Getting a letter from the IRS can be a scary proposition.  But you do not need to loose your cool.  Just take a deep breath and read it again.  Sometimes your brain can trick you.  You think that you are reading one thing and the letter may actually mean something else.  Most letters from the Internal Revenue Service are just over minor issues.

Recently I got a letter in the mail from the IRS stating that they wanted $21,000 in back taxes.  I thought I was going to loose my mind.  When I got to the heart of the matter I found out that my IRA rollover was not reported correctly.  I thought that is going to take forever to get straight with the tax man.  All it took was a phone call to explain the problem.  The woman I spoke with at the IRS just said not to worry about it and she would send out a letter to fix it.  That was it.  You do not need to fear the IRS they want to get it right and they do not really want to give you a hard time either.

It just goes to show you that 99% of what you worry about never happens.

Let face it, times are tough.  Worry and fear are going to be your worst enemies if you let them take over.  Once you have overindulged in negative thinking, it’s hard to get your brain back on track.  Think of it as a diet.  Losing weight can be tough once you have packed on the pounds.  The habits of eating can be tough to change.  The same it true for your thinking.  Once you have gone down the path of negative thinking, it can be tough to bring yourself back to being present to the miracle of being alive.

How Do I Stay Positive In A Bad Economy? Continue Reading »

Loan modification is the process of renegotiating mortgage terms to an affordable level.  Millions of Americans are facing foreclosure.  The good news is that the banks are willing to renegotiate the terms of these mortgage notes rather than take on additional REO inventory.  The cost to carry foreclosure property for banks runs into the hundreds of millions.  The banks still have to pay the property taxes, hoa fees, landscaping and maintenance fees.  It is cheaper for them to modify your loan and keep you in the property rather than foreclose and take the property back.

What Is The First Step To Modifying A Mortgage

Your first call should be to the loss mitigation department of the bank that holds your mortgage.  Explain the circumstances to the bank representative.  They may ask for your most recent tax returns, pay stubs and asset account statements.  You need to demonstrate an ability to be able to make the new payment should they grant you a loan modification.  If you are lucky you will get a reduced interest rate as well as a write down on the mortgage balance.  You may also get a no interest option for a while.  Often you can get a forbearance agreement which will lower your payment and tack on the difference to the mortgage balance.

If You Are In Trouble With Your Mortgage, Do Not Wait Til Its Too Late

If you are in trouble and put your head in the sand, you may just be doing yourself in.  If you know you are in trouble don’t wait.  Get help now.

This Christmas season use cash to pay for your holiday gift purchases.  Using credit cards to buy your holiday gifts can be a trap.  There is a lot of social pressure to buy gifts for people.  My motto if you want to stay debt free over the holidays give up worrying about what people are thinking.  They are not going to help you pay your credit card bills when they come.  Buying gifts for people is not worth it if you cannot afford to.  Going into debt to buy gifts just because you think you should is not a good enough reason to do so.  Suffering over money is a terrible thing.  It is not worth it, so do not worry about what people are think.

If you do not have the money do not buy it.  Try using a debit card this holiday season or just carry cash with you.

Contrary to common thinking, you are not what you eat. Rather you are what you think. What got you into debt was not a lack of money but what thoughts you where indulging in in you head. All of the fantasies and stories that you told yourself that were not real about why you needed to buy things that you did. I’ll pay it back at the end of the month, this is what you tell yourself only to make the minimum payment. But next month I’ll pay it back in full.

The More You Think About Debt, The More Debt You Will Attract Continue Reading »