Running header FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT1FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT4.docx

Running header: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 1
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 4
Advantages of Disadvantages of Using Consumer Credit
Name
Institution
Abstract

This paper will talk about the risks of debt, the ways in which
debts can be used to build wealth, how lenders assess borrowers
and the ways in which one can use debts by Tim Clue.
Question 1
I have debts for cars, furniture, and appliances. These
determinants of the costs of my debts include the value of the
assets. The costs of my debts are $ 75000.By being in debt, a
person risks the auctioning of their property and losing their
reputation if they are unable to repay. A person can use debt to
build wealth by investing in education, real state, and in starting
a new
business. Starting a new business will help to repay the debt,
and then the borrower will be left with a source of income
(Yan., 2013).
Question 2
I am not considered a default risk, and a lender evaluates m
according to the following 5Cs.
Character
This refers to the history pf the borrower concerning the
repayment of debts. If the borrower has a reasonable debt
repayment history, the lender will be more than willing to lend
their money. This is because they will have confidence in the
borrower that he/she will repay. However, if the borrower has a
poor debt repayment record, the lender will not be willing to
issue their money for a loan since they are not willing to risk
losing it (Moti.,2012).
Capacity
The lender looks at the ability of the borrower to repay the loan
before issuing it. They must, first of all, ask the borrower how
they are going to refund the money. They have to agree on the
amount that the borrower will be paying monthly or after a
certain period plus the interest rate.
Capital
The lender must determine whether the borrower has the
required capital to start a business before issuing them with a
loan (Hawkins.,2000). The borrower also must know the amount

of capital required for the startup. Most lenders shy away from
giving loans to startups.
Collateral
The lender must know the assets that will be used as collateral
security for their money. These are the ones that will be sold if
the borrower defaults in payment (Bauer.,0160. The lender
cannot risk his money. He /she must be assured of the item that
can be sold to recover their money.
Conditions
The borrower has to agree with the terms and conditions of
borrowing money of the lender. This will make sure that there
will be no disputes when it comes to repayment (Bauer.,2016).
Question 3
The video by Tim Clue about debt is funny in the part where he
says that he looked at his debt and said to himself that he could
never pay this off. However, t is not funny where he says that it
is good to leave a debt to your children. That it is good to leave
something that money cannot buy to your children. He says that
to manage debts, first, a person has to accept their situation and
plan how to repay with time. One should not hate themselves.
In conclusion, debts can lead to auctioning if one fails to repay
and damage of reputation. Capital, conditions, character,
capacity and collateral are the ones used by lenders to assess
borrowers.

References
Moti, H.O (2012) Effectiveness of credit management system on
loan performance: Empirical evidence from micro-finance
sector in Kenya. International journal of business, humanities
and technology. 2(6).
Yan,R, Chi, H.M, Koo, S & Baker, J. (2013) System and method
of detecting and assessing multiple types of risks related to
mortgage lending
Bauer, G.H & Granziera, E. (2016) Monetary policy, private
debt and financial stability risks.
Hawkins, J 7 Turner, P. 2000) Managing foreign debt and
liquidity risks in emerging economies: An overview.
Ugo, P. (2014) Public debt risks in Italy: Myths, facts and
policies.
.
Running head: MEMO ON REASONS FOR DELAYED WAGES
1
MEMO ON REASONS FOR DELAYED WAGES
4
MEMO ON REASONS FOR DELAYED WAGES
Name

Institution affiliation
MEMO
To: The Management
From: Chief Financial Officer
Date:
Subject: Reason for delayed Wages
Good afternoon, Staff Members,
This is to sincerely apologize to all staff members for the
delayed one-month wages and give adequate reasons behind the
delay. Despite the great sales that we have received this year,
there is a short in terms of cash in the company due to the
accounting system employed in the company. Our cooperation is
still new and we are trying hard to penetrate the market as well
as stay competitive while considering sustainability. To achieve
the above, the company has to put the needs of the clients as its
primary priority to gain their trust and loyalty. Thus the
company has employed accrual accounting and partly cash
accounting.
Cash accounting is the simplest way and efficient to use since it
favors the company. This method records cash inflow when it is
received and cash outflow when it is paid (Hribar & Yehuda,
2015). Taxwise, this method seems to favor the firm since a new
business can suspend recording of income until the following
financial year. However, this accounting method is mostly
employed by small corporations or large firms that have already
established themselves in the market. On the other hand, accrual
accounting records cash inflow and outflow regardless of
whether the cash has reached the financial offices. The method
involves recording income and expenses immediately a

transaction is conducted rather than when payments are done
(Modugno & Di Carlo, 2019). The method is an asset to our
company since it presents the whole picture of our financial
position.
Firstly, BizCon Company offered 6 months- financing which
means that our regular customers will not be paying for services
for the said termed phase which contributes to the shortage of
cash in the company. Secondly, our equipment sellers demand
cash on delivery which means they are paid with the little cash
earned since our company records cash inflow the moment an
invoice is generated. Moreover, the company was forced to pay
a pre-insurance which is also a great contributor to cash
shortages. Thus the promising sales we realized this year are not
in cash terms but mostly in invoices and the little cash collected
was used for the above-mentioned expenses.
Nevertheless, BizCon Company urges the staff members to be a
little bit more patient as we collect cash depending on the dates
of invoices. The company’s establishment rate is also
promising, which means that cash shortages will be minimal as
time passes by which means that delayed wages issues will not
occur again. However, any staff with a question or additions is
welcomed to present them to the financial offices or contact us
through [email protected]. Lastly, the company appreciates your
patience so far and promise to make it up to every one of you.
Signature:
Reasons for delayed wages
[email protected]
References
Bushman, R. M., Lerman, A., & Zhang, X. F. (2016). The
changing landscape of accrual accounting. Journal of
Accounting Research, 54(1), 41-78.
Hribar, P., & Yehuda, N. (2015). The mispricing of cash flows
and accruals at different life‐cycle stages. Contemporary
Accounting Research, 32(3), 1053-1072.

Modugno, G., & Di Carlo, F. (2019). Financial Sustainability of
Higher Education Institutions: A Challenge for the Accounting
System. In Financial Sustainability of Public Sector Entities
(pp. 165-184). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
159
Chapter 7 Financial Management
Introduction
Financial management is about managing the financing for
consumption and
investment. You have two sources for money: yourself or
someone else. You need to
decide when to use whose money and how to do so as efficiently
as possible: maximizing
benefit and minimizing cost. As with all financial decisions,
you also need to think about
the strategic consequences for future decisions.
You can use your own money as a source of financing if your
income is at least equal to
your living expenses. If it is more, you have a budget surplus
that can be saved and used
as a source of future financing while earning income at the same
time. If your own
income is less than the expenses, you have a budget deficit that
will require another
external source of financing—someone else’s money—that will
add an expense. Ideally,
you want to avoid the additional expense of borrowing and

instead create the additional
income from saving. The budgeting techniques discussed in
Chapter 5 "Financial Plans:
Budgets" are helpful in seeing this picture more clearly.
Your ability to save will vary over your lifetime, as your family
structure, age, career
choice, and health will change. Those “micro” factors determine
your income and
expenses and thus your ability to create a budget surplus and
your own internal
financing. Likewise, your need to use external financing, such
as credit or debt, will vary
with your income, expenses, and ability to save.
At times, unexpected change can turn a budget surplus into a
budget deficit (e.g., a
sudden job loss or increased health expenses), and a saver can
reluctantly become a
borrower. Being able to recognize that change and understand
the choices for financing
and managing cash flow will help you create better strategies.
Financing can be used to purchase a long-term asset that will
generate income, reduce
expense, or create a gain in value, and it may be useful when
those benefits outweigh the
cost of the debt. The benefit of long-term assets is also
influenced by personal factors.
For example, a house may be more useful, efficient, and
valuable when families are
larger.
Macroeconomic factors, such as the economic cycle,
employment, and inflation, should
bear on your financing decisions as well. Your incomes and

expenses are affected by the
economy’s expansion or contraction, especially as it affects
your own employment or
earning potential. Inflation or deflation, or an expected
devaluation or appreciation of
the currency, affects interest rates as both lenders and
borrowers anticipate using or
returning money that has changed in value.
Financial management decisions become more complicated
when the personal and
macroeconomic factors become part of the decision process, but
the result is a more
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160
realistic evaluation of alternatives and a better strategy that
leaves more choices open in
the future. Financial management decisions, however, are
difficult not because of their
complexity, but because the way you can finance your assets
and expenses (i.e., lifestyle)
determines the life that you live. The stakes are high.
7.1 Your Own Money: Cash
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the cash flows and instruments used to manage
income deposits and expense payments.

2. Explain the purpose of check balancing.
Most people use a checking account as their primary means of
managing cash flows
for daily living. Incomes from wages and perhaps from
investments are deposited to this
account, and expenses are paid from it. The actual deposit of
paychecks and writing of
checks, however, has been made somewhat obsolete as more
cash flow services are
provided electronically.
When incoming funds are distributed regularly, such as a
paycheck or a government
distribution, direct deposit is preferred. For employers and
government agencies, it
offers a more efficient, timely, and secure method of
distributing funds. For the
recipient, direct deposit is equally timely and secure and can
allow for a more efficient
dispersal of funds to different accounts. For example, you may
have some of your
paycheck directly deposited to a savings account, while the rest
is directly deposited to
your checking account to pay living expenses. Because you
never “see” the money that is
saved, it never passes through the account that you “use,” so
you are less likely to spend
it.
Withdrawals or payments have many electronic options.
Automatic payments may
be scheduled to take care of a periodic payment (i.e., same
payee, same amount) such as
a mortgage or car payment. They may also be used for periodic
expenses of different

amounts—for example, utility or telephone expenses. A debit
card may be used to
directly transfer funds at the time of purchase; money is
withdrawn from your account
and transferred to the payee’s with one quick swipe at checkout.
An
ATM (automated teller machine) card offered by a bank allows
for convenient
access to the cash in your bank accounts through instant cash
withdrawals.
The bank clears these transactions as it manages your account,
providing statements of
your cash activities, usually monthly and online. When you
reconcile your record
keeping (i.e., your checkbook or software accounts) with the
bank’s statement, you are
balancing your checking account. This ensures that your records
and the bank’s records
are accurate and that your information and account balance and
the bank’s are up to
date. Banks do make mistakes, and so do you, so it is important
to check and be sure
that the bank’s version of events agrees with yours.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS
• A checking account is the primary cash flow management tool
for most consumers, providing a

way to pay for expenses and store cash until it is needed.
• Balancing your checkbook reconciles your personal records
with the bank’s records of your
checking account activity.
EXERCISES
1. In My Notes or your personal finance journal, inventory in
detail all the vehicles you use for
managing your cash flows. Include all your accounts that are
mediated through banks and finance
companies. Also, list your cards issued by banks, such as debit
or ATM cards, and identify any
direct deposits and automatic payments that are made through
your savings and checking
accounts. How might you further enhance your cash
management through the use of banking
tools?
2. Does your bank offer online banking services, such as
electronic bill payment? View your bank
and others (such as http://www.ingdirect.com) online to learn
more about Internet banking.
What products and services do online branches and banks offer?
Do you (or would you) use those

products and services? Why (or why not)? Discuss online
banking with classmates. What do they
identify as the main benefits and risks of electronic banking?
7.2 Your Own Money: Savings
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the markets and institutions used for saving.
2. Compare and contrast the instruments used for saving.
3. Analyze a savings strategy in terms of its liquidity and risk.
When incomes are larger than expenses, there is a budget
surplus, and that surplus can
be saved. You could keep it in your possession and store it for
future use, but then you
have the burden of protecting it from theft or damage. More
important, you create an
opportunity cost. Because money trades in markets and liquidity
has value, your
alternative is to lend that liquidity to someone who wants it
more than you do at the
moment and is willing to pay for its use. Money sitting idle is
an opportunity cost.
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162

