SEP-IRA : Pension Plan for Small Business

SEP stands for Simplified Employee Pension. This is a special type of IRA
plan that allows an employer to make contributions toward his or her own
(if self-employed) or employees' retirement. The SEP essentially functions
as a low-cost pension plan for small businesses.

The SEP-IRA enrollment process is also very simple. It's a 2-page
application process. The employer needs to complete Form 5305-SEP. The
employee completes the IRA investment application usually supplied by a
mutual fund company or some other financial institution which will hold and
manage the funds. The best part is: nothing needs to be filed with the IRS
to establish the SEP-IRA or subsequently. Unlike many other retirement
plans SEP does not require IRS annual returns. Any investment earnings
grow tax-deferred until withdrawn.

Some other facts about SEP-IRA:
Employers can contribute a maximum of 25% of an employee's eligible
compensation or $42,000 (for 2005 Tax year), whichever is less.
Employees are able to exclude from current income the entire SEP
contribution.
The money contributed to a SEP-IRA belongs to the employee immediately
and always. If the employee leaves the company, all contributions also
leave with the employee.

Are You Starting A Business From Home?

If you are getting bored with 8-to-5 jobs and are planning to be at home
and starting some business, you need some capital but more importantly
some knowledge, some advice and some exposure to the issues related to
how people before you could walk that path. Here we present some
websites that you may find helpful to orient you mind toward that effort:

Score.org : Provides counsel from real business veterans on writing a plan
and launching a business. This site is managed by the Small Business
Administration's Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE).

WorkingSolo.com : Tips and advices for those who want to start working
for themselves.

RileyGuide.com : If you are switching jobs, this site presents lot of useful
links for work-related resources

Wahm.com & SlowLane.com : Parents who are planning the transition from
a regular job to working or staying at home may benefit a lot from advices
provided at these sites.

Bond Investment 2005

An improving economy brings with it higher risks of inflation and greater
demand for loans. These typically lead to bad news for Bonds - in the
form of higher short and long term interest rates, since bond prices move
in the opposite direction of rates.

Over the next year or so, it may be difficult to receive much of a boost in
your portfolio from the Bond part of it. But that does not mean that you
should stop regular investment of part of your savings in Bonds. We
must remind you that Bonds typically have far less risk of losing money
than stocks, especially individual ones, have. The year 1994 was the worst
year in the past decade for bonds. Even then the average bond fund fell
only 3.5% in that year. In comparison let us look at the post-internet
-bubble year of 2002. The S&P 500 index fell by whopping 22% in that
year alone. In any state of the economy, investment in Bonds are
important for keeping your portfolio diversified and less vulnerable.

Also, remember that in recent years Bonds have returned more than
stocks have. But just like we advise to avoid putting money in individual
stocks, we also advise you to stay away from worries associated with
investing in individual Bonds (like the global economy trends, impact
of rate increases, maturity considerations etc) and put your hard-earned
money in Bond funds, like Vanguard Short-term Corporate Bonds (low
0.23% expense ratio; 20 year record of superior returns), Evergreen High
Income Municipal Bonds (high yield focus; less vulnerability to rising rates
and inflation), FPA New Income Fund (great track record for investing in
right bonds at right time).

India, The Most Promising Emerging Market

India is a major attraction for emerging-market investors. The country
has a democratic structure and has a very vibrant middle and upper-
middle class which are fast getting exposed to global economy. They are
big consumers of electronic and software goods and viewers of a large
spectrum of media which is truly free and is not controlled by any kind of
dictatorship.

The country's benchmark BSE Sensex 30 Index hit a record high on Feb
28 as investors reacted favorably to both the government's proposed
budget and corporate tax cuts. For small investors in USA, however, the
process of performing research on companies and direct investment is too
cumbersome.

The best way is to invest in American Depository Receipts (ADRs). There
are a handful of U.S.-listed Indian stocks in the form of ADRs. Among
those shares of information technology services provider Infosys
Technologies (INFY) and ICICI Bank (IBN) both reached 52-week highs
on Feb. 28. Matthews Asian Pacific Tiger fund (MAPTX) is a very
successful Mutual fund of recent years. Two of its largest positions in
India are Infosys (INFY) and HDFC Bank (HDB) , which pioneered the
country's mortgage business. A number of mutual funds and individual or
institutional investors in USA are invested in the Pharmaceuticals
company Dr. Reddy's Laboratory (RDY) , the respectable and very
reliable auto-maker Tata Motors' (TTM) , another software giant, Wipro
(WIT), Internet service provider Satyam Infoway (SIFY) and Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam (MTE).

