Buckabinga

I want to make a legal loan to my son and want to charge him the lowest legal interest rate. I have heard about the Applicable Federal Rate (AFR) and I think this may be it. I know, of course that I can charge him no interest but I don't want to make a gift and I want to be able to deduct it as a bad debt if he fails to pay it off so I know I have to use the lowest legal rate. Can somebody help explain where i can find it?

I understand there are some web sites that deal in trading privately owned stock and that one can buy Facebook stock at these couple sites. Can anyone direct me to where/how I can purchase some of that stock?

I am trying to decide whether to take a 30 year or 20 year mortgage. The rates are the same at 4 3/4%. I am trying to figure if take the 30 year mortgage and pay extra principle each month equal to the difference between the 30 year and 20 year monthly payments, would the 30 year mortgage amortize the same over 20 years as the 20 year amortized mortgage? Is there more interest up front in a 30 year? Would I pay the exact same amount of money over 20 years?

When I click System Restore, I get "SR has been turned off. Do you want to turn it on?" I click yes. The SR shows me a screen with my 2 hard drives on and asks, if I would like to have SR turned on on all drives. Since there is no choice but yes or no (can't do it on only one drive I suppose), I click "yes". I then uncheck the check box that says "Turn off system restore on all drives". I click "apply" and get the following message "SR has encountered an error trying to enable/disable SR on one or more drives, please restart and try again." Restarting and trying again just loops me back to square one. How can I get SR to activate?

I received a 4 GB SDHC card for Christmas for my Kodak EasyShare C633 digital camera . I shot a bunch of photos and took some movie clips with the camera on a trip until the card was filled. When I got home and tried to download the photos and clips my computer cannot access them. When put the SDHC card back in the camera it says the card it full but when I go to review the photos and clips it says no pictures to display on the memory card. The computer has asked if I want to format the card, which I don't think I do. How can I see (and download) these photos and movie clips? Thanks for any help.

I went away for a week and found the trunk light must have been on. My car battery is totally dead...no lights, no clicks, no horn, nothing. The battery is about 1 month old...i.e., brand new. What is the best way to revive the battery? If I have to tickle charge it...how do I hook it up?

I found a great deal online on an HDTV that has all the features and specs I like except one gave me pause. The dynamic screen contrast is 800:1. That is about the lowest ratio I see on these types of TVs but I don't know what it means. Should I avoid this TV because of that low ratio?

The stains are droppings from somebody carelessly painting the entry door and trim. Some stains are oil based dark green and others are latex off white.

I have a condo on a golf course that I rent out mostly short term. The heat pump/AC broke down entirely in 2006. It was not repairable so I had to replace it with a new one for a cost of $4000. I cannot determine from the tax publications if this is a deductible repair/maintenance expense or an improvement that must be depreciated. Granted it is a big expense but it had to be done to keep the property in good operating condition, but then again it does prolong the useful life of the property but adds little to the value of the property (every residence must have a heat/AC system that works). An argument could be made that it meets either definition ("expense" or "improvement") in IRS Pub. 527. I don't care which is right. Since I do my own taxes so I just want to put it down correctly and don't want to be audited over it.

Someone who knows about the tax treatment of such things please answer. Thank you.

I bought this mutual fund in installment payments over a number of years. This was several years ago. Last year I sold the funds and transferred the account so I can't access it online and have no records of the prices I paid. I don't know if I had a gain or loss. I have to file taxes now. The 1099 came in showing sales of $3905.92. I have no records and can't get help from the investment company since I closed the account. What should I do on my income tax return?

I have many old vinyl albums that I don't play anymore, but I would like to convert many of the tunes on those old albums so I can have them to play on my computer or iPod.