Ok...California isn't in the lead on this. New York is. There was litigation in the NY Courts that led to what is known as their "Amazon Law" that lets NY force Amazon to collect NY sales tax by virtue of NY based third-party sellers having partnership agreements with Amazon. VT, MA, RI, IL, CO, GA, CT and now CA have since filed legislation to mimic what NY did. THIS DOESN'T mean the states can now compel remote sellers to collect their tax! It only applies where that seller has a partnership agreement with an in-state business pushing sales through their website. THAT said, we all owe the USE TAX. It's the law. I find it interesting that many of the same folks who rail about Democrats trying to raise taxes (which happens to be factually inaccurate) don't seem to care about breaking the law, resulting in budget deficits that leave states short of operating revenue that lead to discussions of the need to raise taxes! You can't complain about your kids getting a crappy education, the roads being bad, bridges failing, etc. if you don't pay the taxes you lawfully owe! That's as unpatriotic as you get. I find it hard to understand how the masses on the right fall for the complete ruse that they will somehow benefit from the Gov't giving tax breaks to the uber-wealthy and to Corporations who are buying those tax breaks with lobbying dollars. It's been proven to be bull time and again. Oil companies are reaping record profits while enjoying ridiculous tax breaks and shifting the burden of the shortfall to the rest of us! PLUS, we now have the privilege of perpetuating their ownership of the U.S. Government by our paying them $5.00/gallon! If you understand anything about investigative tactics in police work..."follow-the-money" almost always leads you back to the perpetrator. While there's plenty of blame to dole out on both sides of the aisle, it doesn't take a genius to figure out which major party is the prime offender. What can be said about this but wake up America! What happened to government for the people, by the people? The Constitution says "people" not "corporations!" As for the uncollected sales tax issue, there is an effort called the Streamlined Sales Tax Project aimed at encouraging Congress to lift the Supreme Court restrictions on requiring remote sellers to collect tax for the states in exchange for the states simplifying and making their laws more uniform so that it doesn't cost businesses so much to comply! Unsurprisingly, the bill continues to stall due to opposition by the majority of Republicans who don't want to be "perceived" as levying new taxes even though the taxes are already legally due and are just being criminally ignored. Thankfully this year there is some Republican support. Rep. Senator Mike Enzi of WY is cosponsoring the bill this session with Senator Richard Durbin of IL. Until REAL campaign finance reform is adopted and publicly funded political campaigns are MANDATORY and Corporate lobbying $ prohibited, this country will NOT be truly free.

Hi Jockewing, Along with the others, my condolences for you & your family with your Grandmother's passing. Some basic rules of thumb for your financial management; A) "Reserves rule" and you want to initially have, at minimum, safe & liquid funds set aside in an account that cannot lose money to the markets, equal to no less than 6 months of your total costs of living (and preferrably 12 months,) B) I suggest your "longterm goal" to be to grow your investments to the eventual point where they can throw off enough passive cashflow (without eating into the principal) to cover 100% of your living expenses. This, of course, is the definition of "Financial Freedom." C) As long as your after-tax interest costs on leverage (loans, mortgage, etc.) remain less than your after-tax average rate of growth on investments, leave the leverage principal alone, and direct every additional discretionary dollar you can into your growth accounts. D) Yes, you will want to build a "risk/reward pyramid" distribution of your newly acquired assets to fit your stage and profile in life (which considers far more than merely your age... but family status & plans, career/educational status & plans, likely longevity (family history,) personal financial attitude, and other factors.) All of this, properly done, will likely require the oversight of a good planner... and even then you're going to see significant differences in planning styles, so its a good idea to take your time to interview various planners (and I suggest from various different "financial cultures." Talk with securities-oriented planners, insurance-oriented planners, legal/tax-oriented planners... get a rounded exposure.) REGARDING YOUR NEW 2nd HOME: Renting it out is more than simply "renting it out." It is more than simply "taking tax-advantaged cashflow" from your held appreciating asset. Doing so is a decision to enter into the business of being a landlord. It is crucial to understand the gravitas of this, as a decision. (Personally I love the business of being a landlord, for so MANY reasons... but as an Advisor myself, I know too many individuals who never realized it is a business, and have financially suffered because of that.) NOW... regarding cleaning up your credit. Contrary to the advice above, DO NOT try to go it via any generic "rules of thumb." You *DEFINITELY* want the guidance of someone who understands how to read the reason codes of your current tri-merge credit report, and translate them into priorities and actions to be applied. The people who can generally guide you on this the best are mortgage brokers (even if you are not going to do a refi.) The "clean your credit" businesses are more often than not a scam. Retail bank loan officers generally don't know or care about the intricacies of credit improvement. CFPs, CPAs, Attorneys, etc. are virtually *always* clueless about how the credit bureaus report their specifics, and how to use the reports as an action plan. Your standard individual Mortgage Broker will be far more likely to dig in & help you work through your plan (even if it takes 2, 3, even 6 months) to get your credit in shape to get a great refinance... and they'll usually do it for no charge (just your honor of doing your refinance with them when (and if) you actually refinance.) Kind of a service "loss leader" for them. To recap; RESERVES RULE! Everything else *AFTER* you've locked-out sufficient reserves. SAFETY FIRST! Get the "guaranteed money" foundation of your risk/reward pyramid in place #1. SHOP PROFESSIONALS (not investments.) Be sure to shop differing "financial cultures." Hope that's helpful! Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner

