The Federal government will give purchasers of a new, qualifying hybrid vehicle a tax credit if the vehicle was purchased or placed in service on or after January 1, 2006. A tax credit is subtracted directly from the total amount of federal tax owed, thus directly reducing or eliminating the tax you must pay.

Note that if you lease a vehicle, the leasing company gets the credit. The tax credit only applies to purchasers of qualifying vehicles.

To find out which vehicles qualify and the tax credit associated with them, go to the IRS website article “Hybrid Cars and Alternative Motor Vehicles”.

It’s a way to reduce your use of fossil fuels, save the environment and get a break from Uncle Sam all in one.

According to a statement released by the US Department of the Treasury, the economy is in a position to maintain moderate growth for the rest of 2006 based on economic indicators in the second quarter.

In his “Statement for The Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee of The Bond Market Association” (don’t try to say it three times fast) released on July 31,2006, Robert Stein, the Deputy Assistant for Macroeconomics states that the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) grew 3.5 percent despite some ups and downs. Unemployment was at 4.6%, the lowest quarterly rate since 2001 and over 1.8 million jobs have been added since last year.

Core inflation was at 2.6% but consumer prices were 4.3% over last June. Gasoline prices were up more than 33 percent with consumers looking at prices of more than $3 per gallon for gasoline. Energy prices are being blamed for the rise in inflation in the second quarter.

Despite a slowing since the robust 5.6% growth of the first quarter, the economy is expected to maintain an overall 3% growth for the rest of the year.

Is there a problem with Social Security in the USA? Here’s a little bit of advice :

By now you’ve probably already heard that Social Security is in a little bit of trouble. There’s probably no need to panic, but you should understand that the younger you are, the more different it will probably be. Who knows exactly what will happen?

Hopefully, you’ve also taken the time to figure out what you’ll do to pay for things in retirement. Because Social Security may not be there, here are a few alternatives:

1. Win the lottery
2. Inherit from your rich aunt who only loves you
3. Marry rich
4. Save a little money for yourself

Of all these options, marrying rich is probably the best choice. However, if you want to play the odds (and stay on your current spouse’s good side), you should probably start saving money.

Nobody is going to do it for you. All it takes is for you to make the decision to start saving and investing. This is not rocket science, so keep it simple. Here’s the secret formula:

1. Figure out how much you’ll need to save
2. Save that much
3. Invest it adequately — you don’t have to knock the cover off the ball
4. Enjoy the present — don’t stress to much about the future

Now, you have to do it yourself, but you don’t have to do it by yourself. What’s the difference? You have to actually decide to take action, and take the money out of your budget each month. However, you can get help on steps 1, 3, and 4 (you might even get help on step 2 from your employer!). The Web is full of financial calculators and financial advice — some of it is even good advice. You can also get help from financial advisors and folks who’ve been down the road before you.

You should be careful about who you listen to, because there is some bad advice out there. I heard a great way to help weed out bad economists (but I can’t remember who said it), and I think it’s relevant to financial advice as well. She said something along the lines of: The more famous a person is, and the more certain they seem to be, the more likely it is that they’re wrong. Avoid anybody who makes broad general statements on what you always or never need, and watch out for financial hype.

Quiz time : Any idea what the retirement age is in the U.S?

A) 55
B) 59 ½
C) 65
D) 67

Since you knew it was a trick, and I can’t type upside-down, this isn’t much fun. Anyway, the answer is none of the above. You can retire whenever you feel like it. The question is: can you afford to? If you want to retire today, go for it. Best of luck to you…

The numbers above look familiar, right? Where do they come from?

• Age 55 is sometimes the “retirement age” for 401k plans, where you can take money out of the Plan without tax penalties.
• Age 59.5 is the age at which you can start to take money from IRA’s and other accounts without penalty or restriction. There are ways, but it’s tricky.
• Age 65 is when some folks get full Social Security benefits
• Age 67 is when anybody born after 1960 gets full social security benefits

Based on where you will get your income from in retirement, these numbers might help you figure out what your retirement age is.