1099 Misc from Independent Foreclosure Review
Posted on | February 6, 2014 | 1 Comment
It is that time of year again! Tax time! I view it as filling out a yearly self-evaluation. You get to see where you did well and where you need to improve for the next year.
This year is going to be particularly painful for a lot of folks that were foreclosed on and filed a claim with the Independent Foreclosure Review program. I received a small payment from the fund but I didn’t have the option to have taxes removed from the payout. I’ve just received 1099 Misc from the Independent Foreclosure Review fund which means I have to pay taxes on the compensation I received. You may not. Read more
Rebalancing my portfolio 2013
Posted on | December 31, 2013 | No Comments
I haven’t done much trading in my accounts this past year. The stock market kept going up so I just monitored my holdings. Toward the end of the year, I decided to lock in a loss I had in FNFG and offset it with some gains. I bought INTC in December 2008. Since then, I’ve been enjoying the steady and growing dividend($.64 a year in 2009 to $.90 in 2013). However, I decided that it was time to diversify and purchase a different stock with more potential for appreciation. I decided that I would sell enough shares to cover initial investment in Intel. Between the dividends and the appreciation, I’m now left with 35 shares of INTC that I’ll hang on to and see what happens. Although, I’m also tempted to roll it over to another stock. I’ll let you know.
Denial in Congress
Posted on | October 9, 2013 | No Comments
Day 8 of the government shutdown. Congress is still getting paid yet thousands of Federal workers have been forced to stay home. There is a chance that the workers will get paid during the government shutdown but it will be retroactively. It sounds a little like a forced vacation. I’ve been reading a lot of complaints on facebook from furloughed workers and some seem to have forgotten how fortunate they are to have jobs given the state of the current economy. There are plenty of people of still looking for work that would gladly trade places with them.
House speaker John Boehner says they don’t have enough votes in the house to pass a clean continuing resolution (CR) bill to allow the government to continue to provide services. But he refuses to attempt a vote fearing that it might get passed. Initially, a small faction of the GOP wanted to starve health care insurance reform but now they just want something in return: “We’re not going to be disrespected,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told The Washington Examiner. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.” They don’t seem to understand how their actions can negatively affect ordinary people’s lives. Read more
Waiting on iOS 7
Posted on | September 18, 2013 | No Comments
It is just after midnight and I’m waiting to see if I can download iOS 7. I’m excited to get the new features Apple has been promoting since they unveiled the new software on June 10th. I anticipate that my iPhone and iPad will feel like new devices with the new software. In addition to the new OS, I’m very interested in acquiring the new Mac Pro. Unfortunately, I think it might be out of my reach financially. I’m expecting the cost to be at least $2,000. Ideally, I’d buy enough shares of Apple stock so that the dividend would cover the cost of the gadgets. The dividend right now is about $12.20 a year per share. I estimate that I would need about a $1200 a year in dividends to cover my purchases (ignoring taxes). So, I would need about 100 shares. At today’s closing price of $455, that would require an investment of about $45,500 to fund my Apple purchases with dividends. I’ll wait for the next dip in price to purchase additional shares. I recently purchased 4 shares at just under $400. I was tempted to sell 3 shares and keep 1 recently when the stock was close $500 recently. I would have recouped my investment and still kept a share. With the S&P 500 and Dow averages hitting multi-year highs recently, I think it is time to sell a few shares and lock-in some gains. I’m keeping my Apple stock for now and may consider purchasing Microsoft stock as well as a hedge. I’ll keep you posted on any transactions I make.
Positive Net Worth, finally!
Posted on | September 12, 2013 | No Comments
I’ve been tracking my Net Worth for a while now and I was excited to see that I’m back to a positive net worth! I’ve analyzed my records and found that most of the gains came from the stock market, of course. I’m still trying to find the right contribution amount to my 401k that leaves me with enough cash each month so that I can also invest in stocks to increase my dividend income stream. At the same time, I’ve also put forth an extra effort to pay down my debt during the last two years. I’d like to end the year with less than $225 k in debt.
I’ve been very caught up with work in the last year and hadn’t had a chance to post any new content. I’m almost back to a more normal schedule so I’ll be more active again.
PMI
Posted on | March 29, 2013 | No Comments
I hate Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). I’m not sure why it is allowed to exist. The fee is paid by the borrower to protect the lender. I think that because there is no benefit to the borrower and it only benefits the lender the lender should be pay for it. I’m paying $123.50 a month and it irritates me to see this fee on the monthly mortgage statement. I wish I had known about Piggyback loans when I purchased my property.