The price that you can get for your money has to do with supply
and demand for
liquidity in the market, which in turn has to do with a host of
other macroeconomic
factors. It also has a lot to do with time, opportunity cost, and
risk. If you are willing to
lend your liquidity for a long time, then the borrower has more
possible uses for it, and
increased mobility increases its value. However, while the
borrower has more
opportunity, you (the seller) have more opportunity cost
because you give up more
choices over a longer period of time. That also creates more risk
for you, since more can
happen over a longer period of time. The longer you lend your
liquidity, the more
compensation you need for your increased opportunity cost and
risk.
Savings Markets
The markets for liquidity are referred to as the money markets
and the
capital markets. The money markets are used for relatively
short-term, low-risk
trading of money, whereas the capital markets are used for
relatively long-term, higher-
risk trading of money. The different time horizons and risk
tolerances of the buyers, and
especially the sellers, in each market create different ways of
trading or packaging
liquidity.
When individuals are saving or investing for a long-term goal
(e.g., education or
retirement) they are more likely to use the capital markets; their
longer time horizon

allows for greater use of risk to earn return. Saving to finance
consumption relies more
on trading liquidity in the money markets, because there is
usually a shorter horizon for
the use of the money. Also, most individuals are less willing to
assume opportunity costs
and risks when it comes to consumption, thus limiting the time
that they are willing to
lend liquidity.
When you save, you are the seller or lender of liquidity. When
you use someone else’s
money or when you borrow, you are the buyer of liquidity.
Savings Institutions
For most individuals, access to the money markets is done
through a bank. A bank
functions as an intermediary or “middleman” between the
individual lender of money
(the saver) and the individual borrower of money.
For the saver or lender, the bank can offer the convenience of
finding and screening the
borrowers, and of managing the loan repayments. Most
important, a bank can
guarantee the lender a return: the bank assumes the risk of
lending. For the borrowers,
the bank can create a steady supply of surplus money for loans
(from the lenders), and
arrange standard loan terms for the borrowers.
Banks create other advantages for both lenders and borrowers.
Intermediation allows
for the amounts loaned or borrowed to be flexible and for the
maturity of the loans to
vary. That is, you don’t have to lend exactly the amount

someone wants to borrow for
exactly the time she or he wants to borrow it. The bank can
“disconnect” the lender and
163
borrower, creating that flexibility. By having many lenders and
many borrowers, the
bank diversifies the supply of and demand for money, and thus
lowers the overall risk in
the money market.
The bank can also develop expertise in screening borrowers to
minimize risk and in
managing and collecting the loan payments. In turn, that
reduced risk allows the bank
to attract lenders and diversify supply. Through diversification
and expertise, banks
ultimately lower the cost of lending and borrowing liquidity.
Since they create value in
the market (by lowering costs), banks remain as intermediaries
or middlemen in the
money markets.
There are different kinds of banks based on what kind of
brokering of money the bank
does. Those differences have become less distinct as the
banking industry consolidates
and strives to offer more universal services. In the last
generation, decreasing bank
regulation, increasing globalization, and technology have all

contributed to that trend.
Different kinds of banks are listed below.
• Retail banks have focused on consumer saving and borrowing.
• Commercial banks have focused on operating cash flow
management for
businesses.
• Investment banks have focused on long-term financing for
businesses.
Retail banks are commonly known as thrift institutions, savings
banks, savings and loan
associations, or mutual savings banks and are usually private or
public corporations.
Credit unions function similarly, but are cooperative
membership organizations, with
depositors as members.
In addition to banks, other kinds of intermediaries for savers
include pension funds, life
insurance companies, and investment funds. They focus on
saving for a particular long-
term goal. To finance consumption, however, most individuals
primarily use banks.
Some intermediaries have moved away from the “bricks-and-
mortar” branch model and
now operate as online banks, either entirely or in part. There are
cost advantages for the
bank if it can use online technologies in processing saving and
lending. Those cost
savings can be passed along to savers in the form of higher
returns on savings accounts
or lower service fees. Most banks offer online and, increasingly,
mobile account access,

via cell phone or smartphone. Intermediaries operating as
finance companies offer
similar services.
Because their role as intermediaries is critical to the flow of
funds, banks are regulated
by federal and state governments. Since the bank failures of the
Great Depression, bank
deposits are federally insured (up to $250,000) through the
FDIC (Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation). Since the financial crisis of 2007–2009,
bank money market
funds also are insured. Credit union accounts are similarly
insured by the National
Credit Union Agency or NCUA, also an independent federal
agency. In choosing an
intermediary, savers should make sure that accounts are FDIC
or NCUA insured.
164
Saving Instruments
Banks offer many different ways to save your money until you
use it for consumption.
The primary difference among the accounts offered to you is the
price that your liquidity
earns, or the compensation for your opportunity cost and risk,
which in turn depends on
the degree of liquidity that you are willing to give up. You give
up more liquidity when
you agree to commit to a minimum time or amount of money to

save or lend.
For the saver, a demand deposit (e.g., checking account)
typically earns no or very
low interest but allows complete liquidity on demand. Checking
accounts that do not
earn interest are less useful for savings and therefore more
useful for cash management.
Some checking accounts do earn some interest, but often require
a minimum balance.
Time deposits, or savings accounts, offer minimal interest or a
bit more interest with
minimum deposit requirements.
If you are willing to give up more liquidity, certificates of
deposit (CDs) offer a
higher price for liquidity but extract a time commitment
enforced by a penalty for early
withdrawal. They are offered for different maturities, which are
typically from six
months to five years, and some have minimum deposits as well.
Banks also can offer
investments in money market mutual funds (MMMFs)A savings
instrument invested in
the money markets., which offer a higher price for liquidity
because your money is put
to use in slightly higher-risk investments, such as Treasury bills
(short-term government
debt) and commercial paper (short-term corporate debt).
Compared to the capital markets, the money markets have very
little risk, so MMMFs
are considered very low-risk investments. The trade-offs
between liquidity and return
are seen in Figure 7.3 "Savings Products versus Liquidity and
Risk".

Figure 7.3 Savings Products versus Liquidity and Risk
As long as your money remains in your account, including any
interest earned while it is
there, you earn interest on that money. If you do not withdraw
the interest from your
account, it is added to your principal balance, and you earn
interest on both. This is
referred to as earning interest on interest, or compounding. The
rate at which your
principal compounds is the annual percentage rate (APR) that
your account earns.
165
You can calculate the eventual value of your account by using
the relationships of time
and value that we looked at in Chapter 4 "Evaluating Choices:
Time, Risk, and Value"—
that is,
FV=PV× (1+r) t ,
where FV = future value, PV = present value, r = rate, and t =
time. The balance in your
account today is your present value, PV; the APR is your rate of
compounding, r; the
time until you will withdraw your funds is t. Your future value
depends on the rate at

which you can earn a return or the rate of compounding for your
present account.
If you are depositing a certain amount each month or with each
paycheck, that stream of
cash flows is an annuity. You can use the annuity relationships
discussed in Chapter 4
"Evaluating Choices: Time, Risk, and Value" to project how
much the account will be
worth at any point in time, given the rate at which it
compounds. Many financial
calculators—both online and handheld—can help you make
those calculations.
Ideally, you would choose a bank’s savings instrument that
offers the highest APR and
most frequent compounding. However, interest rates change,
and banks with savings
plans that offer higher yields often require a minimum deposit,
minimum balance,
and/or a maintenance fee. Also, your interest from savings is
taxable, as it is considered
income. As you can imagine, however, with monthly automatic
deposits into a savings
account with compounding interest, you can see your wealth can
grow safely.
Savings Strategies
Your choice of savings instrument should reflect your liquidity
needs. In the money
markets, all such instruments are relatively low risk, so return
will be determined by
opportunity cost.
You do not want to give up too much liquidity and then risk
being caught short, because

then you will have to become a borrower to make up that
shortfall, which will create
additional costs. If you cannot predict your liquidity needs or
you know they are
immediate, you should choose products that will least restrict
your liquidity choices. If
your liquidity needs are more predictable or longer term, you
can give up liquidity
without creating unnecessary risk and can therefore take
advantage of products, such as
CDs, that will pay a higher price.
Your expectations of interest rates will contribute to your
decision to give up liquidity. If
you expect interest rates to rise, you will want to invest in
shorter-term maturities, so as
to regain your liquidity in time to reinvest at higher rates. If
you expect interest rates to
fall, you would want to invest in longer-term maturities so as to
maximize your earnings
for as long as possible before having to reinvest at lower rates.
One strategy to maximize liquidity is to diversify your savings
in a series of instruments
with differing maturities. If you are using CDs, the strategy is
called “CD laddering.” For
166
example, suppose you have $12,000 in savings earning 0.50
percent annually. You have

no immediate liquidity needs but would like to keep $1,000
easily available for
emergencies. If a one-year CD is offering a 1.5 percent return,
the more savings you put
into the CD, the more return you will earn, but the less liquidity
you will have.
A “laddering” strategy allows you to maximize return and
liquidity by investing $1,000
per month by buying a one-year CD. After twelve months, all
your savings is invested in
twelve CDs, each earning 1.5 percent. But because one CD
matures each month, you
have $1,000 worth of liquidity each month. You can keep the
strategy going by
reinvesting each CD as it matures. Your choices are shown in
Figure 7.4 "CD Laddering
Strategy".
Figure 7.4 CD Laddering Strategy
A laddering strategy can also reflect expectations of interest
rates. If you believe that
interest rates or the earnings on your money will increase, then
you don’t want to
commit to the currently offered rates for too long. Your
laddering strategy may involve a
series of relatively short-term (less than one year) instruments.
On the other hand, if
you expect interest rates to fall, you would want to weight your
laddering strategy to
longer-term CDs, keeping only your minimum liquidity
requirement in the shorter-term
CDs.

The laddering strategy is an example of how diversifying
maturities can maximize both
earnings and liquidity. In order to save at all, however, you
have to choose to save
income that could otherwise be spent, suffering the opportunity
cost of everything that
you could have had instead. Saving is delayed spending, often
seen as a process of self-
denial.
One saving strategy is to create regular deposits into a separate
account such that you
might have a checking account from which you pay living
expenses and a savings
account in which you save.
167
This is easier with direct deposit of wages, since you can have a
portion of your
disposable income go directly into your savings account. Saving
becomes effortless,
while spending actually requires a more conscious effort.
Some savings accounts need to be “segregated” because of
different tax consequences—a
retirement or education account, for example. In most cases,
however, separating
accounts by their intended use has no real financial value,
although it can create a
psychological benefit. Establishing a savings vehicle has a very

low cost, if any, so it is
easy to establish as many separate funds for saving as you find
useful.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Banks serve to provide the consumer with excess cash by
having the cash earn money through
savings until the consumer needs it.
• Banking institutions include retail, commercial, and
investments banks.
• Consumers use retail institutions, including the following:
o Savings banks
o Mutual savings banks
o Savings and loan associations
o Credit unions
• Savings instruments include the following:
o Demand deposit accounts
o Time deposit accounts
o Certificates of deposit
o Money market mutual fund accounts
• A savings strategy can maximize your earnings from savings.

EXERCISES
1. Record your experiences with certificates of deposit (CDs)
and money market mutual funds
(MMMFs). What are the benefits and drawbacks of these
instruments for saving? Compared to
savings accounts, what are their implications for liquidity and
risk? What are their implications
for cost and return? What advice would you give to someone
who saved by keeping money in a
piggy bank?
168
2. You have $10,000 to deposit. You want to save it, earning
interest by loaning its use in the money
market to your bank. You anticipate you will need to replace
your washing machine within the
year, however, so you don’t want to surrender all your liquidity
all at once. What is the best way to
save your money that will give you the greatest increase in
wealth without too much risk and
while still retaining some liquidity? Explain your reasons for

your choice of a solution.
3. View the four videos in Donna Freedman’s series for MSN
“Living Poor and Loving It,” and read
her related articles
(http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/FindDeal
sOnline/living-poor-and-
loving-it-donna-freedman-video.aspx?page=all). The videos
track her experiments with living
frugally to save enough money to finance her college education
as an older student. What four
basic strategies does Freeman employ in her quest? Which, if
any, of these strategies have you
tried or would you try, and why? What are some other strategies
you have tried for living frugally
to achieve a particular financial goal? Share these strategies
with classmates.
4. Donna Freedman’s strategies for saving relate more to
spending than to saving. Considering that
we don’t know what instruments for saving she used, what other
strategies for saving could you
recommend to her, and why? Record your answers in My Notes
or your personal finance journal.
5. Go online to experiment with compound interest calculators
(e.g.,

seehttp://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_
calculator.htmor http://www.
webmath.com/compinterest.html). Use real numbers based on
your actual or projected savings.
For example, based on what you have in savings now, how much
could you have in five years? To
see the effects of compounding, compare your results with the
same calculation for simple
interest (rather than compounded interest), using the calculator
athttp://www.webmath.com/simpinterest.html.
7.3 Other People’s Money: Credit
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the different kinds of credit used to finance
expenses.
2. Analyze the costs of credit and their relationships to risk and
liquidity.
3. Describe the credit rating process and identify its criteria.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/FindDeals
Online/living-poor-and-loving-it-donna-freedman-
video.aspx?page=all
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/FindDeals
Online/living-poor-and-loving-it-donna-freedman-

video.aspx?page=all
http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_cal
culator.htm
http://www.webmath.com/compinterest.html
http://www.webmath.com/compinterest.html
http://www.webmath.com/simpinterest.html
169
4. Identify common features of a credit card.
5. Discuss remedies for credit card trouble.
6. Summarize government’s role in protecting lenders and
borrowers.
“Credit” derives from the Latin verb credere (to believe). It has
several meanings as a
verb in common usage—to recognize with respect, to
acknowledge a contribution—but
in finance, it generally means to allow delayed payment.
Both credit and debt are forms of borrowing. Credit is
distinguished from debt in both
its purpose and duration or timing, although in casual
conversation the words are used
interchangeably. Credit is used to purchase goods and services,
to finance living
expenses, or to make payments more convenient by delaying
them for a relatively short
time. Debt, on the other hand, is used to finance the purchase of
assets—such as a car or
a home—rather than to delay payment of recurring expenses.

