Ten Ways to Invest Tax Free

 

For the moment, taxes on portfolios are modest. The federal rate is 15% on most dividends and on long-term capital gains. Come 2013, though, the rates shoot up.

Without a law change, the maximum federal tax on interest, dividends and short-term gains will go to 44.6%. That consists of a 39.6% stated rate, the 1.2% cost of a deduction clawback and a 3.8% surtax to pay for health care. The max for long gains will be 25% (but 23% for assets held for more than five years). Add state taxes to all of these.

What’s an investor to do? Take defensive measures. Here are ten ways to pocket investment income without paying tax on it.

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Set up a kiddie Roth

osha.gov

Did your daughter earn $4,000 last summer that she needs for college? Were you going to leave her at least $4,000 in your will? Start your bequest now. Hand her $4,000 that she can use to fund a Roth IRA. Tell her not to touch it until she is 60.

She’ll get 40 years of tax-free compounding. (At 7% a year, this would turn $4,000 into $60,000.) You’ll get money out of your estate, probably saving on state inheritance taxes.

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Buy an MLP

Master limited partnerships that own energy assets like pipelines tend to pay pretty good dividends (in the neighborhood of 5%). Those dividends, at least initially, are largely sheltered by depreciation deductions. The quarterly cash, that is, is considered a nontaxable “return of capital.”

After a decade or two this tax shelter is exhausted, but if you die owning these shares your heirs get to start the process over with a new, higher tax basis. There’s more on MLP taxation here.

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Go Ugma

Use the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (a.k.a. Uniform Transfers to Minors Act) to set up a brokerage account for your son or daughter. The first $950 of annual income is free of tax; the next $950 is taxed in the kid’s low bracket.

The downside is that at age 18 Junior takes ownership and might not spend the money on college, as you intend. So fund the account modestly­—$30,000 is plenty—and concentrate the holdings on investments that (a) generate a lot of taxable income and (b) are compelling additions to the overall family portfolio. The idea is to make full use of that $1,900-a-year shelter while parting with a small amount of capital.

Here are several examples of investments that make sense in a diversified portfolio and that spew out a lot of ordinary income:

–exchange traded funds that hold a lot of Ginnie Maes and the like (MBB) or the whole bond market (BND).

–the ETF for junk bonds (JNK).

–high-yielding blue chips like Verizon, AT&T and Pfizer.

–preferred stocks.

Two cautions. (1) To avoid gift tax wrinkles, limit each year’s contribution to $26,000 per child ($13,000 if you are single). (2) Don’t set up Ugmas if you think your kid will qualify for college financial aid. Any assets in the kid’s name will be snatched by aid officers.

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Open a 529

A Section 529 plan lets you accumulate investment income tax free, provided the proceeds are used on schooling. Drawback: Sometimes stiff fees erase the income tax saving.

The account is likely to be a good idea where the costs are low (as in Utah) or there’s a break on state income tax for parents chipping money in (as in New York).

As with Ugmas, 529s are not a good idea for families likely to get tuition assistance.

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Own commercial real estate

As long as your building doesn’t have too much of a mortgage, depreciation deductions will make a good chunk of your rental income free of current income tax. There’s more on the economics of these dealshere.

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Own muni bonds

Interest on the general obligations of state and local governments is free of federal income tax. In most states you also get a pass on state income tax for home-state bonds. Caution: Some states are in financial trouble. Check out the Forbes Moocher Ratio before buying.

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Give away stock profits

You put $3,000 into Netflix, wait at least a year, then give away the shares to charity when they’re worth $8,000. You get a deduction for the whole $8,000. Your $5,000 gain is never taxed.

Two other ways to shelter appreciated property from capital gain taxation: leave it in your estate, or give it to a low-bracket relative.

Bequeathed property benefits from a step-up, meaning that gains unrealized by an owner at the time of his death permanently escape income taxation.

Low bracket taxpayers (people who would be in a 25% or lower bracket if all their capital gain were taxed as ordinary income) get a free ride on long-term capital gains. But if the donee is a son or daughter 18 or younger (23 if in school), beware the kiddie tax, which applies to investment income over $1,900 a year.

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Capture losses

When the market is down, swap out of losing positions into similar but not identical ones. For example, you could exit an S&P 500 index fund and immediately buy the Vanguard Megacap Index Fund. In this fashion, you can run up a capital loss carryforward that will make future capital gains tax free. For more on loss harvesting, go here.

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Buy a safe

thesafewarehouse.com

If your $400 investment saves you $45 a year in safe deposit box fees, you’ve got an 11% yield, tax free. The only exception on the tax side would be if you are one of those rare birds in a position to deduct miscellaneous items like the rental on a strongbox to hold your gold coins. Miscellaneous deductions are usable only to the extent they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income; not many taxpayers get anywhere near this threshold.

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Be a cheapskate investor

Are you paying someone 1.5% a year to have your assets managed? Cut this cost in half by haggling. A dollar saved in this fashion is a dollar earned free of tax, unless you are claiming miscellaneous deductions, which is unlikely.

Best Car Insurance Companies

 

Knowing you have selected a good car insurance company is peace of mind you will want to have before you get in an accident, have your car stolen, or encounter any number of situations that involve you having to make a claim. You don't want to find out too late that your car insurance provider isn't up to par.

This list contains the top 3 best auto insurance companies based on affordability, value of services, and responsiveness. Because, after all, what good is having a rock bottom rate if you don't get enough in return or can't get the help you need when you need it.

