Final Report Card on 2008 New Year's Resolutions

At the end of 2011, I still had not met all my 2008 New Year's resolutions. Instead of making new resolutions for 2012, I decided to continue working on the 2008 resolutions and track my progress. Here's my latest report card on how I'm doing on the 2008 resolutions.

	2008 New Year's Resolutions and Status
Category	Category Activities	Status	Grade
Healthier Lifestyle	Lose 10% of weight	Have achieved a 17% weight loss.  I am 7% under my starting weight in college and 3% under my highest weight in high school.  The additional 4% weight loss since September 2012 has been due to the vegetarian diet I started in mid December.	A+
	Better diet	Achieved a target of 5 servings of vegetables/fruit per day in July, 2009, and regressed back to 2-3 per day.  Since early August 2012, I have been eating at least 5 servings of vegetable and fruit per day. Due to my medical condition, I've converted to a vegetarian diet and am exceeding 5 servings of vegetables/fruit per day.	A+
	More exercise	In July, 2009, I had exceeded my target of 3 times per week by regularly exercising 6 times per week and then fell back to 2 times per week.  Since early August 2012, I've been averaging 3 times per week, above 3 some weeks and below 3 for others.    Unfortunately, a medical condition has reduced my exercise to 0 times.   Since addressing the medical condition will require moderate exercise of at least 3 times a week in the future, I will keep a provisional A-.	A-
Tax Strategies	Identify five strategies to minimize taxes	Used Roth IRA contribution, Child tax credit, Roth IRA conversion , and 0% long term capital gains in 2008. Continued to benefit from these four tax strategies in 2009, and added a fifth of using accelerated itemized deductions and standard deductions in alternating tax years. In 2010, we  benefited from two additional tax strategies involving the saver's and making work pay credits. In 2012, we may qualify for 0% taxes on dividends.	A+
Contingency income	Earn 20-40% of retirement income needs in first 3 years	Achieved 27% in 2008 due to deferred compensation. In 2009, 16% was achieved because our monthly expenses declined when we paid off our mortgage. In 2010, we earned 46% of our projected expenses.  In 2011, we earned 80% of our projected expenses since I took on a temporary full time job at a non-profit.  In 2012,  the temporary full time job ended and I decided cut back on part time jobs.  So 2012 earnings will cover about 30% of annual living expenses.	A
Have Fun	Family activities and vacations	Have attended 100% of our daughter's school activities for parents. We are doing several vacations a year and plan a major national parks vacation in the next couple years.	A
	Hobbies	Playing tennis, and some golf.  Doing coin collecting, tennis and golf with our daughter.	A

This report card is equivalent to the September 2012 report card which had a A average. My main opportunity area is exercise, which has been put on hold until my medical condition is addressed.   So I am closing out my 2008 New Year's resolutions as COMPLETE and will carry over exercise to my 2013 resolutions.
For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or personal development advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Expecting the Worst for the Market

Things are going to get a lot worse, before they get worse." ~ Lily Tomlin

Based on recent events on the fiscal cliff, I now expect a major decline in the stock market.   Since late October 2012, I've been expecting a small dip with a quick rebound as the fiscal cliff and sequestration was resolved.  However, I now know I was over optimistic to think that President Obama, the Democratic Senate, and the Republican House would "rise above" and deliver a working compromise.  Instead, there will be continual postponing the touch choices and creating multiple crises in the future.

I think it's time to hunker down and wait for a minimum 20% correction before putting additional funds into the market again.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.


This is not financial or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Fiscal Cliff, Sequestration and Low Income Earners

In response to my post The Fiscal Cliff and Sequestration: Good Personal Finance, a reader asked, "Have you looked at how this will affect the lower income workers?"  After doing some research, here's what I've concluded:

• Government programs.  Little or no impact.   Most programs affecting lower income earners are exempt from the sequester, i.e. budget cuts. For details, see The Sequester Explained  by The Bipartisan Policy Center.  
• Taxes.   Going up due mainly to elimination or reduction of tax credits, such as the child tax credit, increase in lowest tax bracket from 10-15%, a lower standard deduction and  the expiration of the payroll tax reduction.  However, as reported in What will happen when the Bush tax cuts run out, the higher tax increase will be on the higher income earners.  In addition, due to refundable tax credits, a number of lower income earners will continue to pay zero federal income tax and mainly see a lower refund.

