Thursday, January 31, 2013

Investing in Cattle - What Investors Must Know About Turning Cattle Into Cash Cows!

If you are like the selected few investors who are interested in investing in live cattle, you would have known that in order to do well in this form of investment you had to spend a significant amount of time and effort gathering information. A significant portion of live cattle futures traders are heavily involved with the beef industry, and thus trade futures as a means to keep price fluctuations at an acceptable level.

New cattle investors should not expect answers to come quick and easy. There is no such thing as an all-in-one book to answer all their questions about beef production and the idiosyncrasies of trading this futures. In the selected case of live cattle futures, investors and trades alike must be very well aware of the intricacies of physical delivery of live cattle and the many levels of discounts involved in delivery if they intend to trade the live cattle spot month contracts.

As with most futures, live cattle futures has its own trading standards as well. Can cattle producers use knowledge of the cattle's natural cycle to increase their profits and make more profitable investment decisions? Yes, if the first two basic, but often overlooked principles of economics are applied. First one being the ever famous 'buy low, sell high' and second, 'find out what everyone else is doing, then do the opposite!'. Although this two mantras are often heard, but it is much often easier said than done, and has been proven to be true by millions of investors worldwide. The cattle cycle is primarily driven by the economics of the beef and cow enterprises. Beef cow herds are classified as capital-intensive enterprises and therefore should be viewed as any other capital investments.

Investing in Cattle - What Investors Must Know About Turning Cattle Into Cash Cows!

There are two defining factors important in lowering the cost of production in the future. First one being the need of more efficient production technologies, and the second is the need to consolidate production into large units so that all economies of size are optimized. It is interesting to note that in the last few years alone, these two factors has been taking place at such a rapid rate, and this suggest that cattle investing will very well make it into the mainstream in the near future. Learn how to read the economic cycles in this industry and you will gain much profits from this very overlooked sector.

Investing in Cattle - What Investors Must Know About Turning Cattle Into Cash Cows!
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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Tax Deed Investing - What is an "Upset" Sale?

In Pennsylvania, some counties have two different tax sales; the "upset" sale, and the "judicial" sale. If tax sale properties are not sold at either of these two sales, the property then goes on the "repository" list and can be sold by private bid. The upset sale is held every year in the fall. It's called an "upset" sale because the minimum bid for the properties in this sale is known as the "upset" price; which includes any unpaid taxes from the county as well as any municipal liens. If a property is not sold in this sale, it is sold in the "judicial" tax sale in the spring. Not all Pennsylvania counties have judicial sales but they all have an upset sale.

What you may not know about the upset sale is that all properties are sold subject to any liens or judgments. That means that if you purchase a tax deed at this sale, you are responsible for any other unpaid liens or judgments on the property. Most people assume that when they buy a property at a tax sale, they don't have to worry about other liens such as a mortgage. This is not true at the upset sale. If you plan on bidding at any of these sales this fall, you'd better do your homework!

So how do you find out about other liens or judgments on tax sale properties? There are two ways that you could do this; one is going to cost you some money and the other is going to take some of your time. The first way is to hire a title search company to do a simple title search on all of the properties in the sale that you are interested in bidding on. This could turn out to be a little costly, so it's not my method of choice. Another reason why I don't hire a title search company to do title searches for me before the sale is that many of the properties will come off the sale list the day before or the morning of the sale. You may pay for a few title searches that you don't even need because the properties that you wanted to bid on are not sold at the sale.

Tax Deed Investing - What is an "Upset" Sale?

Last time I went to the Monroe County Upset Sale, I didn't even bid on any properties. I researched about 10 of the properties in the sale that were in an area that I was interested in. Through my research I narrowed this down to only two properties that I wanted to bid on. I did all of my research the day before the sale and I had checked that morning to make sure that all of these properties were still in the sale. But by the next morning (the morning of the sale) the two properties that I was interested in had paid and were no longer included in the sale. I'm glad that I did my own research and did not pay a title company to do it!