Geico

“I love GEICO, they have EXCELLENT customer service!!! They are always great, they’re always so personal, they are always there to help all day and night and weekends and you don’t have to worry about someone being on vacation or sick because there’s always more and great agents there to help. Plus they work with other outside companies and you can get discounts other places just for being with them. I just wanted to say I think GEICO is worth calling and getting a quote if you don’t already have a policy.”

“I love Geico. I’ve tried them all in this one is the best for sure! Go Geico! My only real issue with them is they are a call center which means no local agents like state farm which also equals less small biz development for the community but as far as a provider they’re awesome!”

“Switched from Allstate after 24 1/2 year and Saved $600.00 every 6 months. Was paying $1298 and now $698. 10 and now I’m switching home insurance also. Thank You GEICO for SAVING me $1200 a year on my AUTO.”

 

Esurance

 

 

“I was tired of my insurance payments going up and up and up, so thought it was time to start shopping for new insurance. I had tried over the Internet before but hadn’t a clue what I was doing, so I just gave up. I had my previous insurance elsewhere and came to find out I was paying way, way too much. I am saving $750. 00 a year by switching to Esurance! I could not believe it! I immediately started the process of switching, and I am now a new Esurance customer and a very happy one! Today, I received my policy and cards via email just as promised and am glad I switched!”

“This is a good one, I had tried many but this is best.”

“Great prices compared to everyone else.”

Allstate

“Immediate accident forgiveness and real agents-not lizards nor 800 numbers.”

“I received a quote within minutes online and it was much lower than Geico, Progressive, State Farm, Nationwide and Safeco auto insurance companies. With the promise to keep me insured with their "no insurance hike up when getting into an accident", I will definitely continue to be an Allstate customer. I believe that I am in better hands than all the rest.”

“Allstate is the best!”

Eminem’s Super Bowl Ad For Chrysler Had CEO Worried

The most memorable ad during Sunday’s Super Bowl — Chrysler’s two-minute spot featuring rap star Eminem — was a gut-wrenching decision for the carmaker’s chief executive Sergio Marchionne.

“This was not an easy choice…apart from the money involved…and this is pretty expensive stuff, but you know, the choice of the topic, the choice of the characters in the thing were not easy choices. I had to think about this really long and hard,” Marchionne said. Why? I asked him. “You know, I love Eminem but …I also know that some of the choices of language that he has made are things that are not what I would consider to be commonly shared,” he said, trying to be delicate about the rapper’s hard-core lyrics and profanity.

 

Eminem’s Super Bowl Ad For Chrysler

But the Italian-born Marchionne, who grew up in Canada and spent two years living across the river from Detroit, in Windsor, Ontario (Canada’s car capital), understands the gritty determination of the Motor City better than any politician in Washington or talk show host in Los Angeles or New York. The ad, he believes, addresses the lingering prejudices against domestic cars and the companies that produce them. “A lot of people are underestimating what happened here,” he said, a reference to the hell-and-back bankruptcy and restructuring of the U.S. auto industry. “The great thing about this country, it has the ability to learn.”

Eminem, one of Detroit’s most famous residents, gets it, Marchionne said. “He represents part of America that I think is important as hell. I think it’s at the heart of what we are.” OK, not everyone likes the rapper’s music, Marchionne conceded, “but a lot of what he is is us, you know? I mean there’s sort of a seriousness about that kid that is – I call him a kid. I mean, he’s not a kid anymore – which is true of us. The fact that we’re coming out of nowhere, right? …A lot of people last year asked us, you know, are you still going to be here in 12 months? The only thing that held back the execution squad from shooting Chrysler was me.”

And so Marchionne, whose Fiat Autos stepped in to run Chrysler after it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, decided to tell the world, on the biggest night of television, that Chrysler is not only still alive, but proudly turning itself around. In the past year, Chrysler has introduced 16 new or significantly upgraded vehicles that have managed to turn the minds of even the toughest automotive reviewers, many of whom have said they are surprised at how much Chrysler vehicles have improved in such a short time.

Marchionne kept the contents of the ad a secret even from his own management team until a meeting last Monday when he showed it to them in the conference room across the hall from his office, where a framed Dodge poster offers the rallying cry, “Give a shit.” Some of his execs were almost moved to tears, he said. “I think we blew them away. I don’t think that anybody expected this.”

The spot by Wieden+Kennedy is the first two-minute Super Bowl commercial in history, which is notable in itself. But aside from the cute Darth Vader kid in the Volkswagen ad, nothing from the eight other car brands (or from Bridgestone, CarMax or cars.com, for that matter) who advertised during the big game could touch Chrysler’s goosebump-inducing message.

The ad shows gritty, everyday pictures of Detroit and Detroiters, as the voiceover says: “I got a question for you. What does this city know about luxury, huh? What does a town that’s been to hell and back know about the finer things in life? Well I’ll tell ya, more than most. You see, it’s the hottest fires that make the hardest steel. Add hard work and conviction and a know-how that runs generations deep in every last one of us. That’s who we are. That’s our story. Now it’s probably not the one you been reading in the papers. The one written by folks who’ve never even been here, and don’t know what we’re capable of. Because when it comes to luxury it’s as much about where it’s from as who it’s for. Now we’re from America. But this isn’t New York City. Or the Windy City. Or Sin City. And we’re certainly no one’s Emerald City.” At that point, Eminem drives up  in front of Detroit’s historic Fox Theatre in a new Chrysler 200. Inside, he walks on stage where a gospel choir is singing, and then turns to the camera with that serious, almost angry look of his and says, “This is the Motor City. This is what we do.” It’s followed by Chrysler’s new tagline, “Imported from Detroit.”

