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She Spends Less Than She Earns: Zooey Deschanel

This article was written by Flexo in Frugality. 21 comments.

It’s not often that a young, female star of music, movie, and television can avoid financial scrutiny. Tales of financial woe tend to be much juicier, anyway. It’s not difficult to remember the Britney Spears train wreck. She couldn’t handle earning more than $700,000 a month. At least her antics kept her in the news.

I’ve been recently enamored with Zooey Deschanel. She’s a fine actor and a fine singer; I own her three albums on vinyl — including a Christmas album, something of a stretch for me. But today I learned something that increased my respect for her: she spends responsibly. According to the financial disclosure she included when she filed for divorce last year, obtained by TMZ, she keeps her spending under control.

Zooey Deschanel That’s not to say she doesn’t spend extravagantly. According to the disclosure, she pays $4,000 per month for a mortgage ($3,000 of which is interest on the loan), $1,000 per month on groceries, $1,000 on entertainment, and $2,600 on clothes including laundry. In all, Zooey spends more than $27,000 a month. That’s not exactly frugal living.

That doesn’t tell the full story. The actor also disclosed that she earns $95,000 per month. She owns her own businesses:

Oscar Jaffe Productions, a loan-out company. This is a type of organization used in entertainment so that when a film or television producer hires an actor like Zooey, the production company pays the actor as a corporation, not as an employee. Since the actor wouldn’t be an employee, it reduces the tax liability for the company producing the show or movie (all other things being equal).
She & Him LLC, a music licensing company. Again, with a corporation owning the licensing rights to her music, there might be some tax advantages above and beyond what might be the case if Zooey were to own the licensing rights herself.

From the earnings of these two businesses, she passes $95,000 to herself as income. All of Zooey’s expenses, including debt, add up to less than 30% of her pre-tax income. That’s not bad — but it’s not too hard to accomplish when you have $95,000 per month to work with.

Photo: breezy421
TMZ [pdf] via Well Heeled Blog

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The Lonesome, Pet-Free Life

This article was written by Flexo in Family and Life. 19 comments.

For almost as long as I’ve been living without a human roommate, I’ve enjoyed the company of my cat, Rupert. I adopted Rupert from my friend who determined his newborn daughter was allergic to cats. He had already owned Rupert for a long time, and I knew I’d be the cat’s new owner for the second half of his life.

Rupert was fifteen or sixteen years old when I brought him to the veterinarian to have him put to sleep this weekend. His quality of life had been worsening over the last year, though trips to the vet didn’t indicate why he was unhappy or having health problems, nor could the vet offer any suggestions to help. His suffering seemed to increase in the past weeks, and I had to make the difficult decision.

For most of my years with Rupert, I commuted to my place of work every weekday, and I knew that he would be waiting for me when I returned home. In recent months, as I’ve been working from home, Rupert kept me company when he wasn’t sleeping during the day. There were times he was a pest, but overall, he was a very sweet cat who was always happy to provide companionship. I may find a new cat sometime in the future, but not until I can settle other aspects of my life.

Here are some articles from around the web that piqued my interest lately. Read the full article →

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Fix the Tax System By Taxing Consumption

This article was written by Flexo in Taxes. 16 comments.

An elegant answer to the over-complicated tax system is to shift the basis of the system from income to spending. There have been a variety of proposals to make this happen. It’s the core of the so-called Fair Tax and Herman Cain incorporated its concept into his 9-9-9 tax plan. Other proposals have called for a value-added tax similar to the system in the United Kingdom.

Ferrari Working to earn a living contributes to society, as does investing in businesses. Taxes on income, whether wages or dividends, could discourage this type of economically-beneficial activity. Consumer spending also benefits the economy, though, and if this tax system discourages spending, it might have a negative effect on the economy initially.

Also, lower-income households and those who live paycheck-to-paycheck would bear a higher burden. When almost all of a family’s income is spent, this family would be taxed on a high percentage of their income. On the other hand, a corporate executive earning more than a million dollars does not need to spend all of his money. His tax burden is more affordable. Under today’s tax environment, someone with the means might put money into real estate, invest in businesses, and shelter assets in offshore accounts. Under the new system, a wealthy individual might stay away from buying houses if those transactions are taxed, while bringing more offshore assets back to the United States.

Rather than adding a national sales tax to determine consumption, one solution is to report all income, as is currently done, as well as all contributions to savings, just like what is done for IRA and 401(k) accounts. The difference between income and savings would be the basis on which the government levies the consumption tax. There could be a high standard deduction applied to the difference, so that lower-income families who are struggling to save do not need to pay an unaffordable tax bill, and so that the system remains progressive.

Reforming the tax system away from income tax is a tall order. Thanks to deductions for tax-advantaged savings, the income tax system has already begun to shift towards a focus on spending, but if you believe that the system could be vastly improved by focusing solely on consumption, the system has a long way to go before workers and savers aren’t punished by a tax collection system.