The costs of credit and of debt are likewise different, given
their different uses and time
horizons. Often, people get into some trouble when they cannot
distinguish between the
two and choose the wrong form of financing at the wrong time.
Figure 7.6 "Credit versus
Debt" distinguishes credit from debt.
Figure 7.6 Credit versus Debt
Kinds of Credit
Credit is issued either as installment credit or as revolving
credit. Installment creditA
form of credit used to purchase consumer durables, usually
issued by one vendor for one
item. is typically issued by one vendor, such as a department
store, for a specific
purchase. The vendor screens the applicant and extends credit,
bearing the
default risk, or risk of nonpayment. Payments are made until
that amount is paid for.
Payments include a portion of the cost of the purchase and the
cost of the credit itself, or
interest.
Installment credit is an older form of credit that became popular
for the purchase of
consumer durables (i.e., furniture, appliances, electronics, or
household items) after the
First World War. This form of credit expanded as mass
production and invention made
consumer durables such as radios and refrigerators widely
available. (Longer-term
installment purchases for bigger-ticket assets, such as a car or

property, are considered
debt.)
170
Revolving credit extends the ability to delay payment for
different items from
different vendors up to a certain limit. Such credit is lent by a
bank or finance company,
typically through a charge card or a credit card. The charge card
balance must be
paid in full in each period or credit cycle, while the credit card
balance may not be,
requiring only a minimum payment.
The credit card is a more recent form of credit, as its use
became widely practical only
with the development of computing technology. The first charge
card was the Diners’
Club card, issued in 1950. The first credit card was the Bank
Americard (now called
Visa), issued by Bank of America in 1958, which was later
followed by MasterCard in
1966. Retailers can also issue revolving credit (e.g., a store
account or credit card) to
encourage purchases.
Credit cards are used for convenience and security. Merchants
worldwide accept credit
cards as a method of payment because the issuer (the bank or
finance company) has

assumed the default risk by guaranteeing the merchants’
payment. Use of a credit card
abroad also allows consumers to incur less transaction cost.
This universal acceptance allows a consumer to rely less on
cash, so consumers can
carry less cash, which therefore is less likely to be lost or
stolen. Credit card payments
also create a record of purchases, which is convenient for later
record keeping. When
banks and finance companies compete to issue credit, they often
offer gifts or rewards to
encourage purchases.
Credit cards create security against cash theft, but they also
create opportunities for
credit fraud and even for identity theft. A lost or stolen credit
card can be used to extend
credit to a fraudulent purchaser. It can also provide personal
information that can then
be used to assume your financial identity, usually without your
knowing it. Therefore,
handle your credit cards carefully and be aware of publicized
fraud alerts. Check your
credit card statements for erroneous or fraudulent charges and
notify the issuer
immediately of any discrepancies, especially if the card is lost
or stolen. Failure to do so
may leave you responsible for purchases you did not make—or
enjoy.
Costs of Credit
Credit has become a part of modern transactions, largely
enabled by technology, and a
matter of convenience and security. It is easy to forget that
credit is a form of borrowing

and thus has costs. Understanding those costs helps you manage
them.
Because consumer credit is all relatively short term, its cost is
driven more by risk than
by opportunity cost, which is the risk of default or the risk that
you will fail to repay with
the amounts advanced to you. The riskier the borrower seems to
be, the fewer the
sources of credit. The fewer sources of credit available to a
borrower, the more credit
will cost.
Measuring Risk: Credit Ratings and Reports
171
How do lenders know who the riskier borrowers are?
Credit rating agencies specialize in evaluating borrowers’ credit
risk or default risk for
lenders. That evaluation results in a credit score, which lenders
use to determine their
willingness to lend and their price.
If you have ever applied for consumer credit (a revolving,
installment, or personal loan)
you have been evaluated and given a credit score. The
information you write on your
credit application form, such as your name, address, income,
and employment, is used

to research the factors for calculating your credit score, also
known as a FICO (Fair Isaac
Corporation) score after the company that developed it.
In the United States, there are currently three major credit
rating agencies: Experian,
Equifax, and TransUnion. Each calculates your score a bit
differently, but the process is
common. They assign a numerical value to five characteristics
of your financial life and
then compile a weighted average score. Scores range from 300
to 900; the higher your
score, the less risky you appear to be. The five factors that
determine your credit score
are
1. your payment history,
2. amounts you currently owe,
3. the length of credit history,
4. new credit issued to you,
5. the types of credit you have received.
The rating agencies give your payment history the most weight,
because it indicates your
risk of future defaults. Do you pay your debts? How often have
you defaulted in the
past?
The credit available to you is reflected in the amounts you
currently owe or the credit
limits on your current accounts. These show how dependent you
are on credit and
whether or not you are able to take on more credit. Generally,
your outstanding credit
balances should be no more than 25 percent of your available
credit.

The length of your credit history shows how long you have been
using credit
successfully; the longer you have been doing so, the less risky a
borrower you are, and
the higher your score becomes. Credit rating agencies pay more
attention to your more
recent credit history and also look at the age and mix of your
credit accounts, which
show your consistency and diversification as a borrower.
The credit rating process is open to manipulation and
misinterpretation. Many people
are shocked to discover, for example, that simply canceling a
credit card, even for a
dormant or unused account, lowers their credit rating by
shortening their credit history
and decreasing the diversity of their accounts. Yet, it may make
sense for a responsible
borrower to cancel a card. Credit reports may also contain
errors that you should correct
by disputing the information.
172
You should know your credit score. Even if you haven’t applied
for new credit, you
should check on it annually. Each of the three agencies is
required to provide your score
once a year for free and to correct any errors that appear—and
they do—in a timely way.

If you should find an error in your report, you should contact
the agency immediately
and follow up until the report is corrected.
Order your free annual credit report from the three credit
reporting agencies at
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp. (Beware of
any other Web sites
called “annual credit report” as these may be impostors.) It is
important to check your
score regularly to check for those errors. Knowing your score
can help you to make
financing decisions because it can help you to determine your
potential costs of credit. It
can also alert you to any credit or identity theft of which you
otherwise are unaware.
Identity theft is a growing problem. Financial identity theft
occurs when someone
poses as you based on having personal information such as your
Social Security number,
driver’s license number, bank account number, or credit card
numbers. The impostor
uses your identity to either access your existing accounts
(withdrawing funds from your
checking account or buying things with your credit card) or
establish new accounts in
your name and use those.
The best protection is to be careful how you give out public
information. Convenience
encourages more and more transactions by telephone and
Internet, but you still need to
be sure of whom you are talking to before giving out identifying
data.

As careful as you are, you cannot protect yourself completely.
However, checking your
credit report regularly can flag any unfamiliar or unusual
activity carried out in your
name. If you suspect that your personal information has been
breached, you can ask the
credit reporting agencies to issue a fraud alert. Fraud alert
messages notify potential
credit grantors to verify your identification by contacting you
before extending credit in
your name in case someone is using your information without
your consent. That way, if
a thief is using your credit to establish new accounts (or buy a
home, a car, or a boat)
you will know it. If a stronger measure is needed, you can order
a credit freeze that will
prevent anyone other than yourself from accessing your credit
file.
Using a Credit Card
Credit cards issued by a bank or financing company are the
most common form of
revolving credit. This often has costs only after a repayment
deadline has passed. For
example, many credit cards offer a grace period between the
time of the credit
purchase or “charge” and the time of payment, assuming your
beginning balance is zero.
If you pay before interest is applied, you are using someone
else’s money to make your
purchases at no additional cost. In that case, you are using the
credit simply as a cash
management tool.
Credit cards are effective as a cash management tool. They can

be safer to use than cash,
especially for purchasing pricier items. Payment for many items
can be consolidated and
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
173
made monthly, with the credit card statement providing a
detailed record of purchases.
If you carry more than one card, you might use them for
different purposes. For
example, you might use one card for personal purchases and
another for work-related
expenses. Credit cards also make it convenient to buy on
impulse, which may cause
problems.
Problems arise if you go beyond using your card as a cash
management tool and use it to
extend credit or to finance your purchases past the payment
deadline. At that point,
interest charges begin to accrue. Typically, that interest is
expensive—perhaps only a few
percentage points per month, but compounding to a large annual
percentage rate (APR).
Credit card APRs today may start with 0 percent for
introductory offers and range from
8.75 percent to more than 20 percent. These rates may be fixed
or variable, but in any
case, when you carry a balance from month to month, this high

interest is added to what
you owe.
As an example, if your credit card charges interest of 1.5
percent per month, that may
not sound like much, but it is an annual percentage rate of 18
percent (1.5% per month ×
12 months per year). To put that in perspective, remember that
your savings account is
probably earning only around 1 to 3 percent per year. Consumer
credit thus is an
expensive way to finance consumption. Consumers tend to rely
on their cards when they
need things and lack the cash, and this can quickly lead to credit
card debt.
According to recent surveys, 41 percent of college students
have a credit card, and of
those, about 65 percent pay their bills in full every month. This
is higher than the
general adult population, and fewer than half of U.S. families
carry credit card debt.[1]
Among the 35 percent of college students with credit cards who
do not pay their
balances in full every month, the average balance is $452.[2]
Choosing a Credit Card
You should shop around for credit just as you would shop
around for anything that you
might purchase with it: compare the features and the costs of
each credit card.
Features of the credit include the credit limit (or how much
credit will be extended), the

grace period, purchase guarantees, liability limits, and
consumer rewards. Some cards
offer a guarantee for purchases; if you purchase a defective
item, you can have the
charge “stopped” and removed from your credit card bill.
Liability limits involve your
responsibilities should your card be lost or stolen.
Consumer rewards may be offered by some credit cards, usually
by rewarding “points”
for dollars of credit. The points may then be cashed in for
various products. Sometimes
the credit card is sponsored by a certain retailer and offers
rewards redeemable only
through that store. A big sponsor of rewards has been the airline
industry, commonly
offering “frequent flyer miles” through credit cards as well as
actual flying. Be aware,
174
however, that many rewards offers have limitations or
conditions on redemption. In the
end, many people never redeem their rewards.
Creditors charge fees for extending credit. There is the APR on
your actual credit, which
may be a fixed or adjustable rate. It may be adjustable based on
the age of your
balance—that is, the rate may rise if your balance is over sixty
days or ninety days. There

may also be a late fee charged in addition to the actual interest.
The APR may also adjust
as your balance increases, so that even if you stay within your
credit limit, you are
paying a higher rate of interest on a larger balance.
There are also fees on cash advances and on balance transfers
(i.e., having other credit
balances transferred to this creditor). These can be higher than
the APR and can add a
lot to the cost of those services. You should be aware of those
costs when making
choices. For example, it can be much cheaper to withdraw cash
from an ATM using your
bank account’s debit card than using a cash advance from your
credit card.
Many credit cards charge an annual fee just for having the
credit card, regardless of how
much it is used. Many do not, however, and it is worth looking
for a card that offers the
features that you want with no annual fee.
How you will use the credit card will determine which features
are important to you and
what costs you will have to pay to get them. If you plan to use
the credit card as a cash
management tool and pay your balance every month, then you
are less concerned with
the APR and more concerned about the annual fee, or the cash
advance charges. If you
sometimes carry a balance, then you are more concerned with
the APR.
It is important to understand the costs and responsibilities of
using credit—and it is very

easy to overlook them.
Installment Credit
Retailers also may offer credit, usually as installment credit for
a specific purchase, such
as a flat screen TV or baby furniture. The cost of that credit can
be hard to determine, as
the deal is usually offered in terms of “low, low monthly
payments of only…” or “no
interest for the first six months.” To find the actual interest rate
you would have to use
the relationships of time and value. Ideally, you would pay in as
few installments as you
could afford and would pay all the installments in the shortest
possible time.
Retailers usually offer credit for the same reason they offer
home delivery—as a sales
tool—because most often, customers would be hesitant or even
unable to make a
durable goods purchase without the opportunity to buy it over
time. For such retailers,
the cost of issuing and collecting credit and its risk are
operating costs of sales. The
interest on installment credit offsets those sales costs. Some
retailers sell their
installment receivables to a company that specializes in the
management and collection
of consumer credit, including the repossession of durable goods.
175

Personal Loans
Aside from installment credit and rotating credit, another source
of consumer credit is a
short-term personal loan arranged through a bank or finance
company. Personal loans
used as credit are all-purpose loans that may be “unsecured”—
that is, nothing is offered
as collateral—or “secured.” Personal loans used as debt
financing are discussed in the
next section. Personal loans used as credit are often costly and
difficult to secure,
depending on the size of the loan and the bank’s risks and costs
(screening and
paperwork).
A personal loan may also be made by a private financier who
holds personal property as
collateral, such as a pawnbroker in a pawnshop. Typically, such
loans are costly, usually
result in the loss of the property, and are used by desperate
borrowers with no other
sources of credit. Today, many “financiers” offer personal loans
online at very high
interest rates with no questions asked to consumers with bad
credit. This is a
contemporary form of “loan sharking,” or the practice of
charging a very high and
possibly illegal interest rate on an unsecured personal loan.
Some loan sharks have been
known to use threats of harm to collect what is owed.
One form of high-tech loan sharking growing in popularity on
the Internet today is the
“payday loan,” which offers very short-term small personal
loans at high interest rates.

