These calls happened to us even when we were on the Do-Not-Call list. If offshore scammers with spoofing and autodialing technology disrespect your wishes to be removed from their list, being on the Do-Not-Call list will not save you.

The business that employs these people is engaged in illegal actions, that's why the employees don't give any information.

There are some things you can do if you have a landline:
1. Get a machine that shows the caller-id. Don't pick up if it's an out-of-state number you don't recognize.
2. Get rid of the landline. (We did this. No more calls.)
3. There's a soundfile you can use for your voicemail/answering machine that mimics the three-beep "no circuit" tone that immediately precedes the canned "we're sorry, the number you have reached is not in service. Please check the number and call again, or ask an operator for assistance." Use of this soundfile may lead to your number being dropped from the autodialer database if you record it immediately before your "sorry we're not answering the phone" message.

Time to get some real education!

This one just ended, so I would suggest you start looking to sign up for the next one or find a similar class offered locally. Personally I would suggest attending a course taught in a local college or other educational institution and not one offered by a broker or other concern that stands to earn money from you (other than the tuition for the class).

Read the description of this class:
http://www.pce.uw.edu/courses/investing-stock-market/uw-seattle-winter-2012/

Even if you decide in the end to not invest directly in the stock market, you will be a much more savvy consumer and better understand the financial reporting in the news.

No, this is a very bad idea. If it was easy everyone would do it. Making money on individual stocks takes a huge amount of skill and luck.

A 401k is the best deal going and you should put as much there as you possibly can. People with LOTS of money who invest in the market get the best results from investing the same way that your 401k does. They have diversified and well managed portfolios that spread the risk across a variety of different types of investments.

Investing in stocks is a bit like gambling on horses. You can spend a lot of time analyzing different companies and making informed decisions, but you can't really predict which companies will do well, or what the overall state of the economy will be.

In fact, full-time professional investors, in the long run, don't seem to do better than the overall economy. This is why a lot of retirement programs now use "index" funds, which just try to match the performance of the overall stock market, over managed mutual funds, in which professional investors pick and choose stocks to try to beat the market.

The success of index funds, by the way, does point out something important. The difference between gambling and investing is that in gambling, you always lose in the long run because the house always has to take a cut. The stock market, however, isn't stacked against you. If you invested in index funds, you would make a significant (more than inflation) amount of money in the long run. You still risk severe ups and downs, and you can't guarantee that your investments won't have lost money at the time you want to withdraw your funds, but the market has always grown in the long run.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the upcoming requirement to provide health insurance to employees. So I'm guessing nothing will change for the business. IF a small business (fewer than 25 employees) does provide insurance (and the average employee salary is less than $50,000), there is a VERY nice tax credit available to the business.

Under the old system (or lack thereof) small business could often get really burned if they had one sick employee. Insurance companies could raise their premiums hugely each year, but now this discrimination is against the law (or will be in 2014). So that's another benefit, provided the company decides to provide health insurance.

You can find loads of information at the official site, which is pretty helpful. http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/2011/08/small-business.html

Okay, so if I had to guess, I'm going to guess that you don't have much of a credit history. The main way that brokerages do verification is through a variety of databases (including the USPS, Equifax, and the like). If you've moved around frequently, recently changed your phone number, or unknowingly inherited a cell phone number from someone shady, then those databases might be raising red flags.

Your brokerage does not want to go through all this to get your business. It's an added regulatory burden in place to prevent identity theft and money laundering. And yes, you do need to have a phone number on record to get a brokerage account. Brokerages need to have ways of contacting you, including by phone, and getting a phone number also shows due diligence on the part of the brokerage.

Your choices are to send it in, or try a different brokerage. If you do try a different brokerage, and this happens again, contact Equifax and update your contact information there. That should smooth things out in the future.

My main concern as an individual would be whether one owner could hold up the process for everyone else if they were unhappy - does the condo association get one offer to be divided, or do individual owners get offers? I assume the association will hire legal counsel, and you may want to check with an attorney yourself to find out what your rights and the potential problems are.

It could help to hire legal counsel, someone with experience with both eminent domain and condominiums, since they are a special sort of real property. My firm does this work and I'm happy to talk to you, if you can contact me directly. (I keep my Slog/Questionland life separate from my work life.)

