esrosedotblog

The world is quaking this morning over the stock market.

So, what else is new?

If you have been prudent and have spread your portfolio out then this is why you have those munis and those other bonds that don't move with any market.

And if you are all into the Wall Street thing, then wait it out.

Advice After Stock Market Drop: Take Some Deep Breaths, and Don’t Do a Thing

What goes down must go up.

An adjustment is just that.

It is like the weather. Too hot for too much right now, stay in. And if one has to, then learn to live with a couple degrees more heat.

Winter will come.

If you have some cash, look around. It might be the best time to buy a few things in many months.

Labels: money

More GOoPer malfeasance.

I suppose it is unfair that this all got exposed but he has put himself on the line for scrutiny.

A top GOP 2016 contender is 'living above his means'

Embarrassing but there it is.

Ambition is a bitch and I can see how priorities would get a little skewed.

I do not want a country that can only elect rich people. That is not the point. The issue is that his spending habits go against all the railing and ranting about other people. Welfare spongers and the like.

Like Fiorina who I have written about below, exposure to the big time is one of the first qualifiers for elective success and some just fail out of the box.

Living within one's means is a frequent tirade on the part of the wing nuts.

OK. Let's apply that equally, all around.

Rubio is an interesting guy but it might be a mistake to take him too seriously. A lot of these guys are gunning for something other than the nomination. Publicity. Notoriety. Groundwork for a serious later try for the position.

Or, maybe just the gabble of attention. That is a lot of what politics is about. Sure issues, but it takes people who need to be in the spotlight.

My own personal experience in politics was clearly about "look at me". I admit it. A lot of folks don't.

I got into a field, management training, where I did some good and managed to be in the limelight, three days at a time with captive audiences.

There is a buzz. And nothing wrong about it. Just make sure that the thing can be sustained. If it takes talent, have that. If it takes the support of a big organization, have that. If it takes money, well, you better have that too. I got paid for being a star. Politicians do too. A different paymaster but still.

Labels: money, politics, republican whack jobs

Since I am still in the student applicant business for MIT, I read all the propaganda that comes out about cost and delivery.

Money Magazine has a new ranking out based on the cost and the earnings of a graduate from a host of schools.

The first and best two schools are basically business schools. Babson and Webb Institute. I know Babson. Not Webb.

The third ranking school for bang for the buck is MIT.

Money's Best Colleges.

I graduated there and still interview students who are prospects in my area. Or they interview me.

This is great grist for the mill. Money.

I am not surprised about this although I do think that MIT is one of the most expensive schools in the world. That said, it also has one of the best student aid infrastructures of any school in the world. Maybe the best.

In our interviews (optional talks really with an alumnus and a student over coffee) the issue of cost doesn't come up much. I tell them not to worry about it. I know that whatever their situation, if they have the stuff, the money angle is the last one that is looked at. And never for admission. More for aid.

All applications are blind as to financial circumstances and we are not to address or ask about that. I do not of course. But in my area of the country it is sometimes glaringly obvious that a second or even first generation Mexican boy or girl has a financial hardship. Some not, but most do.

We step aside from it.

All that is handled later after admission.

And that is a good thing.

Since I attended over fifty years ago, the emphasis is on talent and personality. And not net worth.

It is still going on that way.

Good.

Labels: MIT, money

DONE

We sent in our IRS returns this week.

We are the beneficiaries of the communal property laws in the State of California. The IRS does not recognize our marriage but they do recognize that certified domestic partners in communal property states get to file a joint return.

We have been doing this for a couple of years and also filed ammendments for the years between our certification and the new ruling.

It took over a year and numerous scare letters to get the previous years worked out. They even attached John's social security check (they can only do a small amount, I think 79.00. It would be big if that was all you got for income).

The last two years it has worked out but something always goes wrong.

Last year they did not send me a refund check and kept the balance.

This year, I am asking them to use the money they kept (and paid a lot of interest on) against this year's return.

