Monthly Archives: March 2009

//March

The More You Know About Investing, The Less You Know About Investing

A professional baseball player knows more about baseball strategy than does a little leaguer.  A nutritionist is more likely to be able to figure out why you have been feeling run-down lately than is your next-door neighbor.   The buyer in a woman’s fashion store is better informed about what colors are trendy today than you are. Most of us assume that it works that way in investing too. Most of us are worried about what is going to happen to our money. So we put our faith in the experts. Surely they have a better grasp of the realties. Nope. It doesn’t [...]

By |2013-09-26T15:01:56-04:00March 31st, 2009|Investments|29 Comments
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2008 Taxes Update – Taxes are E-Filed; What I am doing with the Refund?

I previously discussed the items one should bring to a tax appointment so I figured I should give my readers an update as to what happened. Our Meeting with our "New" Accountant The wife and I met with an accountant which came highly recommended by a co-worker.  The meeting went well, and he was shocked how organized we were (I wanted to tell him, "hey, buddy I wrote a post on it, of course I have this stuff organized").   Our meeting was interesting, he was very jovial guy (the Wife's word not mine).  He didn't do our taxes at that moment, but rather [...]

By |2017-03-21T11:29:31-04:00March 29th, 2009|Personal Situation|2 Comments
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Tax Mechanics of Intra-Family Loans

This post was inspired by a post titled, "Lending Money to Family and Friends" on a great blog fivecentnickel.   What are the Tax Mechanics of an Intra-Family Loan? Let me say this first: This is not a post about whether one should make loans between family members or friends, as such you may find it surprisingly short.  If you'd like to talk about the emotions and/or if you should make a loan check out these posts (be sure to read the comments): Lending Money to Family and Friends - Fivecentnickel Family Money mangement - Helping Friends and Family in Financial Trouble - [...]

By |2013-09-26T16:52:17-04:00March 26th, 2009|Taxes|2 Comments
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An Investment Average of 10% won’t Guarantee Success

An Investment Average of 10% won't Guarantee Success I saw a great advertisement released by my office's parent company today; I have never released what my office's parent company is...and I am not about to start now! Notwithstanding my obsession with privacy, I couldn't get over this info and felt like I should share. Each portfolio has an overage return of 10%, a withdrawal of $30,000 fixed at 3% inflation, and starts with $500,000...yet the first portfolio leaves the person with a little over $19,000 while the second portfolio leaves a person with over $2,500,000! Portfolio 1                                                                      Portfolio 2 Year Investment Return Withdrawal Account [...]

By |2013-09-26T15:01:56-04:00March 23rd, 2009|Investments|1 Comment
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Easy Way to Save Money – Check your Utility and Cable Bills

I apologize for the short post, but I wanted to point out a stupid lesson I learned last week.  After the 150th commercial bragging about $99 for phone, internet and tv service, I lost it.  I called up my cable company asking, "why the hell was I paying $150 with no phone service!?" The very nice customer service rep, explained that I had "the silver package" which included HBO, my DVR box, and then the last variable is what got me...channels 100 through 199!  I have literally never turned them on.  I don't even know what the heck they are. Well, by simply [...]

By |2013-09-26T15:01:56-04:00March 22nd, 2009|Personal Finance|6 Comments
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