Warren Buffet is the richest man on the planet.

Ever heard the acronym WWWD? To the financial world it means What Would Warren Do. Who is Buffet only the world’s richest investor. He’s played second fiddle to his good friend Bill Gates as the #2 richest man for the last several years but this year it’s his turn to be the Head Honcho, number uno. With recession that’s a great feat. Riding the surging price of his Berkshire Hathaway stock, his fortune swollen to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago.

Buffet is not only motivation for getting into the Stock Market, I mean when it recovers of course but also for being a brilliant entrepreneur and philanthropist.

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It looks like I’ve had to add our fave protester to “The Tax Hall of Shame”, maybe I’m the only one that didn’t know Mr. Sharpton was a habitual tax offender. It seems Sharpton, his lawyers and the employees of his nonprofit group, the National Action Network, negotiated with the federal government over the size of his debt for more than a year. They offenders don’t deny they owe, it’s the amount of $1.5 million that’s in question. The group has also been trying to pay off tens of thousands of dollars, for failing to properly maintain workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance. Al just not handling his company business all across the board, and of course he hit them with the I didn’t know we was making that much excuse. Charlie King, the organization’s interim executive director, said Sharpton and the group were unprepared for their rise in stature in recent years and had trouble dealing with big jumps in donations and income. Riiiiight!

Not only do Al and company owe the IRS, but NY have their hands out too. The personal debts for Mr. Sharpton includes $365,558 owed in New York City income tax and $931,397 in unpaid federal income tax. His for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owes the state an additional $175,962 in delinquent taxes.

It seems Al has been investigated for tax related issues since the early 90’s and have gotten off, but the excuse of faulty record-keeping by his accountant, didn’t cut it this time. The company that’s causing all these headache for Al grew to little too fast for their accounting software, his civil-rights group has grown from a small outfit, with a few hundred thousand dollars in annual revenue, to an organization that routinely takes in $1 million to $2 million a year, thanks partly to corporate support. Donors have included Anheuser-Busch, which gave more than $100,000 last year, and Forest City Ratner, a real-estate development company that courted black leaders for support of a plan to build a National Basketball Association arena in Brooklyn. PepsiCo, for several years, gave Sharpton a compensated position on one of its advisory boards. Which is a whole nother post within in itself, one I’ll leave for the political bloggers to tackle. Why are corporations giving a non-profit civil rights organization millions in donations? This NON-PROFIT have also enjoyed financial support from the state’s top politicians. New York Gov. David Paterson has transferred at least $28,000 from his re-election committee to the National Action Network since 2001. Rep. Charles Rangel, a top Democrat in Congress, has been another major backer, giving at least $83,000. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has given $10,000.

In 1990, he was acquitted of tax fraud and charges that he stole from one of his charities. Than he pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a state return, only because the tax issues were causing havoc in his campaign for New York City Council president. I always wondered what the hell he did for a living? Cause I know you don’t make money for marching to Washington. Al is a hot mess no wander nobody really takes him serious!! So I guess if one of his sponsors get hit with a discrimination claim, he paid to keep it quite, That’s too funny!

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As posted here earlier the #1 earning couple is Hip Hop’s First Couple, Mr. & Mrs. Carter, earning $162 million. According to Forbes.com, who conducted their 1st annual ranking of Hollywood’s Top-Earning Couples, from June 1, 2007 and June 1, 2008 Jay-Z earned $82 million by signing a $150 million 10-year recording, touring and merchandising deal with concert promoter Live Nation and releasing his second platinum comeback CD, American Gangster. While Bey, raked in $80 million, thanks to an entertainment empire including fashion, film and publishing deals as well as a concert tour that sold $50 million in tickets and endorsement deals with L’Oréal, Direct TV and American Express, among others. So who says it’s better to marry for love than money, not me! Love don’t love nobody, but money sure looks like it can buy happiness to me

According to clinical psychologist and celebrity researcher Jim Houran, “Naturally, powerful people tend to gravitate toward other powerful people,” for reasons that range from proximity (stars hang around other stars) to familiarity (people are attracted, at least initially, to others like them) to clearer expectations (shared priorities make it easier for celebrities to relate). No matter how they get together, the results are good for the bottom line.