You will need to get a comprehensive property appraisal before you will know whether Sound Transit's offer is fair. You may also be able to argue that the present value is not fair compensation - the state/county should not be able to take advantage of the reduced real estate values under its eminent domain powers.

Deduct your actual cost, including sales tax - see Publication 561, Cost or Selling Price of the Donated Property. You are never allowed to take a deduction for money you didn't spend.

It's a good idea to save the original receipt for donations like this, especially if the value of donated property is over $500; then you need to fill out Form 8283.

If there is a dispute over the eminent domain, ST will likely win.

They are known for being rather generous with compesation for those impacted by property acquisitions. My advice: make your case for a large settlement, but don't take it all the way to court. People who dispute the financial amounts in court typically leave with less than they were originally offered.

It's my guess that closing a credit card account with a zero balance is no big deal. I had a card once from a bank that went belly up. Hence, the card was closed, and it isn't a derogatory entry on my credit report.

The only time opening and closing activity may not be optimal is right before applying for a mortgage. They don't like to see any changes for six months to a year before an application. Voluntarily closing a card can - believe or not - lower your credit score because it changes that credit limit/balance ratio. And opening up new accounts looks bad because it appears to a mortgage officer that you are about to do some shopping.

Congrats on paying off a large medical bill in a year. That must have been tough.

I don't think it will be a huge problem, although credit unions are more picky than banks in approving credit cards in my experience. As far as your credit record goes, the WF account should just show up as closed, but not delinquent - you don't want a lot of closed accounts, but as long as you weren't late on payments it should look the same as if you closed the account. It will hurt your credit score a little, because now you're using more of your total available credit, but unless you've recently checked your credit score before this happened it's hard to see how much that was affected.

Your WF credit card was probably closed because you didn't use it very much. You were totally responsible about your personal finances, but banks have been closing inactive credit card accounts a lot the last few years - even for long-time customers with perfect credit. Banks generally don't give any notice before they do this - I would say protosaurus' example is an exception. It's a decision made by an algorithm, and whoever told you it was due to "mismanagement of other accounts" probably had nothing to do with the decision, and just wanted to get you off the phone.

If you do get another credit card, and you're not carrying a balance, you need to charge something at least once every month or two, and then pay off your balance monthly so you don't get charged interest. That way you're showing activity, and the lender is making a little money on the transaction fees. It also will look good on your credit. It doesn't have to be a lot - maybe $10 - $25 a month, something you would normally pay cash for. If for whatever reason you don't want to use the credit card like this, you might want to apply for a line of credit with your credit union - it's unsecured credit like a credit card, but is intended to be used as a safety net, like if you overdrew your checking account. You should definitely ask what happens in case of fraud, like if someone got access to your accounts - I think credit card accounts have more consumer protection for fraudulent charges than a line of credit account.

It's a good idea to check your credit before applying - you get a free report from each of the three credit bureaus once a year through annualcreditreport.com. (How to read your credit report at about.com is helpful for interpreting your report.) If you want to check your credit score, don't waste time paying for anything except your official FICO score - this is the score used by most lenders, and you can only get it at myfico.com. You can get it free with a credit monitoring trial, but don't forget to cancel the program before you get charged. You can get a rough idea of your FICO score for free through Credit Karma - they have a lot of helpful information about improving your credit, but they don't use the official FICO score. About.com has some info about how to Check your credit score online.

When you apply for credit, it probably doesn't matter whether you do it online or in person - it all goes through a program, and there's no opportunity to explain the circumstances. When I first joined BECU I applied for a credit card in person, and was denied; I got a letter with the reasons why, including an old delinquent account that was still on my credit report, and a phone number of a credit specialist at BECU I could call. I thought it was weird because I had a few credit cards from banks with great payment records for at least a couple of years at the time. I didn't bother calling, and then about a year later I was offered a line of credit with BECU and eventually a BECU Visa. They definitely pay attention to credit improvements.

It sounds like you've got a great recent credit history; I would be more worried about the past collection, because that will still show up. Make sure that it it shows up as paid on your credit reports - if it doesn't, get that fixed before applying with your credit union. If you do get denied, try calling and talking with the credit or loan specialist and see if they can help you. If you still get denied, try again in a year, or maybe apply for a credit card with a traditional bank.