Chrysler’s marketing chief Olivier Francois, says the new tagline was intended to convey the message that you don’t have to cross an ocean to obtain luxury; it’s available right here. The brand chose Eminem and his song “Lose Yourself,”  Francois says, “because the lyrics tell us we all have the ability to do anything we set our mind to and that failure is not an option.” At Chrysler, he said, failure is not an option.

I got a sneak peek of the ad a week ago when I sat down with Marchionne to talk about the progress Chrysler is making and the difficult challenges that still lie ahead. In the middle of our conversation, he stopped and swore me to secrecy–it turns out Eminem hadn’t approved the ad yet. Then he pulled a USB flash drive out of his jeans pocket and plugged it into the laptop on the conference room table. With a few keystrokes, he projected the ad on the giant screen at the far end of the room. Other than Chrysler’s management team, which had seen it for the first time a few hours earlier that day, I was the first person to view it.

I, too, was blown away by the imagery and the message. As a transplanted East Coaster who made Detroit my adopted hometown 25 years ago, I can say with confidence: This is exactly how Detroiters feel. And since its airing during Sunday night’s game, it’s the only thing people in Detroit are talking about today.

What about outside Detroit? Will it change any of the negative perceptions about domestic cars or erase any of the hostility toward Chrysler and General Motors after their taxpayer bailouts? That remains to be seen. If so, I think GM ought to pay royalties to Chrysler.

But here’s my biggest problem with the ad: It chose to highlight the new Chrysler 200 in an ad that talks about the perception of luxury. The Chrysler 200 is a replacement for the Chrysler Sebring, a car that never was and (even with a new name) never will be mistaken for a luxury car. Priced at $20,000 to $25,000, it competes in the thick of one of the most cutthroat segments of the market: mid-sized sedans. At least now, with the vast improvements to the car, including a new interior, engine and suspension, it can get in the game.

Perhaps Chrysler knew it would be a stretch for people to consider the 200 a luxury car. Maybe all the company can hope for is that Americans stop trash-talking their own country’s cars. That must be why it’s including this line in other ads: “A car you don’t have to own to be proud of.”

Selling pride is fine. But if Chrysler is going to survive, it has to sell cars.

Here’s How John Paulson Made $5 Billion Last Year

The secret to the spectacular returns  Paulson  and his employees  reported for 2010 is due to their keeping  much of their money- $14.9 billion or 42% of the total assets under management($35 billion)– in the funds. That’s called putting your money to work alongside your clients. That $14.9 billion commitment is revealed in Paulson’s yearend letter to investors.

Some of Paulson’s personal share  in his funds must come from reinvesting the $4 billion he made going short against the subprime mortgage bubble in 2007.

The Paulson funds  made gross gains in 2010 of $8.4 billion before fees.  So, 42% (their share)  of  the $8.4 billion meant $3.5 billion in gains for Paulson and his employees.

Add to that a 2% fee on $20 billion of capital from investors– $400 million– and then the 20% fee on the total profits made adds another $1.7 billion to the pot shared by Paulson and his team.

By my figuring then, the total take comes to roughly $6 billion before  taxes.

Overall, the fund’s strategy made a transition during the year from a short equity bias  with a focus on being long distressed securities to a long equity event focus, according to Paulson’s yearend letter.

This growing  bullishness on the stock market  is due to  Paulson’s careful  tracking of  the equity risk premium measured by J.P. Morgan; the difference between the yield on equities and the yield on bonds. At present, the yield on stocks,  the obverse of the price-earnings multiple, is 7-8%– while the yield on 10 year treasuries is only 3.34%.  In this comparison the potential return on stocks is double the return on bonds.

Paulson  is a buyer of stocks because he sees the equity risk premium in the market as “the highest it has been in over 50 years., indicating to us that equities are due to rise as the current economic environment is by no means the most challenging it has been in 50 years,” he wrote in his yearend letter which was posted Friday on the internet.

Last year, for example, Paulson made a 43% return  or over $1 billion on Citigroup– buying shares at $3.20 a share and selling them for $4.60 a share later in the year.

The Paulson Gold Fund was up over 35% on the year, as positions in Anglo Gold, Osisko and GLD, the giant gold ETF all paid off bigtime. Paulson is optimistic that gold will outperform for the next 5 years and is “the ideal vehicle to hedge against the risk of the U.S. dollar.”

The funds held $20 billion in 40 different distressed situations where most of the companies have “repaired their capital structures.”

He also sold off positions in major banks like Bank of America, and went long Anadarko, the oil and natural gas producer.

Paulson’s hedge fund has piled up gains of 26 billion since inception in 1994– 3rd biggest killing of all hedge funds. Quantum Endowment Fund, begun by George Soros in 1973,  has racked up $32 billion in net gains. Renaissance Medallion Fund, founded in 1982 by James Simons, has delivered net gains of $28 billion.

He  expects all his funds “to outperform in 2011.”

