Home with the Kids Newsletter January 25, 2005

The Editor's Desk - From Beneath the Clutter
Feature Article - Is Your Computer Safe from Viruses?
What's happening on the discussion boards?
Guest Article - Create Tax Savings And Transfer Wealth To Your Child With A Roth IRA
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The Editor's Desk - From Beneath the Clutter

We're getting more and more organized around here all the time. I'm finally to a point where I can start trying to do medical transcription again, and I have my computer chair back from having moving boxes stacked on it. I've been working for the past while on a kitchen chair, which is terrible on the back when you sit on it for as long as I do on the computer. Wrong height, wrong kind of support.

I decided to write on computer safety this week and next because when we first moved I had to update my computer. When we lived at my sister's house, her computer was connected to the internet; mine was not, so it was not at all current. I spent a fair amount of time researching what the best options now are for antivirus and other protections so that I wouldn't waste my money. I hope most of you keep your computer security current, but if not, I hope this is a good reminder to get it taken care of.

Don't forget, you can contribute your articles or tips anytime for consideration. Just use the contact form.

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Feature Article

Is Your Computer Safe from Viruses?

The internet is a wonderful place to get information, stay in contact with friends and family, even do your shopping or start a business. But it also has many hazards.

The first hazard that everyone runs into is viruses. These little nasties can do all kinds of things, from being a mere annoyance to destroying your data, or worse yet, sharing it.

It doesn’t matter what kind of internet connection you have; everyone is subject to getting viruses. This is because many viruses do what is known as “spoofing” email addresses, where they forward themselves to every email address in an address book, but do not necessarily use the email address address they took the information from.

There are some very sneaky viruses out there. One email I have seen recently claims to have been found to be free of viruses after a scan from Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus product. This is particularly devious as many new computers come with this product preinstalled, although a full subscription must be paid for annually.

There are a few things you must do to avoid viruses. First, do not open any attachment you weren’t expecting. If you get an email from a friend with an attachment, don’t open it if you don’t know what it is. Go ahead and email them back to make sure it’s real. If it’s from someone you don’t know, it’s probably for the best that you do not open the attachment at all.

Be careful about using your preview pane. Some viruses have been known to open that way. You may be best off just viewing a list of the emails you have received and clicking only on the ones you want to read.

Finally, and most important, keep your antivirus software up to date. There are many good antivirus products out there. As stated above, Norton Antivirus is preinstalled on many systems, so this is an easy one to install, and Symantec does provide a very good product. My personal preference, however, is to use Trend Micro’s PC-Cillin, which many sites rank higher. There are several excellent antivirus products out there, such as Kaspersky's and Panda's products.

Any antivirus program you purchase will have to be renewed annually and should tell you when it is time to renew. You want it to be able to update itself with new virus definitions regularly, as new viruses come out all the time.

Antivirus protection is the absolute minimum you must give your computer if you go online. Next week we will take a look at some of the other steps you need to take to keep your computer safe and your internet browsing experiences more pleasant.

Stephanie Foster is the owner of Home with the Kids, a resource that knows that there's more to staying home with your family than just business. For more stay at home tips, visit the site at http://www.homewiththekids.com/ and subscribe to the free newsletter.

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Guest Article

Create Tax Savings And Transfer Wealth To Your Child With A Roth IRA

Parents must give serious thought to protecting their family through estate tax planning. While life insurance and trusts should be a part of every plan, Roth IRAs can be a simple tool for passing money to your child on a tax-free basis.

Roth IRA

First, we need a quick summary of the Roth IRA. A Roth IRA is an after-tax retirement vehicle that produces huge tax savings because all tax distributions are tax-free. That statement can a bit confusing, so lets break it down. The downside of a Roth IRA is the fact that contributions are not tax deductible as with traditional IRAs or 401(k)s. The upside of a Roth IRA, however, is that all distributions are tax-free once the person reaches the age of 59½. So how can you use a Roth IRA to pass money to your child?

Opening A Roth IRA For Your Child

One of the biggest keys to retirement planning is “time”. The more years you spend saving money for retirement, the more you should have when that blessed day arrives. Imagine if you had started saving for retirement when you were 16. How much bigger would your retirement nest egg be? What if you purchased Microsoft stock in 1990 and watched it split eight times? Okay, that was painful example if you missed that opportunity. Nonetheless, why not do for your child what you didn’t do for yourself?

The fundamental goal of estate planning is to pass as much of your estate as possible to your family on a tax-free basis. You can transfer relatively small amounts of money to your child now. If you have a 16 year-old child with a Roth IRA, you can contribute $4,000 in 2005. That $4,000 is going to grow tax-free for 43 years and be worth quite a bit. A ten percent return would result in the account growing to roughly $200,000 and the full amount would be distributed tax-free. There are other practical advantages to opening a Roth IRA for your child.

As a parent, it is vital that you teach your child the value of money. Opening a Roth IRA gives you the opportunity to sit down and teach your child the value of saving and investing, instead of yelling at them to clean their room. While a parental lecture on the need to save money would typically meet with glassy eyes and yawns, your child’s attitude will undoubtedly change when you are talking about their money.

Work and Maturity Issues

Before you rush out to open a Roth IRA for your child, you must determine if your child is eligible to open an account. To open an account, your son or daughter must be working at least part time for an employer that reports their wages to the IRS. Hiring your child to take out the trash each week is not going to cut it, nor will this strategy work for your 5 year-old. Many teenagers, however, have summer jobs that should suffice for IRS consideration. To avoid any trouble, you should consult with your tax advisor.

A more sublime issue concerns the maturity level of your child. Keep in mind that the Roth IRA will be opened in their name. Your son or daughter will have the legal right to do what they will with the account. It is strongly suggested that you clearly explain the consequences of taking money out of the account [taxes, penalties, being cut out of the will, forced to eat healthy food, grounded for life, etc.] but the decision lies with them. As difficult as it is, try to be objective in evaluating how you child will react to knowing the money is sitting in an account. If you have doubts, you should probably investigate other tax saving strategies.

Opening a Roth IRA for your child can be a very effective means of transferring wealth to your child and teaching important life lessons. If your child exercises restraint, your relatively small contribution to their Roth IRA can grow into a sizeable tax-free nest egg.

Richard Chapo is CEO of http://www.businesstaxrecovery.com - Obtaining tax refunds for small businesses by finding overlooked tax deductions and credits through a free tax return review. He can be reached at richard@businesstaxrecovery.com.