Refinancing and Title Insurance

Last week we talked about two types of Title Insurance . In this posting
we discuss what you need to do for your Title Insurance while refinancing.

A new owner's title policy is not needed when the owner refinances a
mortgage. If you refinance your mortgage, the lender will require a new
lender's title policy even if you bought your house or condo or refinanced
your mortgage within the last few years.

The reason is intervening liens might have occurred, which will create a
title risk for the lender when you refinance. For example, maybe you
forgot to pay the plumber who fixed the pipes and he recorded a
mechanics' lien against your title. Or perhaps a creditor obtained a
judgement against you, which was recorded as a lien affecting your home.
If you got into a tax dispute with the IRS, there might be a recorded
federal income tax lien, which affects your home's title.

If your home was purchased or refinanced within the last few years, in
most states when you refinance your mortgage, you can obtain a
substantial lender's title insurance discount. But many title insurers
"forget" to offer this discount unless you remember to ask for the
discount. If you purchased or refinanced your home many years ago, you
might not be entitled to a lender's title policy discount. Yet it is better to
ask.

Investing in China

In March China's Premier Wen Jiabao told the National People’s Congress
that his government was still trying to effect a slowdown that will bring
the growth rate down to 8% this year.

Why does China want to do that? Isn't such a blockbuster growth a great
thing for a country’s economy? The answer is somewhat complex. China’s
infrastructure simply doesn’t have the capability to withstand such
explosive growth. The Government needs to be fast in developing those
infrastructures.

Despite government efforts to rein in spending, fixed-asset investment
roared down the tracks like a train with no brakes. In 2003 and 2004,
the growth rate ballooned by 27% and 26%, respectively. And many
Chinese provinces still have trillions of dollars worth of projects underway.

The Chinese government says and many economists believe that the
current "Happy Year Story" is set to continue, projecting 8% GDP growth
for the next five years as the labor market expands and the country
maintains its strong position in the technology and materials industries.

Want to be a rider of this fast train? Our recommendations, as usual, are
two Exchange Traded Funds (ETF): FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund
(FXI) whose closing price yesterday was $54.49 (yield 0%, expense ratio
0.74%) and MSCI Hong Kong Index Fund (EWH) whose closing price
yesterday was $11.79 (yield 2.3%, expense ratio 0.59%).

These funds are focussed specifically on China and their expense ratios
are high as compared to other more diversified funds in which Chinese
companies are just a part. We always recommend diversification and so
you may also consider investing in the Exchange Traded Funds
mentioned in our postings on [Click on their names to read our past
postings] BLDRS Family, Vanguard or Barclays Global Investors.

Credit Score: Important for Job-hunt

Even before you face the interview board for a new job, there is a strong
possibility that the interviewer has already formed an opinion about you
– through information contained in your credit report. Increasing numbers
of companies are requesting credit reports to assist them in the job hiring
process.

Essentially, your credit report is your financial resume and employers use
it as an indicator of your personal integrity and how you conduct your life.
With that in mind, it's alarming that 79% of all credit reports contain
errors. In the competitive job market, an accurate credit history may turn
out to be the decisive factor in gaining a job interview. Inaccurate credit
reports can negate the most impressive of resumes, and you won't have a
second chance to make a first impression.

Many companies are more interested in your financial patterns than your
employment background. They want to know if you pay your bills
promptly and lead a normal life ... whether or not you would come to work
with lots of anxieties inside. So, credit report gives them an idea of how
the individual might be expected to behave, if hired.

Rather than getting worried about it, you must try to utilize this recent
trend of employer credit checking to your advantage by repairing and/or
maintaining a clean credit history and wait 'fully prepared' for jumping
into the dream job you are aspiring for.

Diversification in Investment: The Geopolitical One

To any savvy investor 'Diversification' of investment is the key to success.
This diversification should be based on sector, level of market capital for
stocks (large, medium or small) as well as geopolitical issues. With the 1st
quarter of 2005 in the books, the results show another mediocre period for
US stocks. With oil prices approaching $3 per gallon, all three major
indices tiptoed between green and red for the quarter.