Top 10 Most Expensive Yachts in the World 2010

Traveling with yacht is the rich hobbies. Yacht is equipped with full of luxury facilities. The wealth in the world is trying to make their yacht as beautiful as possible, hence it makes the yacht become most expensive yacht in the world in term of price. There’s a lot of facilities in the most expensive yacht in this list. You can find various of luxury thing there that vary from luxurious interior, helicopter with its helipad, swimming pool even there’s submarine and artificial beach on the expensive yacht. Let’s take a look at the most expensive yachts in detail one by one
10. Tatoosh: $100 million
Tatoosh is 301-foot Yacht owned by Paul Allen, the Co-founder. You can also see below that He also own Octopus. What’s the facility inside? You can mention own theatre, swimming pool, Helipad that available for 2 helicopters and you can also see lobster tank that will be available to serve food for entire passenger. It’s quite complete to call this a luxury mega yacht right?

 Tatoosh

9. Annaliesse: $103 million
More than 50 persons can be loaded easily on Annaliesse that has 280-foot length in 15 staterooms. This mega yacht can spoil the passenger with full service of Spa, Salon, Children play even library and 100-inch screen Movie Theater . The main stateroom has its own panoramic windows with king-size bed.

 Annaliesse

8. Alysia: $116 million
Alysia is 290-foot luxury charter yacht owned by Andreas Liveras, a Greek Businessman. This yacht has a master stateroom that equipped with private deck, jacuzzi and King size bed. This yacht has five decks and was constructed by Neorion Ship-yard in 2006. You can also make underwater escape with a pair of “scuba scooters” on this yacht.

 Alysia

7. Ecstasea: $129 million
This yacht was one of the “toys” of Roman Abramovich, Chelsea owner, before sold in June 2009 to an unknown American. Ecstasea is 250 foot mega yacht that built with Asian style interior design along with bamboo furniture by Terence Disdale and De Voogt Naval Architects. The yacht itself was built in 2004 by the famous shipyard of Royal Van Lent. You can find disco, sauna and Turkish bath here. You may arrive on the yacht by a helicopter as this yacht has retractable helipad.

 Ecstasea

6. Pelorus: $130 million
Pelorus is another yacht of Roman Abramovic. It’s 337 feet and 3 inches in length. It was built for Saudi Businessman by the Lürssen yard in Bremen, Germany with the design by Tim Heywood and was launched in 2003. After owned by Roman, the yacht was refitted by adding helipad, zero speed stabilizers and other additional feature. The yacht is full of toys like jet skis and wave runners with up to 46 crews that will serve the guests.

 Pelorus

5. Octopus: $200 million
Octopus is another mega yacht owned by Paul Allen. It’s 416 foot yacht with 40 crew that ready to serve. The ships are also a “garage” of 7 smallers boats, two helicopters and 10 person submarine. Octopus was built by the German shipbuilders Lürssen in Bremen and HDW in Kiel and designed by Jonathan Quinn Barnett from Seattle.

 Octopus

4. Rising Sun: $200 Million
This yacht was designed by the late Jon Bannenberg. Rising Sun was built by Germany’s Lürssen. It’s co-owned by Larry Elisson of Oracle and David Geffen. It’s 453 feet with lot of facilities. You can mention luxury facilities such as Onyx countertops,Jacuzzi bathrooms, A gymnasium/spa and sauna,An extensive wine cellar, A private cinema with a giant plasma screen. Totally it has 82 rooms.

 Rising Sun

3. Lady Moura: $210 million
Lady Moura was built in 1990 by Blohm + Voss, Germany with the order from the current owner Prince Nasser al-Rashid. The yacht is very large that it have some trouble to enter some harbor like Monte Carlo. The yacht itself has 60 crews. The yacht has a pool with retractable roof. The special feature is that this ship has mock of beachfront complete with sand and palm.

 Lady Moura

2. Dubai: $350 Million
Dubai is formerly known as “Panhandle” and “Platinum”. The yacht is currently owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of the Emirate of Dubai and the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates. This yacht is 524 ft and 10 inches (162 m) long. The interior of the yacht designed by Philippe Starck. This yacht can host 115 guests with 88 crews. It has large pool, squash court, helipad and small aircraft hanger.

 Dubai

1. Eclipse: $1.2 Billion
Eclipse was launched on June 12th, 2009. It’s a mega yacht owned by Romah Abramovich. It’s 528 feet (164 meters) and become the world’s largest private yacht. Eclipse has 2 helicopter pads, 11 guest cabins and 2 swimming pools. It also has several hot tubs and disco hall. You can find 3 launch boats and mini submarine that can submerging to 50 meters. The yacht is operated by 70 crew members. This yacht was constructed by Blohm + Voss in Hamburg, Germany. It’s fitted with intruder detection systems and a German-built missile defense system. It’s also reported to be equipped with an anti-paparazzi shield in the form of lasers that sweep the surroundings, and when they detect a CCD. It’s such a luxury yacht with high technology inside.

 Eclipse

Do you want to own the most expensive yacht in the world? I guess you should prepare enough money not just for buying it but also for its maintenance and insurance.

Top 10 Most Expensive Houses in the World 2010

House maybe one of the most expensive things people buy during their lifetime. Building expensive, big and beautiful house is everyone’s dream. The richest persons in the world do the same thing. They buy the most expensive house in the world or build it. House is not just for a place to live. But more than that It’s an investment. Most expensive house can be resold for more price when the owner need some money. So let’s take a look at these most expensive houses in the world that simply can make you get lost inside because of their size.

10. Dracula’s Castle, Romania: $ 135 million

Dracula’s Castle seems like a bad name but It’s actually a Romanian castle. The castle became a museum during 1980s. The owner of the castle, Archduke Dominic put up the castle for sale. He request for 80 million dollars. No one want to take the deal for that amount. Again, he want to sale 2 years ago for undisclosed price. But There’s no news that it have sold till now. This amazing house, though named as a castle has 57 rooms, 17 bedrooms and unique and beautiful antique furniture.

