Monthly Archives: September 2014

//September

Why Does it Seem Like No One is Worried about Growing Public Pension Gaps?

CNBC had an article the other day highlighting the disturbing public pension gap that is growing at an alarming rate.  While I didn't read the study by Moody's behind the article the statistics highlighted by CNBC are, to say the least, frightening: In less than a decade, that shortfall has tripled to at least $2 trillion—more than half of all outstanding state and local bond debt, according to a report by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's looked at the unfunded liabilities of the 25 biggest public retirement systems, which cover 40 percent of the $5.3 trillion in total U.S. public pension plan assets. Like nearly [...]

By | 2015-01-27T20:47:47+00:00 September 29th, 2014|Rant|9 Comments
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Received My New York State Family Tax Relief Credit Check

Nothing makes my heart drop like a piece of mail from either the IRS or New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.  While my income is not large by most people's standards I do own a couple of businesses so any type of notice from a taxing authority makes my head hurt even before I open it.  So while I was cursing under my breath I opened up the envelope to find not a bill but rather a check for $350!  Along the top of the notice it indicated that this check was for the "Family Tax Relief Credit." What is [...]

By | 2014-09-26T09:51:24+00:00 September 26th, 2014|Taxes|5 Comments
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An Investment Club Update

Back in February of 2013 I started an investment club with 8 other buddies.  The idea was simple we would each put in $500 to start it up (creating an entity was the main expense) and then a monthly contribution of $100 thereafter.  I was worried about the longevity of the club at first, but after the first few rocky months everything has worked out fantastic.  Back in January I highlighted my investment club's investment results: Investment Gain for 2013 – 31.47% Total Gain (with non-recurring start up costs) – 13.78% S&P From 2/19/2013 to 12/31/2013 – 21.63% (when money was deposited) [...]

By | 2014-09-24T23:51:07+00:00 September 25th, 2014|Investments|3 Comments
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The Wife and I Welcome our Second Child

If you follow me on twitter you may have seen that a few days ago The Wife gave birth to our second child and first daughter.  It always brings a smile to my face to read my post sharing the details of when the night/day my son was born, so I thought I should memorialize my daughter's birth also. It was around 9 pm on Wednesday September 17 when The Wife turns to me and says I am having contractions and they are about 10 minutes apart.  So we call the doctor about an hour later who tells us, "Come on in, if [...]

By | 2014-09-22T23:18:32+00:00 September 22nd, 2014|Personal Situation|14 Comments
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Can you Really Ever Trust a Religious Based Mutual Fund?

It has been a few years since I took look at religious based mutual funds, but a recent Kiplinger's article brought the topic back to my attention.  While I think the goal of providing someone an easy investment vehicle that matches their religious intent is a commendable goal, I can't imagine it being possible. The article, 5 Religion Funds for Faith-Based Investors, provides some examples of funds that are trying to do just that.  My hypothesis is that I won't have to get past their top holdings to find contradictions. 5 Faith and Religious Based Mutual Funds and their Top Holdings I am [...]

By | 2014-09-16T00:38:05+00:00 September 16th, 2014|Investments|4 Comments
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