The tax season has ended for most people. The returns have been spent, and the individuals have gone back to their lives. they may be earning enough for the next year, or they may simply be oblivious to the entire process.  A taxpayer who works out of his home office may want to have the process of making a home office deduction made easier.  If he missed the opportunity this year, he can use the simplified home office deduction.

If someone has not taken the simplified home office deduction yet, he may want to take a few minutes and learn what it is.  It is a simple idea. Someone who conducts business out of his home needs to find any way to save money he can. this deduction is a great way for someone who works at home to get additional money back on his tax return. Something that is more likely to happen is that the person will get his tax debt reduced. The Internal Revenue Service cannot do much about the overly complicated tax code, but politicians can give people breaks. This simple tax write-off is one of the many breaks a person can take.

If someone does not know what he needs to do to take it, he can ask his tax adviser.  These professionals can help someone avoid the pitfalls that are found in this area of law, but they are not necessary for most people. Most websites can calculate the deduction, as long as they know the amount of home office space that is used.  If someone has made it this far and has not realized that this is for people who have a home office. The average American factory worker cannot take it, unless he lives in the same factory in which he works.

It’s safe to say the average person upgrades or changes their phone on a regular basis. For some, this could be every year, whilst others might only upgrade periodically every few years. Yet the end result is the same; over time, this amounts to a small pile of unwanted and unused phones lying around the house. We don’t know what to do with them, so they often become part of the home, collecting dust in various forgotten corners and drawers.

Yet there is always something that can be done. Just because you no longer want or use a phone doesn’t mean there isn’t someone out there who would. From passing it along to the benefits of mobile phone recycling, there is always a market or audience out there. Like the old saying goes, one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure.

 Passing It Down

Not everyone can afford a phone. Likewise, not every really wants the newest and latest model. There are various instances when someone might just want a phone for the simple purpose of making the occasional phone call, or simply for emergencies. There are other instances too, where passing your old phone down has its benefits and potential.

Take younger children, for instance. If they want a phone, it can often be expensive to buy one. Giving them an old phone gives them something that works, yet it also gives them something to learn with. Part of having a phone, like anything, is learning responsibility for it. As such, if an old phone inevitably gets lost, you haven’t lost a brand new phone.

Recycling

Everyone knows what recycling is, yet it’s seldom considered with mobile phones and gadgets. Our T.V gets recycled, as do fridges and other large units. Yet these aren’t so different for smaller gadgets, you just need to know where to look.

In the case of mobile phones, there’s great online business for recycling these. From your end and perspective, this is simply a case of looking up the phone model, seeing how much it’s worth, and sending it off. The value can be quite surprising, too. Then again, considering it’s a phone which has no use or purpose to you, its value is nothing. As such, any money you make off of a well used phone is nothing but profit.

It should also be noted that the recycling industry is usually more generous than the second hand phone market. This is because a phones appeal can age, whilst the key components and resources are still in demand. The older your phone is, the less you’ll get for it at a second-hand shop, whilst recycling ensures it keeps a constant value throughout.

In short, these are just a few of your options, but it should hopefully show that you are not without a choice. Whether you pass it down to someone in need, or sell it for profit, it ensures the phone does much more than sit forgotten in your home.

Jill Pearce is a technology enthusiast and blogger with a keen eye and passion for keeping things both affordable and practical. This involves writing posts on areas such as mobile phone recycling, where a tech junkie’s cravings need to meet financial responsibilities.

Most senior citizens have a morbid fear of retirement and the loss of income that comes with this life-changing situation. This is quite easy to understand because retirement comes with several unanswered questions. In most cases, the most significant question is; “how long will the retirement savings last?” Other questions which bother retired people are the inflation rate and the long term value of money. The point here is that a lump of money which has been set aside for retirement may not last the retired person as much as he or she will like it to last. This is why it makes a lot of sense for retired people to have a plan on drawing down retirement assets.

One of the best plans for spending retirement savings is the “4% rule”. This is a great plan because it really works. More to the point, this rule takes care of inflation rates to a certain extent. A retired individual who has, say $1,000,000, can simply aim to live on just 4% of that sum per year. This works out at $40,000 per year and it is a reasonable sum for a senior citizen who has to really cut down on unnecessary expenses. The beauty of this plan is that the person in question can add just 3% per year to this figure annually. This will take care of inflation and ensure that the retiree is still on the right track.

