This is a series of posts on the concept of adding a car to the family.. I am going to explore buying, leasing, financing and secondary lease markets to find out which will provide the best value for us.We’re getting to that phase in life where schlepping ourselves for 2hrs in either direction, often dragging […]
10 Principles of Investing from a Passive Perspective
Passive Investing is a long term investment strategy that advocates low levels of trading and keeping costs to a minimum in order to keep the most of your gains. They follow large Indexes of the entire market, or comprehensive sectors thereof. Advocates of Passive Investing also incorporate tax planning in order to minimize portfolio drag […]
Broker Schedule D for Capital Gains and Loses, How Accurate is yours?
Yesterday I confirmed that my Gains and Loss report from my Brokerage was incorrect, this report is the base information that they use to create your Schedule D, an IRS form that you will be using to calculate, and support, your Capital Gains or Losses for the Tax Year. These are critical numbers when reporting […]
OptionsHouse Et Tu Brute?
Yes, my beloved OptionsHouse, destined to become my one stop shop for my brokerage and IRA accounts has just made what has to be the biggest snafu of all time with my account (well when it comes to taxes at any rate…)They have made an error on my Gains/Losses reports and my Schedule D – […]
Fixed Immediate Annuities Explored
An Annuity is an agreement between you, the Annuitant an Insurance company. It will pay you money in retirement (or early retirement) and is guaranteed to be there for the terms of the agreement. You will receive payments from the Insurance company in the form of income on a monthly basis.The good thing about an […]
Traditional Mutual Funds vs Indexed Funds and ETFs
Mutual Funds as a concept are a great idea. They allow access to a broad range of stocks, sometimes an entire market for a very affordable entry point. The purpose of investing in such a manner is to diversify your investments so that you are not overly exposed to one stock or sector.However; Mutual Funds […]
An Investment with Benefits – Buying Fine Art at a Charity Auction
I recently had the pleasure of attending the Brooklyn Academy of Musics’ (BAM) Charity Art Auction. They were kind enough to supply me with lots and lots of their delicious Bamboozle Ale made specially for them by the Brooklyn Brewery and I found that it was very helpful in making my first steps into the […]
The Ultimate Guide To Shopping Online for Lowest Cost, and Highest Rewards
I want to take you through the Purchase Process I go through when buying pretty much anything these days. Until about 2 years ago I thought I was a savvy buyer due to simply looking online for things rather than from a store and being able to compare a few websites using a Google search. […]
I’m paying a ton of interest on a debt I forgot about
Aww Crap. I pride myself on being debt free and making my money work for me, but a little procrastination has proved very costly, and those guys at TD Ameritrade don’t go out of their way to show you how much you are paying every month as a reminder (though in fairness none of the […]
Asset Location Decisions
Asset Location is going to be a focus for my study in the upcoming weeks. I have already formed SEP IRAs and Traditional IRAs along with Taxable Brokerage accounts, and have been fully funding these for several years. I recently read a very interesting book on the concept of Passive Investing, and it went into […]