But in the end, the Dow lost 3.2%, the NASDAQ shed an ugly 8.5% and
the S&P500 fell 3.3%. However, Lipper reports that international small
and mid-cap mutual funds performed stoutly during the 1st quarter.
Funds focused on high growth gained 3.1% for the period, while the more
conservative value-based funds advanced 2%.

Leading the successful (in this quarter) list of international funds were
1. Third Millennium Russia, with a solid 10% jump
2. AIM European Small Company Class A, posting a 9.3% gain
3. iShares MSCI South Korea Index, with an 8.9% advance.

Russia is one of the world’s top exporters of commodities, with very strong
positions in oil, gas and steel. So, we guess the profitable runs of funds
aimed at this country may continue for some time to come. One of the
main reasons behind the solid gain for the AIM European Small Company
Class A fund was the addition of the 10 nations, mostly from Eastern
Europe, joining the European Union in May 2004. Economy of these
troubled nations benefitted a lot from regional integration. The Trading
Index of 25 companies in Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary jumped
over 8% during the first quarter, with the average European stock mutual
fund rising only 2.5%.

Emerging markets seem to be the right destination for investment capital.
This includes China and India in the lead and followed by Singapore,
Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea. With Brazil and Argentina enjoying
healthy economic rebounds and a bull market in commodities, investment
in Latin America may reap good profit in near future and even in long term.

So, "Diversification - the geopolitical one" is the mantra of the present
time. We need to look beyond our borders to reap the harvest of the new
world whose borders have been partially demolished by the internet and
communication.

Beware of Oil Price: Time to Reconsider Your Investments

Recently Goldman Sachs asserted that oil prices are headed for a “super
spike” all the way to US $105 per barrel (recent price around $50) and
everyone thought it was too much stretching of imagination. Yet another
respected group comes out next to assert the same. Raghuram Rajan,
chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said,“To the
extent that there is some kind of supply disruption, US$100 per barrel
does not seem outlandish. ... Is it the most likely scenario? I think not
necessarily. It depends how the market evolves.”

In recent times there is voracious demand for oil from places like the US,
China, and burgeoning nations such as India, Brazil, South Korea. This
may easily lead to a supply squeeze and certainly will keep prices high
and volatile until 2030. ... and so $100 may not a be stretch of
imagination after all.

We must know that global oil demand reached 82.4 million barrels per day
(bpd) last year. By 2030, that will leap to 138.5 million bpd.

We must know that the IMF managing director Rodrigo de Rato has
already stated that current high prices could snip 0.25% to 0.5% off global
GDP growth this year.

The US currently accounts for about one quarter of the world’s oil demand.
But by 2030, China will be consuming the same amount. That’s half the
world’s oil production catering to just two countries.

The IMF report says that after non-OPEC oil production has peaked
around 2010, the world will rely more heavily on OPEC to find the extra
capacity. The chances of finding any new major oil reserves are slim at
best - and with demand on OPEC projected to double to 61-74 million bpd
by 2030, prices can only go up.

Americans motorists are expected to use 9.3 million barrels per day this
summer - 1.8% more than last year. This summer’s national average cost
per gallon is expected to be US$2.28. That’s 38 cents higher than last
summer. But many states will endure higher costs than that. In California,
the state average is an ugly US$2.55 per gallon.

All these are bound to affect the economy - here in USA as well as in other
countries. Why are we bringing to you these grim pictures today? We just
want you to be more careful. Do not put much of your savings in
speculative investments. We somehow do not feel comfortable with this
high oil price - it always leads to a chain reaction of price hikes and the
economy evolves into something out of common sense. So, be careful.

"Title Insurance" for Home

"Title Insurance" is a topic hardly any homeowner or potential buyer is
aware of, even though they pay or are bound to pay the cost for it. Most
property owners think title insurance is just one of those expensive closing
costs and nothing really ever comes back from it. Some people do not
even know 'What does it insure for'.

There are two types of title insurance policies:

(A) Lender's Title Insurance: Almost every institutional mortgage lender
needs lender's title insurance policy. The buyer (and occasionally the
home seller) usually pays for this policy. A lender's title insurance policy
protects the lender against title losses due to forged signatures (the
biggest cause of title insurance losses), recording mistakes, errors in deed
indexing, unpaid property taxes and other recorded liens, improper
foreclosures, title search mistakes, undisclosed easements and title claims
by heirs and ex-spouses. So, it protects the lender not the homeowner.