I hope you are saving for emergencies - it's much better to have at least 6 months of living expenses saved up as a safety net instead of using credit cards. Even if you can't save very much at a time, save something every paycheck & keep it in a separate account, like an online savings account, if you're tempted to spend it. Once you save at least 6 months of total living expenses, keep saving & transfer money every once in awhile into another savings account fund for something like a dream vacation or health/dental expenses.

Shannon,
Washington law requires that your employer hold your job and provide certain benefits. The Washington Human Rights Commission issued regulations, which state:
(4) Leave policies.

(a) An employer shall provide a woman a leave of absence for the period of time that she is sick or temporarily disabled because of pregnancy or childbirth. Employers must treat a woman on pregnancy related leave the same as other employees on leave for sickness or other temporary disabilities. For example:

(i) If an employer provides paid leave for sickness, or other temporary disabilities, the employer should provide paid leave for pregnancy related sickness or disabilities; ...

(iv) If the employer permits extensions of leave time (e.g., use of vacation or leave without pay) for sickness or other temporary disabilities, the employer should permit such extensions for pregnancy related sickness or disabilities.

(b) There may be circumstances when the application of the employer's general leave policy to pregnancy or childbirth will not afford equal opportunity for women and men. One circumstance would be where the employer allows no leave for any sickness or other disability by any employee, or so little leave time that a pregnant woman must terminate employment. Because such a leave policy has a disparate impact on women, it is an unfair practice, unless the policy is justified by business necessity.

(c) An employer shall allow a woman to return to the same job, or a similar job of at least the same pay, if she has taken a leave of absence only for the actual period of disability relating to pregnancy or childbirth. Refusal to do so must be justified by adequate facts concerning business necessity.

I'll let someone else speak to the financial realities but my guess is since you have other credit established and being paid off, opening a new line of revolving credit at your new bank won't be a big deal and your credit will be fine.

Having WF randomly kill your card is a yellow flag. Did you do a credit report on yourself? annualcreditreport.com gives you a free yearly one from all 3 places. You should double check WF didn't have other reasons for killing that card.

They should have, at bare minimum, sent you a bunch of crap in the mail about closing the account long before they actually did it. Even if you're totally paperless.

About 2 years ago I killed my WF checking/savings account but left a credit card open. After about a year of not using the card at all, they sent me a letter saying they were going to close it if I didn't use it within 2 months, but they'd give me 0% interest for a while if I did use it -- a little bribe.

The cutoff for having to pay state business tax is $12,000 per year.

No matter the case, you should still register your business with the State of Washington and fill out the forms for a Master Business License:

http://bls.dor.wa.gov/

They will send you the appropriate tax documents based on your income. Once you enter a total margin less than $12,000 it will say that you do not have to pay.

This question is hard to answer without more information, because how much income you report is going to depend on how the LLC is structured for accounting and tax purposes. If you haven't already consulted a CPA, I think finding one who has experience with LLCs would be a good idea - especially before you file taxes for 2011.

No matter what, the $6000 you've put into the LLC is an investment - it's your owner's equity. It's not a loan that the business pays back; you don't get the entire equity back unless you close the business or sell your share.

You take the LLC's gross income and subtract operating expenses to get net income or net loss for the LLC. The amount of net income is added to owner's equity on the books. The amount of net loss is subtracted from owner's equity.

The default for single-member LLCs is to be treated as a sole proprietorship for tax & accounting purposes. Any net income (or loss) for the LLC is reported on your 1040 & related schedules. Having net income on the books that you report does not mean you are getting any cash for personal use - you usually have to keep money invested while the business is growing.

After the business has been profitable, you can start taking withdrawals against your owner's equity. The money you take as a withdrawal lowers the total equity, but doesn't affect net income or loss for the LLC. Eventually you will probably build up enough equity to get back the $6000, but it can take awhile. I'm pretty sure that you personally wouldn't count any withdrawals on your initial investment as income, but that's something to look into.

There are options to set up the LLC as a corporation, which could be better for you as far as reporting income for taxes, but this requires more paperwork with the IRS and Washington State.