 Dracula's Castle

9. Uptown Court, Windlesham, Surrey, UK: $139 million

This amazing house built on 58 acre land in the Windlesham neighborhood. This huge structure offers 103 rooms with all facility you can imagine as a rich person. There’s a private cinemas in the north part of the house as well as bowling alley for recreation of the owner. You can find horse barn, squash and tennis courts in case you want to get some refreshing with sport. You can find a marble drive away as well that wait you every morning with a parking lot that large enough to park up to 8 limousines.

Uptown Court, Windlesham, Surrey

8. “The Manor,” Los Angeles, US: $150 million

This house was built in 1991 with French Chateau style. This house has 5248 square meters of room area with more than 4.6 hectares total house area. It’s also the biggest house with the private ownership in the Los Angeles County. The main house is located at the end of long road and well protected with security system. You can find bowling alley, humidity controlled silver warehouse, tennis courts, 2 swimming pools, and luxurious woman beauty care such as beauty salon in the attic and a spa. You can find several garden as well like 18th century style gardens,roof gardens and orange gardens. This house has a parking lot that large enough to park up to 100 cars. You can also find private cinemas on this luxury house.

The Manor, Los Angeles

7. “The Pinnacle,” Montana, US: $155 million

This ski Lodge is the largest property in the exclusive private ski and golf community “Yellowstone Club”. You can get a conclusions that this become the owner’s home. Yes, It’s true. It’s the home of Tim and Edra Blixseth. It’s not that big compared to other house in this list with only 10 bedrooms. What’s the facility can be found here? You can find the heated flooring system that stretched throughout the house, fireplace in all bathrooms, a huge wine cellar, indoor and outdoor pool as well as gym and massage room.

The Pinnacle Montana

6. Franchuk Villa, Kensington, UK: $161 million

This expensive house is located in Belgravia, Central London. It’s six floors property with 20 foot ceilings, lavish equipment and more than 21,000 square ft of rooms to live. This house currently owned by developer from Lebanon, Musa Salem, and It’s now on sale and become the most expensive house on the market now. The house was bought by Mr Salem from the Grosvenor Estate. The home has a Victorian style with many luxury amenities such as swimming pool in the basement, gym, private home theater, large garage space and news room.

Franchuk Villa Kensington

5. Hearst Mansion, Beverly Hills, US: $165 million

This Luxurious home that located on Beverly Hills is formerly the prestigious home of the U.S. newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. The house has 6 separate residence, three swimming pools, eight fireplace, tennis courts, night club and 29 bedrooms. Those facility is spread in 6 hectares area in the famous platinum triangle neighborhood in Beverly Hills. This renowned house was purchased by Leonard Ross, a lawyer and investor in 1976 that wanted a change of lifestyle. If you own this house you become the close neighbor of Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and David and Victoria Beckham.

Hearst Mansion, Beverly Hills

4. Fairfield Pond, The Hamptons, US : $170 million

This large home is the home of Ira Rennert. It has 63 acres area and become the largest residential compound in the US. The house has 29 bedrooms, 39 bathrooms, 5 tennis courts, bowling alley, large dining room (91 feet long), and you can find $150,000 hot tub as well. This is a beachfront home is completely use for private house. People was hard to believe for the first time that this house is not used for hotel, spa or retreat place.

Fairfield Pond The Hamptons

3. The Penthouse, London, UK: $200 million

This apartment that located in Hyde Park will become the most expensive flat in the world at the price of £6,000 per sq/ft. This apartment is guarded with top level security system. You can find many feature of security here such as panic room, bulletproof window, iris scanner, and you can find a tunnel to the nearby area of Mandarin hotel. You can see the communal spas, squash courts and you can find amazing wine tasting rooms here. Of Course this apartment will be served 24 hours by the staffs.

The Penthouse London

2. Villa Leopolda, Cote D’Azur, France: $506 million

This luxury renowned villa was built on 29,000 square ft area in Riviera, French. It’s renowned for built in the open menicured garden and swimming pools. The villa has 11 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms. This villa is having the best beachfront in the south of France. This villa was built for King Leopold from Belgic and was later bought by Edmund Safra. Now the building is the house of the wife of the late Edmund Safra, Lily Safra though it was rumored to be sold to Bill Gates, Gianni Agnelli and undisclosed Russian Tycoon.

Villa Leopolda Cote D'Azur France

1. Antilla, Mumbai, India: $1 billion

This modern gorgeous structure is called Antilla. It’s a 27 floors building with 40,000 sq ft tower owned by the CEO of Mumbai based Petrochemical Giant Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani. The building is 570 ft tall and will have 400,000 square feet of interior space. For the parking alone, the building dedicate 6 stories because Ambani has around 168 cars collection. You can see nine elevators with lot of lounge and personal gym in each floor. The house is serving by 600 servant. You can imagine how luxurious this house. Looks like this amazing house will hold the record of world’s most expensive house for a long time as it’s far more expensive from the second most expensive house in the world.

Antilla, Mumbai, India

wish that all readers can buy one of those most expensive house in the world during your lifetime !

