Declaring your dividends

By Samatha Ferguson

Dividends are payments from shares, unit and investment trusts, which, investors hope, are not only regular (usually twice a year) but also rise over time to reflect the companys (or trusts) growing fortunes. Dividends are taxable as income.

The good news is tax on UK share dividends is deducted before you get it. If you are a basic rate taxpayer, you dont have to do anything else. Nontaxpayers and ten per cent taxpayers dont need to do anything either. But theres bad news here: You cant reclaim the deducted tax under any circumstances. Even though its called a tax credit by HMRC, we refer to it as a deduction to save confusion.

Top-rate taxpayers have to declare dividends on their self-assessment form and have the cash ready to pay the gap between the 40 per cent rate and the tax deducted.

Whether you get income from unit trusts, investment trusts, or individual shares, look at the date the dividend was declared and ignore the period for which the dividend applied. A 10p a share dividend for the year ending 31 December 2006 declared on 1 May 2007 and paid on 1 June 2007 counts as part of your 2007 " 08 return, not the 2006"07 calculation.

If you invest for long-term growth in shares that pay low or no dividends, youll pay less income tax. But dont forget these shares tend to be riskier. And you can get hit for capital gains tax on your profits.

Dont forget if you are near the top of the basic rate ladder " earning around $36,000 a year " your dividends can push you into the top tax bracket. For instance, if you earn $36,500 and have $3,500 of dividends youll be over the $39,825 (in 2007"08) basic rate tax limit for a person aged under 65.

Dividends from stocks traded in foreign markets can be tough to deal with. You may have to convert dividend payments into sterling as well as account for them separately.

You need to fill out the foreign income pages of the self assessment form. The UK has double taxation agreements with most foreign countries. The effect of these agreements is to cap the tax due on foreign-sourced income so you are no worse off as a result of possibly being taxed twice.

Many stock market companies have schemes by which shareholders can opt to receive new shares to the value of their dividends rather a dividend cheque. Even if you choose this option, you still have to declare the value of the new shares and any balance carried forward in cash because it is not large enough to buy a share. Youre liable for tax on re-invested dividends in just the same way as a cash dividend. - 23199

About the Author:

Learn How to Invest Today from the basics to advance. Find financial freedom from debit and other money issues by learn how to invest and learning to control your money.

Learning the Basics behind Forex and Getting Comfortable with It

By Alex Miller

One of the most difficult things about getting started whenever you're trading in Forex is the fact that so many people that are trying to teach you how to do it make it seem as if it is a big process. The simple fact of the matter is, you can get started with Forex rather easily provided you follow a few simple rules and have a basic understanding of the process.

One of the first things that you should understand about Forex is the fact that it is a totally different type of system than many of the commodities trading markets that you might be familiar with. Every trade on the Forex market is equally balanced and you will be trading one currency for another. On the other side, another individual or group of individuals will be placing the trade in the opposite direction. Whenever the smoke clears, there is going to be somebody that has won on the trade and somebody that has lost. It is what is known as a zero-sum market.

Another thing you need to understand is that it is impossible for you to trade directly on the Forex market. In order for you to place your trades, you need to have access to a qualified broker that will place the trades for you. You can either access them directly, over the telephone or through the use of an online platform. The platform is by far one of the better choices as it allows you to make your trades in real time.

Some of the additional benefits that you get by using an online platform include tutorials that will walk you through every step of the process as well as some advanced tools which will automate part of your trading. They will also be able to help you to gauge which direction the Forex market might be moving, but there are other tools that do that as well.

These other tools are generally lumped into one category of being Forex systems or programs. The fact of the matter is, they actually cover several different functions that are beneficial to anyone who trades in Forex. The first of these functions which some of the programs do is to guide you as far as where you should be placing your trades for that day or week. The other systems are either partially or fully automated.

One thing that you should keep in mind, however, is the fact that none of these automated tools should ever be run without at least a little bit of input on your part. People use these automated systems regularly and many of them are finding success in doing so. Just keep in mind that unless you keep your eye on what is going on, the program could make wrong decisions and could cost you a considerable amount of money. They are excellent tools but use them wisely.

The Forex market is a great way for you to be able to build back up a portfolio that may have seen better times before the world economy had so many problems. It is also a great way for you to get started in any type of trading. All that is really necessary is for you to understand the basic principles behind Forex and then you can jump right in with both feet. Make sure that you continue to learn and you will be able to be successful with your trading practices. - 23199

About the Author:

Have you looked at our Forex Candlesticks made easy review yet? It is available for free on our website.

Choosing Google Stock Price Is Simple

By Anne Durrell

In August 2004, Google stock prices started out at only $85 per share. That time many analysts debated whether or not Google was really worth it.

So much of Google's value was intellectual property as opposed to real property and the market was not used to the idea that internet companies could be so valuable.

Well in hindsight there was certainly no reason for debate as five years later, the Google stock price is five times its initial value and the company as a whole has a market value of $175 billion dollars.

