Feral Jundi

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Finance: Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Eligibility Online Tool

Filed under: Cool Stuff,Finance,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 11:13 PM

     This is an awesome little tool to use to see if you qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion. This is always an issue every year for contractors, and especially when you have worked multiple contracts and you are not quite sure if you qualify.

     Personally, I think the FEIE should be based on a pro-rated system*. Meaning for how many days you worked in country, is how many days you earned.  Guys who worked 330 days, earn the full exclusion–as they should.  Guys who could only get in half that many days overseas, should be able to get half the exclusion amount. The way it is set up now, you could spend 229 days overseas, and because you couldn’t get that one day, you do not qualify.

     That is a crappy set up in my view, and for many folks to get that 330 days overseas can be pretty difficult.  Especially if you have family obligations, you change contract or the company only gives a limited amount of days overseas, or some unexpected issue came up that would hinder your plans for staying overseas. Then your penalized for it, as if all those days worked didn’t mean anything.

     Either way, check it out and let me know what you think? –Matt

*it is only pro-rated if you start in one tax year, and promise to continue working overseas into the next tax year.

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Foreign Earned income exclusion eligibility online tool

While our online tool is designed based on years of experience and IRS source documentation, please remember that the most valuable advice we can give you for your foreign tax planning needs would be the result of proper analysis and live conversations. This online assessment can indeed give you a very good idea of your eligibility for the foreign earned income exclusion. Please click on the button below to begin the assessment (You are 5 minutes away from finding out if you qualify!):

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Cool Stuff: GPal, Inc.

Filed under: Cool Stuff,Finance,Weapons,Weapons Stuff — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:03 AM

     I like it!  GPal or Gun Pal is an alternative online payment system that you can use to purchase anything ‘legal’.  So if you want to buy a firearm from someone using GPal, you can do that and your account will not be frozen.  With the other online payment groups, they are not at all gun or ammo friendly, so GPal is definitely a gun friendly alternative. (for US folks)

     The other important tidbit to mention here, is that you don’t have to use it for firearms or ammunition.  You can use it just like you use Paypal, to buy all types of things or services ‘that are legal’.  As you can see with the name change, they had to make it less specific of a title to symbolize it’s utility. Customers might get the impression that it is purely for gun or ammo purchases, and that is not the case.

     Good move and I hope it takes off. I would be curious if any of the readers have signed up for GPal and what their thoughts were about the service? –Matt

Facebook for GPal here.

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HEALDSBURG, CA – May 13, 2010 (For Immediate Release)

GUNPAL, the leader in transaction-neutral online payment processing, is now operating as GPal, Inc. at the website https://www.gpal.net/

In order to appeal to a broader market and offer superior products and services, we are reorganizing under GPal, Inc. Our users will find familiar functionality and feel, secured by our Verisign EV SSL Certificate, the strongest in the world.

Only the name is evolving to better serve our user base and provide a growth path for expansion. All buttons, links and banners will continue to work but will be redirected to gpal.net. Thank you for your support thus far in providing a transaction-neutral payment service.

Sincerely, Ben Cannon

Chairman/CEO

GPal, Inc.

About GPal:

GPal is an online payments and money transfer service that allows you to send money to anyone with an email address in a transaction-neutral environment. GPal has revolutionized the transfer of money in heavily regulated industries and deals with fraud in a unique and very successful way. Accounts at GPal are FDIC insured. The company is expected to expand its offerings internationally in the near future. For more information please visit https://www.gpal.net/ or contact pr@gpal.net

*****

HEALDSBURG, CA – October 29, 2009 (For Immediate Release)

“GUNPAL, Inc. is a transaction-neutral online payments platform with a philanthropic spirit,” announces Founder/CEO Ben Cannon. “It is also the first serious competitor for PayPal Inc.”

A percentage of each transaction is donated to a selected charity at no additional cost to the user. The initial list of organizations includes the American Red Cross, American Cancer Society, and the Supercomputing Disease Research Center. Users can also suggest charities for consideration.