That brings us to the second method for finding out about liens and judgments on tax lien properties, and that is to do it yourself. There is a little bit of education and some time involved, but it is well worth it. In most states, to do this type of research you would go to the County Hall of Records. In Pennsylvania the office that has the records that you need to search is the office of the Prothonotary. The people in this office are usually very helpful and will help you to look up what you need to know. You'll have to look for liens and judgments by the name of the owner. If there are co-owners or joint owners, you will want to search under both names.

Keep in mind, however, that if new liens were not yet recorded they could slip through the cracks in the system and you won't be able to find them. There is always some degree of risk when you buy a tax deed, even if you are careful and do your homework. This is why it is always recommended that you do not buy tax deeds in your own name, but in the name of a separate entity. It could be a corporation or an LLC. If you need help forming a corporation or LLC for the purpose of buying tax deeds, I know of two excellent programs to help you. They were both created by Darius Barazandeh, Texas attorney and tax deed expert.

Tax Deed Investing - What is an "Upset" Sale?
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You can find out more about these programs, Incorporate for Wealth, and The Wealth Building LLC on the resources page of http://www.taxlienlady.com Joanne Musa works with people who want to build an extremely profitable portfolio of tax lien certificates or tax deeds FAST. You can find out more about buying tax liens online in my Guide to Buying Tax Liens Online. It's a free bonus for you when you try the members area of TaxLienLady.com. To find out more about the extra bonuses that you get when you try the members area of TaxLienLady.com go to http://www.TaxLienLady.com/Membership.htm

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Tax Consequences of Inheriting an Annuity - Clear All Basics Before Investing

When we learn about annuities, and it's various related aspects, it is important to get a clear understanding about the tax consequences of inheriting an annuity. This concept needs important consideration right at the incepting stage since once the signatures appear on the dotted line, the plans and prospects would not get repealed. At the time of inheritance, the beneficiary possibly would have many things over his mind. He might be struggling with the loss of his near and dear one. On top of everything, it is very much possible that the beneficiary may fall in the lofty tax bracket when he is to receive the benefits of annuity. Keeping in mind all such possibilities, let us explore some more aspects of tax consequences of inheriting an annuity.

Most people have a wrong notion that an annuity inheritance is completely tax free and all the money pouring in are the death benefits. This is completely false. Income that comes through the source of an inherited annuity, is not hundred percent free from tax. The taxation certainly gets applied on whatever earnings or gains come to the inheritor barring the principal amount. In order to save the tax to certain level, it is advisable to further put the annuity in another annuity-mode for at least 5 years. The payments would get delayed, saving over the tax upto a certain extent year after year. The experts are of opinion that sometimes it is better to receive the annuity benefits over a stretched period of time instead of receiving them in a lump-sum amount. The lump sum receiving of payment may raise the tax-bracket upto considerable extent.

If the spouse is the annuity heir or beneficiary then the benefits go to him or her in the form of 'spousal continuation'. Since a spouse is the default inheritor has natural legal right of continuation of contract, they can take decision of receiving the payments in the stretched out format in order to save over the taxes. The tax consequences of inheriting an annuity by non spousal beneficiaries have several choices at their disposal. They can avail the option of continuing with the annuity and alter the ownership as per their own preferences. They can also spread out their payment spanning for next five years thus to save tax year by year upto some extent. They can also opt for receiving their payments for remaining years of their life in the form of equated installments. Just like spousal beneficiary, the non spousal inheritor also has the option of further investing the cash benefits into another suitable annuity plan.

Tax Consequences of Inheriting an Annuity - Clear All Basics Before Investing

All these aspects of tax consequences of inheriting an annuity may appear confusing or complicated but needs careful consideration for long term benefits. Thus, contact your financial advisor today and find out details about the exact annuities that are available for you and which ones would be ideally suited for your particular requirements. With proper planning, you will be able to get the required benefits from a good annuity plan.

