Archive for April, 2011

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Jobs in Charleston, South Carolina

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

As real estate agents who specialize in helping home buyers
relocate to Charleston, we get lots of questions regarding Charleston’s job
market and overall economy.  Over the
past two years, Charleston has invested more than $1 billion to generate more
businesses and also expand existing ones. 
We’ve included info below on the biggest industries and employers in
Charleston.

 

An estimated 5.1 million visitors come to Charleston each
year, making tourism the largest industry by far.  These tourists bring the city approximately
$5.4 billion annually and provide jobs for about 78,000 people.  Most of these jobs are located in downtown
Charleston and the 6 area’s beaches (Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, Wild
Dunes, Folly Beach, Kiawah Island, and Seabrook Island).

 

The Port of Charleston is the second biggest industry, with
an estimated $3.3 billion contributed to the local economy each year.  Charleston is the fourth largest container
port in the U.S. and interchanges with more than 150 countries worldwide.  Five separate terminals are located along the
Charleston Harbor and the Cooper River, so most of these jobs can be found in
downtown Charleston and North Charleston.

 

The military accounts for more than 27,000 jobs in
Charleston, with an overwhelming majority from the U.S. Navy.  However, the Charleston Air Force Base
provides about 5,500 of these jobs.  Overall,
the military brings the local economy approximately $3.28 billion each year.

 

In addition to these 3 industries, Charleston’s job market
is also supported by large manufacturing corporations like Bosch (which
provides about 2,100 jobs), Westvaco (2,200), and Nucor Steel (800).  The most recent addition is Boeing, which has
built a new assembly plant for its 787 jets in North Charleston.

 

With the Medical University of South Carolina located in
downtown Charleston, you’ll find lots of job openings in the healthcare
industry.  MUSC accounts for about 8,200
in the area.  Charleston is one of the
main healthcare hubs of South Carolina, with a wide range of specialists and many
hospitals spread throughout the metro area. 
The Roper St. Francis Hospital System provides about 4,000 jobs.

 

In tri-county Charleston, schools also make up some of the
biggest employers.  The Charleston
Country School District employs just over 5,100 workers.  Berkeley County schools employ about 3,400
people, and Dorchester schools estimate about 3,000 workers.

 

Charleston also has several options for higher education,
although these don’t provide as many jobs as the public K-12 schools.  The College of Charleston has just under
1,000 employees.  The Citadel and Trident
Technical College each employ about 600 faculty and staff.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/jobs-in-charleston-south-carolina-4678721.html

About the Author

On Lee’s website you can learn more about Charleston SC real estate and search all Charleston SC homes for sale by area, including Mt Pleasant real estate!

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Eliminate Credit Card Debt Fast – Say No To Bankruptcy

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

The economy has pinned lots of credit card holders in a serious financial situation. Unemployment, loss of income, and unstable companies have been very common, leaving people incapable of paying their bills and looking for means to eliminate credit card debt fast.

If you are in the same situation, you might also be looking for viable debt relief options to clear your bills. In the past, the only possible way out of debt was through declaring bankruptcy. Many have realized that this strategy can only cause them much trouble in the long run. The best option available is a debt settlement scheme which is a legal and convenient way out of financial trouble. Here is why this strategy is preferred by many.

1. Debt settlement revives your credit record faster than all other debt relief options. Usually you will only need 1-3 years to pay off your debt. Declaring bankruptcy, on the other hand, is a tedious process and requires a long period of time.

2. Unlike other strategies, debt settlement will not require you file a court case or even hire lawyers to clear your debt off. This option is a legal way of dealing with your debt minus lawyers and court case. In contrast, bankruptcy will oblige you to seek legal help to make things go through in the court.

3. Settlement does not give you a permanent bad credit history and you are able to enjoy normal interest rates in the future. Bankruptcy ruins your financial future by pulling down your credit score to its lowest level. It remains in your credit history for at least seven long years, rendering you incapable of getting loans or getting normal interest rates.

In settlement, you will lose some of your credit score but once the negotiation and the payment is done, your record will be revived to its earlier status and this is the best way to eliminate credit card debt fast.

4. You can erase some of your outstanding debt when you settle matters with the creditors. This is only possible if you have an expert financial negotiator who knows how to craft favorable deals. Some people have tried doing the negotiations all by themselves which is also possible. However, choosing to do things your way will, most likely, end badly.