The amount you borrow, usually between $500 and $1,500, is
directly deposited into
your checking account overnight, but you must repay the loan
with interest on your next
payday. The loan thus acts as an advance payment of your
wages or salary, so when your
paycheck arrives, you have already spent a large portion of it,
and maybe even more
because of the interest you have to pay. As you can imagine,
many victims of repeated
payday loans fall behind in their payments, cannot meet their
fixed living expenses on
time, and end up ever deeper in debt.
Personal loans are the most expensive way to finance recurring
expenses, and almost
always create more expense and risk—both financial and
personal—for the borrower.
Credit Trouble and Protections
As easy as it is to use credit, it is even easier to get into trouble
with it. Because of late
fees and compounding interest, if you don’t pay your balance in
full each month, it
quickly multiplies and becomes more difficult to pay. It doesn’t
take long for the debt to
overwhelm you.
If that should happen to you, the first thing to do is to try to
devise a realistic budget that
includes a plan to pay off the balance. Contact your creditors
and explain that you are
having financial difficulties and that you have a plan to make
your payments. Don’t wait
for the creditor to turn your account over to a debt collector; be
proactive in trying to

resolve the debt. If your account has been turned over to a
collector, you do have some
protections: the Fair Debt Collection Practices (federal) law
keeps a collector from
calling you at work, for example, or after 9 p.m.
176
You may want to use a credit counselor to help you create a
budget and negotiate with
creditors. Many counseling agencies are nonprofit organizations
that can also help with
debt consolidation and debt management. Some “counselors”
are little more than
creditors trying to sell you more credit, however, so be careful
about checking their
credentials before you agree to any plan. What you need is more
realistic credit, not
more credit.
As a last resort, you may file for personal bankruptcy, which
may relieve you of some of
your debts, but will blemish your credit rating for ten years,
making it very difficult—
and expensive—for you to use any kind of credit or debt.
Federal bankruptcy laws allow
you to file under Chapter 7 or under Chapter 13. Each allows
you to keep some assets,
and each holds you to some debts. Chapter 7 requires
liquidation of most of your assets,
while Chapter 13 applies if you have some income. It gets

complicated, and you will
want legal assistance, which may be provided by your local
Legal Aid Society. The effects
of a bankruptcy can last longer than your debts would have,
however, so it should never
be seen as an “out” but really as a last resort.
Modern laws and regulations governing the extension and use of
credit and debt try to
balance protection of the lender and of the borrower. They try
to insure that credit or
debt is used for economic purposes and not to further social or
political goals. They try
to balance borrowers’ access to credit and debt as tools of
financial management with
the rights of property owners (lenders).
In the United States, federal legislation reflects this balance of
concerns. Major federal
legislation in the United States is shown in Figure 7.10 "Major
U.S. Federal Legislation:
Credit and Debt".
Figure 7.10 Major U.S. Federal Legislation: Credit and Debt
In addition, many states have their own legislation and
oversight. Not coincidentally,
most of these laws were written after use of credit cards, and
thus credit, became
widespread. The set of laws and regulations that governs
banking, credit, and debt
markets has evolved over time as new practices for trading
money are invented and new

177
rules are seen as necessary. You should be aware of the
limitations on your own
behavior and on others as you trade in these markets.
If you feel that your legal rights as a borrower or lender have
been ignored and that the
offender has not responded to your direct, written notice, there
are local, state, and
national agencies and organizations for assistance. There are
also organizations that
help borrowers manage credit and debt.
Laws and regulations can govern how we behave in the credit
and debt markets, but not
whether we choose to participate as a lender or as a borrower:
whether we use credit to
manage cash flow or to finance a lifestyle, whether we use debt
to finance assets or
lifestyle, and whether we save. Laws and regulations can protect
us from each other, but
they cannot protect us from ourselves.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Credit is used as a cash management tool or as short-term
financing for consumption.
• Credit may be issued as revolving credit (credit cards),
installment credit, or personal loans.

• Credit can be a relatively expensive method of financing.
• Credit accounts differ by the following features:
o Credit limit
o Grace period
o Purchase guarantees
o Liability limits
o Consumer rewards
• Credit accounts charge fees, such as the following:
o Annual percentage rate (APR)
o Late fees
o Balance transfer fees
o Cash advance fees
• Credit remedies include the following:
o Renegotiation
o Debt consolidation
o Debt management

178
o Bankruptcy
• Modern laws governing the uses of credit and debt try to
balance protection of borrowers and
lenders.
EXERCISES
1. Read the statistics about personal credit card debt
athttp://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-
news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-
1276.php#debt. Record in My Notes or
in your personal finance journal all the facts that pertain
especially to you in your present
financial situation. What facts did you find most surprising or
most disturbing? Share your
observations about these data with your classmates.
2. Investigate online the sources and processes of debt
consolidation. Sample the Web sites of debt
consolidation businesses offering “free” advice and services
(e.g., http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/). Are they free?
Now visit the National Center for
Credit Counseling (NFCC) athttp://www.nfcc.org/. When
seeking advice about your credit, why

might you want to use an NFCC advisor or consumer center?
3. Read the MSN Money Central article “Your Three Worst
Debt Consolidation Moves”
athttp://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Managed
ebt/P36230.asp. According to
this article, what are the three worst moves you can make to
manage your debt? How can you
consolidate your debt on your own?
4. Go to the U.S. Department of Education site on loan
consolidation
athttp://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov/. How can you
consolidate your federal loans directly
online with the U.S. government? Use the worksheets at this
site to explore your real or
hypothetical options as the recipient of federal student loans.
For example, what would be the
direct consolidation interest rate on your current federal student
loans, and what would your
payments be?
5. What is your credit rating or credit score? Apply for your
three credit reports from Equifax
(http://www.equifax.com), TransUnion
(http://www.transunion.com), and Experian

(http://www.experian.com). You can apply for all three at once
from one source for free once
each year, athttps://www.annualcreditreport.com/. To ensure
that you go to the legitimate site,
type this URL directly into the address bar in your browser
window.
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-
industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php#debt
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-
industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php#debt
http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/
http://www.nfcc.org/
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Savinganddebt/Managedeb
t/P36230.asp
http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov/
http://www.equifax.com/
http://www.transunion.com/
http://www.experian.com/
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/
179
a. How do the three reports vary? Is the information accurate?
b. How can you correct the information? For example,
seehttp://www.equifax.com/answers/correct-credit-report-
errors/en_cp.

c. What are your rights regarding your credit reports? Read
about your rights
athttp://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/credit/rights.shtm.
What does the video on
that site warn you against? You will find a summary of your
rights under the Fair Credit
Reporting Act
athttp://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre35.pdf.
Find out
if your state guarantees other rights or additional protections.
Take steps now to correct
your credit reports.
Research online how you can repair your credit history and
improve your credit rating. Go
tohttp://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre13.shtm,
and
seehttp://www.ehow.com/how_4757_repair-credit-history.html.
[1] Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, February
2009,
http://www.federalreserve.gov/PUBS/oss/oss2/scfindex.html
(accessed February 11,
2009).
[2] Student Monitor annual financial services study, 2008.

7.4 Other People’s Money: An Introduction to Debt
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Define debt and identify its uses.
2. Explain how default risk and interest rate risk determine the
cost of debt.
3. Analyze the appropriate uses of debt.
Debt is long-term credit, or the ability to delay payment over
several periods. Credit is
used for short-term, recurring expenses, whereas debt is used to
finance the purchase of
long-term assets. Credit is a cash management tool used to
create security and
convenience, whereas debt is an asset management tool used to
create wealth. Debt also
creates risk.
Two most common uses of debt by consumers are car loans and
mortgages. They are
discussed much more thoroughly in Chapter 8 "Consumer
Strategies" and Chapter 9
http://www.equifax.com/answers/correct-credit-report-
errors/en_cp
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/credit/rights.shtm
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre35.pdf
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre13.shtm
http://www.ehow.com/how_4757_repair-credit-history.html
http://www.federalreserve.gov/PUBS/oss/oss2/scfindex.html

180
"Buying a Home". Before you get into the specifics, however, it
is good to know some
general ideas about debt.
Usually, the asset financed by the debt can serve as collateral
for the debt, lowering the
default risk for the lender. However, that security is often
outweighed by the amount
and maturity of the loan, so default risk remains a serious
concern for lenders. Whatever
concerns lenders will be included in the cost of debt, and so
these things should also
concern borrowers.
Lenders face two kinds of risk: default risk, or the risk of not
being paid, and
interest rate risk, or the risk of not being paid enough to
outweigh their opportunity
cost and make a profit from lending. Your costs of debt will be
higher than the lender’s
cost of risk. When you lower the lender’s risk, you lower your
cost of debt.
Costs of Debt
Default Risk
Lenders are protected against default risk by screening
applicants to try to determine
their probability of defaulting. Along with the scores provided
by credit rating agencies,
lenders evaluate loan applicants on “the five C’s”: character,
capacity, capital, collateral,

and conditions.
Character is an assessment of the borrower’s attitude toward
debt and its obligations,
which is a critical factor in predicting timely repayment. To
deduce “character,” lenders
can look at your financial stability, employment history,
residential history, and
repayment history on prior loans.
Capacity represents your ability to repay by comparing the size
of your proposed debt
obligations to the size of your income, expenses, and current
obligations. The larger
your income is in relation to your obligations, the more likely it
is that you are able to
meet those obligations.
Capital is your wealth or asset base. You use your income to
meet your debt payments,
but you could use your asset base or accumulated wealth as well
if your income falls
short. Also, you can use your asset base as collateral.
Collateral insures the lender against default risk by claiming a
valuable asset in case you
default. Loans to finance the purchase of assets, such as a
mortgage or car loan,
commonly include the asset as collateral—the house or the car.
Other loans, such as a
student loan, may not specify collateral but instead are
guaranteed by your general
wealth.
Conditions refer to the lender’s assessment of the current and
expected economic

conditions that are the context for this loan. If the economy is
contracting and
unemployment is expected to rise, that may affect your ability
to earn income and repay
181
the loan. Also, if inflation is expected, the lender can expect
that (1) interest rates will
rise and (2) the value of the currency will fall. In this case,
lenders will want to use a
higher interest rate to protect against interest rate risk and the
devaluation of
repayments.
Interest Rate Risk
Because debt is long term, the lender is exposed to interest rate
risk, or the risk that
interest rates will fluctuate over the maturity of the loan. A loan
is issued at the current
interest rate, which is “the going rate” or current equilibrium
market price for liquidity.
If the interest rate on the loan is fixed, then that is the lender’s
compensation for the
opportunity cost or time value of money over the maturity of the
loan.
If interest rates increase before the loan matures, lenders suffer
an opportunity cost
because they miss out on the extra earnings that their cash could
have earned had it not