Would you prefer a tax system based solely on consumption?

Photo: exfordy
New York Times, Slate

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How Is Your Budget Doing These Days?

This article was written by Phil Cioppa in Planning. 21 comments.

This is a guest article by Phil Cioppa of Arbol Financial Strategies, LLC. Phil has over 10 years of financial service experience and specializes in asset management strategies, insurance planning and taxation issues. A budget is an important part of any financial plan, and right now is the best time to take another look at yours.

Do you feel like your dollars don’t stretch as far as they used to? No, it is not your imagination. They don’t, because we are experiencing some of the most difficult economic times since the gas lines of the 1970s and the Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

What does this mean for you? It means that it’s time to revisit your household budget to make sure that you are living within your means, that you are not wasting your hard-earned dollars on items you don’t need, and that you are setting money aside for what is really important.

What is really important? No, it’s not having the latest high tech gadget, a flashy new car, or more clothes to hang in your closet. It’s building and maintaining an adequate financial safety net for yourself so that you have the money you need to pay for setbacks and emergencies. For example, you lose your job, your employer decides not to continue paying for your health insurance, your car dies and you need to replace it, your child has an unexpected medical problem, your home needs an expensive repair, and so on. Without an adequate safety net, you may have to use credit cards to fund the unexpected, which could be devastating to your finances.

Saving for retirement is also really important. No matter how far away you are from retirement, if you don’t begin planning for it now, your inaction will come back to haunt you. No matter what –- put money aside for the future! When that future becomes “now,” you will be glad you did.

I know that doing all of this may sound like a tall order, but it’s non-negotiable. To start, re-evaluate your financial priorities, study your budget to figure out how your spending and your priorities line up, and then reduce your spending as necessary so that you can begin building a financial safety net as well as a retirement fund. And yes, doing this may require some sacrifice on your part.

If you have to spend less, examine your essential expenses, like food and other day-to-day costs of living. What can you reduce? Also look at the fat in your budget –- the stuff that you enjoy or think is nice to have, but that you really don’t need. What are you willing to give up?

Here are just a few of the kinds of questions you should ask yourself as you rework your budget:

Is your current cell phone plan truly the best deal for you?
Can you save money by bundling your phone, Internet and cable service? You’ll usually find that new account holders get the best deals so you may want to change providers.
Have you explored whether you could purchase your electricity or gas from a less expensive source, assuming those services are deregulated in your state?
Do you really need all of the TV channels you are paying for? If you changed to a cheaper package, would you miss the channels you eliminated?
Are you paying too much for your insurance? Ask your insurance broker to evaluate your insurance needs and explore whether you could save by consolidating all of your insurance with one company.
What about your vehicles? Can you get rid of one or them? And, how often do you use the motorcycle or boat you pay to insure?
How much are you spending each week on restaurant meals, happy hours, and coffee drinks? If you take the time to add up those expenses, you may be surprised at your final total. Take the money you are spending on such nonessentials and use it to pay off your debt faster, or to increase the amount that you save each month.
If you’ve been dropping thousands on vacations away, take vacations closer to home or even consider a vacation at home. Given rising airfares, you could save a bundle.
Refinance your home. With interest rates at all time lows, you could realize a substantial savings by getting a new mortgage loan and paying off your current one.

Nobody likes to change their lifestyle, but nobody likes to be broke either or to come up short when it’s time to retire! The key to surviving and even flourishing in a down economy is to be realistic about your spending, to decide what your financial priorities and needs really are, to give up some of your creature comforts if necessary, and to save, save, save. It’s essential if you want more money in your pocket for today and for tomorrow.

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$362,000 in Income: Not That Much for Mitt Romney

by Flexo

It’s no surprise that politicians have difficulty relating to their constituents. When Mitt Romney was asked about his finances, he admitted two facts that would sound strange to most listeners. Romney considers what he earned from speaking fees in one year, $362,000, as “not that much.” Like most individuals who earn most of their income ... Continue reading this article…

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How to Solve the Financial Literacy Problem

by Flexo

Opinions are generally clear about why such a large percentage of the American population winds up in financial jeopardy. There’s no formalized way to learn how to use money properly and with the best results; most people learn by experience. It would save a lot of headaches if we could somehow warn people in advance ... Continue reading this article…

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Home Mortgage Interest Deduction

by Flexo

Although the home mortgage interest deduction is one of the most oft-cited benefits of owning a home, most taxpayers don’t take advantage of it because it requires itemizing taxes. If itemized deductions including mortgage interest paid throughout the year exceed the standard deduction, a taxpayer can take advantage of the benefit. The benefit isn’t as ... Continue reading this article…

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Choosing a Career Path By Chasing Hot Jobs

by Flexo

A recent article in Fortune Magazine predicts that one of the hottest jobs ten years from now will be data scientist. If this prediction is true, parents of teenagers in their first year of high school and their parents might consider encouraging their kids to develop the skills necessary to be in high demand by ... Continue reading this article…

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