Issue #2657
- WEALTHY: 2 ways to deduct travel expenses (Tim Clay)
- HEALTHY: News for osteoarthritis sufferers (Dr. Ray Sahelian)
- WISE: John Bunyan on inner peace
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Beating stress by finding peace of mind (Robert Ringer)
- 7 must-haves for powerful sales copy (John Forde)
- It’s Fun to Know… about travel to the U.S.
- Add “florid” to your vocabulary
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The Money in the Mileage
By Tim Clay
If you use your car for business purposes, it can give you a major tax deduction. And a big deduction means more money in your pocket.
By “business purposes,” I don’t mean commuting back and forth to your job. But if you own a small business (even one that you run on the side) and use your own car for such things as meeting with customers and suppliers, appearing at trade shows, and so on, you’ve got a legitimate business expense.
To get the deduction, you have to keep track of your business mileage for the year – and it’s not too late to do it for 2009 (though you’re going to have to backtrack to the beginning of January). The easiest way is with a mileage log. Do a Google search for “mileage log” or go to asktaxguys.com/free-stuff to get a free one (with instructions).
There are two ways to calculate the deduction – and you should do it both ways to see which one works out better for you.
1. Use the IRS’s standard mileage rate.
The standard mileage rate for 2009 will be $0.55. So if you travel 1,000 business miles during the year, your deduction would be $550 (1,000 miles x $0.55 = $550).
2. Use your actual expenses.
Let’s say you use your car for a total of 5,000 miles, 1,000 of them for business. Since 1,000 is 20 percent of 5,000 miles, you can deduct 20 percent of your actual expenses. Those expenses would include interest on your car loan, gas, tolls, repairs, insurance, depreciation, etc. (Using straight-line depreciation – the simplest and most common method – the IRS allows you to write off the cost of your vehicle in equal installments over five years. For a $10,000 car, that would be $2,000 per year.)
Here’s an example of what your actual expenses for the year might look like:
Depreciation: $2,000
Interest on loan: $1,000
Repairs: $500
Insurance: $900
Gasoline: $1,800
That adds up to $6,200. And 20 percent of $6,200 is $1,240.
So in this example, your mileage deduction would be $1,240. Since it is higher than the IRS’s standard rate ($550), this is the one you would use when you file your taxes. Keep in mind, though, that if you use actual expenses, you have to keep better records, including receipts and detailed accounts of your business travels.
[Ed. Note: Internet Money Club member Tim Clay, E.A., is an Enrolled Agent - a federally authorized tax practitioner - and a certified QuickBooks Advisor with 25 years of experience. Visit www.AskTaxGuys.com to learn more and sign up for Tim's free tax-tips newsletter.
One of the best ways to reduce your tax bill for 2009 - while building a business that could throw off income for years to come - is to further your education. Learn how you could create your own financial freedom by starting your own Internet business right here.]
“If we have not quiet in our minds, outward comfort will do no more for us than a golden slipper on a gouty foot.”
John Bunyan
3 Strategies for a Stress-Free Life
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the widespread problem of stress. It’s a menace that knows no racial, ethnic, religious, or gender boundaries. Clearly, it is endemic in modern Western culture.
I’ve come to the conclusion that children, job, lack of time, the state of the economy, and other frazzling issues that most of us have to deal with are not the underlying causes of stress. Rather, I am convinced that stress is a self-imposed mental state.
Stress is the antithesis of serenity. Which is why an important factor in reducing stress is to strive for peace of mind. You cannot simultaneously experience tranquility and stress.
So, how do you capture that elusive mental state known as peace of mind? A good start is to recognize that true peace of mind does not shift with changing circumstances. If you have peace of mind, you can handle both adversity and good fortune with calm confidence.
In other words, true peace of mind gives you the strength to stay on course… no matter what. What I’m saying here is that you live within your mind. It is not events that shape your world. It’s your thought processes.
Fear, loneliness, rejection, illness, death, financial failure, and loss of love are just a few examples of the kinds of sadness and misfortune we all have to deal with from time to time. Where we differ is how each of us handles the negatives that come into our lives. This, in turn, goes a long way toward determining whether our lives will be stressful or tranquil.
To help you use the power of your mind to overcome a stressful mind-set, I strongly encourage you to employ the mental tools described below.
• Accept the inevitable.
