Steve Vanderwey

Happy 4th of July fromCornerstone Wealth Partners on Vimeo.

A fun video of Reagan joking about the democrats. Funny. Timeless.

There are terrific deals on real estate these days! I get calls every week from clients that want to “get in on the action.” I own rental properties and my membership in the RPOA (Rental Property Owners Association) has been the best thing I did since buying my first rental property! I have learned as much from the RPOA as I have from my own mistakes ( that’s a lot of education). Check them out at www.RPOAonline.org!

Making money in Real Estate Investing is not easy! It’s similar to opening a small business! However, if you get into it with the right expectations and manage the risk appropriately, it can be very rewarding!

The RPOA is hosting a terrific conference downtown this weekend. You can check out the specifics here.

If you gave a farmer a choice to pay taxes on his seed or on his harvest, what would you recommend he do? No doubt, you would recommend that he pay taxes on the much smaller amount of seed and receive the entire harvest tax free! The option between a Roth IRA and a traditional IRA are the same. A Roth IRA allows you to pay income taxes on the amount that you invest and allows the savings to grow tax free and it allows tax free withdrawals in retirement (age 59 ½)!

Dave Ramsey has called the Roth IRA the most tax friendly investment savings tool allowed by the IRS today! For 2010 only, you are allowed to convert traditional IRA savings to Roth IRA regardless of your income level! The 10% penalty would be waived. Taxes for the converted IRA savings can be paid 50% in the 2011 and 50% in the 2012 tax years.

Should you convert your savings? Contact your tax professional and discuss your options very soon. This opportunity will be over at the end of 2010. The individuals best suited for this opportunity will be those not needing to withdraw the money for at least 10yrs, will likely be in a higher tax bracket by the time they retire and have cash on hand to pay the income taxes for the conversion.

Call if you have questions. Time is running out.

I would not consider myself someone who generally appreciates art. However, the ArtPrize event in Grand Rapids excites me, and I both appreciate and like it very much! If you have not been to ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, you should make a point to come and check it out.

The event began when Rick DeVos offered a $250,000 prize to the artist with the best artwork as determined by the viewing public. Almost anyone can submit their artwork in the contest. The works of art are displayed all over Grand Rapids and the winner is determined by your vote and mine and thousands of other people at the event. This year there are 1700 entries and hundreds of thousands of viewers.

I like the variety in what is on display. I like that I can vote on the entries that interest me regardless of why I find them interesting. I like the economic benefits to Grand Rapids. I like to see the “free market” at work in the art community. I like how the success of the event depends on everyone (artists, voters, sponsors, businesses, municipalities, etc) coming together for their own self interest and benefiting the whole. I like that the free market works with art like it does with investments! I like ArtPrize!

Let me know some of your ArtPrize entries!

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