Why You Should Give Your Business Away This Year

I've got a couple of cheery topics for you today -- death and taxes.

Try to stay with me for a minute, though, because there's some really important news out that could help you hang onto your business and keep it in the family. You may know that the federal inheritance tax has been a political football for years -- it goes up, it goes down, the rules change with each administration and lately, with each and every year.

It happens that this year and next, the inheritance terms are pretty favorable. The top tax rate is 35 percent (it was 45 percent last year). Also, the business value exempt from tax is $5 million, up from $3.5 million.

After 2012, at the moment, the rules go back to much less favorable, pre-Bush-era rates: Only $1 million in exemption and the top tax rate is a whopping 55 percent. At least that's how it stands at the moment.

How does this news help you if you don't plan to leave this life in the next 23 months?

You can shrink the size of your estate while you're still around. Now's the time to consider giving away hunks of your business, while you're still alive. 

That can reduce the value of your estate in the future. And that ups the odds that your family business will be able to stay in the family, not sold off to pay a big tax bill. 

You can give interests in the business -- tax-free -- to family members of up to $13,000 in value annually, or $26,000 if you're a married couple and both agree to the transfer. You can retain majority interest in your business while reducing the value of your estate.

There's also a special provision that shrinks the value of the equity you gift to family members, based on the idea that their minority ownership doesn't give them much control of the business and isn't very marketable as an asset. So you may be able to give away a bigger chunk than you think, all tax-free.

Whatever you decide, work with a knowledgeable tax planner. With the endless uncertainty on what the estate-tax rates will be in the future, you'll need to plan carefully and possibly update your plans as rules change.

Will you give away part of your business this year? Let us know your estate plans.

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JetBlue attendant: I should have said ‘Time out’

In one fell swoop, he became a hero, a villain, an Internet meme and even a Halloween costume. But Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who dramatically quit his job last August by sliding down his plane’s emergency chute after a run-in with a passenger, says that looking back, he regrets his actions.

“At the end of the day, would I have chosen to make the same decisions again? Probably not,” he told Matt Lauer in an interview that aired on TODAY Wednesday.

“It was time to go — it was definitely time to go,” he said about his job. “I probably shouldn’t have allowed myself to get to a point where I had become so frustrated.”

Slater, who pled guilty last week to two counts of criminal mischief, spoke out in detail for the first time, sharing his take on what happened.

“There are a number of different versions of the story that I myself have read,” he told Lauer.

Indeed, the events of that day have been hotly contested. According to reports, Slater was working on a plane flying out of Pittsburgh on Aug. 9, and says that a rude passenger set him off. When the plane landed in New York City’s JFK airport, Slater got on the loudspeaker, cursed out the passenger, took a beer, deployed the emergency chute, jumped off of the plane and went home to his boyfriend in Queens, N.Y.

The infamous gash
Some passengers claim that Slater, 39, had been exhibiting bad behavior before the aircraft ever took off, and say that a mysterious bloody gash on his forehead — which he attributes to a knock on the head from a passenger grabbing her luggage from the overhead bin — was seen before he boarded the plane.

Video: Passenger: Slater was ‘rude’ before takeoff

“The injury happened on the ground in Pittsburgh during the boarding process,” Slater told Lauer, reiterating that the gash, along with the passenger’s attitude, incited him. "It was one of those perfect storms of bad manners and incivility that we’re all accountable for — myself, the fellow passengers, the airline industry that has created this monster where, you know, we’re charging you to check your bags and now all of a sudden we’re not going to bother policing what’s coming on board the airplane. Cops: Steven Slater burglarized by lover's brother Dress like Steven Slater, Snooki for Halloween Steven Slater: The most interesting man in the world? Flight attendant’s ex: ‘I do not believe he was rude’ Passenger: Slater was ‘rude’ before takeoff

“The decision that I made, which was probably not the best one at the time, was to continue with the flight,” Slater continued. “I should have said, ‘Time out; I’m going to have somebody take a look at this and I’ll be back.’ ”

But federal investigators who spoke with passengers aboard the flight were unable to find witnesses to corroborate Slater’s account.

Slater claims that the scuffle itself wasn’t actually a big deal and could have gone unnoticed. “I can tell you for one thing, it was not nearly as spectacular as it’s been made out to be,” he said. “It was not a huge event, or I would have left right then and there.”

Slater also says that reports alleging that he was drunk when he boarded the plane are untrue — but he concedes that he was a little the worse for wear.

“I had been out the night before. I will admit, I was not in the best of shape,” he said. “I was sleep-deprived, it was a rough night, and it was probably not the best professional appearance.”

Slater did have a lot on his mind going into the flight. A recovering alcoholic who is HIV-positive, Slater lost his father to Lou Gehrig’s disease and has been helping care for his sick mother.

“I was stressed out, I was burned out, and something had to give,” he said of his emotional state back in August. “It didn’t necessarily need to give the way that it did, but it certainly needed to give.”

Not looking to make a statement
A flight attendant for nearly 20 years, Slater denies media reports that he had been looking for an opportunity to leave his job with such fanfare, saying that his words were misinterpreted.

