Just in case your wondering...this is...
How Your Income Stacks Up
by Kevin McCormally
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Where do you rank as a taxpayer? You may not feel rich earning $35,000 a year, but you're in the top half of taxpayers. Make $70,000, and you earn more than 75 percent of fellow taxpayers.
Even as the Great Recession ends, we know the economic wounds it inflicted will take years to heal. The national unemployment rate has breached 10 percent, and unemployment is higher than 12 percent in California and above 15 percent in Michigan. A new study from the Department of Agriculture found that nearly 50 million Americans struggled at some point in 2008 to get enough to eat.
More than 40 million Americans are officially living in poverty. And you might be surprised at how little income it takes to not be considered poor by the federal government. For 2008, the poverty threshold for a single person under age 65 was an income of $11,201, or less than $1,000 a month. For a family of four, the threshold was $21,834. For a family of six, $28,769.
With that perspective, you may wonder just how your income stacks up against that of your fellow citizens. New statistics from the IRS provide an answer. The numbers here come from an analysis of 2007 tax returns, the most recent ones that have been studied.
The data show that an income of $32,879 or more puts you in the top half of taxpayers. Earning a bit more than twice that much -- $66,532 -- earns you a spot among the top 25 percent of all earners. You crack the elite top 10 percent if you earn more than $113,018.
And $410,096 buys top bragging rights: Earn that much or more and you're among the top 1 percent of all American earners.
Kiplinger has developed an online calculator to quickly show you -- based on your personal adjusted gross income -- into which income category you fall and, as a bonus, what percentage of the nation's tax burden is borne collectively by you and your fellow citizens who are in that income category.
ech??? you believe this.....?
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Whoa....hold up wait a minute...
Hi every one....I've ran out of inspiration and money..so i've been on a sabatical to rebuild the coffers and find new inspiration to go out there and define my take on RE in LA...well I could go like everyone of us peeps that didnt have a banner year of sale after sale..it's been hard to stay motivated and focus..on the hustle harder mantra. Yeah that was where I was at in October,November..yeah get it done before November 30th yawn....well it has come and gone and now we plan for a new year of spectacular bargins for the investor and abysmal realties for the ones who could not hold on...sorry life is a tumble some times, you need to pick yourself up and keep trying..don't give up...you heard it before. So for my final 2009 post. Stay cool, tempered and smart...you will have a happy new year..(I'm smiling like eddie murphy in BH cop))laughing too....
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Ok this is Good News?
Mortgage rates drop to record lows -- for those who can qualify
November 25, 2009 | 12:17 pm
Two weekly reports show Christmas has arrived early for mortgage borrowers, with rates at or near record lows.
In its survey for the week ending today, home-loan buyer Freddie Mac said the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage had dropped to 4.78%, tying a record set last April. The survey assumes borrowers have good credit, a 20% down payment or 20% equity if it's a refinance, and pay 0.7% of the loan balance in upfront fees and discount points to their lender.
Rates for 15-year fixed-rate loans were the lowest ever in Freddie's survey, averaging 4.32% with 0.6% in fees and points. Details about the methodology and other types of loans are in the release on the website of the McLean, Va., company.
BankRate.com, the North Palm Beach, Fla., financial information firm, is showing average rates at an even 5%, the lowest ever for its survey of large lenders. The mortgages in the survey had an average of 0.4 origination and discount points.
Details in today's announcement include the following caveat/observation from BankRate's Holden Lewis:
"The good news is that mortgage rates are so low. The bad news is that unemployment is high and rising, causing more homeowners to fall behind on their mortgage payments. As a result, it's harder to get a mortgage because lenders are tightening their underwriting standards -- for example, requiring bigger down payments and scrutinizing borrowers' finances."
Another bad sign for housing in recent weeks has been dwindling applications for loans to purchase homes, perhaps because buyers thought an $8,000 federal tax credit program for first-time buyers would expire.
But with Congress having extended the tax credit and broadened it to include a $6,500 credit for trade-up buyers, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said today that purchase applications rose 9.6% last week after accounting for seasonal factors. That reversed six straight weeks of purchase-loan declines in the association's weekly surveys.
The bankers association said that, overall, the seasonally adjusted volume of loan applications was down 4.5% from the previous week as efforts to refinance homes dropped off.
-- E. Scott Reckard
hey Scott, tell the truth..this is not good news..
November 25, 2009 | 12:17 pm
Two weekly reports show Christmas has arrived early for mortgage borrowers, with rates at or near record lows.
In its survey for the week ending today, home-loan buyer Freddie Mac said the average rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage had dropped to 4.78%, tying a record set last April. The survey assumes borrowers have good credit, a 20% down payment or 20% equity if it's a refinance, and pay 0.7% of the loan balance in upfront fees and discount points to their lender.
Rates for 15-year fixed-rate loans were the lowest ever in Freddie's survey, averaging 4.32% with 0.6% in fees and points. Details about the methodology and other types of loans are in the release on the website of the McLean, Va., company.
BankRate.com, the North Palm Beach, Fla., financial information firm, is showing average rates at an even 5%, the lowest ever for its survey of large lenders. The mortgages in the survey had an average of 0.4 origination and discount points.
Details in today's announcement include the following caveat/observation from BankRate's Holden Lewis:
"The good news is that mortgage rates are so low. The bad news is that unemployment is high and rising, causing more homeowners to fall behind on their mortgage payments. As a result, it's harder to get a mortgage because lenders are tightening their underwriting standards -- for example, requiring bigger down payments and scrutinizing borrowers' finances."
Another bad sign for housing in recent weeks has been dwindling applications for loans to purchase homes, perhaps because buyers thought an $8,000 federal tax credit program for first-time buyers would expire.
But with Congress having extended the tax credit and broadened it to include a $6,500 credit for trade-up buyers, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. said today that purchase applications rose 9.6% last week after accounting for seasonal factors. That reversed six straight weeks of purchase-loan declines in the association's weekly surveys.
The bankers association said that, overall, the seasonally adjusted volume of loan applications was down 4.5% from the previous week as efforts to refinance homes dropped off.
-- E. Scott Reckard
hey Scott, tell the truth..this is not good news..
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