(B) Homeowner's Title Insurance: The homeowner's equity up to the
policy limit of the purchase price for can be insured by an extra one-time
premium. This insures homeowners and the owner's heirs from loss of
equity against most of the common causes of title losses as described above.

At the time of home purchase, this equity (basically your down-payment)
may not be much. However, as time passes by, mortgage balance is paid
down and the homeowner's title protection grows as the lender's title
coverage reduces.

You may not find anyone you know who got something back from this
insurance. According to a report from The American Land Title
Association in Washington, D.C., the title insurance companies pay less
than 10% of title insurance premiums collected for title claims, which is no
doubt a shockingly low pay back. The reason they provide is that the
insurers spend most of the premiums on background research on the title
before issuing policies.

However, there is no doubt that some serious cases of title losses cannot
be prevented and that is why this insurance is a necessity. For example,
"Forging signature by collaborating with some corrupt notary public by
some close relative or partner to sell a house without letting the owner
know" is not an uncommon case. In such cases, the title insurer must pay
the forgery loss claim.

Mutual Funds for Emerging Markets

Emerging Market Mutual Funds invest majority of fund's assets in the
financial markets of a developing country, typically a small market with a
short operating history. These funds offer higher potential returns in
exchange for greater risk. Here are some of the Mutual Funds which have
shown good performance recently by investing in Emerging Markets like
India, China, Brazil, Turkey, Russia, South Korea, Malaysia etc:

TWMIX: American Century Emerging Markets fund,
TEDMX: Templeton Developing Markets fund,
MAPTX: Matthews Pacific Tiger fund,
AMIEX: Armada International Equity fund,
TWMIX: American Century Emerging Markets fund,
MNEAX: Montgomery Emerging Asia Fund
GMCEX: GMO Evolving Countries III

You may also consider investing in Exchange Traded Funds from
[Click on their names to read our past postings]
BLDRS Family, Vanguard or Barclays Global Investors.

Tax 2004: Can You NOT Do It By Midnight Tomorrow?

To help people finish tax filing in time, the Internal Revenue Service
joined forces with H&R Block, Turbo tax and other private companies to
offer free online tax preparation and e-filing, which has contributed to
huge jumps in electronic filing to some 61 million taxpayers last year.
These utilize simple software packages that walk taxpayers throught the
process.

If worse comes to worse and you can't can't really finish the job by 11:59
p.m. on April 15, you know that you can file for an extension. To do that
by computer, access form 4868 online from IRS Website and e-file it.
Anyone who filed a return last year can use the form as a worksheet and
may also request the extension by phone toll-free at 1-888-796-1074.

The IRS expects about nine million taxpayers to file for an extension.
The tax agency automatically grants one extension for four months to any
taxpayer who asks. It's not a free lunch though. More time to file doesn't
give a person more time to pay. Whether requesting an extension
electronically or on paper, a taxpayer must estimate the total tax liability.
If the IRS later finds this estimate to be unreasonable, the extension will
be considered null.

If you're supposed to get a refund, the IRS gets to keep your money until
you file. If you owe taxes, better estimate the amount and send a check
off to the IRS. Otherwise you'll be liable for late-payment penalties. To
avoid interest and penalties, make a tax payment by check, credit card or
direct withdrawal from your checking account.

Tax Filing & 2004 IRA Contribution: Friday Is The Deadline

We want to remind our readers again: The deadline for making your 2004
IRA contribution is same as your deadline for tax filing - April 15th. You
can contribute $3,000 ($3,500 if you're 50 or older) in your IRA (Roth or
Traditional) for the 2004 tax year.

We also want to remind our readers that for 2004 taxes, the requirement
for the adjusted gross income (AGI) limit has increased. Some taxpayers
fund traditional IRAs with 'before tax' dollars because either they do not
meet Roth IRA guidelines (whose contribution is made with after-tax dollar
but grows without any tax burden for future) or they simply love the tax
deduction. However, this deduction is phased out at certain income limits if
the contributor is covered by a retirement plan at work.

For 2004 taxes, single and head-of-household filers covered by a company
retirement plan and has AGI not exceeding $45,000 will get a full IRA
contribution deduction. For married couples filing jointly, this amount limit
is $65,000. A partial deduction is allowed if the AGI falls between $45,000
and $55,000 for single and head-of-household and between $65,000 and
$75,000 for married couples filing jointly.