Of course, YMMV.  The actual impact will depend on the specific situation of each taxpayer.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.
This is not financial or tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Retirement Financials - Perception versus Reality

The Middle Class Retirement Delusion By The Numbers summarizes five misconceptions Americans have about retirement financial situations.   Specifically, the misconceptions are:

• Over estimating ability to work past retirement age.
• Under estimating percent of pre-retirement income needed.
• Under estimating out of pocket health care costs.
• Under estimating savings needed to retire.
• Over estimating the savings withdrawal rate.

The article reports that due to these misconceptions, people are not saving enough for retirement.   The solution: start saving early and max out contributions to tax advantaged retirement saving plans.

 For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday Saturday Sunday for a new segment.


This is not financial, or retirement saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

College 529 Plan - 2012 Contribution Made

Earlier this month, we made our annual contribution to our daughter's college 529 plan.  This plan will be one part of how we will pay for our daughter's education.   Since the contribution is a deduction on our 2012 state tax return, this was one of our final tax planning actions for this year.  

 At this time, about 1/3 is invested in various equity mutual funds; 2/3 was converted to cash during the debt ceiling cliff of 2011.  100%  of the 2012 contribution was invested in a mutual fund.   For 2013, I plan to increase the equity allocation to 50-60%.

Currently, we saved enough for one year of college.   At the current rate of saving, we'll probably have about 2 years of costs saved by the time our daughter is 18.  To get much higher than that will require a significant advance in the stock market, which doesn't look likely for now.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday  for a new segment.


This is not financial or college saving advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

2012 IRA Decisions

IRAs are one category where current year decisions can be made in the following year.  For example, 2012 IRA contributions can be made until the due date for the 2012 tax return, April 15, 2013.  In addition, recharacterization of IRA contributions or Roth conversions (completed in 2012) can be done until the due date, including extensions, of the 2012 tax return.

Here how the extended deadline can be useful:

• Maximize deductions.  Until I do my tax return, I am not sure whether a deductible IRA contribution is what I want to do for a tax year.  Thus, being able to wait until April 15, 2013, enables me to make a decision when I have all the income, deduction and credit information to determine the decision that will minimize our tax liability.
• Maximize Roth conversion benefits.  For Roth conversions, taxpayers pay taxes on the amount that is converted.  If the value increases, the gain is tax free.  If the value decreases, taxes are still based on the original converted amount.  Thus, the ability to recharacterize in 2013 allows taxpayers to unconvert a Roth conversion that has decreased in value.

In 2012, I will be getting an unspecified amount of  income from my parents estate, which may put our income above the threshold for some tax credits.   The IRA deduction may lower our adjusted gross income enough to qualify for the credits again.   Since we did not do a Roth conversion, we won't benefit from the second IRA extended deadline.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday  for a new segment.


This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #106 - Christmas Edition

Welcome to the one hundred sixth edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now on to the Carnival.

Earning

Super Saver presents An Education Solution to Low Wage Jobs posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "The solution is to give high school graduates the skills needed to qualify for higher paying jobs, instead of only minimum wage jobs."

Bill Smith presents Accounting For Your Business posted at 2012 Taxes - Free Tax Filing Options, saying, "Running a small business can be one of the most time consuming and stressful experiences in life."

Insuring and Protecting

Odysseas presents How Can a U.S.-Made Prescription Drug Cost Hundreds More Domestically Than Abroad? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, "So, to sum things up, a myriad of factors enables the drug distribution industry to set outrageously high prices for their products, and while insurance makes them relatively affordable for a lot of people, those who don’t have insurance are left shelling out absurd amounts."

Investing

Bryan presents 2 Stocks To Keep An Eye On For 2013 posted at Saving to Inve$t, saying, "Apple and JPMorgan, two best in class companies, are poised to pop in 2013 if you consider the fundamentals supporting their earnings growth."

Dividends4Life presents This Is One Slick Dividend Stock posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "After 39 unsuccessful attempts, the formula was perfected in 1953 by Norm Larsen, founder of the Rocket Chemical Company, in San Diego, California. Larsen was attempting to create a formula to prevent corrosion in nuclear missiles, by displacing the standing water that causes it. The company and product are still known as..."

John Schmoll presents First Steps to Investing in the Stock Market posted at Frugal Rules, saying, "Just starting to invest in the stock market can be a daunting task for many. But, with a few simple guidelines you can get started on the road to investing for your future."