been tied up in a fixed-rate loan. If interest rates fall, borrowers
will try to refinance or
borrow at lower rates to pay off this now higher-rate loan. Then
the lender will have its
liquidity back, but it can only be re-lent at a newer, lower price
and create earnings at
this new, lower rate. So the lender suffers the opportunity cost
of the interest that could
have been earned.
Why should you, the borrower, care? Because lenders will have
you cover their costs and
create a loan structured to protect them from these sorts of
risks. Understanding their
risks (looking at the loan agreement from their point of view)
helps you to understand
your debt choices and to use them to your advantage.
Lenders can protect themselves against interest rate risk by
structuring loans with a
penalty for early repayment to discourage refinancing or by
offering a floating-
rate loanA loan for which the interest rate can change, usually
periodically and relative
to a benchmark rate such as the prime rate. instead of a fixed
rate-loan. With a
floating-rate loan, the interest rate “floats” or changes, usually
relative to a benchmark
such as the prime rate, which is the rate that banks charge their
very best (least risky)
borrowers. The floating-rate loan shifts some interest rate risk
onto the borrower, for
whom the cost of debt would rise as interest rates rise. The
borrower would still benefit,
and the lender would still suffer from a fall in interest rates, but
there is less probability

of early payoff should interest rates fall. Mainly, the floating-
rate loan is used to give the
lender some benefit should interest rates rise. Figure 7.12 "U.S.
Prime Rate 1975–2008"
shows the extent and frequency of fluctuations in the prime rate
from 1975–2008.
Figure 7.12 U.S. Prime Rate 1975–2008[1]
182
Borrowers may be better off having a fixed-rate loan and having
stable and predictable
payments over the life of the loan. The better or more
creditworthy a borrower you are,
the better the terms and structure of the loan you may negotiate.
Uses of Debt
Debt should be used to finance assets rather than recurring
expenses, which are better
managed with a combination of cash and credit. The maturity of
the financing (credit or
debt) should match the useful life of the purchase. In other
words, you should use
shorter-term credit for consumption and longer-term debt for
assets.
If you finance consumption with longer-term debt, then your
debt will outlive your
expenses; you will be continuing to pay for something long

after it is gone. If you finance
assets with short-term debt, you will be making very high
payments, both because you
will be repaying over a shorter time and so will have fewer
periods in which to repay and
because your cost of credit is usually higher than your cost of
debt, for example, annual
credit card rates are typically higher than mortgage rates.
Borrowers may be tempted to finance asset purchases with
credit, however, to avoid the
more difficult screening process of debt. Given the more
significant investment of time
and money in debt, lenders screen potential borrowers more
rigorously for debt than
they do for credit. The transaction costs for borrowing with debt
are therefore higher
than they are for borrowing with credit. Still, the higher costs of
credit should be a
caution to borrowers.
The main reason not to finance expenses with debt is that
expenses are expected to
recur, and therefore the best way to pay for them is with a
recurring source of financing,
such as income. The cost of credit can be minimized if it is used
merely as a cash
management tool, but if it is used as debt, if interest costs are
allowed to accrue, then it
becomes a very costly form of financing, because it creates new
expense (interest) and
further obligates future income. In turn, that limits future
choices, creating even more
opportunity cost.

183
Credit is more widely available than debt and therefore is a
tempting source of
financing. It is a more costly financing alternative, however, in
terms of both interest
and opportunity costs.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Debt is an asset management tool used to create wealth.
• Costs of debt are determined by the lender’s costs and risks,
such as default risk and interest rate
risk.
• Default risk is defined by the borrower’s ability to repay the
interest and principal.
• Interest rate risk is the risk of a change in interest rates that
affects the value of the loan and the
borrower’s behavior.
• Debt should be used to purchase assets, not to finance
recurring expenses.
EXERCISES
1. Identify and analyze your debts. What assets secure your
debts? What assets do your debts

finance? What is the cost of your debts? What determined those
costs? What risks do you
undertake by being in debt? How can being in debt help you
build wealth?
2. Are you considered a default risk? How would a lender
evaluate you based on “the five C’s” of
character, capacity, capital, collateral, and conditions? Write
your evaluations in your personal
finance journal or My Notes. How could you plan to make
yourself more attractive to a lender in
the future?
3. Discuss with classmates the Tim Clue video on debt
athttp://karenblundell.com/funny/funny-
video-debt. What makes this comedy spot funny? What makes it
not funny? What does it
highlight about the appropriate uses of debt?
[1] Data from the U.S. Federal Reserve,
http://federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/data/Monthly/H15_PRIM
E_NA.txt (accessed
February 11, 2009).

http://karenblundell.com/funny/funny-video-debt
http://karenblundell.com/funny/funny-video-debt
http://federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/data/Monthly/H15_PRIM
E_NA.txt
134
Chapter 6 Taxes and Tax Planning
Introduction
All developed and most less-developed economies have a tax
system that finances their
governments, at least in part. The design of that tax system
reflects the society’s view of
the responsibilities of government and of its citizens for their
government.
In the United States there has always been disagreement about
the role of government
as a producer for and a protector of the economy and its
citizens. Even before the United
States was a nation, “taxation without representation” was a
rallying cry for rebellion
against the British colonial authority, and the colonists
protested taxes on everything
from stamps to tea. The American Revolution was as much
about economic
democracy—the fundamental right of every individual to
participate in the economy and
to own the fruits of labor—as it was about political democracy.
It is perhaps no coincidence that Adam Smith’s Wealth of

Nations was published in
1776, the same year that independence was declared in the
thirteen colonies. Smith
recognized a role for government in a market-based economy,
but societies have argued
about what that role should be and how it should be paid for
ever since. The U.S. tax
code is based on the idea that everyone should help finance the
government according to
one’s ability to pay. Changes in how “everyone” is defined and
how “ability to pay” is
measured have led to tax law changes that keep the system
evolving.
In the United States, tax laws are written by Congress and
therefore through
compromise. As views on government financing have changed,
tax laws have been
amended and refined, enacted and repealed. The result is a tax
code that can seem
overly complex and even unreasonable or illogical. However,
the system is based on
logic and has a purpose. The better you understand the elements
of the tax system, the
better you will understand how to live with it—and plan for it—
to your best advantage.
6.1 Sources of Taxation and Kinds of Taxes
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the levels of government that impose taxes.
2. Define the different kinds of incomes, assets, and
transactions that may be taxed.

3. Compare and contrast progressive and regressive taxes.
Any government that needs to raise revenue and has the legal
authority to do so may
tax. Tax jurisdictions reflect government authorities. In the
United States, federal, state,
and municipal governments impose taxes. Similarly, in many
countries there are
135
national, provincial or state, county, and municipal taxes.
Regional economic alliances,
such as the European Union, may also levy taxes.
Jurisdictions may overlap. For example, in the United States,
federal, state, and local
governments may tax income, which becomes complicated for
those earning income in
more than one state, or living in one state and working in
another. Governments tax
income because it is a way to tax broadly based on the ability to
pay. Most adults have an
income from some source, even if it is a government
distribution. Those with higher
incomes should be able to pay more taxes, and in theory should
be willing to do so, for
they have been more successful in or have benefited more from
the economy that the
government protects.

Income tax is usually a progressive tax: the higher the income
or the more to be
taxed, the greater the tax rate. The percentage of income that is
paid in tax increases as
income rises. Those income categories are called tax brackets
(Figure 6.2 "U.S. Income Tax Brackets in 2008 (Single Filing
Status)").
Figure 6.2 U.S. Income Tax Brackets in 2008 (Single Filing
Status)
Source: http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm
Tax is levied on income from many sources:
• Wages (selling labor)
• Interest, dividends, and gains from investment (selling capital)
• Self-employment (operating a business or selling a good or
service)
• Property rental
• Royalties (rental of intellectual property)
http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm
136
• “Other” income such as alimony, gambling winnings, or prizes
A sales tax or consumption tax taxes the consumption financed
by income. In the

United States, sales taxes are imposed by state or local
governments; as yet, there is no
national sales tax. Sales taxes are said to be more efficient and
fair in that consumption
reflects income (income determines ability to consume and
therefore level of
consumption). Consumption also is hard to hide, making sales
tax a good way to collect
taxes based on the ability to pay. Consumption taxes typically
tax all consumption,
including nondiscretionary items such as food, clothing, and
housing. Opponents of
sales tax argue that it is a regressive tax, because those with
lower incomes must use a
higher percentage of their incomes on nondiscretionary
purchases than higher-income
people do.
The value-added tax (VAT) or goods and services tax (GST) is
widely used outside the
United States. It is a consumption tax, but differs from the sales
tax, which is paid only
by the consumer as an end user. With a VAT or GST, the value
added to the product is
taxed at each stage of production. Governments use a VAT or
GST instead of a sales tax
to spread the tax burden among producers and consumers, and
thus to reduce incentive
to evade the tax. A consumption tax, like the sales tax, it is a
regressive tax. When
traveling abroad, you should be aware that a VAT may add
substantially to the cost of a
purchase (a meal, accommodations, etc.).
Excise taxes are taxes on specific consumption items such as
alcohol, cigarettes, motor

vehicles, fuel, or highway use. In some states, excise taxes are
justified by the
discretionary nature of the purchases and may be criticized as
exercises in social
engineering (i.e., using the tax code to dictate social behaviors).
For example, people
addicted to nicotine or alcohol tend to purchase cigarettes or
liquor even if an excise tax
increases their cost—and are therefore a reliable source of tax
revenue.
Property taxes are used by more local—state, municipal,
provincial, and county—
governments, and are most commonly imposed on real property
(land and buildings)
but also on personal assets such as vehicles and boats. Property
values theoretically
reflect wealth (accrued income) and thus ability to pay taxes.
Property values are also a
matter of public record (real property is deeded, boats or
automobiles are licensed),
which allows more efficient tax collection.
Estate taxes are taxes on the transfer of wealth from the
deceased to the living. Estate
taxes are usually imposed on the very wealthiest based on their
unusual ability to pay.
Because death and the subsequent dispersal of property is
legally a matter of public
record, estate taxes are generally easy to collect. Estate taxes
are controversial because
they can be seen as a tax on the very idea of ownership and on
incomes that have already
been taxed and saved or stored as wealth and properties. Still,
estate taxes are a
substantial source of revenue for the governments that use them,

and so they remain.
A summary of the kinds of taxes used by the three different
jurisdictions is shown in
Figure 6.3 "Taxes and Jurisdictions".
137
Figure 6.3 Taxes and Jurisdictions
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Governments at all levels use taxes as a source of financing.
• Taxes may be imposed on the following:
o Incomes from
ses),
o Consumption of discretionary and nondiscretionary goods and
services.
o Wealth from

• Taxes may be
o progressive, such as the income tax, in which you pay
proportionally more taxes
the more income you have;
o regressive, such as a sales tax, in which you pay
proportionally more taxes the
less income you have.
EXERCISES
138
1. Examine your state, federal, and other tax returns that you
filed last year. Alternatively, estimate
based on your present financial situation. On what incomes were
you (or would you be) taxed?
What tax bracket were you (or would you be) in? How did (or
would) your state, federal, and
other tax liabilities differ? What other types of taxes did you (or
would you) pay and to which
government jurisdictions?

2. Match the description to the type of tax. (Write the number of
the tax type before its
description.)
• Description:
a. ________ tax on the use of vehicles, gasoline, alcohol,
cigarettes, highways,
and the like.
b. ________ tax on the wealth and property of a person upon
death.
c. ________ tax on purchases of both discretionary and
nondiscretionary
items.
d. ________ tax on wages, earned interest, capital gain, and the
like.
e. ________ tax on home and land ownership.
f. ________ tax on purchases of discretionary items.
g. ________ tax on items during their production as well as
upon
consumption.
• Type of Tax:
1. Property tax

2. Consumption tax
3. Value-added or goods and services tax
4. Income tax
5. Excise tax
6. Sales tax
7. Estate tax
3. In My Notes or your financial planning journal, record all the
types of taxes you will be paying
next year and to whom. How will you plan for paying these
taxes? How will your tax liabilities
affect your budget?
139
According to the MSN Money Central article “8 Types of
Income the IRS Can’t Touch” (Jeff
Schnepper, November 2009,
athttp://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/CutYourTaxes/8ty
pesOfIncomeTheIRScantTouc

h.aspx), what are eight sources of income that the federal
government cannot tax? Poll classmates
on the question of whether they think student income can be
taxed. According to the companion
article “5 Tax Myths That Can Cost You Money” (Jeff
Schnepper, November 2009,
athttp://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/AvoidAnAudit/5t
axMythsThatCanCostYouMone
y.aspx), is it true that students often are exempt from income
taxes?
6.2 The U.S. Federal Income Tax Process
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Identify the taxes most relevant for personal financial
planning.
2. Identify taxable incomes and the schedules used to report
them.
3. Calculate deductions, exemptions, and credits.
4. Compare methods of tax payment.
The U.S. government relies most on an income tax. The income
tax is the most relevant
for personal financial planning, as everyone has some sort of
income over a lifetime.
Most states model their tax systems on the federal model or
base their tax rates on
federally defined income. While the estate tax may become

more of a concern as you
age, the federal income tax system will affect you and your
financial decisions
throughout your life.
Figure 6.4 "U.S. Individual Tax Form 1040, Page 1" shows an
individual tax return, U.S.
Form 1040.
Figure 6.4 U.S. Individual Tax Form 1040, Page 1
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/CutYourTaxes/8typ
esOfIncomeTheIRScantTouch.aspx
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/CutYourTaxes/8typ
esOfIncomeTheIRScantTouch.aspx
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/AvoidAnAudit/5tax
MythsThatCanCostYouMoney.aspx
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/AvoidAnAudit/5tax
MythsThatCanCostYouMoney.aspx
140
Figure 6.5 U.S. Individual Tax Form 1040, Page 2
141