The fact is that I do not know how much that balance is. We will find out when they apply it to this years owed tax. Which is not much.

There are years when I have paid a geenormous amount of tax. No more.

I take the minimum required out of my IRA and then have the max social security for a person my age. I always hit the ceiling even when they raised it so high.

The returns we send in are marked as SPECIAL and the cover sheet is on salmon paper. This is to avoid some lamebrain from ripping the return apart on receipt. But more and more the lamebrains know what the deal is.

Progress moves slowly but it does move.

Labels: money, taxes

HUZZAHHH

I got all my tax shit together this morning.

Finally.

My "broker", now a "wealth manager", changed hands and names and on top of that I got a new advisor because mine left that company because of all the changes!

So they were late.

Which gave me an excuse to dawdle.

But they have come through beautifully and I know longer can blame them so, I did the work instead of thinking about doing the work.

I know that this is a cliché, but still. It is always more difficult to think about doing something than actually doing it.

We had the threesome walk this morning, a new revised route which Booker was not totally pleased about, and then I watered the patio and courtyard. Then I had put in wash so I had hoped I would get to fold that next but, no dice.

The drier had another ten minutes to go.

So, no excuse.

I think that the job took less than an hour.

As usual, I had to chase down one out of four of the quarterly advisory fees from the "wealth management" company.

Then, I had to scour the American Express files for the auto registration fee. And the usual fumble with all the donation receipts. I have been trying to do all of those with PayPal who has about the most friendly record keeping of all. But many people won't take that. The County Tax Collector will not even take a credit card unless you pay a 25 dollar service fee. Anachronistic as that is.

So, the pile is on my desk. Next step, John copies. Then off to Peter the Tax Guy (PeterDoesTaxes.com)who will probably take another hour or less to put them in order.

I will, of course, have to pay them something since I am careful not to take any distributions until the last quarter. No quarterly filings. It took me a while to get to tha that point but it is a great release. I am a bit on thin ice with it but no one has complained. Yet.

Labels: money

RECOVERY

In 2010, the IRS sent a memo to its offices from their legal department.

The department had ruled that for domestic partners in California, the partners could file as a couple. This is because California is a "community property" state. The link eludes me to this day but when we heard this we got in touch with our accountant and refiled for years 2007, 2008 and 2009.

If there is disparate incomes, the jointing helps a lot.

Well.

No one in the belly of the IRS had gotten the memo and, if they did, no one agreed on how the claims should be refiled. There was a joint property form which we subsequently filled out but as far as we can tell, when the joint claims arrived at the IRS, someone split them and the twain never met.

Over and over shit would happen. One of us would be declared delinquent, one of the Social Security accounts was garnished (max allowed 70 dollars a month) and so on.

Over and over we were hit with red tape, disinformation.

They also kept handing the hot potato to other offices. In the process we received instructions, often conflicting, from seven or eight offices.

Fast forward. In desperation our accountant got in touch with the IRS Advocates office, an internal watchdog. He also sent a letter to Senator Boxer who never replied.

Whatever worked, worked.

We have just gotten notice that our refunds will be forthcoming. We have two of the checks. Cashed them fast.

There is a lot of money involved.

Victory.

And I will be most happy when the other checks arrive and get deposited.

Labels: government, money

BETTER

Booker went for his five day bandage change and his operation is clean and closed. He gets two or three more five day visits then out of it. Off with the collar. On with a normal life.

IRS COMES THROUGH

We have been informed that our "case" with the IRS in which we made claims for back years with a joint return has been settled.

We get the refunds in a few weeks.

This is the end of a long drawn out process where they didn't "get" what had happened. A revision of the code that rules domestic partners can file jointly in California because it is a community property state.

They still don't really get it but we appealed to the Advocate's office and won our appeal. It is a lot of money.

Just like "the straights".

TIME TIME TIME

So busy, so busy and now they are taking an hour away from me tonight. At least I got a few posts in on the blog today.