Many people find settlement the best option because of these advantages. It is more consumer-friendly and proves to be a reliable way of gaining your financial independence back. The federal government has also encouraged creditors to be more lenient with its clients to help them out of the financial problem. If you are struggling with bills and debt get help now and say goodbye to it for good and eliminate credit card debt fast.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/debt-consolidation-articles/eliminate-credit-card-debt-fast-say-no-to-bankruptcy-4678882.html

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Here is the #1 resource to eliminate credit card debt fast just click here to get out of debt now

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How to Trim a VAT (Value Added Tax) Bill

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

For many business owners, business tax services offer one of the best ways to navigate the often confusing world of VAT (Value Added Tax) regulations. VAT requirements, registration, returns and other related aspects can all be handled by a reliable accounting services company on behalf of the business owner, to ensure that the process is handles effectively and efficiently. Outsourcing a business tax services expert can also help businesses save costs, which further adds to the benefits of approaching a renowned accounting firm such as PATC.

One of the most commonly asked questions that many business owners ask when it comes to VAT is how they can trim a VAT bill. The legal implications of withholding important criteria or trying to take short cuts are extremely serious, but with the help of your business tax services expert, you will be able to reduce your bill legally and efficiently.

Before you can begin to do this however, you will need to understand how the VAT process works. The basic criteria for VAT are as follows:

  • VAT applies generally to transactions relating to items and services.
  • VAT is proportional to the price charged for these items.
  • VAT is charged at each stage of the production and distribution process.
  • Business owners may deduct tax paid during previous stages, but then the burden of the tax is on the final consumer.

 

To reduce VAT costs, items would need to either fall under the exempt categories, or deduct tax that has been paid during previous stages. You will not have to register for VAT unless you make taxable item sales that exceed R1 million (from 1 March 2009) over 12 consecutive months, which means that smaller business who do not turn over a huge profit each year may be except from VAT.

There are also additional aspects such as whether your business premises are also your home, or whether you tax your commercial property, partial exemption, overseas customers and export VAT. With an accounting services company that has years of experience in dealing with all aspects relating to VAT and other taxes, you will be able to find the best ways to save money and streamline the entire VAT process.

To learn more about the many business tax services that PATC offers business owners, contact us today to find out how we can help your specific VAT needs.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/taxes-articles/how-to-trim-a-vat-value-added-tax-bill-4674464.html

About the Author

Pinetown Accountants provide personal and professional services in Durban South Africa. Our services are tax consulting, professional accountant and financial accountants.

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Dealing With Taxes on Your Settled Debts

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

One of the biggest drawbacks of settling debts is dealing with the tax implications of having your debt cancelled. The IRS requires you to include cancelled debt as taxable income on your tax return and requires businesses to report cancelled debts over $600. If your creditor cancels at least $600 of debt, the IRS will know about it. They’ll be expecting you to claim this as income on your taxes. You could face an audit if you don’t include the cancelled debt on your tax return.

Increasing your taxable income by adding in cancelled debt can decrease your tax refund – that’s if you still get a tax refund after increasing the amount of taxes you’re liable for. The worst-case scenario is that you end up with a tax bill after you’ve settled your debt.

The IRS does allow an exception to reporting cancelled debt as income on your tax return. You’ll still have to report the income, but you’ll be allowed to exclude it from your taxable income. To qualify for the exclusion, you must have been insolvent at the time your debt was cancelled. Insolvent means the total amount of your debt was greater than the value of any assets you owed. If the amount of the debt cancelled was less than the amount by which you were insolvent, you won’t have to pay taxes on the cancelled debt.

Insolvency Examples

You are insolvent by $100,000 and your cancelled debt was $30,000. Since your cancelled debt is less than your insolvency amount, you don’t have to pay taxes on the cancelled debt.

You are insolvent by $20,000 and your cancelled debt was $30,000. You can only exclude debt up to the amount of insolvency. So in this case, you can exclude $20,000 of cancelled debt, but still are liable for taxes on the remaining $10,000.

You are not insolvent. In fact, your assets exceed your liabilities by $40,000. You would have to include the entire $30,000 as income on your tax return.

Taking the Insolvency Exemption

To claim the exemption, you’ll have to file IRS Form 982, Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness.