Taxable Entities
There are four taxable entities in the federal system: the
individual or family unit, the
corporation, the nonprofit corporation, and the trust. Personal
financial planning
focuses on your decisions as an individual or family unit, but
other tax entities can affect
individual income. Corporate profit may be distributed to
individuals as a dividend, for
example, which then becomes the individual’s taxable income.
Likewise, funds
established for a specific purpose may distribute money to an
individual that is taxable
as individual income. A trust, for example, is a legal
arrangement whereby control over
property is transferred to a person or organization (the trustee)
for the benefit of
someone else (the beneficiary). If you were a beneficiary and
received a distribution,
that money would be taxable as individual income.
The definition of the taxable “individual” is determined by
filing status:
• Single, never married, widowed, or divorced
142
• Married, in which case two adults file as one taxable
“individual,” combining all

taxable activities and incomes, deductions, exemptions, and
credits
• Married filing separately, in which case two married adults
file as two separate
taxable individuals, individually declaring and defining
incomes, deductions,
exemptions, and credits
• Head-of-household, for a family of one adult with dependents
Some taxes are levied differently depending on filing status,
following the assumption
that family structure affects ability to pay taxes.
All taxable entities have to file a declaration of incomes and
pay any tax obligations
annually. Not everyone who files a return actually pays taxes,
however. Individuals with
low incomes and tax exempt, nonprofit corporations typically
do not. All potential
taxpayers nevertheless must declare income and show their
obligations to the
government. For the individual, that declaration is filed on
Form 1040 (or, if your tax
calculations are simple enough, Form 1040EZ).
Income
For individuals, the first step in the process is to calculate total
income. Income may
come from many sources, and each income must be calculated
and declared. Some kinds
of income have a separate form or schedule to show their more
detailed calculations.
The following schedules are the most common for reporting
incomes separately by

source.
Schedule B: Interest and Dividend Income
Interest income is income from selling liquidity. For example,
the interest that your
savings account, certificates of deposit, and bonds earn in a
year is income. You
essentially are earning interest from lending cash to a bank, a
money market mutual
fund, a government, or a corporation (though not all your
interest income may be
taxable). Dividend income, on the other hand, is income from
investing in the stock
market. Dividends are your share of corporate profits as a
shareholder, distributed in
proportion to the number of shares of corporate stock you own.
Schedule C: Business Income
Business income is income from self-employment or
entrepreneurial ventures or
business enterprises. For sole proprietors and partners in a
partnership, business
income is the primary source of income. Many other individuals
rely on wages, but have
a small business on the side for extra income. Business
expenses can be deducted from
business income, including, for example, business use of your
car and home. If expenses
are greater than income, the business is operating at a loss.
Business losses can be
deducted from total income, just as business income adds to
total income.

143
The tax laws distinguish between a business and a hobby that
earns or loses money. You
are considered to have a business for tax purposes if you made a
profit in three of the
past five years including the current year, or if you are
operating as a registered business
with the intention of making a profit. If you are operating your
own business you also
must also pay self-employment tax on business income. In
addition, the self-employed
must pay estimated income taxes in quarterly installments based
on expected income.
Tariq is thinking about turning his hobby into a business. He
has been successful buying
and selling South Asian folk art online. He thinks he has found
a large enough market to
support a business enterprise. As a business he would be able to
deduct the costs of Web
site promotion, his annual art buying trip, his home office, and
shipping, which would
reduce the taxes he would have to pay on his business income.
Tariq decides to enroll in
online courses on becoming an entrepreneur, how to write a
business plan, and how to
find capital for a new venture.
Schedule SE: Self-Employment Tax
Self-employment tax is an additional tax on income from self-
employment or business
income earned by a sole proprietor. It represents the employer’s

contribution to Social
Security, which is a mandatory retirement savings program of
the federal government.
Both employers and employees are required to contribute to the
employee’s Social
Security account. When you are both the employee and the
employer, as in self-
employment, you must contribute both shares of the
contribution.
Schedule D: Capital Gains (or Losses)
Gains or losses from investments derive from changes in asset
value during ownership
between the asset’s original cost and its market value at the
time of sale. If you sell an
asset for more than you paid for it, you have a gain. If you sell
an asset for less than you
paid for it, you have a loss. Recurring gains or losses from
investment are from returns
on financial instruments such as stocks and bonds. One-time
gains or losses, such as the
sale of a home, are also reported on Schedule D.
The tax code distinguishes between assets held for a short
time—less than one year, and
assets held for a long time—one year or more. Short-term
capital gains or losses are
taxed at a different rate than long-term capital gains or losses
(Figure 6.8 "Capital Gains
Tax Rates"). When you invest in financial assets, such as
stocks, bonds, mutual funds,
property, or equipment, be sure to keep good records by noting
the date when you
bought them and the original price. These records establish the
cost basis of your
investments, which is used to calculate your gain or loss when

you sell them.
Figure 6.8 Capital Gains Tax Rates
144
Schedule E: Rental and Royalty Income; Income
from Partnerships, S Corporations, and Trusts
Rental or royalty income is income earned from renting an
asset, either real property or
a creative work such as a book or a song. This can be a primary
source of income,
although many individuals rely on wages and have some rental
or royalty income on the
side. Home ownership may be made more affordable, for
example, if the second half of a
duplex can be rented for extra income. Rental expenses can also
be deducted from rental
income, which can create a loss from rental activity rather than
a gain. Unlike a
business, which must become profitable to remain a business for
tax purposes, rental
activities may generate losses year after year. Such losses are a
tax advantage, as they
reduce total income.
Partnerships and S corporations are alternative business
structures for a business with
more than one owner. For example, partnerships and S
corporations are commonly

used by professional practices, such as accounting firms, law
firms, medical practices,
and the like, as well as by family businesses.
The partnership or S corporation is not a taxable entity, but the
share of its profits
distributed to each owner is taxable income for the owner and
must be declared on
Schedule E.
Schedule F: Farm Income
Farm income is income from growing food, livestock, or
livestock products, such as
wool, to sell. Farmers have a special status in the tax code,
stemming from the original
agricultural basis of the U.S. economy and the strategic
importance of self-sufficiency in
food production. Thus, the tax code applies exemptions
specifically to farmers.
Other Taxable and Nontaxable Income
145
Other taxable income includes alimony, state or local tax
refunds, retirement fund
distributions from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and/or
pensions,
unemployment compensation, and a portion of Social Security
benefits.

Your total income is then adjusted for items that the
government feels should not be
taxed under certain circumstances, such as certain expenses of
educators, performing
artists, and military reservists; savings in health savings or
retirement accounts; moving
expenses; a portion of self-employment taxes; student loan
interest; tuition and
educational fees; and alimony paid. Income that is not taxed by
the U.S. government
and does not have to be reported as income includes the
following:
• Welfare benefits
• Interest from most municipal bonds
• Most gifts
• Most inheritance and bequests
• Workers compensation
• Veteran’s benefits
• Federal tax refunds
• Some scholarships and fellowships
It’s important to read tax filing instructions carefully, however,
because not everything
you’d think would qualify actually does. The government allows
adjustments to be
reported (or not reported) as income only under certain
circumstances or up to certain
income limits, and some adjustments require special forms.
The result of deducting adjustments from your total income is a
calculation of your
adjusted gross income (AGI). Your AGI is further adjusted by
amounts that may be
deducted or exempted from your taxable income and by amounts
already credited to

your tax obligations.
Deductions, Exemptions, and Credits
Deductions and exemptions reduce taxable income, while
credits reduce taxes.
Deductions are tax breaks for incurring certain expenditures or
living in certain
circumstances that the government thinks you should not have
to include in your
taxable income. There are deductions for age and for blindness.
For other deductions,
there is a standard, lump-sum deduction that you can take, or
you may choose to itemize
your deductions, that is, detail each one separately and then
calculate the total. If your
itemized deductions are more than your standard deduction, it
makes sense to itemize.
Other deductions involve financial choices that the government
encourages by
rewarding an extra incentive in the form of a tax break. Home
mortgage interest is a
deduction to encourage home ownership, for example;
investment interest is a
deduction to encourage investment, and charitable donations are
deductions to
encourage charitable giving.
146
Deductions are also created for expenditures that may be

considered nondiscretionary,
such as medical and dental expenses, job-related expenses, or
state and local income
and property taxes. As with income adjustments, you have to
read the instructions
carefully, however, to know what expenditures qualify as
deductions. Some deductions
only qualify if they amount to more than a certain percentage of
income, while others
may be deducted regardless. Some deductions require an
additional form to calculate
specifics, such as unreimbursed employee or job-related
expenses, charitable gifts not
given in cash, investment interest, and some mortgage interest.
There are exemptions based on the number of your dependents,
who are usually
children, but may be elderly parents or disabled siblings, that is,
relatives who generally
cannot care for themselves financially. Exemptions are made for
dependents as
nondiscretionary expenditures, but the government also
encourages individuals to care
for their financially dependent children, parents, and siblings
because without such care
they might become dependents of a government safety net or a
charity.
After deductions and exemptions are subtracted from adjusted
gross income, the
remainder is your taxable income. Your tax is based on your
taxable income, on a
progressive scale. You may have additional taxes, such as self-
employment tax, and you
may be able to apply credits against your taxes, such as the
earned income credit for

lower-income taxpayers with children.
Deductions, exemptions, and credits are some of the more
disputed areas of the tax
code. Because of the depth of dispute about them, they tend to
change more frequently
than other areas of the tax code. For example, in 2009, a credit
was added to encourage
first-time homebuyers to purchase a home in the hopes of
stimulating the residential
real estate market. As a taxpayer, you want to stay alert to
changes that may be to your
advantage or disadvantage. Usually, such changes are phased in
and out gradually so
you can include them in your financial planning process.
Payments and Refunds
Once you have calculated your tax obligation for the year, you
can compare that to any
taxes you have paid during the year and calculate the amount
still owed or the amount
to be refunded to you.
You pay taxes during the tax year by having them withheld from
your paycheck if you
earn income through wages, or by making quarterly estimated
tax payments if you have
other kinds of income. When you begin employment, you fill
out a form (Form W-4)
that determines the taxes to be withheld from your regular pay.
You may adjust this
amount, within limits, at any time. If you have both wages and
other incomes, but your
wage income is your primary source of income, you may be able
to increase the taxes
withheld from your wages to cover the taxes on your other

income, and thus avoid
having to make estimated payments. However, if your nonwage
income is substantial,
you will have to make estimated payments to avoid a penalty
and/or interest.
147
The government requires that taxes are withheld or paid
quarterly during the tax year
because it uses tax revenues to finance its expenditures, so it
needs a steady and
predictable cash flow. Steady payments also greatly decrease
the risk of taxes being
uncollectible. State and local income taxes must also be paid
during the tax year and are
similarly withheld from wages or paid quarterly.
Besides income taxes, other taxes are withheld from your
wages: payments for Social
Security and Medicare. Social Security or the Federal Insurance
Contributions Act
(FICA) and Medicare are federal government programs. Social
Security is insurance
against loss of income due to retirement, disability, or loss of a
spouse or parent.
Individuals are eligible for benefits based on their own
contributions—or their spouse’s
or parents’—during their working lives, so technically, the
Social Security payment
withheld from your current wages is not a tax but a contribution

to your own deferred
income. Medicare finances health care for the elderly. Both
programs were designed to
provide minimal benefits to those no longer able to sell their
labor in exchange for wage
income. In fact, both Social Security and Medicare function as
“pay-as-you-go” systems,
so your contributions pay for benefits that current beneficiaries
receive.
If you have paid more during the tax year than your actual
obligation, then you are due a
refund of the difference. You may have that amount directly
deposited to a bank
account, or the government will send you a check.
If you have paid less during the tax year than your actual
obligation, then you will have
to pay the difference (by check or credit card) and you may
have to pay a penalty and/or
interest, depending on the size of your payment.
The deadline for filing income tax returns and for paying any
necessary amounts is April
15, following the end of the tax year on December 31. You may
file to request an
extension of that deadline to August 15. Should you miss a
deadline without filing for an
extension, you will owe penalties and interest, even if your
actual tax obligation results
in a refund. It really pays to get your return in on time.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• The most relevant tax for financial planning is the income tax,
as it affects the taxpayer over an

entire lifetime.
• Different kinds of income must be defined and declared on
specific income schedules and are
subject to tax.
• Deductions and exemptions reduce taxable income.
• Credits reduce tax obligations.
• Payments are made throughout the tax year through
withholding from wages or through
quarterly payments.
148
EXERCISES
1. Read the IRS document defining tax liability
athttp://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch01.html#en_US_publin
k100031858. Do you have to
file a tax return for the current year? Why or why not? (Identify
all the factors that apply.) Which
tax form(s) should you use?

