Not to late to make 2005 ira contribution

Many Americans make annual contributions to individual retirement accounts. If you haven’t done so for the 2005 tax year, you still can.

Not To Late To Make 2005 IRA Contribution

Contributing to individual retirement accounts just makes sense. Most don’t believe social security is going to survive for long. Even if it does, one has to wonder how small the distributions are going to be. With the baby boomer generation about to put significant strain on the system, distributions in ten or twenty years are going to be paltry.

If you failed to contribute to your individual retirement account in 2005, you have until April 15, 2006 to do so. This is also true if you contributed during 2005, but failed to deposit the maximum amount allowed under law.

The contribution limits for individual retirement accounts went up in 2005. You can generally contribute up to $4,000. If you are older than 50 years of age, the limit bumps up another $500 to $4,500. When making contributions, just make sure you note on the deposit slip that it is for the 2005 year, not 2006.

Although there are variations, individual retirement accounts come in two general forms. The traditional independent retirement account is a pre-tax contribution vehicle. If you meet salary and filing requirements, the money you contribute from your earning is excluded from your adjusted gross tax calculations. If you are looking for extra deductions for 2005, catching up on your individual retirement account contribution can create a healthy reduction of your reported earnings. The downside, of course, is distributions from traditional IRAs are taxable when you hit the relevant age limit.

The Roth IRA represents a different approach to the individual retirement savings conundrum. Essentially, the Roth IRA shifts the tax burden to the beginning of the savings cycle. In human terms, this means you get no deduction for contributing to a Roth IRA. If you don’t get a deduction, why would you use a Roth? The huge advantage to the Roth is found in the distributions. Simply put, distributions are tax-free when you reach the appropriate retirement age. If you are young, say under 40, Roth IRAs typically present a better return than traditional IRAs. This is because the money invested has more time to compound and grow.

Regardless of your choice, socking away money for retirement makes sense. Fortunately, you can still do so for 2005.

Hiring a designer for your kitchen remodeling project

The kitchen is probably one of the most important and complicated rooms (besides the bathroom) to design or remodel in a home. Few rooms see so much activity and also challenge designers with such an array of practical, technological, and esthetic considerations. A new kitchen can be an excellent investment in most homes, which is why it must be a well designed kitchen or it can become a financial liability. Whether it is a remodel or a completely new kitchen in a new home, designing a kitchen that meets the requirements of being functional, aesthetically pleasing and be within your budget is on easy task.

Because kitchen design can be so highly specialized and complex it is a good idea to hire an independent kitchen designer before hiring a general contractor. Contractors tend to lack sufficient design experience and creativity needed for good kitchen design.

Kitchen designers understand how a kitchen works. The kitchen designer can analyze the family's lifestyle, interests in cooking and entertainment. The designer can ask questions, discuss needs and goals, appliance integration, and budget as well as considering ideas that the contractor or family members might not be able to come up with. By bringing in the kitchen designer early in the project it is possible to keep cost down considerably.

The kitchen designer while not having experience in engineering details can nevertheless assist with layout, choice of materials, and how the room will look and function. Because it is so easy to become overwhelmed by the number of available choices when it comes to design elements the kitchen designer is needed to help the homeowner when looking at design options such as, appliances, cabinetry, countertops, and flooring. The certified kitchen designer is trained to take your concept and turn it into a workable vision. They can coordinate materials and color to the best effect and define the best space usage as well as assist in other aspects of the kitchen design project such as electrical, plumbing, structural, flooring, appliances and tile.

In hiring a kitchen designer it is important to look for one who is certified. To receive certification the kitchen designer must have seven years of hands-on experience as well as course instruction in room layout, storage planning, cabinet installation and lighting design. The designer must pass a series of test administered by the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA). As members of NKBA, kitchen designers keep up with all of the latest design trends as well as the most recent developments in materials and techniques. They can draw up fully developed plans in compliance with the NKBA's kitchen planning standards.

Most kitchen designers will have either be affiliated with a showroom or have an extensive portfolio to show off their work. They can manage an entire remodeling project, or just provide design services only. They have the ability to be able to create a warm, pleasant, interesting kitchen design and at the same time solve problems having to do with storage capacity, accessibility, functionality, ventilation, and lighting.

Sail the florida keys

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At the south point of Florida, there is a chain of islands 170 miles long that is embedded in turquoise water. This is the Keys, bordered by the unique living coral reef in the United States. The subtropical climate and the extraordinary beauty of the Atlantic have made this ecological wonder one of the most prized destinations for sailors.

Sailboat Chartering With or Without a Captain

You can choose from four types of sailboat vacation:

Leasing the sailboat without a captain or "Bareboat Chartering" - The sea has no secrets for you or your crew and you are capable of bringing the sailboat back to port even if a hitch happens during your trip.

Chartering a sailboat with a captain - You prefer to have a captain on board to help you with the bowline knot.

Sailboat training - You want to learn to navigate or you wish to enhance your knowledge. Charter companies offer courses at every level, for groups, couples, for a weekend or for the whole week.

Cruising with a captain and cook - You watch them raise the sails and manipulate the sauce pans, while you take it easy.