You’ll also need to keep detailed records about your insolvency status each time you settle a debt. When you send the final payment for your settlement, you should also calculate your net worth – a number that shows whether or not you are insolvent.

To calculate your net worth, first add up all your debts including mortgage and credit card debt that’s still owed. Then add up the value of all your assets, include any equity you’ve accumulated in your home. Subtract the value of your assets from the amount of your liabilities and that is your net worth. If the number is negative then you are insolvent by that amount. If the number is positive then you are not insolvent and you can’t take the insolvency exemption. Keep each calculation on a separate piece of paper and file it away with your tax documents.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/personal-finance-articles/dealing-with-taxes-on-your-settled-debts-4679242.html

About the Author

This is a post by Frank Collins. Frank is a personal finance writer who specializes in topics related to credit, savings and debt relief options like debt settlement.

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Protecting a stock portfolio against rising inflation

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

Interest rates are rising across the globe as central banks and market participants start preparing for higher inflation. The Fed, the ECB and the BoE may have kept interest rates unchanged, but inter-bank rates have crept up and are moving higher.

In Emerging countries like China, Brazil, India and other Asian tigers, the central banks there are already raising rates to fight off inflation and the effect of such rate increases is starting to show.

Take India for example. India’s central bank increased interest rates to deal with inflation that is rising at more than 8% per year. China is in a similar position. In an attempt to control runaway inflation, China recently hiked its rates by a quarter percent, its third hike since the start of the year. One of the main casualties of rising interest rates are stocks. India’s benchmark stock index, the Sensex is plummeting right now…and could be a good example of what may be in store when developed markets start increasing rates.

With stock markets tightly linked to each other, there is an acute risk of domino effect hurting sentiment and stock prices. On the other hand, repeated comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that interest rates will not be raised until the US recovery is in full swing and the unemployment rate starts coming down are the reason why investors in the US keep pushing stocks higher. The S&P 500 index recently crosses above the 1320 level, its highest since 2008 when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and is in a broad uptrend.

But sometimes the market does not wait for the actual policy turn and moves ahead of the curve. That is, stocks could turn lower, much earlier than when the Fed will actually announce a rate increase.

The best way for those who are fully invested in stocks is to protect their portfolio by using trailing stops. This way, you allow your winning positions to continue to earn money, but if there is an abrupt turn in the market, the positions will be closed at the level that you have indicated and you lock in your profits.

There is no magic formula as to where your trailing stop should be. It could be 10% from current levels – which means if the S&P500 index drops from the current level of 1320 to 1188, then automatically you would close your positions. Other investors, especially those who are riding the bull market from much lower levels, may be able afford a bigger trailing stop of say 20 or 25%. This way, if the S&P 500 index would drop below 1055 or 1000, the positions would be automatically closed.

Investors not accustomed to trailing stops may however be frustrated when their stops are triggered and then the market continues higher. This is the process where the market does a retracement or correction and then resuming its march. For this reason, the trailing stop should not be very close to current prices and should be placed below strategic levels, such as when the 200-day moving average is breached, or when technical indicators start issuing warning signals.

That’s why for a stock portfolio trading on a long term horizon, the 25% trailing stop is possibly more convenient compared to a forex portfolio with a much shorter investment horizon. Since in the forex market, the majority of investors trade on margin and leveraged positions, a 2% to 3% trailing stop is the standard practice, since in forex, a small swing in prices risks wiping off the entire investment.

At Eurivex, a regulated Cyprus Investment Firm which offers forex white label and forex start-up brokerage complete solutions, we prefer to place our stops at only 40 pips whereas keep our profit targets at 50-100 pips.

I understand that at times it’s a frustrating strategy when the stops are hit and then the market reverses, but at least you don’t lose your sleep over a position and you are closer to the ideal investment strategy of cutting your loses while letting your winning positions run.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/currency-trading-articles/protecting-a-stock-portfolio-against-rising-inflation-4674394.html

About the Author

Shavasb Bohdjalian is an approved Investment Advisor and CEO of Eurivex Ltd., a Cyprus Investment Firm, authorized and regulated by CySEC, license no. 114/10. Forex Brokerage and Investing in markets and trading on leverage is highly risky and it may not be suitable to all investors since it carries a high degree of risk and you can lose more than your initial investment.

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