2. Download and study the following schedules or their
equivalent for the current year. In what
circumstances would you have to file each one? Tentatively fill
out any schedules that apply
to you for the current year.
o Schedules A: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sa.pdf
o Schedules B: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sb.pdf
o Schedule C: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf
o Schedule D: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sd.pdf
o Schedule E: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040se.pdf
o Schedule F: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sf.pdf
3. Find answers to the following questions
athttp://www.finaid.org/scholarships/taxability.phtml.
1. Is financial aid for college subject to federal income tax?
2. Can federal and state education grants be taxed as income?
3. Are student loans taxable?
4. When is a scholarship tax exempt?
5. Do you have to be in a degree program to qualify for tax
exemption?
6. When can the cost of textbooks be deducted from gross

income for tax reporting
purposes?
7. Can the amount of a scholarship used for tuition be deducted?
8. Can living expenses while on scholarship be deducted?
9. Is the income and stipend from a teaching fellowship or
research assistantship tax
exempt?
10. Are the tuition, books, and stipends of ROTC students tax
exempt?
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch01.html#en_US_publink1
00031858
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sa.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sb.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sd.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040se.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sf.pdf
http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/taxability.phtml
149
6.3 Record Keeping, Preparation, and Filing
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Identify sources of tax information.
2. Explain the importance of verifiable records and record
keeping.
3. Compare sources of tax preparation assistance.
4. Trace the tax review process and its implications.
The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), the federal tax law, is written
by the U.S. Congress
and enforced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is a
part of the U.S.
Department of Treasury. The IRS is responsible for the
collection of tax revenues. To
collect revenues, the IRS must inform the public of tax
obligations and devise data
collection systems that will allow for collection and verification
of tax information so
that collectible revenues can be verified. In other words, the
IRS has to figure out how to
inform the public and collect taxes while also collecting enough
information to be able to
check that those taxes are correct.
To inform the public, the IRS has published over six hundred
separate publications
covering various aspects of the tax code. There are more than a
thousand forms and
accompanying instructions to file complete tax information,
although most taxpayers
actually file about half a dozen forms each year. In addition, the
IRS provides a Web site
(http://www.irs.gov) and telephone support to answer questions
and assist in preparing
tax filings.

By far, most income taxes from wages are collected through
withholding as earned. For
most taxpayers, wages represent the primary form of income,
and thus most of their tax
payments are withheld or paid as wages are earned. Still,
everyone has to file to
summarize the details of the year’s incomes for the IRS and to
calculate the final tax
obligation. In 2007, the IRS collected 138,893,908 individual
returns representing
$1.367 trillion of tax revenue.[1]
Keeping Records
The individual filer must collect and report the information on
tax forms and schedules.
Fortunately, this is not as difficult as the volume of data would
suggest. Employers are
required to send Form W-2 to each employee at the end of the
year, detailing the total
wages earned and taxes and contributions withheld. If you have
earned other kinds of
income, your clients, customers, retirement fund, or other
source of income may have to
file a Form 1099 to report that income to you and to the IRS.
Interest and dividend
income is also reported by the bank or brokerage firm on Form
1099. The W-2 and the
Form 1099 are reported to both the IRS and you.
http://www.irs.gov/

150
The system for filing tax information has purposeful
redundancies. Where possible,
information is collected independently from at least two
sources, so it can be verified.
For example, your wage data is collected both from you and
from your employer, your
interest and dividend incomes are reported by both you and the
bank or brokerage that
paid them, and so on. Those redundancies, wherever practical,
allow for a system of
cross-references so that the IRS can check the validity of the
data it receives.
Incomes may be summarized and reported to you, but only you
know your expenses.
Expenditures are important if they are allowed as deductions,
such as charitable gifts,
medical and dental expenses, job-related expenses, and so on,
so data should be
collected throughout the tax year. If you do nothing more than
keep a checkbook, then
you will have to go through it and identify the deductible
expenses for the tax year.
Financial software applications will make that task easier; most
allow you to flag
deductible expenses in your initial setup.
You should also keep receipts of purchases that may be
deductible; credit or debit card
statements and bank statements provide convenient backup
proof of expenditures.
Proof is needed in the event the IRS questions the accuracy of
your return.

Tax Preparation and Filing
After you have collected the information you need, you fill out
the forms. The tax code is
based on the idea that citizens should create revenues for the
government based on their
ability to pay—and the tax forms follow that logic. Most
taxpayers need to complete only
a few schedules and forms to supplement their Form 1040 (or
1040 EZ). Most taxpayers
have the same kinds of taxable events, incomes, and deductions
year after year and file
the same kinds of schedules and forms.
Many taxpayers prefer to consult a professional tax preparer.
Professional help is useful
if you have a relatively complicated tax situation: unusual
sources of income or
expenditures that may be deductible under unusual
circumstances. Some taxpayers use
a tax preparer simply to protect against making a mistake and
having the error,
however, innocent, prove costly to fix. Fees for tax preparers
depend on how complex
your return is, the number of forms that need to be completed,
and the type of
professional you consult.
Professional tax preparers may be lawyers, accountants,
personal financial planners, or
tax consultants. You may have an ongoing relationship with
your tax preparer who may
also be your accountant or financial planner, working with you
on other financial
decisions. Or you may consult a tax preparer simply on tax
issues. You may want your

tax preparer to fill out and file the forms for you, or you may be
looking for advice about
future financial decisions that have tax consequences. Tax
preparers may be
independent practitioners who work during tax season, or
employees of a national chain
that provide year-round tax services.
151
There is no standard certification to be a professional tax
preparer. An enrolled agent is
someone who has successfully passed training courses from the
IRS. A certified public
accountant (CPA) has specific training and experience in
accounting. When looking for a
tax preparer, your lawyer, accountant, or financial planner may
be appropriate or may
be able to make a recommendation. If your information is fairly
straightforward, you
may minimize costs by using a preparer who simply does taxes.
If your situation
involves more complications, especially involving other entities
such as businesses or
trusts, or unusual circumstances such as a gain, gift, or
distribution, you may want to
consult a professional with a range of expertise, such as an
accountant or a lawyer who
specializes in taxes. Many professionals also offer a
“guarantee,” that is, that they will
also help you if the information on your return is later

questioned by the IRS.
Whether you prepare your tax return by yourself or with a
professional, it is you who
must sign the return and assume responsibility for its details.
You should be sure to
review your return with your tax preparer so that you
understand and can explain any of
the information found on it. You should question anything that
you cannot understand
or that seems contrary to your original information. You should
also know your tax
return because understanding how and why tax obligations are
created or avoided can
help you plan for tax consequences in future financial decisions.
You may choose to prepare the return yourself using a tax
preparation software
application. There are many available, and several that are
compatible with personal
financial software applications, enabling you to download or
transfer data from your
financial software directly into the tax software. Software
applications are usually
designed as a series of questions that guide you through Form
1040 and the
supplemental schedules, filling in the data from your answers.
Once you have been
through the “questionnaire,” it tells you the forms it has
completed for you, and you can
simply print them out to submit by mail or “e-file” them
directly to the IRS. Most
programs also allow you to enter data into the individual forms
directly.
Many tax preparation software packages are available, and

many are reviewed in the
business press or online. Some popular programs include the
following (see http://tax-
software- review.toptenreviews.com):
• Turbo Tax
• Tax Cut
• Tax
• ACT
• Complete Tax
• TaxSlayer Premium
• TaxBrain 1040 Deluxe
• OLT Online Taxes
Software can be useful in that it automatically calculates
unusual circumstances,
limitations, or exceptions to rules using your complete data.
Some programs even
prompt you for additional information based on the data you
submit. Overlooking
exceptions is a common error that software programs can help
you avoid. The programs
http://tax-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://tax-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
152
have all the forms and schedules, but if you choose to file hard
copy versions, you can
download them directly from the IRS Web site, or you can call
the IRS and request that

they be sent to you. Once your return is completed, you must
file it with the IRS, either
by mail or by e-file, which has become increasingly popular.
Following Up
After you file your tax return it will be processed and reviewed
by the IRS. If you are
owed a refund, it will be sent; if you paid a payment, it will be
deposited. The IRS
reviews returns for accuracy, based on redundant reporting and
its “sense” of your data.
For example, the IRS may investigate any discrepancies
between the wages you report
and the wages your employer reports. As another example, if
your total wages are
$23,000 and you show a charitable contribution of $20,000, that
contribution seems
too high for your income—although there may be an
explanation.
The IRS may follow up by mail or by a personal interview. It
may just ask for verification
of one or two items, or it may conduct a full audit—a thorough
financial investigation of
your return. In any case, you will be asked to produce records
or receipts that will verify
your reported data. Therefore, it is important to save a copy of
your return and the
records and receipts that you used to prepare it. The IRS has the
following
recommendations for the number of years to save your tax data:
1. If you owe additional tax and situations 2, 3, and 4 below do
not apply to you,
keep records for three years.

2. If you do not report income that you should report, and it is
more than 25 percent
of the gross income shown on your return, keep records for six
years.
3. If you file a fraudulent return, keep records indefinitely.
4. If you do not file a return, keep records indefinitely.
5. If you file a claim for credit or refund after you file your
return, keep records for
three years from the date you filed your original return or two
years from the date
you paid the tax, whichever is later.
6. If you file a claim for a loss from worthless securities or bad
debt deduction, keep
records for seven years.
7. Keep all employment tax records for at least four years after
the date that the tax
becomes due or is paid, whichever is later.
If you have a personal interview, your tax preparer may
accompany you to help explain
and verify your return. Ultimately, however, you are responsible
for it. If you have made
errors, and if those errors result in a larger tax obligation (if
you owe more), you may
have to pay penalties and interest in addition to the tax you
owe. You may be able to
negotiate a payment schedule with the IRS.
The IRS randomly chooses a certain number of returns each
year for review and
possible audit even where no discrepancies or unusual items are
noticed. The threat of a

random audit may deter taxpayers from cheating or taking
shortcuts on their tax
153
returns. Computerized record keeping has made it easier for
both taxpayers and the IRS
to collect, report, and verify tax data.
Filing Strategies
Most citizens recognize the need to contribute to the
government’s revenues but want to
avoid paying more than they need to. Tax avoidance is the
practice of ensuring that
you have no excess tax obligations. Strategies for minimizing or
avoiding tax obligations
are perfectly legal. However, tax evasion—fraudulently
reporting tax obligations, for
example, by understating incomes and gains or overstating
expenses and losses—is
illegal.
Timing can affect the value of taxable incomes or deductibles
expenses. If you anticipate
a significant increase in income—and therefore in your tax
rate—in the next tax year,
you may try to defer a deductible expense. When you have more
income and it is taxed
at a higher rate, a deductible expense may be worth more as a
tax savings to offset your
income. For example, if your tax rate is 20 percent and your

deductible expense of $100
saves you from paying taxes on $100, then it saves you $20 in
taxes. If your tax rate is
35 percent, that same $100 deductible saves you $35. Likewise,
if you anticipate a
decrease in income that will decrease your tax rate, you may
want to defer receipt of
income until the next year when it will be taxed at a lower rate.
In addition, some kinds
of incomes are taxed at different rates than others, so how your
income is created may
bear on how much tax it creates.
The definition of expenses and the way you claim them can
affect the tax they save. You
may be able to deduct more expenses if you itemize your
deductions than if you do not,
or it may not make a difference. Also, there is some discretion
in classifying expenses.
For example, suppose you are a high school Spanish teacher.
You also tutor students
privately. You buy Spanish books to improve your own
language skills and to keep
current with the published literature. Are the costs of those
books an unreimbursed
employee expense related to your job as a teacher, or are they
an expense of your private
tutoring business?
They may be both, but you can only claim the expense once or
in one place on your tax
return. If you claim it as an employment-related expense, your
ability to deduct the cost
may be limited, but if it is a cost of your tutoring business, you
may be able to fully
expense it from your business income.