The others on the list didn’t do to bad either, with Hollywood’s First Couple, Mr. & Mrs. Smith coming in second earning $85 million. The common denominator that I love is these two ladies can hold their own alone but their spouse are the breadwinners and they don’t mind, letting him shine, love love that. Jada made $5 million thanks to roles as an actress (The Women), producer (The Human Contract) and businesswoman (a stake in beauty line Carol’s Daughter) but the billion dollar man, Will hauled in made $80 million thanks to I Am Legend, The Pursuit of Happyness and this past summer’s Hancock. Together the flicks banked $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office, making him Hollywood’s most bankable star.

And my third fave couple, who are BFF’s with The Smiths, The Beckham’s, share was $50 million, the soccer star made $7 million from his huge Los Angeles Galaxy contract, which includes cut from ticket sales, way to negotiate a contract with you know your worth, and merchandise and sponsorship revenues. He also pulled down a cool $35 million from lucrative endorsement deals with Motorola, Adidas and Pepsi. Posh’s, the ever so stylist fashionista, generated $8 million, thanks to her cut of a $23 million Spice Girls reunion tour and a slew of product lines, including sunglasses, perfume, couture clothing and her DVB jeans line.

The list consist of the top 20 couples, other fave of mine listed were:

#4 Faith Hill and Tim McGraw- Country Music’s First Couple – $35 million
#5 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie – #34 million, not a fave couple but they rounded out the top 5.

#9 Tony Parker and Eva Longoria – earned $22.5 million, I love this couple because they are so cute together and seem to be evenly matched when it comes to finances. He made $10.5 million last year playing for the San Antonio Spurs, which he supplemented with endorsement deals with Vitamin Water, FedEx, Nike, Electronic Arts and Kelloggs and she earned $9 million from her role on ABC’s Desperate Housewives and endorsement deals with L’Oréal, Bebe and Samsung.

#15 Seal and Heidi Klum – $15.5 million, Love Heidi, had to list her, it seems she’s the breadwinner but supports her hubby in everything he does, even when he told the world they would leave the US if McCain won the election. Yeah right with Heidi making $14 million here I’m sure he would have recanted that soon after. The model-turned-host/jewelry designer/pitch woman earned $14 million as host of Project Runway and Germany’s Next Top Model, through endorsement deals with McDonald’s, Diet Coke and Volkswagen and with her own lines of Victoria’s Secret undergarments and Jordache jeans. He earned $1.5 million from the release of his new album, System, and the accompanying tour.

#19: Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, looky looky, I guess taking off to have kids don’t pay as much, J. Lo is usually always at the top of these list. This year she and hubby, who we will be discussing later in our “Tax Hall of Shame” file, earned $11 million, rounding up the bottom. Latin’s First Couple, is headed by Jenny earning $7 million from the release of Brave, her sixth studio album, and a lucrative line of fragrances while Marc, made $4 million last year, as co-headliners in last year’s “En Concierto” tour.

#20: Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson – I had to list this couple, simply for their youth. It’s good to be focused and driven at a young age because you have time on your side and in the finance world it makes a big difference to start planning early. They totaled $9.5 million, as a mogul-in-training, Pete Wentz pulled $8 million through his record label Clandestine Industries, his stake in Angels & Kings nightclub and a combination of records sales and touring receipts as a member of the band Fall Out Boy. Jessica lil sis, earned $1.5 million from her latest album before canceling a tour to have the couples first child.

For the complete list, check out E!, Nov. 28 @ 8pm.

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Yeah it seems the gov-ment has updated its reach, and I thought the IRS was way behind the times! Paypal sent email to certain account holders that the gov-ment had requested information from there account and of course they was obliging them, there is no way the paypal people are withholding info from the IRS for anybody. I’m not sure if this is really a surprise because most paypal accounts are connected to a bank account and we already know the IRS will place a lien on them in a minute , remember “The Pursuit of Happiness”, just when things are going good, they strike. But it seems with credit or debit cards the situation is different, it seems many tax evaders access their money through credit cards and the gov-ment have no way of knowing their identity, they have the account information but doesn’t know who’s access the account, funny!

