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☆ Meet the 31-year old VC and self-made millionaire who faced Hong Kong loan sharks and his own fear of death
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

31-year old Maurice Ng came to the US with nothing after his family fled loan sharks in Hong Kong. It was a simple spreadsheet that inspired Maurice Ng at 29 to quit his job to become a venture capitalist. He deducted a little over 2,000 days for commuting time, and allowed himself 255 "regular sick days" and 10 "serious sick days." Assuming 3 meals a day, 365 days a year, 1 hour per meal, he deducted 5,817 days for eating. Despite the current turmoil in the tech industry and venture capital, Maurice seems to be inoculated against self doubt.

I'm able to start investing the money for my future, and I cut my tax bill by around $3,500. This included a federal tax bill of around $9,700 and a New York state tax bill of around $3,300. Freelance income often fluctuates year to year, so this type of retirement account is great for meeting that need. All in all, my new tax bill was around $9,400 — with a $7,200 federal bill and a $2,200 New York state bill. If you're a freelancer looking for last-minute ways to reduce your taxes, consider opening up a SEP IRA account before the deadline.

Nestle (NESN.S) and Hershey (HSY.N) said they paid the LID premium. But when the COVID pandemic cratered demand, global cocoa prices plunged before they built up a cushion. Ivory Coast and Ghana say companies should pay both premiums. Industry data from the International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) shows cocoa output in Ivory Coast rose to record levels in the 2020/21 season. Of the roughly 2 million tonnes of cocoa Ivory Coast produces each year, between 20-30% is grown illegally in protected forests by an estimated 1.3 million people, many of them children.

LAUNCESTON, Australia, March 28 (Reuters) - China's crude oil imports will average 10.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2023, matching the previous record high from 2020, according to the think tank of the country's leading energy group. What is interesting with the ETRI forecasts is that they would seem to show that China's refiners are still expecting to add crude oil to stockpiles over 2023. This is some 370,000 bpd more than the ETRI forecast for refinery throughput of 14.66 million bpd. China's crude oil imports seen rebounding to new high in 2023NEW REFINERIESIt's likely that some of the oil heading for storage will go to build working inventories for new plants expected to be commissioned this year. Flows in, or indeed out of, either commercial or strategic reserves are the biggest X-factor for China's crude oil imports.

This is partly because of a higher standard deduction, expiration of the enhanced child tax credit, and the end of pandemic-era charitable deduction rules. However, a big tax refund isn't necessarily a good thing — it means you overpaid the government. Taxpayers are not getting an additional stimulus payment, and there are a few other tax changes that might make your refund smaller this year:1. Remember: The goal is not to get a big tax refund. A tax refund means you gave the government an interest-free loan for a year.

☆ Explaining the relative calm of the stock market as the Fed hikes rates into a mini-financial panic
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

.SPX 1Y mountain S & P 500, 1-year So, are equities under-reacting to a badly contorted bond market, a potentially trapped Fed and faltering economy? This has allowed the S & P 500 excluding financials and real estate to outperform the headline index by a couple percentage points year to date. Microsoft alone has added some $240 billion in market value since that date, more than the entire market cap of the S & P 500 regional-banks sub sector. Only about 60% of the S & P 500 members are positive over the past six months even as the index is up 7.5%, a loss of internal energy. The flash S & P Global U.S. Composite PMI for March, reported Friday, was up to 53.3 from 50.1 the prior month and above the 49.5 forecast, a reading S & P says is consistent with around a 2% real GDP pace.

SYDNEY, March 20 (Reuters) - China still added more crude oil to inventories in the first two months of the year, despite lower imports and higher refinery processing rates. About 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude was added to commercial or strategic inventories over January and February, according to calculations based on official data. This was down from the 1.19 million bpd in December and the 740,000 bpd for 2022 as a whole. The total volume of crude available from imports and domestic production in the first two months of the year was 14.63 million bpd, consisting of imports of 10.4 million bpd and local output of 4.23 million bpd. This equates to about 1.72 million bpd of exports, using the BP conversion factor of 8 barrels of product per tonne.

☆ UBS salvages most value from Credit Suisse wreck
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Meanwhile the government will cover up to 9 billion Swiss francs of losses, such as markdowns on Credit Suisse assets, past a certain threshold. A UBS takeover is preferable to the Swiss government nationalising Credit Suisse or winding it down. Follow @liamwardproud on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSUBS will rescue Credit Suisse in a deal worth about 3 billion Swiss francs, Swiss authorities and the two banks said on March 19. Shareholders in Credit Suisse will get one new UBS share for every 22.48 shares they currently hold. Based on UBS’s closing price on March 17 the offer values Credit Suisse shares at 0.76 Swiss francs each, well below the last closing price of 1.86 Swiss francs.

