Showing posts with label Income. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Income. Show all posts

Friday, February 10, 2012

Residual Income and the Need for It

Residual Income is income that is generated continuously, though the effort to earn it has ceased. It is also referred to as passive income. The more easily understood and self-explanatory term, recurring income is also used.

To elucidate, let us take up the example of a writer who has finished writing a novel. She has sent out copies of it to different publishers, and to her joy, her writing is accepted by a reputed publishing house. She has a copyright over her work, but she can grant a license to the publication to print copies of it and to distribute them. The company will pay her a percentage of whatever they earn through the sale of her book. So, the creativity and hard work she initially put in are rewarded in the form of income that she no longer has to spend her energy to earn.

Now that we have an answer to the question "what is residual income?", we can explore how it is helpful. The amount you earn is usually dependent on the number of hours you work for. You would remember learning about 'direct proportionality' as a child. However, this is not the case with residual income. Once you do hit upon a source of making residual income, it will work on its own to generate a flow of money. There are many advantages to this:

Instead of spending half your waking hours (or maybe even more) on routine work, you can be at ease knowing that finances will find their way to you. This does not, of course, mean that you should fold your arms and sit back, but this gives you time to devote to other interests, hobbies, passions and also allows you to think of other schemes that will result in residual income. This is, again, easy to understand with the example of the writer. If her book is received well by the audience, she will be assured of receiving money from the publishers, and can concentrate on writing an exciting sequel to her book. She is also not bound by monetary concerns that were always at the back of her mind earlier and can sign up for the painting classes she had always longed to be part of!

However, not everyone may be as spectacularly successful as our friend the writer. It may be that one has to continue with a regular job, as the amount of residual income they receive is not too great. This, however, is still not without its benefits, for the purpose of residual income is not only to provide a luxurious life, free of cares. In the unfortunate event of a person losing their job (this is all too common these days) or not being able to attend to their job because of sickness, residual income can prove to be a blessing, keeping their financial situation sound by acting as a substitute to regular income in times of crisis or need.

Obviously, neither a great surge in finances, nor a crisis is required to see the uses of such income. A creative use of residual income is charity. Those of a philanthropic bend of mind will also derive happiness from recurring income, having more to share with others.

Now we can address the issue of discovering a vehicle that can generate residual income. We have already seen that royalties from books and writing are a source. The same applies for all that is copyrightable, such as music that you compose, lyrics that you write, computer code etc. and to patents in your name. However, these aren't alternatives that all of us can turn to, as they almost always necessarily require some talents and skills.

The following are more easily implemented:

If you own any property, you can rent it out and will receive an income as long as you allow others to enjoy it.

If you maintain a blog or website, you can choose to place advertisements on it for which you will be paid according to the contract between you and the advertising company.

You can also invest in stocks and bonds, on which interest and dividends will be paid.

If you are looking for more information on residual income, go visit http://www.profitfastmlmsystem.com/ for more tips.


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Thursday, February 9, 2012

Your Roth IRA Income Limits in 2011

This article will give you much more detail specifically as to how to determine your taxable income, why it is important, and how this affects your contribution amounts.

Taxable Income

Having a Roth IRA is a great opportunity to set yourself or your family up for retirement, and given the importance of this, the opportunity is geared more towards lower-middle income citizens.

The important thing to note is that when we talk about your taxable income in regards to your limits, we are talking about your Modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), which is how we will refer to it from now on.

Modified Adjusted Gross Income

Your MAGI is extremely important for determining the limits on your retirement account contributions.

Determining your MAGI:

Your MAGI is determined through use of your 1040 or 1040A tax form.

You will get your MAGI starting from line 21(line 38 of form 1040) which is your adjusted gross income, at the bottom of the front page.

Once you have this figure you need to add the following 5 figures to it to determine your MAGI:

The deductions you've taken for IRA contributions

The deductions applied to student loan interest or tuition

Any foreign income that has not been reported thus far

Any interest from EE savings bond that is used for a schooling related expense

Any employer contributions to adoption expenses if applicable

If you are filing jointly as married, simply add your 2 MAGI's together to get the Roth IRA Income Limits that you fall under in 2011.

Income Limits 2011

The following are the limits that determine how much you can contribute to your Roth IRA in 2011. Once you know what bracket you fall under you can determine your Roth IRA maximum contribution amount.

** All figures refer to your MAGI

Income Limits 2011 - Single:

Under $107,000: You can contribute the maximum

In-between $107,000 - $122,000: You can contribute a reduced amount from the maximum

Over $122,000: You are not allowed to contribute to your IRA

Income Limits 2011 - Married Filing Jointly:

Under $169,000: You can contribute the maximum

In-between $169,000 - $179,000: You can contribute a reduced amount from the maximum

Over $179,000: You are not allowed to contribute to your IRA

Income Limits 2011 - Married Filing Separately:

In-between $0 - $10,000: You can contribute a reduced amount from the maximum

Over $10,000: You are not allowed to contribute to your IRA

Income Limits 2011 Summary

Once again, now that you know more about your Roth IRA income limits in 2011, you can determine which bracket you fall into, and then learn more about your contribution limits.

It is my personal belief that everyone should learn about managing their personal finance. If you have a Roth IRA you need to first and foremost research your current Roth IRA Contribution Limits 2011. Once you understand the basic principles of managing your savings account, I encourage you to dive in and learn about the most current information available, in this case the Roth IRA Contribution Limits 2012.


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