $200,000 in wages and $150,000 in net investment income. Taxable income exceeds the threshold by $100,000, which is less than the $150,000 in investment income. The couple would pay a surtax of $3,800.

To lower the potential tax bite, you could give away income-producing assets, such as stocks or investment property, to adult children whose income is far below the threshold, says Bob Scharin, senior tax analyst with Thomson Reuters (TRI), a publisher of tax and business information. "They would not be affected by that extra tax," he says. This is a particularly good year to make large gifts because of a change in the federal gift tax law (see a later section of this article).

If you are thinking of selling appreciated assets, doing so before year-end would guarantee the profit won't be hit by the surtax, Scharin says. A potential bonus: A 2012 sale protects you from the possibility that the rate on long-term capital gains could rise to 20% next year if the Bush-era cuts expire. Of course, you should never allow taxes to determine investment decisions.

You could also consider accelerating plans to convert part of your traditional IRA to a Roth. Although IRA distributions are not investment income under the surtax law, they could boost your taxable income above the threshold to make otherwise protected investment income vulnerable. Plus, because tax-free Roth distributions are not included in AGI, they would not count toward the surtax threshold in future years.

Before converting, Scharin warns, "make sure the conversion itself will not put you in a higher tax bracket this year." Also, if you converted a traditional IRA to a Roth in 2010 and decided to defer the tax bill, the tax tab on the second half of that conversion comes due in 2012. That 2010 conversion income plus the income from a new 2012 conversion could push you into a higher bracket. And be sure you have money outside the IRA to pay the tax tab.

A great thing about doing a Roth conversion in 2012 is that you will have until October 15, 2013, to change your mind. You might want to undo the conversion if, for example, efforts at tax reform gain serious traction and it appears that tax rates may go down -- not up -- in 2013 or 2014.

Also, perhaps it is time to boost holdings in municipal bonds, which are exempt from the surtax. "I would not invest in municipal bonds simply to avoid the 3.8% tax," says Melissa Labant, director of tax advocacy at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "But a lot of people have not invested sufficiently in fixed income as they prepare to retire, and taxes are an added reason to be invested in municipal bonds."

Other investment moves. Whether or not you're subject to the 3.8% surtax, your investment portfolio can be a treasure trove of opportunities. Unless Congress intervenes, this will be the last year that taxpayers who are in the 10% and 15% tax brackets -- joint filers with taxable incomes up to $70,700 and individuals with incomes up to $35,350 -- can enjoy a 0% tax rate on long-term capital gains. However, the 0% rate only applies until your income breaks through the 15% ceiling. If you're a married couple with income of $60,000 and sell a stock for a profit of $20,700, you'll pay 15% capital-gains tax on $10,000.

Scharin suggests this strategy for these low-bracket taxpayers who have appreciated stock that they like: Sell the stock at a gain and pay no capital-gains tax. Then buy back the shares. "This will help in the future if they do finally sell," he says. That's because only the appreciation on the current higher value of the shares would be taxed.

Much depends on your personal situation and your political forecasting, Spiegelman says. For example, if you have a high income this year and expect to retire with an income next year of below $200,000 for a single filer and $250,000 for joint filers, you could decide to defer the gain even if you think rates are going up. "Even if the rate goes to 20% for those above $250,000, it won't affect you," he says.

Congress has yet to extend a tax break that enables IRA owners who are 70 and a half or older to send a tax-free distribution of up to $100,000 directly to charity. Don't wait past mid December to direct your IRA custodian to withdraw your minimum distribution.

Give, and you'll receive a break. No matter what happens with the federal estate tax next year, you can still give an unlimited number of individuals up to $13,000 each this year without worrying about federal gift tax. Your spouse can give another $13,000 each to the same people. Higher-income parents could consider giving appreciated stock to adult children in the 0% capital-gains bracket, Spiegelman says. "An adult child in a lower bracket would pay a lot less in capital gains on a sale than if you sold the stock," he says.

If you want to help grandchildren with college tuition bills, you can send a tuition payment directly to the college and the amount won't count toward the $13,000 gift-tax exclusion. Or you may be able to get a state tax deduction or credit by opening a state-sponsored 529 college-savings account. The money in the account grows free of federal and state tax, and it can be used to pay expenses at nearly any college your grandchild chooses. To see the tax breaks for your state plan, go to www.savingforcollege.com.

Because of temporary changes in the federal estate-tax law, you can maximize your tax-free giving. For 2011 and 2012 only, the gift-tax exemption has been "unified" with the estate-tax exemption. In 2012, the unified exemption is $5.12 million. The gift-tax exemption is scheduled to drop to $1 million in 2013 -- meaning that you will be able to give away no more than $1 million above the annual $13,000 gift-tax exclusion in your lifetime without paying the tax. This year, owners of large estates can move up to $5.12 million out of their estate free of gift tax.

