Tax time is coming. For those of us in the United States, April 15 is -the- day, and as it approaches, more and more anxiety builds. It’s usually not pleasant, but it’s necessary, because in this country, taxes are seen as a necessary evil.
In Hawai’i, we also pay state income taxes, so our local tax day is April 20–five days later.
Tax day is not anyone’s favorite day, but being prepared for it early will help to alleviate the stress and frustration associated with it. I’ve gathered all my papers but haven’t put much time into it yet.
Where are you with dealing with your taxes this year?
Tags: Taxes
One of my online buddies, @bkGirlFriday, asked the following question on Twitter:
“Its date night and you only have 50 dollars. What can you do to keep you and your date entertained for the night?”
Interesting question! I thought about it for awhile and gave my one answer: bowling. Then I thought about it some more, and came up with seven things to do to stretch your dating dollar:
1) Bowling (what I said above)
2) Mini golf
3) DVD rental
4) Cooking at home
5) Hiking
6) Beach
7) Sharing a dessert with coffee
Do you have anything to add to my list?
Tags: Frugality, Social aspects
I’m an AAPL shareholder which, technically, means I am a part owner of Apple, Inc. I take that seriously; if I own stock in a company, it better be a company that meets my standards, and if it doesn’t, I better sell that stock.
That said, I just received an iPod shuffle (two, actually) from Apple, Inc., covered by warranty, and one of them died within a day.
I went online and immediately scheduled a Genius Bar appointment (I happen to have three Apple Stores on island) for Sunday.
I’m not sure how I’ll be treated there; I’m hoping for a very quick fix and to be on my way to enjoying my iPod. I will let you know–because to me, this matters. I own part of this company, and the reason I bought in is because I like the company a lot. So their service needs to be up to snuff for me to feel positive about owning it.
Tags: Social aspects, Stocks
It’s been a few months since I’ve been able to access my Treasury Direct account online. I’ve had this problem before, and it’s not fun to resolve.
Treasury Direct has always had a rather… odd method of online security, including the use of a virtual, on screen keyboard to enter a password. Awhile ago they added a security card, which had a grid printed on it which the user referred to and entered a passcode as further security.
I have since been locked out a few times, and have had great difficulty trying to get my access restored, including now. It is really hard for me to get in touch with them by phone, which is what has to happen in order to get access restored. I’ve now called several times a week for about three weeks and not been able to reach a person.
I will keep trying, but it’s not a great situation.
Tags: Bonds, Technology
It’s been quite awhile since I discussed snowflaking, the art of building up lots of small amounts of money into one large amount, here in this blog, largely because I haven’t been doing well at it.
One of the reasons why is that I’ve just been unable to get to the recycling station. I probably have over $50 in recyclables here. Additionally, I’ve been a bit behind on my blog billing (shock, horror!) and I haven’t gotten a payment from Google Adsense in quite some time–although one is on its way.
I was reminded of this because I just got a $50 Discover Card cashback bonus, which is kickstarting me into thinking about snowflaking again.
I’ll have to work on this harder in the next few months.
Tags: Frugality
One of the things that concerns me in a recovering economy is the price of oil. In the United States, due to our failure to diversify into other sources of energy, we have a serious addiction to oil which puts us at the mercy of other countries, some of which are not exactly friendly with us.
When the economy was just about to go south in 2008, the price of oil was well over $100 per barrel, more like almost $150. When the economy went way south, the price of oil collapsed under $50 a barrel. Today it’s about $80 a barrel.
Keeping the price of oil down is going to be key to this economic recovery; in the meantime, the U.S.–and the rest of the industrialized world–desperately need to figure out other ways to power our future besides oil, something we’ve failed at forever despite being aware of the need all the way back to the 1970s.
Tags: Economy, Technology
There’s a big move to “buy local”, both here and nationwide. The theory, I think, is that in tough economic times supporting small, locally owned businesses means more of the money spent stays local to you, rather than going to some large company that’s not anywhere near you.
It’s a great idea, but not always economically feasible. For instance, I would love, love, love to be able to buy bike stuff from one of my local bicycle shops, shorts, for instance. But when I can get six pairs of shorts from Performance Bike for what it would cost me for three locally of similar quality, I just can’t do it.
I definitely do what I can to buy local when it comes to food, for instance–locally grown produce tends to be a fine idea, and stores such as Crestek and McCully Bicycle are great places to shop, but it really still comes down to money. The first pocketbook I need to take care of is my own.
Tags: Frugality, Social aspects
I’m still gathering and organizing my tax documents. In addition to the two (final) W2s I have from my two jobs–I’ve already discussed the several error laden W2s I received–I’ve had 1099s for blog income, from Google, for interest at two different accounts, and dividends at two different accounts.
I also have deduction documentation such as charitable donations and mortgage interest to gather and process.
And I have a 1040 form, its related attachments, and a thick instruction book to wade through.
Yes, taxes are supposed to be getting simpler over time–at least that’s what we are told every time there’s some kind of paperwork reduction act or tax reform. But I have a hard time believing that’s true. Gone are the days I can simply file my taxes over the phone, and many, many hours are spent just getting all of this in order.
Simple? No. But necessary.
Tags: Taxes
My single largest stock holding is Apple, Inc. (AAPL). In fact, AAPL has become such a large part of my portfolio that I had to stop buying in, despite loving the stock and the company, because I was concerned it would become larger than 5% of my portfolio. I was actually thinking about selling some but decided that just not buying any more would likely work over the course of a year.
And now, AAPL has hit another all time high on the news that its iPad tablet, long awaited and recently announced, will be shipping–late.
Sometimes I’m just amazed by what causes a stock to soar.
Tags: Investing, Stocks, Technology
February, of course, is the shortest month of the year, but it seems it was long on gains for our model portfolio. Let’s look at how our funds did last month:
The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX) was up 1.86% in February, while still paying that 1.94% yield. In our international segment, the Vanguard Total International Stock Index (VGTSX) was down 1.44% and paying a 2.51% yield, meaning that while not having a spectacular month, the stock portion of our portfolio had a positive gain.
In the fixed income section of our portfolio, the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX) was essentially flat, up a penny, but a statistical 0.00% increase, with a yield of 3.96%. Our other fixed income fund, the Vanguard GNMA Fund (VFIIX) was up a little more, 0.12% and yielding 3.71%.
So, while it wasn’t a great month, it was a positive one for three of our four funds and the majority of our portfolio. Let’s hope March keeps building on these gains!
Tags: Bonds, Investing, Mutual funds, Stocks
