What do you get when you cross an artist with a $20 bill?  Apparently the answer is:  Art.

Moneygami is origami with money — especially when the final design highlights the portrait, or other distinguishing feature, on the bill.

Here, just for fun, are some sites showing the art:

• DesigniousTimes
• FunFever
• Origami Resource Center
• Crandall11

If you want to try it yourself, here are some videos to get you started:

• making a butterfly
• making a star (with a great soundtrack)
• making a spring-thingy

Next time you’re leaving a tip, if you can’t be a big spender, try leaving it as a bit of art.  Who wouldn’t love to receive, say, an aardvark.  Heck, they might not even notice it’s a Lincoln and not a Hamilton.

Image Credit:  andreas hopf at Flickr

Tags: art, moneygami

When I posted recently on how to choose whether to fund your 401(k), Roth, or traditional IRA, I forgot to mention another category:  the Roth 401(k).  The Roth 401(k) rocks.  Like a Roth IRA, you put money in post-tax but then (in retirement) you take out the funds (plus appreciation!) without tax.  Unlike a Roth IRA, there is no income limit to be eligible to contribute.  For a Roth IRA, contribution eligibility phaseouts begin (for 2009) at $105k for singles and $166k for married folk.  Only about 20% of employers’ 401(k) plans offer the Roth option, but the percentage is growing.

If your employer offers a both a 401(k) and a Roth 401(k) and matches both, you might consider dividing your contribution equally between the two, to hedge against future changes in your tax rate.  Your tax rate might change if you make a lot more (or less) money or because Uncle Sam decides to change the rules.  Either way, it’s a good idea not to have all your eggs in one basket. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 401(k), Roth 401(k)

Like much of the American way of life, the tax code was set up assuming that a family = two adults + 1.5 children + a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence.  It further assumes that one of those adults stays home while the other goes out to bring home the bacon.

Fast forward 200 years, and only about half of Americans fit this scenario.  Today, a couple of professionals each with $120,000 in taxable income would pay a total of $55,158  if they file as two singles.  The same couple would owe $57,989 if they file as a married couple — a “marriage penalty” of $2831.  It also bumps them into the next tax bracket, changing their marginal rate from 28% to 33%.

Let’s say the couple has a newborn infant.  If they invest the tax difference, $2831, every year for 18 years at 5%, they will have $79,642 — a tidy sum to help pay for college expenses.

Why can’t Uncle Sam fix this problem?  A couple shouldn’t be penalized just because both choose to work outside the home.

Tax rates can be found on p. 80 of the IRS 1040 instructions.

TAGS: None