Financial Wake-Up Call: 3-20-2007
Alternative Minimum Tax Nightmare: A sad story about a couple that will likely lose their entire retirement and house due to the alternative minimum tax for money that they never even saw.
You May Be Paying More than Your Should For Gas: An interesting piece that claims that gas stations may be making an extra $2 billion or so a year by selling warm gas to us:
The devil is in the details, and while a little piece of pump equipment known as a temperature-compensation device does not change the temperature of the fuel, it does “compensate” for warm, expanded fuel. So why don’t fuel pumps in the U.S. all have one?
At this point, temperature compensation is not mandatory, and the sale of “hot fuel” is not illegal. The consumer plaintiffs want to change that because, according to an investigative series in The Kansas City Star, hot fuel costs consumers between $1.7 billion and $2.3 billion per year.
How Much Is Your Identity Worth?: According to a report from Symantec, your credit card number with verification number is worth $1 – $6 when sold by hackers over the Internet and your identity (which includes your U.S. bank account number, your credit card number and verification number, your date of birth and your social security number sells for between $14 to $18. For you, however, it will mean countless hours and major hassles trying to to claim your identity back.
If you are looking for some more reading:
I have to say, and this may sound harsh, I have little sympathy for the people who got stuck with huge tax bills because they held onto exercised ISOs for the tax benefit.
It’s too bad that these guys got crummy advice. But we all have to deal with crummy advice every day. If there weren’t repercussions for making bad decisions, like these guys did, there would be no incentive to make good decisions.