There are some things you simply can’t do anything about. However, it’s important to be able to discern the difference between inevitable and difficult. For example, success can be difficult, but, regardless of one’s circumstances, failure is not inevitable. Accepting the inevitable is not being negative, it’s actually positive. What’s negative is not being able to ignore the inevitable and move on with your life.
As pastor, author, and educator Charles Swindoll put it, “We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it.”
Accepting the inevitable and focusing on opportunities in your life is virtually guaranteed to lower your stress level.
• Intellectualize the reality that life isn’t perfect.
I say intellectualize, because just about everyone claims to understand this reality, but I don’t believe most people take the trouble to analyze what it really means.
In The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck pointed out that one of the most traumatic moments of a child’s life is when he discovers that his parents aren’t perfect. Likewise, I believe one of the most traumatic moments of a parent’s life is when he/she discovers that his/her child isn’t perfect. You can reduce your stress many times over by accepting the reality that there is no perfect child, parent, spouse, home, city, or job.
• Shake the habit of fretting and stewing about problems that don’t exist.
It’s amazing how many people live in a “what if” world. Projecting medical problems is an excellent and all-too-common example of this.
My doctor once told me that medical students are notorious for imagining that they’ve contracted some terrible disease. The reason, of course, is that they study diseases on a daily basis. Because they are trained to be constantly on the lookout for the life-threatening symptoms they are learning about, it’s understandable that they would sometimes imagine they have some of those same symptoms.
Can there be a better definition of joy than the feeling you have when the results of your prostate exam, colonoscopy, pap smear, or mammogram come back negative? Until you get that thumbs-up feedback, it’s easy for your mind to play tricks on you and stress you to the limit. It’s a classic example of being stressed over a problem that doesn’t exist. The problem becomes real only if, and when, the results come back positive.
This is precisely what happened to me some years ago when I was told that my PSA reading was slightly on the high side. I had recently watched a couple of shows on television about prostate cancer, and a 20/20 segment by Hugh Downs put me over the edge.
To make a long story short, I began sweating heavily at night, my left leg was tingling, and I lost my appetite. I found myself lying in bed and thinking about what a prostate operation would be like, how much pain would be involved, how much recuperation time would be required – and if I would even survive.
Guess what? My symptoms were 100 percent self-induced. When I visited a urologist, everything checked out perfectly – including a PSA reading on the low side.
On reflection, however, I’m glad I had that experience, because it taught me how easy it is to induce stress – and even medical symptoms – through the power of the mind. If you dwell on bad things that might happen in your life – medical or otherwise – you only succeed in increasing the chances of their actually happening.
In the words of Thomas Carlyle, “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” In other words, focus on today’s problems, because, in most cases, that’s a full-time job.
[Ed. Note: To learn how to survive and prosper during the turbulent years ahead, check out Robert Ringer's powerful audio series Succeeding in a World of Chaos.
And be sure to sign up for a FREE subscription to Robert Ringer's one-of-a-kind e-letter A Voice of Sanity in an Insane World.]
Important Message If You’ve Lost Money From Your IRA or 401(K)
I don’t know about you, but I’d barely trust Wall Street and the Big Banks with the 63 dollars in my wallet right now, never mind my IRA, 401(k), and life savings!
That’s why thousands of smart Americans are now taking matters into their own hands and quietly moving their money into much smarter positions “off Wall Street”.
One investment of as little as $1,000 has the realistic ability to quickly swell into a full year’s salary in just a few weeks time – and then repeat over and over again.
Another is currently offering the chance to gain year-in and year-out returns of 65% with 99.77% certainty – even in today’s economy.
The One Thing Good Copy Can’t Fix
By John Forde
I remember being asked by someone interviewing me if I had a “must-have” list for a good piece of sales copy. I hit all the basics in my answer…
- Benefits
- More benefits
- Specific and even shocking stats and proof
- Third-party validation of your claims
- Credibility-building testimonials
- Some track record of product success
- A nice strong offer and airtight guarantee
- A firm push to get the order
Not a bad set of tools. But I left something out.
No copy will work if it isn’t built on top of a good sales effort STRATEGY. Now what exactly do I mean by that? I have to credit this insight to marketing consultant Roy Williams, who asked the question, ”Which do you think would work better, the brilliant execution of a flawed strategy… or the flawed execution of a brilliant one?”