By the way, in 2005, you can contribute upto $4000 ($4500 if you're 50 or
older) to your IRA account if you qualify.

Should You Close Your Unused Credit Cards?

Having a good credit score is good for so many things: getting a lower rate
mortgage, getting good deals on credit cards and also for your hunting a
job.

Some people tend to cancel their old unused credit card accounts under
a wrong impression that getting rid of fat in your wallet might improve
your credit score.

Instead of closing out old accounts, leave them be. The FICO calculator
looks at your credit utilization which is measured by the ratio between
your credit limit and the amount of balance on your cards. This should be
a fraction less than 1. As it approaches 1, you max out your cards.

So, closing a old credit card reduces the amount of your available credit
without paying down the amount of debt you have. This makes it appear
that you are getting closer to maxxing out your cards and hurts your
FICO score. For example, if you have $10,000 of available credit on
several credit cards and owe a total of $1,000, you have used 10 percent
of your available credit. However, if you close accounts with $9,000 of
available credit, you now have used 100 percent of your available credit,
and that isn't good for your credit score.

Sometimes, consumers seek to close out old unused cards with high
interest rates just to avoid the possibility of using them. This is called 'a
smart consumer point of view' but not a 'smart credit point of view'. Even
if you want to cancel (may be just to have a lighter wallet or less number
of things to worry about), you might be better off to close the newer cards
which is not carrying your long-time credit history and thus are less
important from the point of view of the FICO scoring system.

High Yield Bond Funds: Invest/Trade Like Stocks

It is always recommended that you must continue to invest in bonds
as a strategy for diversification. As an individual investor, you may wish
to have some bond fund which you can trade at your convenience
just like you do for stocks.

Well.. here are names of four such funds which you can trade just like
stocks. Their closing prices on last Friday are indicated below. One
advantage of these investments is their high dividend income. The annual
percentage yield based on their current prices are given in brackets.
The full dividend or some part of it may come as tax-free income to you.
So, you may consider such investments not only for your retirement
funds, but also for your taxed brokerage accounts too.

Pioneer Tax Advantage Balance Trust (PBF) $13.09 (6.30%)
Saloman Brothers Capital & Income Fund (SCD) $16.18 (7.42%)
Hancock John Tax Advantage Dividend Income (HTD) $17.23 (6.23%)
Insured Municipal Income Fund (PIF) $12.77 (5.17%)

Teach Concepts of Finance and Savings to Kids

Many of us ignore the importance of teaching ideas and concepts of
personal finance to our kids but it is a crucial part of their development
and growing up as a responsible individual.

If they cannot manage their personal savings and planning for their
future, just a good education may land them on a good job but they may
fail to utilize that advantage of having a good job. There is no hurry, of
course. But you may slowly start ... probably as they enter Middle School.

The following websites may assist you in your endeavor:
www.KidsBank.com,
www.moonjar.com,
www.RichKidSmartKid.com

Interest-Only Mortgage: Is it Good for You?

The advantage of Interest-only mortgages is that it offers lower payments
and more purchasing power. But depending on the mind-set of you and
your wife, that could be a trap. You may not avoid the temptation of
going for a more luxurious home with the ready availability of more
purchasing power and thus may land yourself among more liabilities under
some bad situations.

You need to judge what is good for you. Never forget the important fact
that you will eventually have to pay back the principal to the bank.

One of the main reasons people wish to own a home is to build equity, and
you do not do that with an "interest-only" mortgage. If you’re living in a
part of the country (like Los Angeles, Boston, NY ...) where real estate
prices are usually hot and go hotter, you’ll likely build some equity from
that rising value even if you have interest-only mortgage.

But what if the so-called housing bubble bursts? Instead of an equity, you'll
accumulate more and more liability if the market starts sliding.
Interest-only loan will throw you in a soup in that case especially if you
need to move or sell the house for some other reason.

In a normal situation, in most of the country, the home value increases
rather slowly. Even four or five years may not turn out to be a long time to
gain suifficient appreciation for your home. In such 'cold' real estate
markets where things do not move sharply up or down, your strategy may
be different. So, if you move quite often among such areas and so need to
sell home frequently, you may go for the 'interest-only' loan.