The recipients of the email may have thought is was a spoof since scheming emails from Paypal scammers are common, but in 2006 the gov-ment won approval from a FED court to request account information from American taxpayers with bank accounts, credit and / or debit cards issued from foreign countries, these are havens for individuals trying to hide money in offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes. The IRS is hoping Paypal can help identify these cardholders, to collect taxes.

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Well it looks like the King of Publicity is at it again, Diddy Combs has released his newest fragrance, ” I Am King” and it he’s marketing it to all those Obama supporters that he told to “Vote or Die”. I know he feels he earned the right to market a product after the man he supported so vocally. The ads for kinda HOT! He told The Wall Street Journal, “When you see Barack Obama, you see a strong, elegant black man and when people see my ad, it’s almost like that’s the trend.” Since it’s a well known fact that The Didster is so in love with himself, of course people thought and got offended that he was calling himself a “King” so he shifted the blame to our Pres elect and said it was a reflection of him. With the expectation of this fragrance netting $100 million globally in the first year, Diddy could care less about what naysayers think, he’s been quoted as saying, “I believe in positive affirmations”, “If I say, ‘I am not going to succeed, I’m a loser,’ then that’s what I am going to be. If we say we’re kings and we say we’re queens, that’s what we’re going to be. It has nothing to do with being arrogant.” Of course, “I Am Queen” will be following shortly.

$100M, in a year, well damn, I keep forgetting just how much star power this dude has, he’s over the top and that’s what people love and hate about him.

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With the historic election of Barack Obama has come elation and inspiration, hope and expectation. We all truly believe a much needed change is coming, but for some( those with major cash flow) that change will hit their pockets harder than they want and deals are being made to get out of paying higher taxes. It seems both the NFL and MLB are making tax plans for their income prior to Jan.20, under Barack’s tax plan, those with income above $250K, the tax rate would go from the current 35% to 39.6%, the same amount as with Pres. Clinton administration.

Tax planning helps in these situations because money received in 2008 will be protected at the 35 percent level. So agents, athletes and owners alike are trying to push as much of their money as possible into this tax year. With baseball, who’s minimum salary will be $400K a year, they will definitely get hit with a higher tax, so to offset the taxes, they are asking for more in signing bonuses, which is crazy because they are taxed too.

The NFL are taking the same stance, the owners of Steelers, who’s been trying to sell their portion of the team, once Obama’s was elected the brothers got into high gear with drawing up a contract. Their father, late Art Rooney Sr. bought the football franchise in 1933 for $2,500 and now its estimated worth is, $800 million to $1.2 billion. With that kind of return on an investment should you really be that considered with the tax effect, I guess it easy for me to say since I’m not in that situation. But the tax would be around $312M under OBama and $280M under the current Bush administration.

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Oh the season has ended for one of my fave shows, “The Real Housewives”, I’ve loved this show since the beginning with the OC Girls, who are back next week to pick up where the Atlanta drama left off. The drama I can do without, I think it makes good TV but the fabulosity of these women are the best. But as the show ended last night for the ATL Housewives I just really wanted to give kudos to the husbands of these ladies.

Since the beginning of time black women have had to give their all to everyone but themselves, these ladies are apart of strong family units and have some Strong Blacks dudes backingthem 100% and I love it. The biggest complaints I’ve heard about the ATL show is that these ladies are golddiggers and using their husbands money for self-profit. Which is crazy to me, when did taking what you have and making more from it become bad, it called Hustling. It’s all about the hustle and Bravo did a great job, by showing exactly how much each of these ladies have going for themselves, they showed loving and concerned wives, dedicated and supportive mothers and beautiful women doing it while taking care of themselves and trying to accomplish their dreams.

From the very beginning their husbands have been nothing but supportive, encouraging and great listeners, for whenever these girls needed them, so for once let’s look at their bios and give them their credit, because for me they’ve dispelled some of the myths about black couples.

Y’all know I’mma sucka for a strong black man

Eric Snow – According to some basketball salary stats, Snow has earned $43,911,350 over the course of his 13 year career. Deshawn has stated several times that he’s fully trusted her with their finances and let her do as she see fits. His stand out moment on the show was when, Deshawn throw an over the top gala for her foundation trying to raise $1,000,000, spending a large sum and it failed. Eric was there the day after not to tell her I told you so or throw up what could’ve, should’ve or would’ve but to help her see her mistakes and how to make it better, next time. Loved that!

