Financial Update

Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I watched “A Man Called Ove” and enjoyed it.  My wife thinks I am Ove; I agree. Life Past month has been crazy. Lots of travel. Little sleep. Hence the abbreviated update without much content. This month’s finances I’m most pleased with the low spending … Read more

Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches Wisdom from Warren Buffett and Bill Gates: Recent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CCcheNC1sw Older: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmwTqvu8LPA A WSJ reporter shares her infuriating experience of calling her financial advisor to figure out how much she was paying in fees (link). After a series of calls to different people (including company headquarters) … Read more

Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches I listened to an interesting podcast on strategies to pay for college (link). Cliff notes version: get kids to take ownership of college costs + get them to apply for grants/scholarships. Random thoughts from me: A more expensive college won’t necessarily lead to better life outcomes, … Read more

Another month, another update. A few random comments. The first half of property taxes were due in March. $3,500 down the drain. I will not retire in this state. By paying property taxes directly out of pocket we make approximately $150 in interest per year. Not earth shattering, but a small benefit to paying ourselves … Read more

Another month, another update. A few random comments. Tax refund finally came through. I denoted this as “other income”. As expected, EITC hacking / tax optimization proved to be wildly profitable this year. All low/middle income families with several kids should be doing this. I’ve drafted a guest post on the topic on GoCurryCracker which will … Read more

Another month, another update. A few random comments. Thanks to aggressive tax sheltering in 2016, we’re getting a $8k refund in a few weeks. I filed taxes for free using Turbotax’s Freedom edition (turbotax.intuit.com/taxfreedom/), which is available to those with low incomes who qualify for EITC, etc. What’s nice about this edition is that it … Read more