Of course, you know the answer. Think about it. Have you ever seen a movie with a great director… an all-star cast… and a screenplay you wouldn’t use to line a litter box? No matter how good the direction and performances are, they can rarely save a miserable script.
On the other hand, get a great screenplay with a terrific plot and insightful, natural dialogue… and it’s hard for even a ham actor or egotistical director to screw it up.
Something similar is true in sales copy. Strategy – a great product paired with a great offer and a strong guarantee, among other things – is the cornerstone. If it stinks, it doesn’t matter how clever your ad is… how well printed or designed… because it’s still likely to flop.
Meanwhile, a great strategy can work even in the hands of semi-amateurs. Not always, but often.
How do you know you’ve got a strategy problem?
If ad after ad isn’t working, no matter how good you “thought” it read before going out the door… step back and look at the guts of what you’re doing. There’s a good chance the strategy behind it is weak.
[Ed. Note: To get more of copywriting expert John Forde's wisdom and insights into marketing (and much more), sign up for his free e-letter, Copywriter's Roundtable, at copywritersroundtable.com. Or send an e-mail to signup@jackforde.com. Get a free report about 15 deadly copy mistakes and how to avoid them when you sign up today.]
3 Supplements That Can Help Treat Osteoarthritis
Over the past few years, there have been numerous studies regarding the role of glucosamine and chondroitin as a treatment for osteoarthritis. Most, but not all, show that these natural nutrients are beneficial, including a new Japanese study.
The Japanese researchers gave 46 osteoarthritis and 22 rheumatoid arthritis patients a combination supplement of 1,200 mg of glucosamine hydrochloride, 100 mg of chondroitin (from 300 mg of shark cartilage), and 45 mg of quercetin. The patients took the supplement orally, every day for three months. Those with osteoarthritis showed a significant improvement in pain symptoms, daily activities (walking and climbing up and down stairs), and changes in the synovial fluid properties. No such effects were observed in those with rheumatoid arthritis.
Quercetin supplements are available by themselves and can be taken together with a joint formula that has chondroitin and glucosamine.
[Ed. Note: For more on glucosamine, chondroitin, and quercetin - and dozens of other nutritional supplements - visit the natural healing website of Ray Sahelian, MD, at www.raysahelian.com. You can also purchase a joint-health supplement straight from Dr. Sahelian by clicking here.
You can find plenty of all-natural methods for staying healthy - including the latest breakthroughs in weight-loss programs... healthful recipes... and other ideas for achieving optimal health - all from one of the largest integrative-medicine practices in the country. Learn more here.]
It’s Good to Know: Travel to the U.S. Hits a High in 2008
The United States welcomed a record 50.5 million foreign travelers last year, according the U.S. Commerce Department. Seventy-five percent were tourists, 14 percent were here on business, and the rest were either temporary workers or students. Here’s how the numbers break down by country:
Canada: 18.9 million
Mexico: 6.2 million
United Kingdom: 4.6 million
Japan: 3.2 million
Germany: 1.8 million
France: 1.2 million
Italy: 780,000
Brazil: 770,000
(Source: USA Today)
== Highly Recommended ==
6 Steps to Success in 2009
When a toddler is first learning how to walk she starts with a series of small steps.
It’s scary at first. Holding onto tables, chairs and anything else within reach, she hesitantly moves forward.
Occasionally she’ll fall down, but she gets right back up and tries again.
Your path to success is just like that.
Success, like learning how to walk, is something you work towards and it begins with one step followed by another.
Like a toddler, you won’t be left alone as you journey towards success.
Expert guidance and instruction are available to keep you on track to achieve your goals.
Take your first step by clicking here…
Word to the Wise: Florid
“Florid” – from the Latin for “flower” – means flushed with red.
Example (as used by Tom Gilling in The Sooterkin): “The Reverend Mr. Kidney is a short round bowlegged man with black muttonchop whiskers and a florid face, like a pomegranate, into which he has poured a great quantity of brandy and lesser amounts of whisky and claret.”
[Ed. Note: Become a more persuasive writer and speaker ... build your self-confidence and intellect ... increase your attractiveness to others ... just by spending 10 VERY enjoyable minutes a day with ETR's new Words to the Wise CD Library.]
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2009
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