Greg Leakes – Sorry folks I don’t have the numbers on Mr. Leakes, he’s listed as a Real Estate Mogul, but his shining moment on the show occurred last night when he stepped up and brought calm to the atmosphere, just before Nene his wife was about to cut one of them bishes with her butter knife. He has always let Nene express herself and be there to listen when it came back to bite her. His support of her foundation, the hat he modeled for the cause was HOT, is commendable.

Ed Hartwell – According to sportsgamer.com, In 2005, Hartwell signed a 4 year $26.24 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons that includes an $8 million signing bonus. He was released in 2007 due to injures. His shining moment was when he stepped in to take care of Lisa who was pretty much bedridden with a cold. She’s known to be a workaholic, Ed put her to bed, fed her his homemade Chicken Soup, and maintained the house and business duties until she was back on her feet. Loved it! He got a little more sexy at that moment.

I intentionally left off Kim’s significant other, because the show is ATL Housewives, not Mistresses. I mean, WTF? Bravo should have done better background work on that one. Look at what their doing to Bill before Hillary becomes apart of Obama’s team. Yeah Bravo definitely dropped the ball!

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With everyone and their mama getting reality shows these days, it seems some can be purposeful and have a lasting effect not only for the star but for those featured as well. Last week Keisha Cole’s show, “The Way It Is” aired on BET for the 3rd season and it was a smash hit, A total of 1.4 million households and 1.94 million viewers tuned in. The season premiere scored a 10% increase from last seasons show, solidifying “The Way It Is” as the #1 original series show on BET’s all time. Which means big bucks in advertising. Go Kesh!
It’s kinda difficult to weight the monetary effect of reality shows, because the issue of money isn’t disclosed from either party, the TV Networks or the Celebs, probably because they want us to believe it’s truly reality and if people are being paid to be on TV than that would definitely take away from the edge and make them actors. But whatever we know they get money, looking at them before and after it’s obvious, we just don’t know how much. If not coming from the networks, some have said they do pay small amounts and pay for trips and such, but with album sells, book deals, other acting gigs and spokesmodel campaigns from the followings they build on these shows, they prosper BIG!

It seems Keisha was destined for success even without this show, she’s dedicated to her career (she proved that by dropping Jeezy and all his baggage), determined to change her past ( by forgiving her birth mom ), she’s persistent (with the magazine ads, it seems she’s everywhere you look) and extremely blessed with a God-given talent, all of which can equal “Success”. Her first experience with the music industry began at 12, when she recorded with MC Hammer. In 2005, she released a platinum-debut album, “The Way It Is” and followed in 2007 with a second platinum release of “Just Like You”. She’s branching out into entrepreneurial trades as well, with hair care ads, modeling and much more, she’s an inspiring women, check out her show tonight at 10pm on BET of course.

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Seems singer Melissa Etheridge, who’s in a gay marriage and has two kids with her spouse or partner, was so pissed at the Prop 8, Ban on Gay Marriage that she swore to not pay more than $500,000 in taxes to the state of California. Voters in California, Florida and Arizona all agreed that they do not want same sex marriages to be legal in their states, and it seems the gay and straight community alike at not happy, check out her interview on Oprah. Since election day, a historic event for some, voters were progressive in electing an African American president but went back to being conservative with the Prop 8.

Proposition 8, The California Marriage Protection Act’, was a controversial California ballot initiative seeking to ban gay unions, after rallying so boldly around Barack Obama and cheering his victory, stars like Melissa Etheridge, Ellen Degeneres and Wanda Sykes were shocked to know that their fellow citizens don’t approve of their choice to marry, or did they? There’s been talk that the language used for the proposal was way too confusing and voting no actually meant yes and voting yes actually meant no.

This has been an ongoing issue for years, and with the prop passing by such a close margin, 51%, the gay community has been protesting, boycotting and screaming their dismay to anyone that will listen. Supporters have been coming out of the woodwork, donating as much as $100K to continue this fight. In March 2000, 61 percent of voters approved a measure similar to Proposition 8, but it did not go so far as to rewrite the state’s constitution, which the new initiative does.