The Logo Evolution of 15 Corporate Brands

As we already know that Logo is the identities that are fundamental to building a brand and communicating with the target audience. Probably you have seen most of these logos everywhere, but have you ever wondered about their evolution, their background? Did you know that Apple original logo was Isaac Newton under an apple tree or have you ever wonder where the Mercedes-Benz Brand And The Three-Pointed Star logo came from? Below we listed 15 Corporate Brand Logo Evolution with their fascinating stories.

 

It is one of the biggest consumer electronics and Software Company, best known for products like Macintosh, iPod and iphone. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne had together setup Apple in 1976, to sell their hand-built computer Apple I. They had offered their product to HP first but were declined by them. I think HP would still be regretting this today.
The road to success wasn't easy for Apple, and Wayne liquidated his share in the company for a mere $ 800. After the launch of Apple II in 1977, things started to look up for Apple and we all know what heights the company has reached since then.
Apple II was successful mainly because it had colored graphics. Great and simple design, has always been the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for Apple, and their logo is no exception. When Apple was started, the logo was a complicated picture of Isaac Newton sitting under a tree. This had been designed by Jobs and Wayne, with the inscription: "Newton ... A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought ... Alone." Frankly, I don't think it was just a coincidence that Apple had slow sales during this period.
However, Steve Jobs hired Rob Janoff to simplify the logo, which turned out to be a great idea. Rob created the ‘Rainbow Apple' which was the logo for company till 1998. There are many rumors as to why Rob had chosen to create such a logo. One of them says that the Apple was a tribute to Newton (discovery of gravity from an Apple), and since the USP for Apple at that time was colored graphics, it had the rainbow colors. Another explanation exists that the bitten apple pays homage to the Mathematician Alan Turing, who committed suicide by eating an apple he had laced with cyanide. Turing is regarded as the father of computers. The rainbow colors of the logo are rumored to be a reference to the rainbow flag, as homage to Turing's homosexuality.
Janoff, however, said in an interview that though he was mindful of the "byte/bite" pun (Apple's slogan back then: "Byte into an Apple"), he designed the logo as such to "prevent the apple from looking like a cherry tomato."
When Apple launched the new iMac in 1998, they changed their logo to a monochromatic apple logo, almost identical to the rainbow logo. Now, the Apple logo comes with nice gradient chrome silver design. It is one of the most recognized brand symbols in the world today, and the shape is what identifies the company more than the color.

Audi is a German brand which produces cars and is a part of the Volkswagen Group. The company was founded as A. Horch & Cie by August Horch in 1899, and its origin has a very interesting story. August Horch, a German Engineer, was forced out of his own company in 1909, after which he continued to use the old brand name of Horch. However, his partner sued him for trademark infringement, and Horch was forced to look for a new name.
After this the company was named as Audiwerke GmbH in 1910. In 1932, four car makers Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer merged to form Auto Union. The four interlinked rings that would later become the modern Audi logo, was originally the logo of the Auto Union. Initially the Auto Union logo was used only for racing cars and the four companies continued to produce cars under their own brands. Finally in 1985, the Auto Union became the Audi company we know today.
in 2009, Audi introduced new logo which is also the current one. The modern Audi logo shows a three-dimensional texture and shadowing, resulting in a polished chrome look. The Audi name is now smaller, has moved away from the center to the bottom left corner, while the font has changed as well.

The company had always wanted a global perspective, and the logos reflected the same as early as 1934. A specialized advertising designer had created the logo which included typeface never seen before in Europe or North America.
The first camera launched by the company in 1934, was named as Kwanon, after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The logo included the wordings and a picture of the goddess with 1000 arms and flames.
As the years went by, like all other logos we have seen above, the company strived to make the logo as simple and memorable as possible. The logo had only been trademarked in 1935, and after that a lot of designing work went into making the logo more balanced. After 1956, the logo hasn't been changed, but the designing effort is clearly visible in their simple but classic logo.

Henry Ford used to work for Thomas Edison. He founded two companies before settling on Ford. His first company went bankrupt after just two years, and he left the second company after just one year. However, the second company became Cadillac later on. His third company, founded in 1902, was called Ford & Malcomson, Ltd.
He was unable to pay the bills for parts in his third company, but some investors agreed to put money in the company, and it was renamed as Ford Motor Co. This is the company name in the first logo of 1903. The 1909 logo, which has a similar font as today's logo was borrowed from Childe Harold Wills, who had made this font for his business card.
In 1912, the Ford logo was given a complete makeover, as compared to the earlier simplistic design. When a car was launched in 1927, called Model A, the famous blue oval was introduced in the logo. This was the shape and color, on which all future Ford logos have been made.
The company has experimented with different shape going from ellipse to circle, and even a diamond like shape in 1957. The 1976 logo was essentially, the last major change in the symbol, and is very similar to their current logo. Finally, in 2003, the company released a new logo, which came to be known as "Centennial Blue Oval".

As you would observe from the logos above that IBM was earlier known as The International Time Recording Company (ITR), whose major products were mechanical time recorders, invented and patented by Willard L. Bundy in 1888. So in the earlier periods the logo of the company had ITR inscribed on it. Later in 1911, ITR was merged with the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, which is why you will see that both ITR and CTR are there in the 1911 logo.
In 1924, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company adapted the name International Business Machines Corporation. The ornate, rococo letters that formed the "CTR" logo were replaced by the words "Business Machines" in more contemporary sans-sarif type, and in a form intended to suggest a globe, girdled by the word "International." In 1947, IBM decided to drop the globe from its logo, which was by then quite familiar amongst the people. The logo was not the only change in 1947; it was accompanied by a change in business from the punched-card tabulating business to computers. The typeface of this logo was called Beton Bold.
In 1956, before Thomas J. Watson, Sr died he appointed Tom Watson, Jr. as the CEO. Tom Watson, Jr. decided to project the beginning of a new era in the company, for that he changed the company's logo as well as the actions. Paul Rand designed the new logo which represented that the changes in the company would be subtle and will not disrupt the continuity. Also, the new logo looked more solid, grounded and balanced.
Another change in the logo was designed by Paul Rand which had stripes instead of the solid font. It depicted ‘speed and dynamism'. Since, then the logo has more or less remained the same, and the design has been recognized and replicated all over the world.

