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If you are self-employed, your income is subject to a 15.3%
self-employment FICA tax. Added to a 28% Federal income tax and
a 5% state income tax, this could leave you paying nearly 50% of
your income to the government. Fortunately, most self-employed
people qualify to set up an HRA or Health Reimbursement
Arrangement. An HRA can enable your business to reimburse you
for health insurance and out-of-pocket medical expenses, and
will save you an extra $3,000 each year.

Health Reimbursement Arrangements for the Self-Employed

An HRA is simply an agreement which enables your business to
cover employee’s medical expenses, including individual health
insurance premiums, as a tax-free fringe benefit. This tax
benefit was established in Section 105 of the IRS tax code in
1955, when General Electric lobbied for a business
reimbursement rule to give it more flexibility in creating
employee benefits.

Anyone set up as an S-corp or C-corp qualifies to set up an
HRA. If you are a Schedule C or Schedule F sole proprietor, an
HRA is allowed if your spouse can work at least part time in
the business. You will be setting up an employee benefits
package that covers health insurance premiums, disability
insurance premiums, long-term care premiums, and even
out-of-pocket medical expenses such as dental coverage.

An HRA makes your taxes go down because when you get to write
off medical expenses on your Schedule C, you avoid paying
Federal income taxes, state income taxes, and the 15.3% FICA
self-employment tax. Not only can the business reimburse you
for the cost of health insurance premiums, but you can also set
up the HRA to reimburse for dental coverage, preventive care,
disability insurance, long-term care insurance, and other
out-of-pocket medical expenses.

If you are self-employed but do not have an HRA, you can write
off your health insurance premiums on your 1040, saving you
Federal income taxes. But, you are still subject to FICA and
state income taxes for these expenses. You are not able to
write off any of the other expenses listed above.

Using an HRA with a Health Savings Account

Some financial advisors do not realize that you can have an HRA
along with a Health Savings Account (HSA). You can of course.
The only caveat is that the HRA cannot reimburse for expenses
that could apply toward the deductible of the HSA, such as
doctor visits or prescription drugs. But, it can cover any
insurance premiums and preventive care.

The potential savings are substantial. Let’s assume a business
owner is in a 28% tax bracket, has an HSA plan, and is
incurring the following expenses.

=95Health insurance premiums - $7,000
=95Preventive expenses - $1,000
=95Other insurance - $2,000

The self-employed business owner can write off the $7,000
premium on Federal income taxes, saving 28% of that or $1,960.
If the HSA is fully funded, an additional $1,582 will be saved
off of Federal income taxes and $282.50 from state income
taxes. So, in total, the business owner’s taxes will go down by
$3,824.50.

Once an HRA is set up, the entire $10,000 in expenses listed
above can be reimbursed by the business. So, the business owner
would be saving a total of $2,800 from Federal income taxes,
$500 from state income taxes, and $1,530 in self-employment
taxes. The business owner will also get to take advantage of
the same $1,960 in HSA tax savings, for a total tax reduction
of $6,790.

Smart business owners take advantage of all the tax deductions
for which they qualify. You can reimburse health insurance
expenses from the beginning of the year, but out-of-pocket
expenses only from the date your HRA begins.

About The Author: By Wiley Long - President, HSA for America
(http://www.health–savings–accounts.com) - The nation’s
leading independent health insurance firm specializing in
individual and family health insurance coverage that works with
a Health Savings Account.

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Good copyrighting is essential to having a successful Internet
website. Just for those of you who don’t know, the "copy" is
any sort of text-based content that’s included in an
advertisement. No, a website is not an advertisement, but
nonetheless, you are still trying to sell yourself, your
company, ideas, and products or services. Not only does good
copy pull the reader in and entice him or her to conduct
business with your company, but proper writing skills are
applauded by the major search engines. If your website has
spelling mistakes or contains run on or fragmented sentences,
the search engines will not see your website as being credible
and will bury it in the search results. The 80/20 principle
comes into play here; 20% of the Internet’s websites produce
80% of the sales. The difference between a website that sells
and one that doesn’t sell is good copywriting. Below are a
number of tips to help you improve your website’s copy.

Know Your Target Audience

Don’t assume that every member of your target market is the
same. People in different demographics think and feel
differently and it is important that you communicate with them
on their level. Therefore, it is important to do a little
research to get a better understanding of your target market.
You can then start to think like the prospect rather than the
marketer.

* Focus your efforts on attaining just one goal. For most
websites, the goal should be to get the prospect to call your
office so that you can close the sale over the phone. A good
sales person is a much more effective selling tool than a one
dimensional website. By just focusing on one goal, you can
easily tailor your website to meet that specific goal.

* Most people don’t actually read websites =96 they just scan.
Therefore, it is critical to break up large blocks of copy and
employ appropriate headlines, sub-headings, boxes, sections and
colours.

* The headline is probably the most important aspect of your
copy. Think what kind of benefit your product or service
provides and make a big promise in regards to that benefit. The
goal is to draw the reader in to read the long copy below the
headline.

* It is important to build excitement, enthusiasm and create a
sense of urgency to get the reader to take the desired action
as soon as possible.

* Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes and think of the most
common objections or concerns that prospect will have in
regards to your offer. It is important that these concerns are
addressed and countered in your copy in order to alleviate any
doubts the reader may have.

* Compare your products and services to those of your
competitors. Don’t be shy =96 you have to tout your own horn.
Give multiple reasons why the prospect should do business with
your company. Don’t bad mouth your competitors; just tout the
reasons why your company is superior to the competition.