There was a surprising support for this proposition by black voters up to 70% backed the Prop., most feel this is more of a moral issue than a racial one. Supporters noted the irony of Barack Obama voters backing a ballot measure some consider discriminatory, but the African American community that supported the ballot felt, marriage is defined as a man and woman and this shouldn’t be changed.

It seems these days everything political or not is affected by our economy downturn, since so much was millions spent on advertising and promos for and against this vote, businesses that supported the issue are being targeted, a Texas theater chain whose CEO contributed almost $10,000 to the cause and L.A.’s El Coyote Mexican Café, where a manager gave $100. Of course business owners feel the protesting is unfair and it creates a harassing and intimidating environment.

So the fight continues… Oh I’m I the only one that didn’t know Wanda Sykes was gay?

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With all the issues surrounding banks these days the question has arised, is it better to have an account with a bank, the institution we all looked at as a safe haven for our money, or just go to a cash checking facilities, pay the higher fee and hold your own money? I read an article in the NY Times this weekend that shed some a little more light on this issue. For the last two years I’ve partnered with a check cashing facility, to cash tax return checks for my clients mostly because I found out most that’s where they going anyway and figured I could get them a better deal, so I contacted the owner and he hooks them up for mere cents on the dollar. Most have or have had a bank account they still feel more comfortable with check cashers. The impression I get from customers and the article is that banks are crooks and eventhough they say there are no fees, there really are fees, they’re just hidden and come to bite when you least expect it. For instances, the overdraft fees, check fees, check writing fees, atm fees, too many withdrawal fees, credit card fees and the monthly maintanance fee, I mean WTF? How could they even fixed their mouth for all those years telling us it was free, BASTARDS. It seems the more people become aware of the tactics, thats when banks start to make changes. Before, they would charge to open an account, you had to deposit $100, I know several that open accounts with no money deposit. Then you had to maintain a minimum of $500 – $1000 to not be charged a $15 fee each month. So the argument goes, yes check cashers charge more, some people pay as much as 5% of the check, a recent Brookings Institution study calculated this could add up to be $40,000 in fees over a customer’s working life, at least they’re upfront and you know what you’re paying, how much and why. There are no gimmicks or schemes. You know like, holding a check for 7 – 10 days before you can get your money, the same money you needed it like yesterday. Or paying $35 per overdraft for like 10 purchases because you were short $.01 on one check that made all the others short, banks made $25 billion, there’s that billion again , in 2006 on overdraft fees, almost more than 50% more than they made two years prior. But they lost triple that on subprime mortgage loans, bad business practices always come back to bite you. And let’s not even get into the credit card fees, that’s another post but with check casher it’s none of that.

There are other issues with check cashers that I’m a little iffy on and is one of the reason I didn’t get into that business when given the opportunity a year or so ago. Most check cashers also offer small payday loans, their version of credit, these two -or-four week cash advances against a post dated check, have extremely high interest rates and require a bank account. I know people that are held hostage to these loans and don’t realize just how much it’s costing them. They become trapped and are working to make the minimum pay, once made they have to keep going back each pay period, it’s been stated the average borrower, gets seven loans a year, with interest fees as much as 312%. In 2006 a ban was placed on military personnel, it’s illegal to provide them with short term loans, because it was undercovered that they were they biggest borrows and inturn the gov-ment was paying these enormous fees. So it’s ok to rip off everyday citizens just not the military, funny. It seems people feel credit cards are unattainable and even if so more trouble than they’re worth, credit card debt adds up and lingers for years, while you can pay off a payday loan at least within months.

With more than 28 million people without bank accounts and the banking industy being somewhat exposed do to our economic troubles I don’t think check cashers are going away, it’s a $100 billion a year industry. Banks grossly underestimated the potential in working with low to moderate income communities, by not offering short term loans, credit cards, customer friendly atmosphere, why is it always so dark and dingy in banks? and even some financial training on maintaining a healthy account. They risked alot more in stocks and subprime mortgage and now are trying to dig themselves out of a hole, well making us (the taxpayers) dig them out with that $700 billion bailout BASTARDS.

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