Interestingly, Kodak was the first company to integrate its name and looks into one symbol in 1907. After 1935, Kodak predominantly used yellow and red colors and the complete name of the company. First time the Kodak name was completely written in the logo in 1935, which began the use of yellow and red colors as well.
In 1960, they tried to show a flip page as a logo, but was changed to a box and graphic "K" element in 1971. I think the logo in 1971 was quite trendy, but it might have been a little complex. Retaining the 1971 concept, there was a slight variation in the font in 1987. The new font looked contemporary.
Again, like other companies, Kodak decided to simplify their logo in 1996, and removed the boxes. The red color gives a more brighter and structured feel of the company. In 2006, again a slight variation was made in the logo with a rounded ‘a' and ‘d', to give a contemporary look.

Mercedes Benz

The Mercedes-Benz was formed by the merger of two car companies – DMG (Daimler-Motored-Gesellschaft, founded by Gottlieb Daimler) and Benz & Cie, founded by Karl Benz. Both the companies were similar in their work and were situated in close proximity.
It was after the World War I, when the German economy was shattered, that both these companies decided to from a syndicate in 1924, and then finally merge in 1926, called Diamler-Benz.
In 1902, the logo for Mercedes was nothing more than the simple company name. However, it was changed to a 3 pointed star in 1909. The origin of this star came from a postcard by Diamler, where he had drawn a 3 pointed star which represented ‘making vehicles in land water and sky'.
After 1926, a new symbol for Mercedes-Benz came into picture, where the original logo of both the companies was merged into one. It combined the 3 pointed star of Mercedes and the laurel wreath of Benz.
Over the years, the symbol has been improved vastly in design and simplicity. It has been recognized as a symbol representing luxury and top tier cars.

Microsoft

The Microsoft story began in 1975, when Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen coded the first computer language for a PC and named it BASIC. Soon they named their partnership as Micro-Soft which explains the first logo of the company.
They changed the logo in that year itself and dropped the hyphen too. For the next 12 years, the logo had a distinctive O. The employees called this as "Blibbet". It is said that at that time, the Microsoft cafeteria even had a double cheeseburger named ""Blibbet Burger".
When a new logo came on in 1987, there was a campaign within the company to "Save the Blibbet". But, this couldn't stop the company from adopting a new logo. The logo designed by Scott Baker, came to be known as "the Pacman logo" due to the distinctive cut in the O.
In 1994, they integrated their tagline ‘Where do you want to go today?' within the logo. This was widely mocked and the company kept trying different taglines like People Ready, Start Something, Making it Easier etc.
The new 2008 logo has all the text in Italics (including the tagline), but the look of the logo has remained pretty much the same. Basically, the company is so well renowned already, that I don't think the logo needs to change, since people already recognize and connect with it worldwide.

Mozilla Firefox

An open source web browser, created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross, was first of all named as Phoenix, which is visible in their first logo in 2002. Due to some trademark issues, the name had to be changed to Firebird, but the name was chosen so that they would be able to retain the same logo.
Unfortunately, this name also had trademark issues because of existing software. Then, they finally got lucky and chose the name Firefox, which has become one of the favorite and most used browser worldwide. In 2003, the now famous logo was designed by professional interface designer John Hicks.
The logo depicted a Firefox engulfing the whole world, which also signifies the global reach that the company strived for. There has been a minor change in the logo since then, with the colors of the continents using a lighter blue color, just to differentiate them better from the oceans.

Nike

Nike probably got the best deal amongst all companies when Caroline Davidson designed its logo for just $35 in 1971. The main part of the logo hasn't really changed with time. However, I don't understand why they waited for 7 years before they realized that the text and the swoosh were overlapping each other.
As the brand gained recognition, the company name was dropped from the logo, which made it more simplistic and memorable. The company has different variations of this logo for its various departments like Skate, Soccer etc.

Nokia

‘Nokia' in Finnish means means a dark, furry animal we now call the Pine Marten weasel. However, this has little to do with the current business and brand image. The origin of the company name, can rather be attributed to the setting up of the wood pulp mill (set up by Knut Fredrik Idestam), on the banks of Nokianvirta river in the town of Nokia.
The Nokia Corporation was formed as a merger of Finnish Rubber Works (which also used a Nokia brand), the Nokia Wood Mill, and the Finnish Cable Works in 1967. The company has sold a variety of products in the past including television, shoes, car tires and others. The evolution and the meaning of the logo is unclear due to the changing business over the years.