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Visit http://www.annuitycampus.com for more Annuity and Life Insurance Tips and Tricks.

Call Robert Eldridge directly at 800-643-7544.

Robert Eldridge holds over a decade of experience as a multiline agent in multiple states and currently serves on the membership council of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors

Monday, January 21, 2013

Tax Lien Investing: What Happens at a Tax Sale?

What happens at the tax sale depends on what state you attend a sale in, and on whether it is a tax lien sale or a tax deed sale. Tax lien sales can be very different from state to state or even from county to county within a state. Tax deed sales are pretty much the same around the country.

At most tax deed sales the properties are read off by the auctioneer in the order that they are listed and the price of the property is bid up. The exception to this is in counties that have online deed sales, like some counties in California and Florida. In order to bid at an online auction, you have to register online and put up a deposit. The properties are usually listed in batches and a time from is given for each batch. You put bids in on the properties that you want to bid on, but you don't know who else is bidding and what the other bids are. You may not even know if you are the successful bidder on a property until after the sale.

Tax lien sales can differ greatly from state to state. In some states the interest rate is bid down. This happens in Florida, Arizona, (two of the most popular tax lien states) Illinois, and in Nassau County, NY. In other states the interest rate is kept constant and the price of the lien is bid up. The amount bid up from the amount due is referred to as "over-bid" or "premium," and each state handles it a little differently. In some states you receive interest on the premium paid for tax liens (Alabama and Indiana are two state that give you interest on your premium), and in other states you do not (West Virginia is one of these states). Some states do not pay interest on the premium amount and do not return the premium to the investor should the lien redeem (Colorado and Vermont are two of these states). New Jersey is the only state where the interest rate can be bid down to zero and then premium is bid. You don't receive any interest on the premium paid, but you do receive your premium back if the lien is redeemed within five years.

Tax Lien Investing: What Happens at a Tax Sale?

In some states, something entirely different than the interest rate or the premium is bid. In these states, what is bid down is the percent ownership interest in the property should the lien be foreclosed. The tax lien certificate is awarded to the bidder willing to accept the lowest percent ownership interest in the property. As you can imagine, this makes for some sticky situations should you have to foreclose on a lien and is not the ideal situation for the investor. Tax sales are conducted in this way in Rhode Island, Nebraska, Louisiana, and Iowa.

Some states will use a random selection or round robin process to award tax lien certificates at the tax sale. With the random selection process, the tax collector or auctioneer randomly selects bidders, usually by bidder number for each parcel as it is read out at the sale. With the round robin procedure, the tax collector will go around the room, offering the next parcel on the list to the next bidder in line. The downfall to both of these procedures is that you cannot pick which properties you want to bid on and only do your due diligence on those properties. Here you do not know which properties will be offered to you and you can only accept or decline the ones that are offered to you. The random selection process is used in Wyoming and in Oklahoma. The round robin procedure is used in some counties in Colorado for liens under a certain amount (the amount differs by county).

One tax lien state does something entirely different than any other, and that is the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In Kentucky, nothing is bid, or randomly selected. There is no auction. They accept bids for the amount due plus costs by mail, e-mail, fax, and in person, and the first bid to be received is awarded the tax lien. Although you can mail or fax your bid in, you have to be present at the "sale" to be awarded the tax lien certificate.

Tax Lien Investing: What Happens at a Tax Sale?
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Joanne Musa works with people who want to build an extremely profitable portfolio of tax lien certificates or tax deeds FAST. If you need help deciding what state to invest in or getting ready to invest in tax lien certificates or tax deeds, you may want to take advantage of her JetStart Coaching Call. You can find out more about this call and see if it’s something that you’re ready for by filling out the form at http://www.yourtaxlieninvestingcoach.com/ Or, You can get more information about tax lien investing at http://www.taxlienlady.com