Choosing a Sailboat

The marinas cannot always accommodate boats that are too big. Also the draft of your boat should not exceed 4.5 to 5 feet and the beam 13.5 feet to 14 feet. We prefer mono hulls from 40 to 43 feet long. They combine space and comfort and generally find a spot in the small marinas of the Keys. These boats are also better equipped than the smaller sailboats. Catamarans rarely find a dock large enough and must anchor outside.

The boats are rented for a day, a weekend or for a week.

Best Time for Sailing the Keys

The Keys benefit from a subtropical climate. You can sail all year long but, like everywhere else, there is this fantastic time of the year and less favorable periods.

The best periods are: March, April, May, end of November and beginning of December.

The periods of tourism affluence are Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year

Possible cold front periods: End of December, January and February.

Hurricane, humidity and mosquitoes' months are June to November, with a peak in August September, and October.

Books

Cruising Guide to the Florida Keys, by Captain Frank Papy.
Good basic information about places to visit, marinas, underwater activity, etc. Excellent maps describing the entrances to ports and marinas, usually difficult in access because of shallow waters.

Diving and Snorkeling guide to The Florida Keys, by Halas and Kincaid.
Excellent guide for skin diving and snorkeling. Description of coral reefs, exotic fish and sunken Spanish Galleons. Indication of depth and the level of difficulty of the different sites.

Philippine property forum launched for realtors

Government efforts through WOW Philippines promotions and the Retirement Authority's outlook is also spearheading drives to make the country one of the top tourism and investment destinations in South East Asia.

Beth Collingz, Overseas Marketing Director of PLC International, the lead brokerage firm for Pacific Concord Properties Inc's Lancaster Brand of Condotel developments in the Philippines said included in this ambitious plan is the development of infrastructure - with the construction of new highways, the increase of telecommunications, electricity, banking, insurances along with improvements in education and health care specially in progressive cities such as Cebu in central Visayas.

Unfortunately, with so much real estate development happening in the country, coverage of information and relevant news has been scant - to say the least. PLC's new Property Forum, a dedicated platform designed to bring like minded individuals with one common interest under one community banner, aims to bridge that gap said Collingz.

Launched in August 2007, PLC's Philippine Property Forum is a young community that brings investors, holiday home owners, developers, agents, and just curious browsers together to provide useful exchange of information and ideas.

The property forum has been designed and with the intention of keeping relevant topics and issues active as the primary focus. The broad categories under the forum are: Condotels in the Philippines, other High Rise Condominium properties, and Investment help and advice. The forum encourages professionals and amateurs alike to share their views and opinions on issues related to Philippine Retirement, Visa Issues, Special Investor Visa's, Investing, Legal and Real Estate Laws in the Philippines, real estate taxes, property management and others.

With a relatively good number of projects under its banner, PLC's Property Forum aims to bring on board several large scale projects to share with its members. The forum also attracts corporate membership from developers who wish to participate in the community and communicate with its buyers and investors.

Most of all, PLC's Property Forum is probably the only dedicated platform related to the Philippines which maintains an independent view and allows free exchange of ideas and opinions. Still a young community, it will not be long before PLC's Property Forum becomes an authority on issues and topics related to Philippine property investment.

Member registration is free, and PLC's Property Forum is currently offering free corporate membership to key developers for a limited time.

PLC Global is also looking to expand its Web coverage after recently launching its WEBSEO services for accredited Realtors, Estate Agents, Brokers and Agents joining the PLC Web Ring by purchasing Philippine websites. PLC’s Webseo service provides Realtors with their own individual interactive webpage, agent profile, contact information and summary details of the developments they represent.

Collingz said the firm is actively buying any Philippine websites or Filipino orientated sites on the web to expand our global presence, this coming on the back of the recently announced new services in its efforts to help all realtors, real estate brokers and agents in getting more ground in establishing their presence on-line. Called PLC Webseo, the PLC Global Pinoy Web Ring offers realtors, estate agents, real estate brokers and agents a chance to have their own professionally designed webpage indexed to the plcglobalpinoy. com website designed to individually showcase and feature projects they are offering to the public, at a very reasonable and affordable price.

Anyone who has a Philippine website or Filipino orientated site can send us their offer of purchase said Collingz. We also invite all real estate agents to join us for a one time joining fee of only [Philippine Pesos] – php-2,500.00 and a nominal yearly renewal of – Php-1,000.00. Interested parties can view a sample of the Webseo on the firms website Collingz said. PLC Web Ring members can also advertise with us, or exchange links. When you get to be a part of our web ring, you get free exposure/traffic as visitors click on the other member sites of the web ring. Members can advertise properties for sale or lease with us. And since we are constantly on-line and browsing the web, they can also exchange links for more free traffic and submit real estate articles to be posted on the site or Philippine Skyscraper Forums pages after being approved by site owners.

