Offshore Merchant Account: Offshore Merchant Account - 

Was it just me or did the Badgers seem a little unfocused and unprepared for their bowl game? Perhaps it's the long layoff between their last regular season game and the contest on January 1. It was a sort of a fun game to watch, even if it was rather sloppily played. And we love it when a coach gambles and the play works, but when it doesn't we go, "what the heck did you do that for?" And with Coach Bielema going for the touchdown on 4th down instead of the fieldgoal that would have pulled his team within 1 point in the fourth quarter, he's facing some of that criticism now. More>>

Otsego County Treasurer Myrna Thayne said Wednesday it will take about a week to draft a final fiscal plan incorporating all of the changes. She said she did not have updated figures on the overall budget, the projected property-tax levy or the tax rate.

"We don't even know," Thayne said.

The board is expected to get a final draft Dec. 5, and a public hearing is scheduled for Dec. 6.

The chairman of the Board of Representatives said there was no support for recommendations from a private firm to shift money from a contingency fund to offset the tax levy, which was projected to be an 11 percent decrease from the 2007 revised budget. More>>

Natalie Michalek: Val you have a good start. Millionaire is kind of like Dr. Evil in Austin Powers though – it doesn't mean as much anymore. The more appropriate question is if you are savings enough to support your desired lifestyle when you stop earning income. With your current savings of 20 percent of gross income, you are living at a reasonable level, but is that your desired goal when you are married with three kids? If you keep up the current level of savings, then there should be no problem reaching your goals.

W.C. in Allen, via e-mail: I recently heard about a tax-minimizing strategy where you try to balance the following retirement investment categories: pre-tax accounts (401(k), IRA), post-tax accounts (Roth 401(k), Roth IRA), and long-term capital gains investments. More>>