Dear Terry,
What are the drawbacks of utilizing a low life of the balance APR offered by credit cards to buy a car? I have received multiple advertisements for credit cards with low introductory rates on purchases and low (3.99 percent to 4.99 percent) APRs for the life of the loan on balance transfers. Can these low APRs be used for car loans? Why use a 7 percent or 8 percent APR car loan when this type of option is available?
-- Larry

Dear Larry,
It sounds like a good deal but in practice using credit cards to buy cars is
raught with pitfalls. Most of these "low APR" credit card offers have a lot of loopholes. The introductory rate can rise after a few months and can hit 21

With the promise of cash back from Uncle Sam, homeowners last year flocked to home-improvement stores for products to make their residences more energy efficient. By adding insulation, installing new windows or converting to a solar water heater, the homeowners recouped part of the energy-saving upgrade costs via a tax credit.

But window film, a relatively easy fix that typically costs only a fraction of replacing a home's drafty old windows, was overlooked for most of 2006. The reason: Window tinting wasn't specifically mentioned as an eligible tax credit option under the Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005.

That changed late last year when the window film industry got word from

Once outside your home country as a non-resident and without visible assets, you pay no more taxes. Considerable thought to "doing it right" must go into the implementation. Lawyers and accountants want to keep you around forever paying their annual retainers. I try to get people off on their own, conducting their business affairs in complete privacy.

That is why I do not usually recommend setting up trusts, foundations, holding companies and any such structures requiring:

a) Involvement of others who really shouldn't know your business.

b) Unnecessary overhead, legal registration and annual tax charges.

Offshore corporations and such are mostly worthwhile only where an active business is involved and there is no better way to get a regular cash flow of royalties, commissions or interest out of a given country without paying withholding taxes. We regard setting up such legal entities only as a last resort. The exception to this is when you work with someone who lets you run the show, who does not want to get any signing powers or a say in your business and who shares our view that

The obvious answer is cash - high denomination notes, but remember, banks in the U.K. and Europe are under an obligation to inform the authorities of transactions in or out of an account of more than £10,000. (try several transactions of smaller amounts over a period of time?). If moving cash on your person, avoid a wallet - the mugger's friend; cash, credit cards, home address in one neat package. Keep it on you in a zipped or secure pocket. Don't wear expensive watches, jewellry; look ordinary. The reason for this report, though, is to look at other non cash methods that do not leave a paper-trail back to you.

MONEY ORDERS: Walk into your nearest American Express office, same as with cashiers cheques, and purchase a money order, then mail it to whoever or wherever you need to pay off. You do not need to show ID and the money order is made out on the spot. These money orders are available at a nominal charge in just about any country and are accepted for clearance by banks anywhere. They are also insured against loss if you keep the carbon copy. You will be asked for a name to be put on the money order when you buy it, but no ID is required.

INSTANT TRANSFERS: Western Union and Thomas Cook offer similar money transfers. How long it takes depends on how much you wish to pay. Western Union is located in all EU capitals and is busy signing up banks and businesses in the provinces. Its charges are steep but head offices are open 24 hours a day. You

Thank goodness for offshore financial centres which attract business by maintaining lower tax rates, fewer disclosure requirements, looser requirements or regulations than in the Western nations, where political pressures to tax wealth have created a restrictive environment for financial dealings. Generally speaking, tax havens are better places for your money to live rather than yourself personally, other than as an "official" domicile. These centres have always attracted investors and businesses wanting to avoid exchange controls or high tax rates. That is why holding companies with taxable profits are often located there. Offshore centres also attract banks, because bank depositors may also want secracy, or low tax rates.

A measure of political stability is essential. There is not much point in sending your money away from a 59% rate if 100% of it is then seized following a revolution. Unlikely, perhapes, but not impossible on a long term view. It is worth remembering that war-torn Lebanon was once regarded as a secure offshore centre. This is why the Carribean centres often have to make up in secracy what they may lack in stability, and why Switzerland, though less keen on secracy than it was, tries to make up for it with 700 years of relative calm.

The offshore tax and investment industry is central to the almost unimaginably vast world of multinational financial transaction. Consider the sheer size of the business accounts, in large part, for the 60 odd centres, many located in Europe or off its coasts. About half the world's financial transactions now take place

Asset allocation is a strategy, advocated by modern portfolio theory, for maximizing gains while minimizing risks in your investment portfolio. Specifically, asset allocation means dividing your assets among different broad categories of investments, including stocks, bonds, and cash equivalents.

Determining the asset allocation model - specifically the percentages of your portfolio allocated to each investment category - that's appropriate for you depends on many factors, such as how much time you have to invest, your tolerance for risk, and your investment goals.

For example, one investor might choose to invest 70% of her money in stock and stock mutual funds, 20% in bonds, 5% in REITs, and 5% in cash equivalents, while another might decide to split his money evenly between stocks and bonds only. These two portfolios will produce different returns, due partly to the difference in their asset allocation models. Ibbotson's research shows that, on average, 40% of the return difference between one portfolio and another is explained by the different asset allocations. So, if the first portfolio returns 5% more than the second, then on average about 2% of the difference (40% of 5%) is explained by the different asset allocations, while the remaining 3% difference (60% of 5%) is explained by security selection, timing, and fee differences.

Setting your asset allocation is the single most important decision you can make as an investor. (That is, once you've decided to invest at all!) That's because, on

After you determine your income tax liability you may be able to reduce that liability by claiming one or more tax credits. Most personal tax credits are allowed to the full extent of your regular tax liability and alternative minimum tax. But, it is important to note that they do not create a refund if they exceed your tax liability. Nonrefundable credits include the child tax credit, dependent care credit, adoption credit, education credits, retirement savings credit, credit for the elderly and disabled, mortgage interest credit, and D.C. first-time home buyer credit. Refundable credits include the additional child tax credit, the earned income credit, and the health coverage credit. If the credit exceeds your tax liability, you will receive a refund for the excess.

1 Child Tax Credit for Children Under Age 17

For 2006, you generally may claim a tax credit of $1,000 for each qualifying child who is under age 17 at the end of 2006. To figure the exact amount of your credit, however, you must complete the "Child Tax Credit Worksheet" in the IRS instructions to Form 1040 or 1040A to determine if the credit is limited by your tax liability. Even if the credit does exceed your tax liability, part or all of the credit may be refundable as an additional credit on Form 8812 if your earned income for 2006 exceeds $11,300 or you have three or more children.

Another day, another deal.

Thanks to online coupons, price-comparison search engines and reward memberships, savvy shoppers can pay less than full price on any day that ends in "y." But depending on what you're planning to buy, some days of the week may yield better bargains than others.

We talked to the experts, and narrowed down the best days of the week to buy certain items.

Airplane Tickets
When to Buy: Wednesday morning.
Why: "Most airfare sales are thrown out there on the weekend," says travel expert Peter Greenberg, a.k.a. The Travel Detective. Other airlines then jump