PLC Global's WEBSEO also offers its members cost-effective Web Design/Development and Search Engine Optimization services to business individuals as well as small business organizations and medium-sized businesses. Though our web development projects are usually built with Joomla! CMS, one the most popular content management systems today, we also offer development of brochure-like websites using cascading style sheets and HTML. Basically, we offer our search engine optimization services as an integral part of our web development packages. We also offer services to promoting new websites as well as maintaining high rankings in search engines with chosen search terms said Collingz

So you have problems

We are all faced with problems throughout our lives, some are small, others huge. Depending on how we deal with them, they can be overwhelming and devastate our lives, or they can quickly fade into the past.

Attitude plays a big role. With a difficult personal or work undertaking, consider all viewpoints, even those you think you don't like. It just might provide relief from your fearful analysis of the situation. Don't oversize the problem which is often a panic reaction. Discuss the actions that you could take with a friend or co-worker which can sometimes provide a good suggestion and some instant stress relief.

Lay out a procedure and slowly complete the first task. The next steps should be easier. Often we will keep on worrying after the decisions are made, which of course is of no help at all. If everything that can be done has been done then it's time to follow through.

"Our plans miscarry if they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind." Lucius Seneca (3-65)

Rejection can be an unpleasant experience, but it just lets us know that we aren't perfect. Who is? Consider it a lesson learned, then forget it and move on with your life in a positive constructive manner.

To help solve a difficult problem or to cut down on worrying about making a decision, analyze the situation, determine what must be done and carry it out. In writing or on your PC:

Get all the facts.

Describe the problem in detail.

List all the possible solutions.

List the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Detail what you will do.

Follow through.

You have detailed the planning and know that you will proceed in a certain way, but will review it as required. Later. Now it's time to think other thoughts.

"What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing." - Aristotle (BC)

The health benefits of massage therapy

Massage is all a matter of touch. We are all sensual beings and as a result our bodies respond well to massage and human contact. When there is touch, more healing takes place.

These are some of known health benefits of Massage Therapy:

• Improves blood circulation, thus allowing increased oxygen and nutrients to be delivered to treated areas including areas that have been injured or have experienced overexertion.

• Helps to lower blood pressure.

• Aids in detoxification by propelling toxic waste products through the lymphatic system.

• Relieves stress and promote sense of well being.

• Relaxes injured muscles, reducing cramps, and muscle spasms

• Stimulates the release of the bodies’ natural endorphins which may aid in pain control.

• Provides increased exercise stretching for atrophied muscles.

In fact, increasing evidence show that massage therapy helps to bolster the immune system of a person. Some studies show of cellular changes in immune function following massage therapy, including the new research on healthy women that indicates increases in disease-fighting white blood cells and natural killer-cell activity.

Before a Massage Therapy session, you may wish to consult with the Massage Therapist as to your treatment goals. Different combinations of massage techniques may be used to attain these goals. For instance, if you have a sports injury, you may wish to have specific massage strokes targeted to reduce swelling and to improve blood flow in that area. Or the therapy session may just well be a general de-stressing and relaxing one.

If you agree that many of today’s illnesses are due to stress-related issues, then Massage Therapy which helps in the reduction of stress, can really help in the process of building white blood cells. For a better immune system and reduced stress levels, try Massage Therapy today!

Pit bull terrier dog grooming tips and advice

Keeping your Pit Bull healthy can be a full-time job. He requires lots of love and attention, routine well check-ups with the veterinarian, teeth cleaning, and training. A big part of your time will be spent on keeping your Pit Bull clean and neatly groomed. Grooming and cleanliness will not only make your Pit Bull more appealing to the eye, but can help make him healthier. Grooming is also a good way to get extra bonding time in with your Pit Bull, making you have a better dog-owner relationship. Before you begin, you should purchase some grooming supplies. You will probably need a brush or comb, shampoo, and towels. Your vet can probably recommend the best grooming tools for your particular Pit Bull.

Don’t expect your Pit Bull to like his grooming routine at first, but if you do it often, he will soon become accustomed to it. Using a wide toothed comb can help make grooming easier. You should start at his head and work your way to his tail, checking for any signs of parasites, unusual skin growths or mats of hair along the way. Before you finish, you should use a wire brush to help get rid of loose hairs.

When grooming, it is important not to forget about your Pit Bull’s ears. They should be checked at every grooming session for dirt, or any signs of infection or parasites. Your veterinarian should be able to recommend a good ear wash that is safe for your Pit Bull. Don’t try to clean inside his ear canal, as you may damage his hearing. If you see any signs of infection or parasites, or anything that is concerning, call your veterinarian for an appointment. Ear infections can be very painful and annoying for your Pit Bull.

Keeping your Pit Bulls nails trimmed when help make him more comfortable when he is walking and exercising. Not trimming his nails can lead to painful infections and ingrown nails. You should have your veterinarian teach you how to trim your Pit Bull’s nails so that you won’t clip him. Your Pit Bull’s nail will probably need to be trimmed at least once every two weeks.

Keeping your Pit Bull clean and groomed is important for aesthetic purposes, as well as ensuring his health. Oftentimes, you will spot potentially worrisome problems during your routine grooming session that you might not otherwise know about until they had already became a major health issue. Spotting problems early can help get them treated before they affect your Pit Bull’s health.