Global Investment with BLDRS Fund Family

A few weeks back we discussed about advantages and disadvantages in
investing directly in some of the foreign countries and how American
Depository Receipt (ADR) could be a good investment keeping the
perspective of diversification in mind. Like all wise investors if you take
the issue of diversification seriously and wish to put some money in ADRs
to receive a chunk of the global rise of economy, we think there is
something better than ADRs - That is an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
for ADRs. In fact, there are four of those.

Nasdaq Financial Products Services and The Bank of New York introduced
BLDRS, a new family of exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") based on The
Bank of New York ADR IndexSM, a real-time index tracking U.S. traded
depositary receipts (For details visit the ADR IndexSM section of
adrbny.com). The BLDRS Fund Family is currently made up of four ETFs,
including two market index funds and two regional index funds:

BLDRS Emerging Markets 50 ADR Index Fund (ADRE),
BLDRS Developed Markets 100 ADR Index Fund(ADRD),
BLDRS Europe 100 ADR Index Fund(ADRU) ,
BLDRS Asia 50 ADR Index Fund (ADRA).

All of them have very low expense ratio of only 0.30. We think all of these
are good long time investments especially for retirement accounts.

Tax 2004 Reminder : Tax Return for Your Teenagers

Did your child earn any money, for example, from a mutual fund in
his/her name or by working, say, in college store? Should your child file
a separate tax return?

First thing to check is whether or not you are qualified to claim your child
as your dependent. Irrespective of their income, you can claim any child
as dependent if your child was under 19 at the end of 2004. If he or she
was a student and was under 24 at the end of 2004 then also you can
claim him or her as a dependent. However, for older (25 or above)
children, their individual gross income should be less than $3,100 in
2004 for you to claim them as dependent.

Your child must file a separate return if he or she had earned income
(e.g., wages, salaries, tips) of $4,850 or more or unearned income
(interest, dividend or capital gains) of $800 or more.

Even if their earning was less than the above amounts, it may be good for
them to submit in any case and especially if tax was deducted from their
paycheck or from their profit in sale of some mutual fund or stock. They
may even get a refund in that case. Also, if they have started earning
money, whatever be the earning, it is important for them to realize how
they are progressing in their personal finance and what benefits they are
getting from Uncle Sam. Tax filing could be a good start in right direction
toward their future years of more responsibilities.

What If Your Credit Card Holder Agreement Changes

Recently a number of credit cards have started changing their card holder
agreement mostly for hiking their interest rates and for binding their
customers into stricter laws.

When you apply for a credit card, the contract that binds you as the card
holder to pay as agreed also binds the issuer of the card to the original
terms of the contract. However, many of us never notice that there's a
clause in most card holder agreements called "universal default" which
allows the bank to change the rules midway unless you disagree.

If you disagree to new terms and conditions, the bank then gets the right
to close your account. On the other hand, you have the right to pay off
the remaining balance under the terms of the original agreement.

After you receive a notification from the bank regarding such revisions,
you must respond in writing within 30 days. You may simply let the bank
know that you wish to continue under your original card holder agreement
and continue to pay accordingly.

You cannot, of course, use the card anymore because the account will be
closed. But that is good. You will not add anymore to your debt in a card
which is increasing its interest rate.

Tax 2004 Reminder: IRA Tax-Deduction Range Increased

We want to remind our readers that for 2004 taxes, the requirement for
the adjusted gross income (AGI) limit has increased.

Some taxpayers fund traditional IRAs with 'before tax' dollars because
either they do not meet Roth IRA guidelines (whose contribution is made
with after-tax dollar but grows without any tax burden for future) or they
simply love the tax deduction. However, this deduction is phased out at
certain income limits if the contributor is covered by a retirement plan at
work.

For 2004 taxes, single and head-of-household filers covered by a company
retirement plan and has AGI not exceeding $45,000 will get a full IRA
contribution deduction. For married couples filing jointly, this amount limit
is $65,000. A partial deduction is allowed if the AGI falls between $45,000
and $55,000 for single and head-of-household and between $65,000 and
$75,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Another Reminder:
You can contribute $3,000 ($3,500 if you're 50 or older) in your IRA (Roth
or Traditional) for the 2004 tax year. Deadline is same as your Tax filing
deadline - Apr 15th.
In 2005, you can contribute upto $4000 ($4500 if you're 50 or older) to
your IRA account if you qualify.