* Let the reader know that he or she will be missing out if
they do not take the recommended action. Feat of lose is a
terrific motivator.

Conclusion

You can’t be expected to write winning copy on your first
attempt. Copywriting should always be a work in progress, and
you should continually tweak it until you are satisfied with
the results. Play around with different headlines, make
different offers or promises, or create a sense of urgency by
offering a premium if the prospect contacts you within a
certain amount of time. Testing different versions of your copy
is the only way to discover what works best. Happy copywriting.

About The Author: Paul Coulter owns and operates a Toronto
Website Design company that specializes in search engine
optimization (SEO). http://www.ekonlin=
e.com/

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When faced with purchasing or investing in mobile homes, some
people tend to do a double take once faced with the threat of
rapid depreciation of their home or property. There is this
talk that mobile homes have a higher depreciation rate as
compared to conventional homes. While there is some truth to
the way mobile homes do lose value, they are not actually that
accurate in saying that they are experiencing depreciation.

Lenders and the Decreased Value of Mobile Homes

Mobile home loans are one of the harder loans to come by simply
because lenders and banks balk at the idea of a movable house.
While these movable houses may have a certain value that need
not depreciate because of the quality of the home itself, the
price of this manufactured home does see a marked drop in value
simply because of the situations this type of a home is usually
placed in.

When a borrower fails to pay for the mobile home and it gets
repossessed, the lenders usually fail to gain back the entire
amount that was borrowed on the unit, thereby giving them the
feeling that the mobile home’s value depreciated. This is not
true depreciation in the right sense of the word, but rather a
failure to get the total amount on the unit simply because of
the former owner’s inability to make the payments necessary for
the home. This problem is also compounded by the fact that
people view this as a depreciative move and does not serve to
help the situation at all.

Repossessed mobile homes are viewed as a good investment,
however, since you will be getting a mobile home of basically
good quality at a substantially lower price simply because it
got repossessed.

The Land You Put It On Helps

One other reason why mobile homes seem to lose some of its
value is in the locations that they are being placed on. A lot
of manufactured homes are being placed in rental parks that
have a lot of similar units in them. While the location of the
house in the park may have no significant bearing on the value
of the house, the fact that it is placed on rented property
does. Putting a mobile home in a mobile home park will indeed
lessen the inherent value of the home since the parcel of land
the house stands on is not part of the home itself.

Putting a mobile home on a lot that you own substantially
increases the value of the mobile home since the land that it
is found on is now seen as part of the overall home equation.
Having your own land to put your mobile home on will greatly
affect the way the value on your property moves.

There are still other factors that may affect your mobile
home’s value like the condition your home is in, your location
and the size and make it is in. While your property may or may
not depreciate, the value of your mobile home is something you
should know about and keep yourself updated with.

About The Author: Scott is an expert on all things credit
related and runs mortgage websites that provide information to
borrowers. His current mortgage site is for mobile home owners
and is located at ht=
tp://www.notaryone.net/mobile-home-loans

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It’s dark. The highway is deserted. You’re driving alone. Still
miles from home, you stare at the illuminated patch of pavement
ahead when suddenly=85 an unrecognizable POP from under your hood
and your vehicle quickly loses power. You pull to the shoulder,
grab your cell phone, and start to rummage through your wallet
looking for the 800 number to your auto club.

We’ve all thought about it. And many of us have experienced
exactly that scenario. When it happens, we’re proud of
ourselves for having the foresight to renew whatever roadside
assistance club we belong to.

And whether it’s personal safety and the safety of our family
members, free towing, or even a quick tire change, roadside
assistance is one of those options that isn’t really just an
option. It’s a necessity.

When it comes to selecting the right roadside assistance or
auto club for you, consider these facts:

Many vehicle manufacturers now provide comprehensive roadside
assistance programs. Whether you lease or own your car, truck,
or SUV, check with your dealership to see if one came with your
vehicle.

For example, the Isuzu Ascender provides roadside assistance
for the first seven years or 75,000 miles.

You may have roadside assistance as a benefit of carrying one
of your credit cards. The American Express Gold Card offers
towing, emergency fuel delivery, locked key retrieval, and tire
replacement any time a Gold Card member is present, anywhere in
the U.S. and Canada.

Emergency assistance plans like On-Star provide wealth of
roadside assistance services including help if you get lost or
break down, emergency services if your airbag deploys, and will
even find you a ride if you’ve been drinking and aren’t in a
condition to safely drive yourself.

Auto clubs like American Automobile Association provide quick
responses to roadside emergencies as well as travel planning
assistance, vehicle financing services, and discounts at
approved mechanic garages and hotels.

Be mindful of the benefits of all of your roadside assistance
programs so that you’re not paying to duplicate services (like
towing), and make sure that at least one of your programs is
full-service, meaning it covers almost any unforeseeable
circumstance you might face. Keep the numbers of all of your
roadside assistance programs (for example, the 800 number for a
credit card roadside assistance benefit may not be printed on
the actual card) on one sheet of paper, readily available in
your glove compartment. Taking a few minutes to review your
programs and plan ahead, could save you a great deal of worry
and expense when an emergency arises.

About The Author: If you are concerned about current
http://www.isuzu.com SUV prices y=
ou should look at the new
Isuzu line of vehicles. Voted as one of Americas
http://www.isuzu.com/i370.jsp Best Pickup Truck The Isuzu line
of trucks is first class. Visit Isuzu today and compare.

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