Can you imagine, google stock price rose to over $100 in the first day and even doubled within 3 months and that is absolutely impressive.

Analysts still debate the value of the company but it is more a matter of how much more it will grow and how quickly.

It is clear that early growth of Google company was really not realistic and not sustainable, but it's been the past few years their stocks has settled into more traditional growth pattern with the exception of today's recession which has been hit the entire sector and marketplace.

Investors has sown that they are very confident with Google company, even though there is no stock comes with guarantee, but Google seems will not likely to significantly lose value, at least not relative to the market as a whole.

You can find Google's up to date stock price at any time by searching using company's symbol "GOOG".

Note that Google has two types of stocks that are Common and Preferred. Usually Preferred stock prices are higher since the holders are paid dividends before they are distributed to all the common stock holders. However, both of them have voting rights. - 23199

About the Author:

Anne Durrell comes from California, USA. She has written several articles on online trading . You may want to check out her other guide on high dividend stocks tips, and day trading systems guide!

Investing for Your Retirement

By Joe James

Many people wonder what financial tool they should get- a 401(k) or an IRA? The answer really depends on your income. If you are loaded with cash, you can contribute to both. The question you have to ask yourself is this: Are you in a position to pay tax today and earn tax free income during your retirement days or you would rather defer your tax liabilities. In a Roth IRA scheme, you have to pay your taxes pre-investment but enjoy retirement without tax liability. With a 401 (K), your investments are tax free on the way in but taxable on the way out.

401k is named after the tax code which is relates too. This is a employer based retirement plan in which you pay money into the plan before you are taxes. The money is then invested into the stock options you picked. The employer also contributes to the number too. The money is taxed on the way out so if you are in a higher tax bracket you will have to pay more money.

In a 401(K), you can invest up to 14,000 dollars per year and that includes both your contribution and that of your employer. Employee and employer combined contributions must be lesser of 100% of employee's salary or $46k. 401(K)'s are good investment so long as your employer's matches your contributions. But the thing to think about is this: do you plan to be in a higher tax bracket when you are older? If the answer is yes, then you want to invest more of your money into an IRA.

An IRA is a pension scheme meant for individuals. You can decide on when to invest, how to invest and the amount which you plan to invest in a particular year. The investment limit is $5000 a year for age 49 or below; $6000 a year for age 50 or above in 2009. These limits are total for traditional IRA and Roth IRA contributions combined. Withdrawals are tax free up to the limit you have paid in. This is because you already paid taxes on them before you invested. Unlike a 401(K), this is made by you and not tied to your job. You can hold cash, bonds, or stocks. IRAs are subject to a lot of rules but are more flexible in terms of investments than a 401(K).

You should invest in both if you can. This way you get the most benefit on your taxes. Investing in a 401k reduces your taxes now and an IRA reduces your taxes in the future. The trick is to find the right balance so you are always saving money on taxes. The best deal though is the IRA as you will probably pay more taxes in the future so you don't want all the money in a 401k to be taxed at a high percentage.

Investing for your future is important. If you want to be successful and receive the most tax benefits, it is a good idea to use both the ira and the 401k. Make sure you always invest in the 401k up to your employers contribution. Using these two methods you can save a lot for retirement. - 23199

About the Author:

Joe James gives financial advice for a living. He resides in the southwest of the United States and is a retirement specialist. You can find out more information at his website, http://www.figuringoutfinance.com.

Learning To Day Trade The Right Way

By John Templeton

I really know that the concept of learning how to day trade the forex market is extremely puzzling to most traders. They don't quite get how the entire process works. Unfortunately, many traders feel like you have to be super intelligent to be able to pull it off. I guess I can understand why traders would feel that way. I think most know that most people that tried to day trade the forex market, haven't done so very well.

But in actuality, there is no reason why you cant have any success. Trust me you dont need to have a degree from an Ivy League college.

When it comes to emotions, many traders just don't know how to handle them. It makes absolutely no difference of the kind of forex trading method which you use. If you are not going to be able to take care of your emotions when you are trading, irregardless if the trade is working or not, you will have absolutely zero chance of succeeding.

I can say without any doubt that the two biggest obstacles as far as emotions that traders have to deal with are fear and greed. Greed usually happens when a trader gets overconfident. This is usually due to the fact that they have won a few trades in a row and they are in cloud nine. They feel like they can completely manipulate the market to do what they want them to do.

But when you are talking about fear, its a different story, altogether. This happens when you have absolutely no confidence in your trading skills. You don't don't really have an understanding of the fundamentals. These are the kind of traders who hope they are right.

This really boils down to the fact there are so many traders who want to take themselves out of the equation when they make a trade. They would rather just use indicators instead. This separates the trader from the market by using these indicators.

It just not going to cut it. If you are actually planning to make money in the forex market, you better be ready to comprehend what actually makes the market tick. This is especially true when you are talking about day trading.

Start by using price action to learn day trading. This means losing every indicator that is on your charting platform. - 23199

About the Author:

If you want to learn to day trade forex, then you should really look at Trading In The Buff.