An avid supporter of constitutional rights, Cannon created a discrimination-free online payments application, starting with the recognition of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Prohibited by PayPal’s “Acceptable Use Policy”, the $3 billion firearms and accessories industry has adopted GUNPAL as the payments platform of choice. “Firearms can only be sold by licensed dealers. GUNPAL is more convenient than other forms of payment as its comprehensive transaction tracking system is secure and reliable for our audits,” says Mitchel Chapman of WBtactical.com, a licensed firearms dealer.

An estimated one hundred million firearm owners nationwide now have a platform with which they can trade ammunition, scopes, and other accessories securely and hassle-free. As a socially responsible company, GUNPAL directs its firearm buyers to government documentation on current firearm laws and regulations and will provide licensed dealer listings by buyers’ zip codes in a future release. Having dominated the firearms niche, GUNPAL is already targeting other under-served markets with several new projects under way.

With every line of code written in-house, most of the engineering effort has been dedicated to fraud prevention. GUNPAL’s unique anti-fraud and anti-phishing systems take a finer-toothed comb through customer data for maximum privacy and security. Reduced fraud cuts operating costs resulting in lower fees for most common transactions as compared to PAYPAL. Cannon’s first company, GeoVario, LLC, was the natural choice for web-hosting services.

Founded in 2004, GUNPAL is a transaction-neutral online payment system that allows easy transfer of funds to anyone with an email address. Privately funded, GUNPAL has revolutionized the transfer of money with its pro-constitutional voice, unique anti-fraud approach, and philanthropic spirit. The company is expected to expand its services internationally in the near future.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Military News: Admiral Mike Mullens– Debt Is Biggest Threat To U.S. National Security

Filed under: Afghanistan,Finance,Letter Of Marque,Military News — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 4:51 PM

     “Of the total military spending in the world, the US spends half of that, and that’s an unsustainable number,” Erik Prince, founder and chairman of Xe, told CNBC Thursday.

    “You’re going to have to turn to private sector efficiency initiatives if the US is going to be able to project power and help its friends,” –Erik Prince, June 24, 2010

*****

     Thanks to Doug for sending me this. The numbers on this are staggering.  I also think that Prince is absolutely right.  If we plan on continuing the war effort, then efficiency initiatives in this war will be a necessity.  Those efficiency initiatives come from competition and the innovation born from that competition in private industry.  The money is running out and both government and private industry will be partnering on this to find a way.

     With that said, this is another great reason for introducing methods of warfare that might be more cost effective. I talk about the concepts of incentivizing warfare here all the time.(letter of marque, privateering, bounty hunting, etc)  I personally feel that if you want to combat an out of control industry of terror, drugs, or piracy, you need an organized and violent industry that profits from their demise.

     I would also like to see an effort to make supplying the troops more cost effective. Do we have to fly or convoy fuel into Afghanistan, or can we figure out a way to either grow fuel or utilize some other energy source to power our vehicles? Do we have to ship in food, or could we grow food locally on military farms, or through co-operatives with local farmers? Do we have to use expensive jets and bombers, to provide close air support against an enemy that has no air force? Do we have to helicopter troops in, or can we drop them in by parachute?  Little changes here and there, can do wonders for reducing that million dollar price tag per soldier, per year, in a country like Afghanistan.

     Most of all, are we doing all we can to invigorate investment in Afghanistan?  Could charter cities be set up in Afghanistan, as a way to invigorate progress in that country?  How about focusing on infrastructure that supports this trillion dollars of mineral wealth? Are we creating an environment that is attractive to all investors, and not just China?

     These are all just ideas to throw around, but I really think as the belt is tightened, you will see efficiency initiatives becoming more important to the military.  They will still have a mission to accomplish, but it will be about doing more with less.  And private industry will be right there with government and the military, coming up with the better/faster/smarter/cheaper solutions necessary to get us there. –Matt

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Joint Chiefs chairman reiterates security threat of high debt

By Roxana Tiron

06/24/10

Pentagon leaders, the military services and defense contractors must work together to cut bureaucratic bloat and unnecessary programs, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday.