“That was something that was taken grossly out of context,” he said. “The conversation was, ‘Had you ever thought about what it entails to go down a slide?’ And I said, ‘Yes, for 20 years of recurrent training, we practice these moves … for 20 years, I’ve thought about what it would be like if we ever had to do so.’ It turned into, ‘Steven Slater premeditated this whole thing for 20 years.’ ”

Making fun of such allegations, Slater joked to Lauer: “If I were looking to get my name known, I would have called you up first and said, ‘There’s going to be something going down at JFK, get yourselves out here.’”

JetBlue attendant: I should have said ‘Time out’ “Would I have chosen to make the same decisions again? Probably not.” That's what the JetBlue flight attendant who quit his job in August by sliding down a plane’s emergency chute had to say about the incident in an interview that aired Wednesday.

Updated 75 minutes ago 10/27/2010 4:01:18 PM +00:00 Sheen leaves hospital after morning outburst ‘Weather bomb’ pounds Midwest Despite MS, Osmond nephew doesn’t sing the blues See cute Halloween pups on parade

Slater, who has been ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to JetBlue and attend counseling, did express his frustration with the airline industry, saying that leaving his job has been “a tremendous weight off my shoulders,” and adding that he wouldn’t want to work a flight again under current conditions in the airline industry.

Related: Bad behavior in the sky means trouble on the ground

“I would like to return to what it was, not what it is. And I’ve come to a place of acceptance that what it was is no longer available today,” he said. “I loved being a flight attendant. Unfortunately, today’s industry just isn’t really where I need to be.”

Many regarded Slater as a hero for everyday working people, relating to his frustration and the desire to make a memorable exit. A day after the incident made headlines, Slater had more than 160,000 new Facebook fans (he currently has more than 202,000) and provided great fodder for Internet memes and late-night comedians. Slater said he was surprised by the initial response, but that much of that was perpetuated by a “media-created two-dimensional image.”

Story: After rant, some see Steven Slater as a hero

“I’m thankful that people did get a laugh,” he said. “I didn’t, obviously, do this for comic relief, but I think it was a moment for people to pause and take a breath and say, ‘You know what, I get this.’ ”

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Google AdWords Hot Topics - Some Strategies You Should Know About

"How do you optimize your Google AdWords campaigns with the help of the best strategies?" This is perhaps what every advertiser on Google AdWords is asking themselves knowing that the best strategies could win them "big time". Of course there will always be those reliable basic things that make Google AdWords work for you and some of these you need to master in order to make it big in this type of marketing/advertising.

Remember that the strategies and bidding strategies are the ones that would ultimately bring you money from Google AdWords - a fact that many newcomers fail to recognize and end up pouring their money on their campaigns that give futile results.

But like any other venture, the main source of failure is the fact that one does not even know about the basic things about the whole system or process before jumping in.

So, let us go back to the basics and learn a few things that will equip you for your venture into Google AdWords. On top of the list is that before you even start the AdWords bidding strategies, you have to know about keyword research because the fact remains that if you do this very well you are on your way to hitting it off in AdWords.

Next you should be able to learn and try to master the things concerning the on-page and off-page Search Engine Optimization because with this you will ultimately gain maximum advantage. Knowing a lot about the AdWords tool in and out as well as the ability to monitor the campaign could also give you a competitive edge.

Just the same it is a rule of thumb that all who seek the benefits of Google AdWords should be able to know what CTR is and what the conversion rates are. It would really help a lot also if you understand to which ad syndication and how contextual content-based advertising really works.

One more "must have" for you is the ability to write excellent ad copy titles which, fortunately, you will get through with patience and practice. Now, this one is something that you should decide on taking on because it needs no monetary investment however only your willingness to learn through observation and experimentation.

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Should Online Article Submission Sites Have Categories For History - Hot Topic!

Most online article submission sites are frequented by online article marketers who use this venue to promote their online products, services, or consulting and coaching businesses. This makes sense and this strategy was alive and well almost since the first decade of the printing press. After all, if someone is an authority in their domain of knowledge they can write articles and thus, promote themselves. From the 1960s forward trade journals have often allowed articles printed in their publications by industry experts in trade for publicity.

Today, most of all this has gone online - oh sure, trade journals are allowing more expert contributions as filler due to cut backs in their writing staff because of recessions, but mostly this is really due to the decline of printed magazines giving way to the Internet. The problem I see is that the online article directories are filled with too much promotion and not enough substance. No, not all online article depositories are like this - there are some standouts.

Luckily, for the future of the Internet and the online reader some of the top directories have additional categories. And, it is this present progression that has me, as an online writer with some 20,000 articles online asking why there are so few directories with articles on History. After all, they say that "those who fail to study their history are doomed to repeat it!"

And with that said, I'd recommend the following categories be added to only the true-blue believers in the Internet as the greatest communication and learning device ever created. The following categories with regards to history that I recommend include:

Ancient Cultures
Archeology-Anthropology
Military History
US History
World History

Any top directory that is skeptical of adding such categories might put a "History" listing in Arts and Entertainment, Philosophy section, or in the Education and Reference section. And, any top directory worth its salt probably could search their data base and could easily prime it with 20-50 articles for each of those subheadings?

Anything that does not fit into a sub-heading could be just put into the main category of "history" such as the history of economics, industries, inventions, etc. And so this is my recommendation as an observer and studier of the online article venue. Please make a note of it.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic. http://www.WorldThinkTank.net. Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.