Pepsi

Today, one of the biggest soft drinks company, was first started by Caleb Bradham in 1890's. Initially named as Brad's drink the name was quickly changed to Pepsi-Cola, which is visible in the first 1898 logo. Finally in 1903, the name was trademarked and hasn't been changed till date.
In the early years, Brad made custom logos for the brand as it became more famous. In 1933, the company was bought by Loft, Inc. The company changed the bottle size from 6 to 12 oz. and came up with the ‘Refreshing and Healthful' logo.
However, the major breakthrough in the Pepsi logo design came in 1940's. Walter Mack, the CEO of Pepsi came up with the idea of a new bottle design, with a crown having the Pepsi logo. The ‘Pepsi Globe' emerged when USA was in WWII, and to support the country's war efforts, Pepsi had a blue, red and white logo.
This logo became hugely popular, and went on to be the identifier for the company. As a result, in 1950 and 1962, this bottle cap with the swirling blue and red became prominent in the company logo. During the 1960's when it became even more popular, the script was changed from the curly red, and the main attraction was on the bottle cap in the logo.
We see the first appearance of the Pepsi Globe instead of the bottle cap in 1973. The typeface was made smaller so as to fit in the globe. The Pepsi Globe was "boxed in", with a red bar coming in from the left and a light-blue bar coming in from the right.
In 1991, the typeface was moved from inside the globe. The red bar was lengthened and the typeface came on the top of the globe. In 1998, the white background in the logo was replaced by the blue color, which also resulted in dropping the red horizontal band. The globe now had 3D graphic and larger than earlier versions. It might be that since, Pepsi and the globe touch each other for the first time in the logo, the name ‘the Pepsi Globe' was given to the logo.
After 1998, it seems that Pepsi had decided to give the globe more prominence than the script itself. So, the globe came on top of the script in 2003, and in their current logo they have done away with the script altogether.

Shell

Back in 1900, when the company was started the logo was a realistic and simple shell which lies flat on the ground. This was a pectin or scallop shell, but today the company has a logo which is bold, colorful and much more simplistic.
The evolution of the logo began after 1915, when rendering enabled the company to reproduce its identity easily. This is visible in the 1930 logo for the company. When the company started a project in California, it added the red and yellow colors to the symbol. The colors help Shell to stand out. Additionally, these are the colors of Spain, where many Californian settlers were born, which might have helped the company to create an emotional bond with the people.
With the advent of internet and fax machines over the later years, it became necessary for the company to simplify their logo, which would prevent it from being distorted in small images. The 1971 logo designed by Raymond Loewy is very simple as compared to the earlier logos.
This has helped the company because this logo is more memorable and recognizable, accountable to the simplicity of the logo. The 1971 logo is still used by the company albeit with minor changes, but it has become so recognizable that it often appears without the company name now.

Wal-Mart

The company has tried out various colors and variation of the word Walmart over the years. In 1962, when Sam Walton started, the company, the logo had simply the word spelled in a very basic design.
The logo was changed in 1964, when a hyphen was added and the color was also changed from blue to black. This came to be known as the "Frontier Font Logo". The 1968 logo shown here is the discount city logo, which was mainly used for uniforms, in-store signing etc, but it was never used to advertise or even in annual reports. The 1981 logo changed the curly font to a more solid font, giving the company a more stable, established and balanced look. The hyphen in this logo was replaced by the star in 1992, and the familiar blue color of the logo returned for the first time after the company's inception.
Walmart is probably one of the few companies, who have tried so many logos, but their current logo is more like the original logo, other than any other intermediate logo. The font differs a little from the original and is indeed more stylish, but the ‘Walmart' word without a break appears for the first time after 1962. They have kept the star from 1992, but moved it to the end.
Xerox

The Xerox Company used to be known as the Haloid Company almost 100 years ago. But in 1938, Chester Carlson invented a technique called xerography which we today call the photocopy technique. Unfortunately no one was willing to invest in his invention, and many big giants like IBM, GE, RCA and others decided not to finance this invention.
But Haloid Company decided to go with Chester and made the first photocopying machine named Haloid Xerox 14. As can be seen in their logos, the original Haloid word which was prominent in the company's logo before 1961 was completely replaced by Xerox due to the immense success of this idea.
They retained almost the same logo from 1961 to 2004. But in 2004 there was a problem with the Xerox books and it tried to reinvent itself with a new logo. People associate the company only with photocopy machines, and that has been a major problem for Xerox.
The company changed its logo in 2008 to get away from this stereotyped image, by changing the font of the word. They also added a ball which has a stylish X instead of their ‘boring' X in earlier times According to Anne M. Mulcahy, Xerox's chief, that little piece of art represents the connection to customers, partners, industry and innovation.

Planning Credit Loans

It is extremely important that you plan things out before applying for credit loans. A lot of people who take an auto loan or any other loan do the mistake of running straight into the loan process. Smart planning is required to secure yourself from the delayed payments, high loan rates or high processing fees.

 Lack of proper planning can make matters worse. Review your credit score once before you apply for a loan. There might be errors in the data which you never noticed earlier. Even a slight improvement in the score can help you a long way in securing some good interest rates. It can even reduce the amount that you have to pay as down payment.

Make all your payments on time at least six months prior to applying for the loan. This will create a healthy image on your credit score. It will also create an impression in the eyes of the lenders that you are turning credit worthy and that the bad credit history might be a thing of the past. And of course this will help you secure better interest rates.

Do not make the mistake of signing up straight away when you get a deal which seems to be the best for you. You need to get the quotes from at least 4 to 5 lenders so that you can compare the rates. Though the rates might not differ by a huge margin but the service might. All that you have to do then is select the one which you feel is best from the multiple quotes offered to you. You will receive some good tips and advice from the broker on the loan terms and the lender.