Adm. Mike Mullen also renewed his warning that the nation’s debt is the biggest threat to U.S. national security.

“I was shown the figures the other day by the comptroller of the Pentagon that said that the interest on our debt is $571 billion in 2012,” Mullen said at a breakfast hosted by The Hill. “That is, noticeably, about the size of the defense budget. It is not sustainable.”

(more…)

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Industry Talk: Erik Prince On CNBC

Filed under: Afghanistan,Finance — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 6:17 PM

Monday, May 10, 2010

Military News: Secretary Gates Declares War On Defense Spending

Filed under: Afghanistan,Finance,Military News — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 4:10 AM

   This seems to be the same rhetoric that every Defense Secretary dishes out, but this time I am going to speculate that there is something a little different about this time.  Saving pennies is now in the vocabulary of the leaders of this war, because they have no other choice.  There is just too much going on out there, for the sacred cow called defense spending to not be impacted.

   I kind of look at it like this.  If the US is part of this massive globalized economy, then things that happen in the global economy will impact the US economy.  A case in point is the Greek debt crisis.   The volcano in Iceland is another, as is the current recession in the US.  The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is another.  And of course the two wars we are fighting is costing us billions of dollars every year. Eventually all of that debt and chaos will catch up, and I am sure the administration has given the call to Secretary Gates that it is time to cinch up the belt.  Who knows what the conversations at the top entail, and all I can focus on right now is actions.

   Below I have posted three stories.  The first is how Gates’ new mission to curb spending will impact war plans.  If soldiers are costing a million a day in places like Afghanistan, then money for fancy new military equipment that is only marginally better than the current piece of equipment might be axed.  Actually, it will be axed and that is the whole point. Cost effective war fighting measures will come more into play, and the military will be asked to do more with less.  That is what happens when we go into ‘saving pennies’ mode.

   The next story is about the Greek debt crisis.  My question on this, is what will happen to the rest of Europe do to these issues?  And how that impacts the war effort, is if a country is in debt, then paying for troop deployments in the war might be a little much for the citizenry to stomach.  After all, if our Secretary of Defense is talking this kind of talk, what are the secretaries of defense of other countries saying, who are involved in this war?  Could we expect more last minute pull outs where vacuums are created that must be filled by either US troops or ….. contractors? Something to ponder I guess.

   The final story is about the cost of the war.  It is staggering, and the one figure I keep going back to is the cost per soldier for a year in Afghanistan.  $500,000 to a million for one soldier, for the year is a lot of money. –Matt

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Gates: Runaway Military Spending May Affect War Plans

May 8, 2010

ABILENE, Kansas (Reuters) – Defence Secretary Robert Gates told the U.S. military on Saturday it must rein in spending that he called out of sync with today’s tough economic times, and said budget woes could be a factor in deciding whether to use force against Iran and others.

Promising to play a hands-on role in wringing out savings, Gates held out the possibility of axing headquarters, merging whole agencies and culling the officer corps, taking on entrenched interests sure to put up a fight.

Sticker shock from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq also mean President Barack Obama and Congress may be more cautious about committing U.S. forces to another costly military engagement, he said.

“I do think that as we look to the future, particularly for the next couple of years or so while we’re in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think the Congress and the president would look long and hard at another military operation that would cost us $100 billion (67.6 billion pounds) a year,” Gates told reporters.

“If there’s a real threat out there, the president and Congress will spend whatever it takes to protect the nation. But in situations where there are real choices, I think this would be a factor,” he added.

Asked if Iran fell into the category where costs would be a factor in deciding whether to strike over its nuclear program, Gates said it was unclear. “It depends on developments over the next year or two,” he said.

Gates said his goal was to cut overhead in the Defence Department’s nearly $550 billion baseline budget between two to three percent, or $10 billion to $15 billion per year, starting in fiscal 2012. The savings would allow the Pentagon to sustain force levels and free up funds for modernization programs.

Without such savings, Gates said, “it is highly unlikely that we will achieve the real growth rates necessary to sustain the current force structure.”

(more…)

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