The major consideration in leasing a car or not, is made by leasing company to be all about what monthly payment is going to be and how much extra it is going to cost you when you drive over 12,000 miles per year. Ever financed a used car from a “no credit check” dealer? He gets you for 36% interest on balance you borrow, after getting a 50% down payment from you. Then if you miss a payment he takes car and sues you for difference. Buy what you can afford in cash and save making lenders rich. I read a report once that said that average man makes $1,500,000 over his lifetime. Of that amount, he uses $600,000 to pay interest on his purchases. Let’s look at purchase of a home, from a slightly different point of view. A man who makes $1,500,000 in a lifetime will be earning on average about $30,000 a year or $2,500 per month.

He can afford to spend 40% of his income on rent or a mortgage payment. This means that he can afford a $150,000 house. If he can qualify for a 90% loan he would owe $135,000 at 8% amortized over 30 years. That means he pays $221,609.58 interest plus $150,000 principal to buy this one house and pay it off over 30 years. The interest alone is almost 15% of his lifetime earnings! Buying anything on credit can cost you more than retail price because you must add interest to cost of item.

My suggestion. Buy for cash and negotiate for best price you can get. If you must borrow, pay it off in as short a time possible. Also, never borrow for personal consumption. Postpone purchase long enough to pay cash. If you can’t afford to wait until you save money, you shouldn’t buy item. It is just too expensive. To buy on payments raises cost even higher than cash price, so it becomes even more expensive. So if you cannot afford cash price, you definitely cannot afford financed price. My suggestion is to pay cash and buy wholesale. BUY THE BEST, PAY CASH

The deadline for contributing to your IRA is April 15 of year AFTER year for which contribution made. (Boy, I'm starting to sound like a lawyer now, aren't I?)

In other words, for Year 2002, you have until April 15, 2003 to put money into your IRA.

If you've already invested maximum (more about that in a moment) by December 31, 2002, then you're done. No more money can go into IRA for 2002.

But when January 1 rolls around, if you haven't mixed out your IRA, you have until April 15 to do so.

Which brings me to . . .

BENEFIT #3: The Maximum Contribution Amounts Have Increased

For many years, most you could put into an IRA was $2,000. Now, maximum is $3,000 (assuming you have at least that much earned income from wages or self-employment income).

And if you are over 49, you can put in another $500, bringing total maximum to $3,500.

A married couple, both age 50 or older, can put a whopping $7,000 per year into a Roth IRA. Not too shabby, eh?

One final note about these Roth IRA rules: For married people, you can only contribute maximum of $3,000 or $3,500 if your combined income is less than $150,000.

If you are single or head of household, you can contribute maximum if your income is less than $95,000.

(I hate rules like that, don't you!)

For most middle-class folks looking for a perfectly legal way to permanently avoid tax (rather then merely temporarily postpone tax), Roth IRA fits bill!

Now comes hard part -- how to actually implement this tax avoidance strategy.

"Wayne", you say, "I'm getting close to retirement and so my wife and I are trying to save as much as we can for our golden years. But $7,000 a year? It's hard to put aside that kind of money. We need every dollar we make just to pay bills."

If that's your situation, I'm not going to get up on my "what-do-you-mean-you-can't-save-any-money-for-retirement" soapbox and start preaching at you.

I will say this: You've got to start somewhere, and you've got to start saving something -- right now!

Don't put off saving for retirement. The longer you wait, harder it gets to get started.

People who have a problem saving for retirement usually have a budgeting problem. And budgeting is beyond scope of this article.

For an excellent resource on budgeting, I highly recommend Budget Stretcher web site: http://www.homemoneyhelp.com.

This site offers a free budget system complete with simple forms and worksheets to help you figure out how to put some money aside for a Roth IRA or other savings plan.

Take advantage of this free resource!