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Top 10 Free resources to learn Microsoft Excel

Top 10 Free resources to learn Microsoft Excel

         Students often ask me to recommend best online Excel resources for further reference. After fighting the urge to LMGTFY them 🙂 , I suggest to utilize the largest search engine in the World, and trust Google to present the most relevant results for their query. (Searching for specific terms within relevant time frame would improve your search results dramatically.)

         In addition, the second largest search engine in the World can stream very helpful How-To videos on magnitude of topics. This means that one can search YouTube to learn not only how to unclog a toilet, but also how to create a PivotChart.

         If you are in a hurry, and don’t feel like watching a 10 minute video;SlideShare comes to the rescue, and offers a plethora of presentations, including Excel tutorials. Heck, you can browse through the SlideShare version of this post below.

         That being said, some of us feel safer when using credible and trusted sources for all of our Excel needs. I started compiling the list of useful resources before YouTube and Slideshare came to existence, and added others over time. I hope that this post will satisfy your thirst for Excel knowledge. Many of these sites include tutorials, blog entries, discussion forums and YouTube videos.

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State Income Tax Rate Inequality in America.

USA State Tax Map

         Let’s face it, as Americans we are not all created equal. This fact is especially pronounced when it comes to paying taxes. Most of us have to pay income taxes, yet the exact amount varies by our income level. Having each individual state impose its own income tax laws does not help this matter either.

         The IRS already makes the task of figuring out your income tax liability rather cumbersome: you have to determine your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), subtract the amount of your deductions (standard or itemized), reduce this number by any personal and dependent exemptions you qualify for; and then hopefully arrive at your Taxable Income amount. After ignoring all of the other possible credits, exceptions and unique tax situations that might or might not apply to you, you can have a lot of fun playing with up to seven tax brackets that correspond to your earnings amount.

         I used the Tax Foundation website to retrieve pertinent state income tax information for 2014 tax year to see exactly how individual states add complexity in calculating our tax liability. I specifically wanted to retrieve maximum possible marginal tax rate by state in 2014. Below are my findings.

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