bob_cville brings up an important point which the rest of us had overlooked. As more and more people inherit 401k's and IRAs, it is critical to understand that one needs to make the correct decision in such a case, BEFORE the funds are distributed. For our parents this was not an issue, the grandparents of Boomers didn't have these type of accounts. However, for us and succeeding generations, it is incumbent upon us to be aware not only of the current laws, but any future changes that will made in those laws by Congress. If you are inheriting any portion of an IRA, it's important that you know whether or not the owner was taking distributions. Once distributions are begun, they MUST be continued by the heirs. An IRA passed to multiple heirs may be split in any proportion the owner has specified. The heirs are best served by opening up a new IRA. Titling of this new IRA is very specific to avoid IRS problems. I've excerpted part of a WSJournal article on this issue: "...Inherited IRAs don't work like regular IRAs. If you inherit an IRA from anyone other than your husband or wife, you can't roll it into your own IRA. And you can't consolidate IRAs you inherit from different people into one account. So, if the heir had withdrawn the assets from a parent's IRA and deposited them into her own IRA, she would have undone the inherited IRA, making all its assets taxable. She also would have to remove any assets she deposited in her IRA above her allowed IRA-contribution limit for the year -- $5,000 if she's under 50, or $6,000 if she's 50 or older -- to avoid further penalties. But it appears that the account in question was left as is, except for being improperly titled. Thus, the error should be considered an administrative one that can be fixed. The reader would need to retitle the IRA so it's clear that the owner died and that she is the beneficiary. Ed Slott, an IRA consultant in Rockville Centre, N.Y., recommends using this format: John Smith IRA/ Deceased 1/1/2009/ FBO Mary Smith as beneficiary. (note: FBO means "for the benefit of") Make sure that the financial institution gets the titling right not only on the statements it sends to you, but also on the internal records it uses for reports to the IRS, he says. Some large IRA custodians use the beneficiary's name on the statements sent to him or her, but use the formal titling (as in the "John Smith" example, above) on the information it sends to the IRS to avoid confusing beneficiaries. After you have retitled the inherited IRA, you can stretch out withdrawals from the account across your lifetime, rather than being forced to withdraw the funds sooner. That gives you a chance to extend the time that tax-deferred earnings can accrue, possibly increasing your inheritance."

magret Your property sounds great. We are looking for rural acreage as well. Did you use a realtor or find the place on your own? 90 miles round trip is one heck of a commute. Hope your business becomes successful enough so that your husband can help you with that instead of having to drive so far each day. Here is a link I saw earlier today about HELOC vs credit card debt. When Credit-Card Debt Is Better Than Home-Equity Debt- By Aleksandra Todorova (Personal Finance-Debt Management) By Aleksandra Todorova www.smartmoney.com/debt/advice/index.cfm?story=goodcredit margenorman "Others got people simply by cold calling and promising big rewards. Its tragic to think people lose their life savings just because they are worried their money isn't making enough interest." I agree. I feel for those who come into money without sound advice or direction from someone they can trust. It's good to see a probate & trust law individual (attorney?) recommend real estate as a good investment. Here is a link that will make people check their documents a little more closely when buying a house. Real estate fraud rises in US A cooling market exposes scams that cost the industry at least $606 million last year. www.csmonitor.com/2006/1214/p02s01-usec.html "If the downturn continues past 2007, experts say the implications for the economy could be dire."Real estate fraud is going to make the S&L crash look like two cars in the parking lot that bumped into each other at five miles an hour," predicts Ralph Roberts, the author of "Flipping Houses for Dummies," in Warren, Mich."