EBRI on retirement

From CNNMoney.com "Have less than $25K in savings? Get in line"


Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) estimated that all, but the lowest earning men, should have saving at least 12X their income when they retire. That's $1,200,000 for a man earning $100,000. A woman, because of higher life expectancies, should have 14X.

Your nest egg, combine with your Social Security benefits (and pension benefits if you have them) should be large enough to generate at least 70% to 80% of your pre-retirement income.

What is Pentium Dual-Core processor?

The Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2060 is an unannounced Intel processor that mysteriously shown up in budget laptops at retailing stores in early 2007.

The T2060 is an off-roadmap processor (i.e. not on Intel's roadmap). It was developed at the request of some of Intel's customers.

It is a variant of the value Core Duo processor (T2050).

But the T2060's L2 cache is smaller than the L2 cache of Core Duo; and it may lacks some of Intel's latest power management features.

5 keys to investing success

I read it somewhere ...

1 - Make investing a habit

2 - Set reach goals that are not impossible for you; but should be achievable if you put in some efforts.

3 - Avoid unnecessary risks - asset allocation

4 - Be patient

5 - Diversify

Favors of Windows Vista

* Windows Vista Business

* Windows Vista Enterprise

* Windows Vista Home Basic
-- Requires at least 512 Mb of memory

* Windows Vista Home Premium
-- Requires at least 1.0 Gb of memory

* Windows Vista Ultimate

There is also the Windows Vista Starter which is only available in developing technology markets.


Last Windows OS has

* Windows XP Home

* Windows XP Professional

* Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Tax filing strategies

Use tax professional

+ A must for complex returns
- Expensive (see below)
+ Through
+ Usually provide supports for audit

Do it yourself

+ Inexpensive
- Time & efforts (it takes an estimated 28 hours and 30 minutes to prepare a return)
- Require good knowledge in tax laws
- Possible errors or may missed tax saving opportunities

Use VITA /TCE programs

+ Preparation & e-filing for free
- Limited to simple returns
+ Preparers are trained & certified, but with uneven experiences
- No support for audit

Use tax preparation software

Software buys convenience!
+ Avoids arithmetical errors
+ Step by step interview process – reduces need for tax knowledge
+ Interview process minimizes errors from tax situation changes such as retirement
+ Convenient import of previous years info
+ Can do what if scenarios – see impact of different filing strategies
+ E-file available & convenient storage in PDF format

However
- Expenses – costs of software & e-filing
- Accuracy in data entry is very important!
- Lengthy interview process
- It may not handle special or complicate tax situations


The IRS estimates that $200 is the average cost for taxpayers to file basic federal income tax returns.
Professional tax preparers also calculated that the average fees their clients paid last season ranged from about $155 at H&R Block to just under $178 at Jackson Hewitt.