☆ College acceptance and financial aid letters are going out — how to understand your offers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Jessica Dickler | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

watch nowUnderstanding the college financial aid letterOne of the first things to understand when assessing aid letters is the formula colleges use to come up with the expected family contribution. Kalman Chany financial aid consultantFurther, not all colleges include both direct and indirect expenses in the total "cost of attendance." As a rule of thumb, add an extra $4,000 for those indirect costs if they are not included in the aid offer, Chany said. Differentiate free vs. borrowed moneyIn most award letters, there are often several financial aid options, including grants, scholarships, work-study opportunities and student loans. If your circumstances are now different, that should be brought to the financial aid office's attention with documentation.

Retirement saving for women can be difficult because of pay gaps and time out of the workforce. Lynnette Khalfani-Cox says women should start saving early; automate your savings to make it easy. Low annual fee for investment accounts; crypto trust investments available Check mark icon A check mark. "The way to combat this is to start saving as soon as you can." If you're using an employer-sponsored retirement account, your employer may have instructions on how to set up automatic transfers for yourself.

☆ What Is Adjusted Gross Income?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +11 min

Your adjusted gross income, or AGI, is your gross income—the sum of all your income sources for the year—less certain above-the-line deductions allowed by the Internal Revenue Service. Your adjusted gross income acts as a guidepost for several aspects of your finances. For instance, if you earned $55,000 from your job, rental income of $10,000 and dividend income of $630, your annual gross income would be $65,630. Here’s a tip: Your AGI will never be more than your gross income, and some taxpayers may find their gross income and AGI are the same. No conversation about adjusted gross income is complete without discussing modified adjusted gross income, or MAGI.

☆ Fintech darling Stripe has first-world problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Karen Kwok | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

When it’s a fintech darling previously valued at $95 billion, the whole industry takes notice. Though a solid business model and rapid growth have allowed Stripe to remain private, it has its share of first-world problems. A lower valuation for Stripe is painful for investors who bought in two years ago, and for employees who dreamed of IPO riches. Stripe is raising $4 billion in fresh capital from investors including Thrive Capital, Reuters reported on Feb. 24. Stripe has hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan to explore a public listing and to help with its latest fundraising.

Figure out the documents you'll need, and as they arrive, keep them in one location. Get the latest tips you need to manage your money — delivered to you biweekly. That's why Guissinger recommends being proactive and getting a head start by listing out what income documents you should be expecting. "To reduce your income tax liability for 2022, you can still make IRA contributions, as well as some self-employed retirement plan contributions, and health savings account contributions," she says. Don't rush through your taxesWhile filing taxes can seem complicated, certified public account Michael Raiken says to take the entire process as slowly as you need to.

The $108 billion group’s sheer size means it benefits from exceptional economies of scale in an immature industry. Last year, it tripled both production and sales of pure electric and hybrid cars to nearly 2 million vehicles. That is equivalent to roughly a quarter of EVs purchased in China in 2022. The group makes batteries too, accounting for almost a quarter of China’s total sales last year, Jefferies estimates. Overall passenger car sales, including electric vehicles and fossil-fueled models, slumped 38% in January, reversing a 2.4% gain in the previous month.

☆ Do you owe federal taxes on relief checks? Not if you live in these 16 states
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Mike Winters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

You probably don't need to pay federal taxes if you received state-issued inflation or tax surplus rebates this year, the Internal Revenue Service has concluded. On Friday, the IRS provided guidance that confirms most filers won't have to pay federal taxes, although there are some exceptions. For five other states it's a bit more nuanced — but again, the majority of filers in these states likely won't need to pay federal taxes on their rebates. In Alaska, tax filers won't pay federal taxes on 2022's extra energy-relief payment. If a filer's SALT deduction is larger than it would normally be because of a state's rebate, federal taxes would have to be paid on the difference created by the state's rebate.

☆ Perfect Storm for Some Companies: Fewer Interest Deductions, Rising Rates
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

For some firms, the move shrank the amount of taxable income that can be offset by interest expenses. Higher interest rates generally lead to higher interest expenses tied to companies’ variable-rate debt, new borrowings and refinancings. The cap can hit companies’ cash flows immediately, though not necessarily their financial statements, due to timing differences in claiming the deductions. Aluminum maker and recycler Novelis plans to allocate less cash toward its venture-capital arm due to the higher interest expenses. Leveraged loans have variable rates that typically reset every one to three months, based on short-term interest rates.