The real problem is that the lender is lending money that it thinks it can’t get back. What I mean is that the lender should analyze the property behind the loan and only lend what it thinks it can get back in case of default. The lenders have been allowed to lend based on the income of the borrower instead of the value of the property. If the lender only lent according to the value of the property we wouldn’t have a real estate bubble.
The other problem with PMI is that lenders will try to hold on to it as long as possible. Read more
Request timed out on Mint.com
Posted on | December 20, 2012 | No Comments
I’ve been using Mint.com for a few years now. Overall, I’ve been fairly happy with the service. They’ve had bugs and there were times when I wanted to close my account but overall they’ve been doing a good job.
I’m particularly annoyed at the most recent bug though. I can’t log in to my account on the mint.com site. After submitting my username and password I get an error saying that the Request timed out. The mobile app stopped working for me, too!
What I’ve done in the past is submitted a bug using their forum. Unfortunately, to submit a bug, you are prompted to log in. Which for me will display a request timed out error.
Brilliant job, Mint.com! I’m getting an error and I can’t tell you about it because of the same error. I hope you guys are tracking traffic to your site and realize that people can’t log in soon. I’ll check back after Christmas. Hopefully, you’ll have noticed the error and fixed it by then.
Merry Christmas!
Meager Income Update for November
Posted on | November 29, 2012 | No Comments
I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!
I’m finally getting around to updating my monthly income and debt. I’m approaching two years worth of data, too. Soon, I’ll be able to compare year over year over year and spot trends. I’ve also added my net worth to my site. If you were to visit my profile you’d notice that I’m being very conservative. I’m not taking into consideration the value of my car or other assets. I’m only considering cash and cash equivalents.
One more month to go this year. I’m looking forward to the new year to see how I did this year and to another year of digging myself out of debt.
Buffett Argues For a Minimum Tax For the Wealthy
Posted on | November 26, 2012 | No Comments
I’m not sure if you had a chance to read Mr. Buffett’s op-ed in the New York Times on Nov 25th. As you know, I’m a fan of his. You can read the full opinion piece here.
He has some interesting facts in his article like:
The Forbes 400, the wealthiest individuals in America, hit a new group record for wealth this year: $1.7 trillion. That’s more than five times the $300 billion total in 1992. In recent years, my gang has been leaving the middle class in the dust.
A huge tail wind from tax cuts has pushed us along. In 1992, the tax paid by the 400 highest incomes in the United States (a different universe from the Forbes list) averaged 26.4 percent of adjusted gross income. In 2009, the most recent year reported, the rate was 19.9 percent. It’s nice to have friends in high places.
The group’s average income in 2009 was $202 million — which works out to a “wage” of $97,000 per hour, based on a 40-hour workweek. (I’m assuming they’re paid during lunch hours.) Yet more than a quarter of these ultrawealthy paid less than 15 percent of their take in combined federal income and payroll taxes. Half of this crew paid less than 20 percent. And — brace yourself — a few actually paid nothing.
I agree that we need to make some changes to the tax code. I would argue that all income is income. Income from Capital Gains, Dividends, Interest payments on Municipal Bonds, etc — treat all of it as income. We need to get rid of carried interest. It is all income. We need to get rid of the tax break for health insurance purchased through an employer since it isn’t fair to people who work for a company that doesn’t offer it. That too is income.
While we are at it, we need to limit tax deductions. The only behavior the government should encourage (through tax policy) is saving for retirement and health costs. The only deductions should be 401k and HSAs. If you don’t have access to a 401k, you should be able to contribute to an IRA for the same amount. That would cap deductions at about $20,000 a year. That is plenty. No more deductions for “gifts” to non-profits. Grover Norquist, who heads up a non-profit, needs to get a real job and should not be subsidized by the government.
Republicans Don’t Want You to Read This Report
Posted on | November 1, 2012 | No Comments
According to the New York Times and Huffington Post, Republicans applied pressure to the Congressional Research Service so that they would not release the report that states that trickle down economics does not work! Of course many of us already knew this but the nonpartisan group confirmed it.
A link to the report:
Congressional Research Service Report On Tax Cuts For Wealthy Suppressed By GOP
I can’t believe this election is even close. Why would anyone that isn’t a Billionaire vote for the GOP ticket?