Another great idea is to delay withdrawals from the pension fund for as long as is reasonably possible. This is a perfect option for people who can afford to wait because delaying withdrawal will substantially increase the retirement cash. For people who are married one great idea will be to maximize the years of tax deferral by living on the income of the younger spouse for a while.

As stated already, retirement can be a frightening prospect for some people. For all that, there is one way to make retirement pleasant experience. This can be done by careful planning of prudent spending of retirement savings.

It can be difficult to know when to sell a stock. Many investors do not like to sell a stock because they view that as admitting they made a mistake when they bought the stock. There are several reasons for selling a stock. I sold my position in several different stocks this year and I will share my reasons for doing so.

One reason to sell a stock is because the reason you bought the stock has changed. I bought a couple of stocks last year based on the fact that I though natural gas prices would rise. That proved to not be the case as natural gas got even cheaper. I sold the stocks because they were going down in value rapidly and it would take a major increase in the price of natural gas for them to have a chance to recover. If you have a 30% loss in a stock, it take a 42.9% gain to recover that loss. You don’t want to have to hope for a 42.9% gain just to get back to even, so it makes sense to sell a stock before it has such a big loss in value.

Another reason to sell a stock is because it has gotten too overvalued. If a stock has made you a lot of money, but now sports an extremely high P/E ratio it might be time to sell. If a stock has a much higher P/E ratio than comparable stocks you need to make sure there is a good reason for it being so highly valued.

One more reason to sell a stock is because it represents too much of your portfolio. If you try to keep a diverse portfolio of stocks you might want to sell a stock when it starts to represent too large a portion of your portfolio. I did sell part of my position in one of my stocks because it grown to be a much larger position than the other stocks in my portfolio.

Since I invest in dividend stocks for dividend income I will also sell a stock when it announces a dividend cut. Usually, when a company cuts its dividend it is having financial problems. Even if the company is cutting its dividend what might be considered a good reason, such as increasing its investment in research, the dividend cut means the stock no longer fits my portfolio. For my portfolio, I want stocks that have a history of consistently increasing their dividends.

A common rule of thumb is to sell a stock when it loses 10% of its value. This rule is ok, but it does have some drawbacks. One drawback is that the loss is sometimes for a temporary reason and you can see that the stock should quickly recover from the loss. Another drawback is that the only selling stocks when they lose 10% doesn’t get rid of stocks that don’t appreciate or lose just a small amount of their value. If the stock has rising dividends I might hold onto it even if the price doesn’t appreciate, but otherwise I don’t usually want to hold onto a stock that doesn’t appreciate in price.

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If you’re getting close to retirement and are a little slim on the retirement funds, do not try to compensate by ratcheting up your risk in an attempt to catch an up-swing as a means of catching up. It is possible to catch up on your retirement savings.  First, don’t worry, you are hardly alone if you’re a little behind in your latter years. Second, the emphasis of your retirement plan should be on saving more. By creating a larger balance, you allow more reasonable rates of return, coupled with reasonable risk, to take over and get you where you need to be. Risk has a funny way of burning you when you least expect or can afford it, so avoid taking too much risk so close to retirement.

There are several ways you can go about saving more. If you cut your expenses you will have more money available to save.  You can use a budget calculator to help determine where you can cut expenses.  Once you have cut your expenses make sure you put all of the extra money into your retirement savings.

Now, if you’re a few years away from retirement, one alternative is to work a few more years so that your retirement savings can grow to where they need to be. A few more years of work means a few more contributions to your retirement savings, a few more years of the balance growing because of your investment choices, and a few more years for you to figure out what it is you want to do with your new free time.

Lastly, after you take advantage of the catch-up provisions in accounts like a Roth IRA, you might want to push the envelope on your investments and maybe put a little more in stocks than the general consensus. Don’t pick a hot new biotech to plow all your money into, that’s just straight stupid, you can’t afford to lose that money; but you can put a couple more percent into that index fund and maybe catch up that way. Don’t go crazy though.