An income that is not taxed or taxed at a lower rate is more
valuable than an income
that is taxed or taxed at a higher rate. An expense that is fully
deductible is more
valuable than an expense that is not. Taxes deferred—by
delaying income or accelerating
expense—create more liquidity and thus more value. However,
taxable income is still
income, and a deductible expense is still an expense. Tax
consequences should not
obscure the benefits of enjoying income and the costs of
incurring expenses.
154
There are many ideas about how to avoid an audit or what will
trigger one: certain kinds
of incomes or expenses, or filing earlier or later, for example.
In truth, with the
increased sophistication of computerization, the review process
is much better at
noticing real discrepancies and at choosing audits randomly.
Time and effort (and cost)
invested in outsmarting a possible audit is usually wasted. The
best protection against a
possible audit is to have verification—a receipt or a bill or a
canceled check—for all the
incomes and expenses that you report.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Tax code information is available from the Internal Revenue
Service.
• Verifiable records must be kept for all taxable incomes and
expenses or other taxable events and
activities.
• Professional tax assistance and tax preparation software are
readily available.
• The Internal Revenue Service reviews tax returns for errors
and may follow up through an
informal or formal audit process.
• Tax avoidance is the legal practice of minimizing tax
obligations.
• Tax evasion is the illegal process of fraudulently presenting
information used in calculating tax
obligations.
• Tax avoidance strategies can involve the timing of incomes
and/or expenses to take advantage of
changing tax circumstances.
EXERCISES
1. Read the article “Policy Basics: Where Do Our Federal Tax
Dollars Go” (Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities, April 13, 2009)

athttp://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258. In
2008, what were the federal government’s three largest
expenditures of tax dollars? According to
the IRS.gov article “Tips for Choosing a Tax Preparer”
athttp://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=251962,00.html,
when should you look for in a
professional tax preparation service provider, and what fees
should you avoid paying?
2. Gather a current sample of the kind of records you will use to
calculate your tax liability this year
and to verify your tax return. List each type of record and
identify exactly what information it will
give you, your tax preparer, and the IRS about your tax
situation. What additional records will
you need that are not yet in your possession?
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=251962,00.html
155
3. Compare and contrast tax preparation software at sites such
ashttp://financialplan.about.com/od/software/tp/TPTaxSoftware.

htm andhttp://www.consume
rsearch.com/tax-preparation-software/reviews. What are the
chief differences among the top
three or four programs? Also check out the IRS Free File
program at http://www.irs.gov/efile.
Would you quality for Free File?
4. Use your spreadsheet program, or download a free one, to
develop a document showing monthly
cash flows for income and expenses to date for which you have
written records. If you continue to
develop this document for the remaining months, how will it
help you prepare your tax returns?
5. Research how can you reduce your tax liability and/or avoid
paying taxes when you file this year.
Work with classmates to develop a tip sheet for students on tax
avoidance.
[1] Statistics of Income Division and Other Areas of the
Internal Revenue Service,
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats (accessed January 19, 2009).
6.4 Taxes and Financial Planning
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Trace the tax effects of life stages and life changes.

2. Identify goals and strategies that provide tax advantages.
3. Identify tax advantages that may be useful in pursuing your
goals.
4. Discuss the relationship of tax considerations to financial
planning.
You may anticipate significant changes in income or expenses
based on a change of job
or career, or a change of life stage or lifestyle. Not only may
the amounts of income or
expenses change, but the kinds of incomes or expenses may
change as well. Planning for
those changes in relation to tax obligations is part of personal
financial planning.
Tax Strategies and Life Stages
Tax obligations change more broadly as your stage of life
changes. Although everyone is
different, there is a typical pattern to aging, earning, and taxes,
as shown in Figure 6.15
"Life Stages and Tax Implications".
Figure 6.15 Life Stages and Tax Implications
http://financialplan.about.com/od/software/tp/TPTaxSoftware.ht
m
http://www.consumersearch.com/tax-preparation-
software/reviews
http://www.consumersearch.com/tax-preparation-
software/reviews
http://www.irs.gov/efile
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats

156
In young adulthood, you rely on income from wages, and you
usually have yet to acquire
an asset base, so you have little income from interest,
dividends, or capital gains. Your
family structure does not include dependents, so you have few
deductions but also low
taxable income.
As you progress in your career, you can expect wages,
expenses, and dependents to
increase. You are building an asset base by buying a home,
possibly saving for your
children’s education, or saving for retirement. Because those
are the kinds of assets
encouraged by the government, they not only build wealth but
also create tax
advantages—the mortgage interest deduction, retirement, or
education savings
exemption.
In older adulthood, you may begin to build an asset base that
can no longer provide
those tax advantages that are limited or may create taxable
income such as interest,
dividends, or rental income. In retirement, most people can
anticipate a significant
decrease in income from wages and a significant increase in
reliance on incomes from
investments such as interest, dividends, and gains. Some of
those assets may be

retirement savings accounts, such as an Individual Retirement
Account (IRA) or 401(k)
that created tax advantages while growing, but will create tax
obligations as income is
drawn from them.
Generally, you can expect your income to increase during your
middle adult life, but that
is when many people typically have dependents and deductions
such as mortgage
interest and job-related expenses to offset increased tax
obligations. As you age, and
especially when you retire, you can expect less income and also
fewer deductions: any
kids have left home, the mortgage in paid off.
The bigger picture is that at the stages of your life when income
is increasing, so are your
deductions and exemptions, which tend to decrease as your
income decreases. Although
your incomes change over your lifetime, you tax obligations
change proportionally, so
they remain relative to your ability to pay.
The tax consequences of such changes should be anticipated and
considered as you
evaluate choices for financial strategies. Because the tax code is
a matter of law it does
change, but because it is also a matter of politics, it changes
slowly and only after much

157
public discussion. You can usually be aware of any tax code
changes far enough in
advance to incorporate them into your planning.
Tax Strategies and Personal Financial Planning
Tax advantages are sometimes created for personal financial
strategies as a way of
encouraging certain personal goals. In the United States, as in
most developed
economies, certain goals such as home ownership, retirement
savings, and education
and health financing are seen as personal goals that benefit
society as well as the
individual.
In most cases, tax advantages are created to encourage progress
toward those goals. For
example, most people can buy a home only if they can use debt
financing, which creates
added costs. So mortgage interest, that added cost, is tax
deductible (up to a limit) to
make home financing and therefore home ownership more
affordable and attractive.
Retirement saving is encouraged, so some savings plans such as
an IRA or a
defined contribution plan such as a 401(k) or a 403b (so named
for the sections of
the Internal Revenue Code that define them) create tax
advantages. The deposits made
to those plans may be used to reduce taxable income, although
there are limits to the
amount of those deposits. There are also retirement savings
strategies that do not create

tax advantages, such as saving outside of a tax-advantaged
account. There are limited
tax-advantaged savings accounts for education savings and
health care expenses as well.
Where you have a choice, it makes sense to use a strategy that
will allow you to make
progress toward your goal and realize a tax advantage. Your
enthusiasm for the tax
advantage should not define your goals, however. Taxes affect
the value of your
alternatives, so recognizing tax implications should inform your
choices without
defining your goals.
Unanticipated events such as an inheritance, a gift, lottery
winnings, casualty and theft
losses, or medical expenses can also have tax consequences.
They are often unusual
events (and therefore unanticipated) and may be unfamiliar and
financially
complicated. In those circumstances it may be wise to consult
an expert.
Your financial plans should reflect your vision for your life:
what you want to have, how
you want to get it, how you want to protect it. You will want to
be aware of tax
advantages or disadvantages, but tax consequences should not
drive your vision. You
would not buy a house with a mortgage only to get the mortgage
interest deduction, for
example. However, if you are buying a home, you can plan to
do so in the most tax-
advantageous way.

As Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., said,
“Taxes are what we pay for
a civilized society.”[1]
158
Like any costs, you want to minimize your tax costs of living
and of life events, but tax
avoidance is only a means to an end. You should make your life
choices for better
reasons than avoiding taxes.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Tax strategies may change as life stages and family structure
changes.
• Some personal finance goals may be pursued in a more or less
tax-advantaged way, so you should
evaluate the tax effects on your alternatives.
• Tax strategies are a means to an end, that is, to achieve your
personal finance goals with a
minimum of cost.
EXERCISES
1. Review your list of personal financial goals. For each goal,
how does the U.S. Tax Code help or

hinder you in achieving it?
2. Investigate tax strategies that would benefit you in your
present life stage. Begin your online
research at this comprehensive list of tax
links:http://www.el.com/elinks/taxes/. What tax
strategies would benefit you in your next life stage? Share your
findings and strategies with others
in your life stage.
3. What does Benjamin Franklin mean in the following quote
about taxation? What advice is
implied and how would you apply that advice to your financial
planning?
“Friends and neighbors complain that taxes are indeed very
heavy, and if those laid on by the
government were the only ones we had to pay, we might the
more easily discharge them; but we
have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We
are taxed twice as much by our
idleness, three times as much by our pride, and four times as
much by our folly.”
Benjamin Franklin [2]
[1] U.S. Department of the Treasury,
http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/taxes/taxes-

society.shtml (accessed January 19, 2009).
[2] Benjamin Franklin, “As Certain as Death—Quotations About
Taxes,” compiled and
arranged by Jeffrey Yablon, in Tax Notes, January 5, 2004;
retrieved from
http://www.taxanalysts.com/www/features.nsf/Articles/B613CD
AB6D2554218525770
000641571?OpenDocument (accessed May 23, 2012).
http://www.el.com/elinks/taxes/
http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/taxes/taxes-society.shtml
http://www.treas.gov/education/faq/taxes/taxes-society.shtml
AB6D2554218525770000641571?OpenDocument
AB6D2554218525770000641571?OpenDocument
Running head: ASSIGNMENT TITLE HERE
1
PAGE
5
ASSIGNMENT TITLE HERE
Typing Template for APA Papers

Student Name
University
Course
Date
Abstract
An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents
of a paper (American Psychological Association, 2001) that
runs a maximum of 120 words. It should contain a synopsis of
the points in the paper, but also be readable and well organized.
To use this page of the template, simply delete this paragraph
and start typing. The formatting should stay the same.
Typing Template for APA Papers
This is an electronic template for papers written in APA style
(American Psychological Association, 2009). The purpose of
the template is to help the student set the margins and spacing.
Margins are set at 1 inch for top, bottom, left, and right. The
type is left-justified only—that means the left margin is
straight, but the right margin is ragged. Each paragraph is
indented five spaces. It is best to use the tab key to indent,
since five spaces on the computer is different from five spaces
on a typewriter. The line spacing is double throughout the
paper, even on the reference page. Two spaces are used after
punctuation. The font style used in this template is Times New
Roman and the font size is 12, which is now required in APA
6th edition.
First Heading
The heading above would be used if you want to have your

paper divided into sections based on content. This is the first
level of heading, and it is centered and bolded with each word
of four letters or more capitalized. The heading should be a
short descriptor of the section. Note that not all papers will
have headings or subheadings in them.
First Subheading
The subheading above would be used if there are several
sections within the topic labeled in a heading. The subheading
is flush left and bolded, with each word of four letters or more
capitalized.
Second Subheading
APA dictates that you should avoid having only one subsection
heading and subsection within a section. In other words, use at
least two subheadings under a main heading, or do not use any
at all.
When you are ready to write, and after having read these
instructions completely, you can delete these directions and
start typing. The formatting should stay the same. However,
one item that you will have to change is the page header, which
is placed at the top of each page along with the page number.
The words included in the page header should be reflective of
the title of your paper, so that if the pages are intermixed with
other papers they will be identifiable. When using Word 2003
at a minimum, double click on the words in the page header.
This should enable you to edit the words. You should not have
to edit the page numbers.
In addition to spacing, APA style includes a special way of
citing resource articles. See the APA manual for specifics
regarding in-text citations. The APA manual also discusses the

desired tone of writing, grammar, punctuation, formatting for
numbers, and a variety of other important topics. Although the
APA style rules are used in this template, the purpose of the
template is only to demonstrate spacing and the general parts of
the paper. The student will need to refer to the APA manual for
other format directions. A sample reference page is included
below; however, this page includes special spacing and
formatting. The examples on the following page include
examples taken directly from the APA manual.
References
Daresh, J. C. (2004). Beginning the assistant principalship: A
practical guide for
new school administrators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support,
marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients.
Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:10.1037/0278-
6133.24.2.225
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National
Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
(2003). Managing asthma: A guide for schools (NIH Publication
No. 02-2650). Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/
health/prof/asthma/asth_sch.pdf

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