It's possible that there won't be any income from the LLC in 2012 - corporations regularly match expenses to income to avoid paying taxes, so I don't see why you can't take advantage of that. You also need to find out how often you are required to report any income - monthly, annually, etc.

The main factor, I think, is going to be whether you meet the minimum search requirements - be able to work, actively seek work, and available to start when you are offered suitable work.

(Accidentally put this as a comment to an earlier reply).
I believe the benefit deduction for earned income is either 75% or 80%. But starting a small business is not the same as earning temporary income. If you're working at your business full time you might not be entitled to ANY benefits, whether you have an income or not.

Have you filed a claim before? From what I remember there was a list of check boxes to report any: wages, self-employed earnings, other income.

For instance I was on the dole for a few weeks and then came into some temp work. My first week of employment I only worked a couple days. I still made my unemployment claim for that week. When making my claim, for the question of "did you earn any money?", I answered "yes" and then was prompted to list: hours, wage amount and business name. The wage info was used in calculating the amount of the unemployment insurance I was to receive.

I do not know the answer to your whole question, but I will share this with you: I spoke to someone at WorkSource yesterday and they told me that there is about a $40 in reduction in benefits for every $60 in reported income. It's not a straight dollar for dollar deduction. If you report $120 in income, expect to see $80 knocked off your unemployment check. That was according to an older gentleman who has worked there for a long time, drawing from his observational experience. But, things may vary on a case by case basis.

Sorry I can't help you with the rest of your question. Best of luck with your business!

I'm not an expert on the ID verification requirements for opening new accounts but this seems ridiculous to me. The only time I've had to use a utility bill for verification was when I lost my driver's license.

I have opened a few different banking accounts in the last couple of years - an IRA CD with BECU, a couple of online savings accounts when I was rate-chasing, a checking account at Viking Bank so I could use their coin machine. I've never had to do more than show my photo ID and a credit card to prove who I am. My boyfriend has never had to provide a copy of his phone bill to open 401(k)s through previous employers; I don't see why this should be different.

The only legitimate reason I can think of is that something about your employee triggered a flag for additional verification - maybe he doesn't have much of a credit record? Maybe the name on the phone bill not matching his name raised a flag? Maybe someone has stolen his identity and committed fraud?

I'm also wondering how much your Morgan Stanley rep values your business - maybe I'm reading too much into his response to your questions, but it sounds like the same quasi-dismissive attitude that a lot of big banks and firms have towards individuals & small business owners. You and your employee deserve a better explanation, or an alternative, before turning over the phone bill. I'm with you in questioning this.

No, they cannot. They can raise their prices, if they so choose, to compensate for and projected loss, but they cannot tack on an additional charge. Some businesses get clever by being "cash only" and installing an ATM, from which they actually make some money instead of losing it. Other ways they've been getting creative is by passing it off on their employees. For instance, I waited tables during college and my employer would deduct payment processing fees from my tips at the end of the night. Ridiculous, right? I also read recently about cab drivers in San Francisco (a city dear to my heart) having to cover the fees themselves, with many now saying they don't accept cards whatsoever and offer to drive riders to ATMS (which riders of course must pay for in mileage and waiting time) to cover the fare. Source: http://www.creditcardprocessing.net/san-francisco-taxi-drivers-upset-about-processing-fees/

Truthfully, I don't think Visa or Mastercard or whoever else should be making more than 1 cent per swipe. It's not like the technology is cutting edge or anything. Just a simple swap of digits.

While technically banks don't cash checks after 3 or 4 months, that is NOT always the case. So it's quite possible she COULD cash this check. But calling the old roommate first is definitely the courteous thing to do. Sadly, many folks do not balance checkbooks/keep good registers, and so just trust their ATM or online balance (eep!) and so cashing it without calling first is kind of slimey.

It would be best to call the former roommate and ask if she could trade her the old check for a current one.

Call the old roomate before cashing it , not everyone has alot of cash in their account if they're living paycheck to paycheck and if she forgot about it it might cause her account to overdraw which will cause way more drama. Be nice and explain that it had been lost but point out that it was for something that was covered if she throws a fit

The bank won't cash a check more than 90 (or 120, depending on the account or the bank) days past the date it is written.