☆ T-Mobile misses quarterly revenue estimates as competition bites
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 1 (Reuters) - T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) missed fourth-quarter revenue estimates on Wednesday despite adding thousands of wireless subscribers, as competitors ramped up their holiday season handset offers to lure customers. However, Verizon (T.N) and AT&T (T.N) ramped up their handset offers during the holiday season to tap into growing demand after the latest iPhone launch, hitting T-Mobile's torrid growth. By contrast, Verizon reported churn of 0.89% for monthly phone subscribers while AT&T's came in at 0.84%. It expects to add between 5 million and 5.5 million net monthly-bill paying subscribers in 2023, compared with the 6.4 million additions it reported in 2022. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Mark PorterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Inclusive Capital takes a stake in Bayer — 3 ways it may build value with a sustainable focus
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Activist Commentary: Inclusive Capital Partners is a San Francisco-based investment firm focused on increasing shareholder value and promoting sound environmental, social and governance practices. As a pioneering active ESG ("AESG") investor, Inclusive seeks long-term shareholder value through active partnership with companies whose core businesses contribute solutions to this pursuit. Bayer's crop science division accounts for approximately 25% of global crop farming. There are several ways to create this shareholder value. Bayer currently trades at approximately 7x earnings while its pure-play crop science peer, Corteva, trades at closer to 20x earnings.

That's why I reached out to my accountant, Katie Gallo, and asked if there's anything I can do now to help reduce my 2022 tax bill. Pros Check mark icon A check mark. Low annual fee for investment accounts; crypto trust investments available Check mark icon A check mark. Tax-loss harvesting Check mark icon A check mark. Mobile app and investing and retirement tools Check mark icon A check mark.

☆ Trump’s Tax Law Echoed Through His Finances During White House Years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Richard Rubin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The tax law that Donald Trump signed in late 2017 echoed through his finances in the following years, limiting some tax benefits for him and opening some tax-planning opportunities, according to the former president’s tax returns. Like many other taxpayers from high-tax states such as New York, Mr. Trump was affected by the $10,000 limit on deducting state and local taxes that was imposed by the wider tax law he championed. In 2018, for example, while he was in the White House, he reported paying over $10 million in state and local taxes but could only deduct the $10,000. The House Ways and Means Committee released six years of Mr. Trump’s tax returns Friday.

As the cost of signing up new customers rises, “lifetime value” is set to become must-use jargon for technology executives, investors and analysts in 2023. The concept of lifetime value is not new, but a common definition remains elusive. The problem is that everyone seems to have a different definition of lifetime value. But lifetime value isn’t a silver bullet, as Gurley noted a decade ago. As with previous buzzwords, investors may find that references to lifetime value do more to confound than clarify.

New legislation working its way through Congress could improve retirement security for U.S. workers. The plan is part of a stopgap spending bill, and it includes a provision that would automatically enroll eligible employees into their company's retirement plan. Under the new legislation, employers could consider a worker's student loan payment to be the equivalent of a 401(k) contribution and match it accordingly. Finally, the legislation offers a 100% tax credit to businesses with 50 employees or fewer for the cost of maintaining a 401(k) plan. "It’s a bill that helps all income levels and all different types of workers and retirees," Richman, of the Insured Retirement Institute, said.

One is that China is continuing to build crude oil stockpiles, even though its refinery processing rates have risen strongly in recent months. But despite the solid gain in refinery processing, it appears that China is still building up crude oil inventories in commercial or strategic storage tanks. The total volume of crude available from imports and domestic production in November was 15.46 million bpd, consisting of imports of 11.37 million bpd and local output of 4.08 million bpd. China imported an estimated 1.80 million bpd from Russia in November, according to Refinitiv Oil Research, exceeding the 1.69 million bpd supplied by Saudi Arabia. China total crude available vs refinery runsDIFFERENT CRUDE DRIVERSOverall, there are several dynamics at work in the outlook for China's crude oil imports.

☆ Colleges should provide the true cost of attendance after report finds most schools don't give clear information
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Katie Lobosco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Congress should require colleges to give students an accurate price for the cost of attendance, the Government Accountability Office said in a recent report that found that most colleges fail to provide all the financial information students need. Prospective college students usually receive a financial aid letter from schools once they are accepted. “Federal law doesn’t require colleges to include clear, standard information in all of their financial aid offers. The bill is one of many legislative efforts that aim to provide students and their families better information about the cost of college. In addition, last month, the Department of Justice released new guidance that aims to make it easier to have federal student loan debt discharged in bankruptcy – a particularly difficult legal process under the previous policy.

☆ I'm a UPS driver. I'm paid well and like the solitude, but management still makes me want to quit most days.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Jenny Powers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Insider spoke to a longtime UPS driver about their job. The driver said the job has its perks, like solitude, pay, and sometimes scenic routes. As a UPS delivery driver for many years, I've experienced everything from the good and the bad to the downright ugly. If they accept and they already have a dedicated route, then their route opens up and bids are taken on that route. Are you a UPS driver with an interesting story?

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