If you are considering giving away a vacation home, business interests or appreciating stock, this may be the time to do it either directly or through a trust. See an estate-planning lawyer for advice. The lifetime gift-tax exemption may never be this high again.

Boost medical expenses. Under the health care law, there's a higher hurdle between you and medical expense deductions starting in 2013. Currently, write-offs are permitted only to the extent your qualifying bills exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. Next year, the threshold rises to 10%. However, for the 2013 to 2016 tax years, the 7.5% threshold applies if either spouse turns 65 before the end of the year.

New retirees who see a big drop in income could benefit from this year's lower threshold. So can taxpayers who are making big charitable contributions and other moves that will reduce adjusted gross income.

Consider accelerating the timing of planned elective surgery, dental work or other medical procedures. "If you have the option to get some procedures done now, you may want to take care of those things" before the year ends, says Kathy Pickering, executive director of H&R Block's Tax Institute. Other expenses that could push you above the threshold: the cost of transportation to a medical facility and certain medically related home improvements.

See more on Kiplinger:
Get Ready to Pay Taxes on Online Purchases
Tax Breaks for Shared Housing?
Triggering the Gift Tax




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Source: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/11/23/year-end-tips-to-trim-your-2012-tax-tab/

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There Has Been A Changing Of The Guard At Mango

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Supermodel Miranda Kerr is the new face of Spanish retailer Mango, replacing the legendary Kate Moss.

We're still not sure exactly why Moss is no longer with Mango, Global Grind points out, but Kerr has some big shoes to fill.

Whatever the reason, it's a huge win for the brand, which replaces one influential star with another. Moss originally arrived at Mango to replace Isabeli Fontana.

It's also a win for Kerr, who adds another impressive line to an already stacked résumé.

Kerr is best known as one of Victoria's Secret's superstar Angels and wife of Orlando Bloom.

She's already shooting for the Mango 2013 Spring campaign, and teaser pictures have started to leak.

NOW SEE: The Most Outrageous Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Ever >

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/Q8UbuJJQmOo/miranda-kerr-kate-moss-mango-2012-11

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Pilot-Less Planes Might Become A Reality Before Driver-Less Cars

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A piece in this week’s Economist looks at developments in pilotless planes and goes on to claim that autonomous civil aircraft could be flying before cars go driverless.

It is potentially a huge new market. America’s aviation regulators have been asked by Congress to integrate unmanned aircraft into the air-traffic control system as early as 2015.

Some small drones are already used in commercial applications, such as aerial photography, but in most countries they are confined to flying within sight of their ground pilot, much like radio-controlled model aircraft.

Bigger aircraft would be capable of flying farther and doing a lot more things.

Pilotless aircraft could carry out many jobs at a lower cost than manned aircraft and helicopters — tasks such as traffic monitoring, border patrols, police surveillance and checking power lines.

They could also operate in conditions that are dangerous for pilots, including monitoring forest fires or nuclear-power accidents. And they could fly extended missions for search and rescue, environmental monitoring or even provide temporary airborne Wi-Fi and mobile-phone services.

Some analysts think the global civilian market for unmanned aircraft and services could be worth more than $50 billion by 2020.

What is unlikely, of course, is that passengers will accept being flown around in a pilotless plane any time soon. But this technology could allow for commercial jets to fly with just a single pilot. Read the whole piece.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/_JAQPw7CRQ8/developments-in-pilot-less-planes-2012-11

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Pilot-Less Planes Might Become A Reality Before Driver-Less Cars

airplane, flying

A piece in this week’s Economist looks at developments in pilotless planes and goes on to claim that autonomous civil aircraft could be flying before cars go driverless.

It is potentially a huge new market. America’s aviation regulators have been asked by Congress to integrate unmanned aircraft into the air-traffic control system as early as 2015.

Some small drones are already used in commercial applications, such as aerial photography, but in most countries they are confined to flying within sight of their ground pilot, much like radio-controlled model aircraft.

Bigger aircraft would be capable of flying farther and doing a lot more things.

Pilotless aircraft could carry out many jobs at a lower cost than manned aircraft and helicopters — tasks such as traffic monitoring, border patrols, police surveillance and checking power lines.

They could also operate in conditions that are dangerous for pilots, including monitoring forest fires or nuclear-power accidents. And they could fly extended missions for search and rescue, environmental monitoring or even provide temporary airborne Wi-Fi and mobile-phone services.

Some analysts think the global civilian market for unmanned aircraft and services could be worth more than $50 billion by 2020.

What is unlikely, of course, is that passengers will accept being flown around in a pilotless plane any time soon. But this technology could allow for commercial jets to fly with just a single pilot. Read the whole piece.

Click here to subscribe to The Economist

Please follow Getting There on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/_JAQPw7CRQ8/developments-in-pilot-less-planes-2012-11

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