Calling all Volunteers

You are invited to a Red Carpet volunteer kickoff party brought to you by Louisville Asset Building Coalition celebrating YOU, our valued volunteers!

The theme is "HOORAY FOR VOLUNTEERS!" (sing in the tune of "Hooray for Holloywood"). You are the stars for VITA/EITC and this will be your night to shine.

We are asking that each of you try and bring one or more friends that may be interested in volunteering. If each one, brings one, we will double the number of families we serve.

Please RSVP 502-292-6182 or volunteer@louisvilleabc.org

We will have fun, food, drawings and entertainment by your very own Site Coordinators! So don't miss it! SEE YOU THERE!!!

Earned Income Tax Credits - EITC in Lousiville, KY

Plan ahead for the upcoming season to maximize your 2006 - 2007 tax return. Depending on your filing situtaion and household income you may qualify for two federal programs. One is getting free tax preparation service and the other is a huge tax credit which largely goes uncliamed - the EITC. So, why should you pay attention if you live in Lousiville, KY?

Almost 60,000 filers qualify for the free service and only a little over 4,100 used it this past tax season. Second, there is somewhere around $26,000,000.00 in EITC that is not claimed in Louisville, KY. Think about it, you want to save a few hundred bucks on a tax return and get all your money or let it go to someone else... Tough choice huh?

Learn more at my work website: www.louisvilleabc.org

New era in wealth - does it matter

Last week I was in NYC and on the way back home I picked up a copy of Forbes magazine's 400 richest people in US. I bought the magazine simply for the cover - top 400 richest people in the US and they were ALL Billionaires. So, I just realized that being a millionaire is no longer that big of a deal, being a multi millionaire isn't a big deal anymore (this is where I self disclose again, I am not either one of those). The problem with this feature in the article is that it only goes to show the big disparity between what the perceived definition of “rich” is and further crushes the realities of what the majority of people actually need to be successful and financially secure/ successful.

I would like to see an article on the top 400 people who saves $500,000.00 from people who didn’t think they could. A list of people who, like the masses, go to work, get a paycheck and repeat the process. The reality that we all cannot start the next mega company is real and even more real is that we have a less chance in winning the lottery. So unless we all have rich families with deep inheritance pockets – how will we reach financial success? What will force normal, average people to learn how to build wealth?

Refunding Spilting - painless way to save

Be on the lookout for this coming tax season. The IRS is going to let you spilt your refund via e-filing to multiple accounts. What does this mean? We can now make a small attempt to save our tax returns w/o being forced to make that decision when the money arrives. Now, it will be like our paycheck with direct deposite or 401K, etc. we can decide to have funds deposited to different accounts - in theory one for spending (cause we know few of us are so good to not have some fun or pay some bills) and the other one for saving.

I know we need to do better to start saving as a country. According to the Fed, our nation has entered into a negative savings rate - first time ever, consider this is saying we as a nation had more during the despression... Perhaps, concepts like spilt refund, auto savings and other "products" may not change our habit but will help at least keep something in our wallets.