Does Money Bring Happiness?
During any discussion about making more money and achieving financial freedom you will have a few persons trying to play down the importance of having money, saying "money is not important", or else something to the effect that the pursuit of wealth is in some way "evil", that having money is the surest way to "hell". (But have you ever heard a wealthy person complain about having money?)
Let us approach this question another way. Does not having money take away something from your life, make you less happy?
We need money to bring us the essentials of life. For the basics – food, clothing, shelter, for meeting educational expenses for ourselves and our children, medical expenses for our family including parents. We need money for a life of comfort beyond just the basics – for good food, for a big enough house, for our cars, to eat out once in a while, for entertainment, to support our favourite causes and our favourite charities. We need money to take care of contingencies.
In short, we need to have enough money so that you are not worried about money
Not having money takes away from the quality of our life, and difficulty in meeting essential expenses and the resultant stress could even add to relationship problems. Not having money does take away from our happiness.
However, several international surveys, covering different cultures and lifestyles, have found that having much more money than we need for all the above does not make us any happier. In other words, being comfortably rich can contribute to our happiness, but being filthy rich does not necessarily make us happier.
The first step on your way to wealth and financial freedom is your acceptance of wealth as a pleasant necessity, and the pursuit of wealth as a legitimate and moral activity.
The pursuit of wealth does contribute to our happiness and well-being. It is the single-minded pursuit of wealth, to the exclusion of all else, that takes away happiness.
Staying Safe While Online Stock Trading
Millions of dollars are made and lost everyday on the online stock trading market. However, inexperience, the ease of trade and the promise of speedy gains, make online traders susceptible to illegal and fraudulent investment "schemes." This article will discuss some of the most common online trading scams. It will also provide you with tips and resources to help you avoid scams and fraudulent companies.
Common Online Trading Scams:
1. Free Online Trading: Free online trading or no commission trading are one of the newest online trading scams. But beware, remember the old adage "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Typically, these sites will earn money by charging exorbitant fees to purchase their software or in membership fees. Remember, no business can survive without income. You will end up paying in some way.
2. Hype and Dump Stocks: This scam involves heavily promoting a company's stocks through misleading statements. Scammers make huge profits by selling their cheap stock into the market.
3. The Pyramid Scheme: This scam involves promising big payouts for simply recruiting new members. It's illegal because there is no service or product actually being provided. The only ones' who actually make money are those at the top of the pyramid. The pyramid eventually collapses because the scammers can't recruit enough members to pay everyone.
4. Spam Stocks: These are basically unsolicited junk messages containing get rich quick stock offers. These messages come from companies that are unreliable and untrustworthy.
5. Ponzi Schemes: The ponzi scheme is a cousin to the pyramid scheme. In this scheme, investors are enticed with the promise of extremely high returns or dividends over a short period of time. Initial investors are paid huge dividends by the new investors. Profits are not created by the initially touted business but instead are fraudulently derived from other investors. In essence, there is no real investment. The schemers are robbing Peter to pay Paul.
To prevent being defrauded, be preemptive. Do your research. You can find background information on any company that involves stock trading by calling the state securities regulator. Find out if the company has been disciplined or if there are any complaints on file. You can also check out the government section of the phone book or visit the American Securities Administration Association website. If you want to find out more information on a commodity futures/options online trading company, visit the National Futures Association.
There is a lot of money to be made with online trading. However, you must be smart and perform your due diligence so that you don't end up being swindled out of your hard earned money.
To learn more about trading stock, options, forex, futures & commodity find more information at http://www.stock-trading-advice.com. For free step-by-step trading tutorial, check out our very popular website, http://www.stock-trading-advice.com/stock-trading-tutorial.html
Buying overseas property in a tax haven is this really fair?
Copyright 2006 Nicholas Marr
We all hate paying tax but sadly it is a fact of life that the majority of countries including the USA and the UK have heavily invested in getting the most tax from its citizens dead or alive.
US property investors
The United States is unlike most other countries in that its citizens are subject to U.S. tax on their worldwide income no matter where in the world they reside. U.S. citizens therefore cannot avoid U.S. taxes either by emigrating or by transferring assets abroad. Forbes magazine suggest that some US nationals choose to give up their United States citizenship rather than be subject to the U.S. tax system
UK property investors
In the UK property investors who make a profit on their property portfolios are taxed quite heavily on the resulting profits with a Capital Gains Tax. Investors would rush to buy overseas property in thier droves if it were simply a case of moving abroad. The UK government will still hold you liable even if you now have an address in the Bahamas. UK residents need to live abroad for 3 years before the tax man will class you as a non resident and therefore not hold you liable for UK taxation. The system allows those no longer classed as residents to visit Britain for under 90 days per year before thier status changes back to that of a resident.
Is avoiding tax immoral?
Becoming a tax exile in a country where taxes on your personal income are appreciably lower or even nil has its morale implications. Some may see this as simply good business others may say that avoiding taxes others have had to pay is simply not fair. This is an area for each individaul or corparation to decide. It is a fact governments do not like tax havens and some say that the very term has fallen into disrepute.
Is there a place in the world where tax payers can escape taxation?
Earning a tax free salary is a dream come true for many, just think what would your income be without paying a penny of tax. What would you buy with that extra income? There are many locations worldwide that personal taxation is not part of the government structure. Overseas property buyers with future taxation issues may want to look at the following tax havens.
A few overseas regions known to be tax havens
• Aruba
• Andorra
• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• The Bahamas offers ex pats no income tax and no inheritance tax.
• The Cayman Islands offers no income no Capital Gains tax and no inheritance tax
• Belize offers foreigners no restrictions when buying property and low income tax and no inheritance or capital gains taxes
• Dubai offers a tax free existence with no personal income tax capital gains inheritance taxes.
• Bahrain
• Cook Islands
• Costa Rica
• Cyprus
• Gibraltar
• Grenada
• Isle of Man
• Jersey
• Liberia
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg
• Maldives
• Mauritius
• Monaco
• Montserrat
• Nauru
• Netherland Antilles
• Panama
• Samoa
• San Marino
• Seychelles
• The Republic of Seychelles
• St Lucia
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Tonga
• Turks and Caicos
• US Virgin Islands
Buying property in a tax haven.
It is clear that property investors seeking a destination to live to escape the clutches of the tax man need to plan their escapes. Countries offering low or no taxation want your money and want your business. Some countries offer a lower tax rate to large corporations, in exchange for the companies locating a division of the company in the host country and employing some of the local population. Overseas property investors will recognise that this all makes for desirable property investment conditions. This translates into the likelihood that property bought in a tax haven is set to have high demand from buyers which should produce good capital returns.
In all overseas property investors may win on all counts when buying property and living in a tax haven.
------
Nicholas Marr is the CEO of Marr International a UK based property marketing company behind one of Europe's fastest grwing overseas property web site at http://www.homesgofast.com . You can learn more about this author at http://homesgofast.typepad.com/overseas_property/
