Friday, June 7, is National Doughnut Day, which I’m pretty sure is just something concocted by the Doughnut Lobby to get us to buy more doughnuts, but whatever. I love doughnuts. Here are three free doughnut options for you on this most sacred of days:
- Dunkin Donuts will give you a free doughnut with the purchase of a beverage.
- If you don’t want to shell out for a beverage, no problem. Krispy Kreme will give you a doughnut absolutely free of charge, no purchase necessary.
- You can also search here to see if any local bakeries are participating in National Doughnut Day.
Enjoy!
HOW TO PAY ZERO TAXES: I mentioned the Puerto Rico tax haven recently, but Forbes has some more great ideas:
– Look for companies paying dividends that qualify for the reduced tax rate. The category includes most U.S. corporations (but not real estate investment trusts) and a surprising number of foreign corporations.
– Claim the foreign tax credit. Example: The dividend yield on Total, the French oil company, is over 4% even after French withholding, which offsets your U.S. tax.
– Sell losers from your stock portfolio and let winners ride. Losses of up to $3,000 a year can shelter ordinary income.
–Defer Social Security and IRA distributions until age 70. Live off non-IRA assets.
– Once you pass 65, consider buying energy partnerships like Kinder Morgan and Enterprise Products. Their taxable income, low or nil in early years, rises sharply after a decade or two. But the deferred taxes are erased on inherited shares.
THE RATES THEY ARE A-RISIN’: 30-year fixed mortgage rates are the highest they’ve been in over a year, says Bloomberg:
Rates for a 30-year home loan rose to 3.91 percent in the week ended today, from 3.81 percent, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac said in a statement. That’s up from 3.35 percent at the start of May as the Federal Reserve signaled to bond investors it may scale back the stimulus that had driven borrowing costs to record lows, amid signs of continuing improvement in housing and the U.S. economy. The 15-year rate has increased to 3.03 percent from 2.56 percent at the start of last month.
Bankrate Inc., an interest-rate aggregator, said today that the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate has climbed to 4.1 percent, according to its weekly national survey.
The article suggests you might want to hurry up and conduct whatever real estate transaction you’re considering before rates go even higher:
“Have we seen the rock bottom for interest rates go past?” said Keith Gumbinger, vice president of HSH.com, a Riverdale, New Jersey-based mortgage information website. “That’s a pretty reasonable certainty. We are off the record lows. To get back to those record lows, we’d need to see a considerable slowdown in the economy.”
Maybe, though I’d stop short of calling it a reasonable certainty. After the turmoil of the past few weeks, it’s not hard to envision a scenario where the Japanese investment markets go to hell, likewise for Europe, and there’s a flight to (relative) safety as the dollar strengthens and interest rates get ridiculously low… for a short time, anyway. I’m not saying that’s going to happen, but it’s certainly possible. We shall see.
On a related note, John Mauldin thinks this is the year everything falls apart for Japan, and I’m inclined to agree. Take a look at his article and decide for yourself.
PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN AT PANERA: I began today’s letter with doughnuts, and I’m ending with pastries. That’s the magic of National Doughnut Day. Panera’s been testing a pay-what-you-can model on certain menu items in certain markets, and here’s an interesting snipped from the WSJ’s interview with CEO Ron Shaich:
WSJ: You operate five pay-what-you-can stores. How do they work?
Mr. Shaich: Opening the first Panera Cares store was a roller coaster of an experience. People came up to me and began talking about the fact that they had been customers for 5-10 years and had lost their jobs. And how appreciated it was. There were occasionally people who tried to beat it, or game it. So ultimately it was a test of human nature.
This year we’ll service over 1 million people in these cafes. And 20% of customers leave more than the suggested donation, 60% leave the suggested donation, and 20% leave what they can, but often significantly less.
Good for them, and good for you guys for not abusing this! Let’s just hope this doesn’t get posted on Flyertalk or Slickdeals…
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