I plan to set the clocks ahead around 6 PM and go to bed an hour early.

Wish me good luck with that.

Labels: blog, Booker, money

TWO PLACES/ONE TIME

I got a message from the American Express Fraud Alert yesterday. They had received two unusual purchases on my credit card amounting, in total to maybe $3000 dollars.

Macy's and Burberrys. In Las Vegas!

I called to let them know that I had not been in Vegas and I still had, in my hand, my credit card.

They said the charges were a swipe charge, meaning that the card had been put through a reader.

Someone somewhere got my number and had used it somehow.

I guess this shit happens all the time but it has never happened to me. I got very upset.

But they are good at settling you down and made it clear that they would not charge me the money and so on.

The charges are still on my account this morning but they say it takes 72 hours to clear them. I hope that is right.

I am getting a new card tomorrow and I will have to change the numbers on all the accounts where the old number is registered. Amazon, the rest. PayPal which I use a lot of times.

Unpleasant but not a big deal.

We also have a debit card where most of our money is stashed. So the debit part of it is not a problem. I can use that card until the AMEX comes along.

It makes me wonder why I am freaked out about it so much. It is a theft, not direct but personal. I worry about my credit "reputation" which is not at stake.

It is just unsettling. Period.

My mind wanders to what - ifs. What if they don't delete it from my bill do I have to pay when the bill comes and and and and and. I hate this kind of mind game. Involuntary.

I suppose most everyone goes through this kind of thing once in a while.

But I am not "everyone" and goddammit. And I don't want to be put through the traces like this. Sigh.

Labels: money

TAXING SITUATIONS

I paid our real estate taxes this morning. The whole thing. Two periods.

We pay it all at once so that we get the deduction in the year. And also, I suppose, because I don't like to wait to pay for things. Heh heh.

I was disappointed to not find the new assessment based on our purchase in June.

Well, I guess I was expecting too much. They tell us that they are a almost a year behind on updating the assessment records from new property exchanges.

So I had to pay the old amount which, I estimate, is about 35% more than what we will end up paying.

We will get a credit back but we won't get interest on the difference.

On another front, we are in the process of refiling our federal tax returns for three years. It turns out that, according to a new ruling by IRS counsel, since California is a "community property state", the new domestic partner laws effectively make any certified domestic partners' income community property.

If there is a disparity between one partner's income and another's there is a significant advantage here. The higher earner gets reduced in his or her income as the income goes to both partners. Brackets change.

We filed as regular people originally. Now we have refiled as domestic partners in community property.

The problem is that, unlike married couples, there is no mechanism or process at the IRS to handle this. We still file separately.

They have to take both ammended returns, apply the new ruling and make appropriate refunds. They also have to understand that the original tax paid by the one partner was paid for both.

And so on.

Let's put this as kindly as we can. The IRS is not staffed up for this kind of problem solving and the ruling is so new that this is the first example of its application.

We are trailblazers.

Our accountant is good. He is handling the details. We finally have a person to talk to and they have approved (you have to ask) the CPA to be authorized to speak for us.

In the meantime, we have demands for payment of taxes we have already paid and a lot of other nonsense. No answers to our letters of explanation.

It will clear up. Or not.

The worst that can happen is that they will not allow it as it only applies to California couples (as far as we know) and somehow they will retract the ruling.

On the other hand, for most couples, the ruling is beneficial to the federal tax system as it technically requires that all domestic partners file community property and this could actually raise revenue in some cases.

It is surely a bona fide mess for them and we think that, perhaps, the person who made this ruling is now having his own problems with the bureaucracy for doing it in the first place.

But this is all fantasy. They tell us nothing. We tell them everything. They refund or not. It is a closed system.

There is quite a bit of money involved for us. And it is a point of principle. I have always been a no-more-and-no-less-than-owed-guy as far as taxes are concerned.

So I want what is coming to me. No more, no less. We will continue to pursue this until it gets too hot or too arduous. Stay tuned.

Labels: money