Public Holidays And Daylight Savings Time For The UK And USA 2011

Have you planned your calendar of events, conferences, workshops and known client meetings for 2011 yet?

If you are working across different geographic boundaries, it is an important part of your planning process to ensure that you are up to speed with the different time zones on a daily basis, and on an annual basis you need to map out the different pubic holidays and changes in Daylight Savings time. This will reduce the possibility of scheduling conflicts and will help you when organising your business trips.

Grow Calendar 2011

Good practice would be to have all your management meetings, telconference and video conference calls planned into the calendar at the beginning of the year to ensure your team and your colleagues are aware of any dates that are fixed and they need to plan around.

Here is the schedule of public holidays in the UK and the US for 2011, including the Daylight Savings Time date changes.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS 2011 - UK

1 January New Year's Day

3 January New Year's Day Holiday

22 April Good Friday

29 April Royal Wedding Bank Holiday

2 May Bank Holiday

30 May Spring Bank Holiday

12 July Bank Holiday (Northern Ireland)

29 August Bank Holiday

25 December Christmas Day

26 December Boxing Day

27 December Bank Holiday as Christmas Day is on a Sunday

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS 2011 - USA

1 January New Year's Day

17 January Martin Luther King Day

21 February Presidents Day

30 May Memorial Day

4 July Independence Day

5 September Labor Day

10 October Columbus Day

11 November Veterans Day

24 November Thanksgiving Day

25 December Christmas Day

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME 2011 - UK AND USA

USA and Canada 13 March 2011, 6 November 2011

UK 27 March 2011, 30 October 2011

Put together your resources for planning your global calendar into your planning file so that at the end of each year, you or a member of your team take the time to develop your plan for the year ahead.

Public Holidays And Daylight Savings Time For The UK And USA 2011

Grow Calendar 2011

IRA Retirement Plan Is The Easiest Way To Grow Your Retirement Savings

IRA is short for Individual Retirement Account.

IRA retirement plan is your personal savings plan that gives you income tax advantages on your saving money for your retirement.

Grow Calendar 2011

Eligibility

Any person can open and make contributions to an IRA, as long as you, or your spouse (if you file a joint return), receive taxable earned compensation during the year and you're not 70½ years old by the end of the year.

Your Contributions

You could invest up to the amounts allowed under the tax law. These investments are known as "contributions." An income tax deduction comes into effect for the tax year in which you contribute the funds.

Your contributions, plus the earnings and gains from these contributions, will accumulate tax-free until you withdraw the money from the account. You get to generate additional earnings, unreduced by taxes on these earnings, each year your funds remain in the IRA.

Catch-Up Contributions

If you're aged 50 and above, you can do "catch-up" contributions to let you balance out the advantages of increased contributions for younger persons. However, you must first make the maximum regular contribution to your IRA account.

Your Withdrawals

The withdrawals of the funds from IRAs are known as "distributions."

Generally, in the year you receive the distributions, you'll have to pay income tax on the amount.

As the prime objective of the IRA is to provide for your own retirement, there's a "disincentive" if you withdraw your funds prior to the retirement age (generally at age 59½). This "disincentive" is in the form of a tax "penalty" of 10 % of the distributions received by you prior to age 59½, provided certain exceptions apply.

The whole thing about this could be quite complicated; hence it's good for you to get professional advice should you want to withdraw significant amounts before age 59½. You could avoid the penalty with a proper planning.

However, once you reach age 59½, this penalty no longer applies to you.

On the other hand, if you don't withdraw your money soon enough, you'll face penalty as well.

Normally, you need to start taking money from your IRA no later than April 1 of the calendar year following the date you reach age 70½. The penalty is 50 % of the shortfall between what you should have withdrawn and the amounts you actually withdrew by the proper date.

Types of investments in IRA Retirement Plan

Almost all investments are technically eligible for inclusion in an IRA account, but some are more appropriate than others from your financial investment and/or tax perspective.

If You Leave Your Job

You've 60 days to roll over your distribution. The best way is to get your company write out a check to the IRA rollover account directly. This ensures that nothing is withheld in taxes, and is much cleaner.

Multiple IRA Accounts

You can have multiple IRA accounts at different institutions.

Fee Structure

Each IRA plan is different as each provides different services and benefits. Some are free, some charge per fund, others -60 per account. It's good that you check out what services each plan provide, before you decide on one.

IRA Retirement Plan Is The Easiest Way To Grow Your Retirement Savings

Grow Calendar 2011