We continue to receive accolades (and new clients) for our tax preparation service which features a 30 minute consultation with me about anything on your financial mind. We’ve saved our clients thousands of dollars and seemingly routinely amend their prior year returns (those prepared by themselves or by another tax preparer) saving them money on [...]
Continue reading about Last weekend for early bird filing discount
Over at the Retirement Planning site at About.com, I just posted an article about the best kind of tax deductions: those that come from saving.
Think about it. Most tax deductions require you to spend money in order to obtain the deduction. In my practice, the most common and largest deductions are:
state and local income taxes
mortgage [...]
Continue reading about The best kind of tax deduction – a deduction for saving
One of my relatives recently was charged a substantial fee for rolling his 401(k) plan out to an IRA. In my opinion, that’s total nonsense, even if it’s disclosed. It’s the equivalent of an “account closing fee.” Can you imagine?
You: I’d like to close my account.
Bank: I see you have $100 in your account so [...]
Twice in the last two winters, we’ve lost power for about 36 hours.
You: You should just pay the damn electric bill. I know you like to negotiate everything, but you’ve got two little kids –
Massive ice storm last year. Massive windstorm last weekend. My write-up of the December 2008 event:
Visiting Boston during an ice storm [...]
Continue reading about Keeping it reasonably fun and affordable without power
Saving for a home or, more precisely, how to save for a home is today’s Q & A.
You: Q & A?
Although Friday comes every week, Friday Q &A comes around only when someone submits a good question AND I have time to answer it. Both happened this week, so here we go. Want to ask [...]
Continue reading about Friday Q & A: Saving for a home – How to Save for a home
Schedules L & M are now available at the IRS web site, and post offices and libraries near you. You’ve never filed these forms before.
You: How do you know?
Schedules L and M didn’t exist before this filing season.
You: Correct.
Thanks.
You: What are these schedules?
You don’t know?
You: Of course I don’t know! I don’t get paid to [...]
A close relative of mine just sent me this email:
Gotta love my bank . . .
I went online to check my bill and I see nothing there about me ever having a credit card…
As i’m looking around I notice I have an “email” from bank of America with a new credit card number…umm…WHAT!??!
So I call [...]
Continue reading about Bank: Customer service or total cluster?
Of my top ten saving strategies is Number 4: Enjoy Free Stuff.
You: How can somebody do that?
Easy. Just play on the swings or dance in the leaves.
You: Seriously? I’m an adult.
Not going to lie to you – you might get some looks on the swing set. Still, well worth it. Or try something similar [...]
Continue reading about Another ultimate free activity with apologies to those in the south
As common as identity theft has become, I am amazed at the poor password practices of many people I interact with.
You: Because I use my significant other’s name as my password?
That’s one example. But, at least according to this New York Times article, there are far more egregious examples. When a hacker was able [...]
Turns out Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck readers do like polls.
You: Was that an actual survey question?
No.
You: Then how do you know?
Based on the quantity of votes cast, some issues definitely get people energized to respond. Here are some of the interesting results from the recent polls.
While only 10% of you use cash for most of [...]
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