Living Frugally

Nick presents How to Save Money on Your Electric Bill posted at Making It in Today's Economy, saying, "Some folks underestimate just how much electricity rates can change over the course of a day--if they even consider it in the first place! By using energy-intensive appliances outside of "peak" hours, people can save some serious cash."

Charles presents Closing Costs: What They Are and How Much They Cost posted at Wallet Hub, saying, "Shed some light on perhaps the most stressful part of buying a home - closing costs. Understand what they involve."

Jeff - Middle Class Money presents The Fine Print of Credit Card Applications posted at Middle Class Money, saying, "Most of us have credit cards, but how many of us have read the fine print that comes along with them? Do you know all of the terms and conditions of your card? This article addresses some of the things to look for and what you can do about them."

My Money Design presents Should I Pay Off My Mortgage Early or Look for a Better Return? posted at My Money Design, saying, "Should I pay off my mortgage early or look for other opportunities with a better rate of return? What about inflation or other investment goals?"

Bryan presents Should I Pay Off My Mortgage Early? posted at Gajizmo, saying, "A simple question many Americans ask themselves: should I pay off my mortgage? The simple answer: it depends. Based on your family's financial situation, it may or may not make sense to accelerate payments on your home. Read more to find out all the advantages and disadvantages."

Taxes

John Kiernan presents Ask the Experts: Talking the Fiscal Fiasco with Some Folks Who Know a Thing or Two about Cliffs posted at CardHub.com, saying, "So, what does it take to go diving off the "Fiscal Cliff?" Check out a unique approach to the situation."


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Free Stock Trades

Lately, I've been asking for  free stock trades for a limited time from the major brokerages for transferring new funds into my accounts.   I've already taken advantage of this opportunity to test some trading strategies and to slowly trickle funds back into stocks.   Tonight, I noticed a free stock trade offer from a major brokerage for maintaining a minimum cash balance in the account.  Since I already have an account with that brokerage, I plan to check into this opportunity right after the Christmas holiday.

It seems brokerages are competing harder for investor's funds since trades typically cost about $9 per transaction.   I haven't though much about switching to save $3-4 per transaction.   However, when the price is free, I will consider moving more of my funds to companies that offer $0 commissions.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday  for a new segment.


This is not financial  or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Calling It What It Is - Incompetence

"Are you guys just incompetent or what?" asks Maria Bartiromo of Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland).  Watch this video CNBC.




It's about time the media stop giving elected goverment officials any deference during interviews about the fiscal cliff or the future debt ceiling crisis.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.


This is not financial or media advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Just as I Predicted

In the November 19, 2012 post Waiting for the Fiscal Cliff and Sequestration to Happen, I wrote, "It's inevitable that the Fiscal Cliff and Sequestration will happen.  This will allow both the Republicans and Democrats can claim success when negotiating a solution."   With only 3-4 more working days in 2012, it doesn't look like Congress will be able to pass a solution that President Obama will sign.

So it's over the fiscal cliff we go.   Just as I predicted...

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.


This is not financial, tax or policy advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Health Tests for Men to Get

Health tests your doctor doesn't know you need  describes 11 health test men should get:

Oral Glucose Tolerance Test
Endoscopic Colonoscopy
Testosterone and Estrogen Blood Test
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Blood Test
Vitamin D Blood Test
Stress Test with EKG
Omega 3 Blood Test
Advance Cholesterol Panel
Multidetector Computer Tomography
Highly Sensitive C-Reactive Protein Blood Test
Skin Cancer Screening

As I've become older, I've realized that I need to be more active in managing my health.  Currently, I have done 4 of the 11 tests: endoscopic colonoscopy, stress test with EKG, C-reactive protein, and skin cancer..  In addition, I get the regular cholesterol and glucose testing. 

At this time, I will consult with my doctor about doing the additional blood tests (testosterone, estrogen, thyroid, vitamin D, omega 3) for a baseline since cholesterol/glucose already require a blood draw. My doctor has decline prescribing the advanced cholesterol panel since there are no targets.   For now, I will pass on the multidetector CT since that will expose me to high radiation, making the risks greater than the benefit. 

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday  for a new segment.


This is not financial or health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Pivotal Events in My Life #1

Looking back over my life, there have been events that have been a significant influence on my future, even though I didn't know it at the time.   Here are a couple from my sports experience:

Knocked over coach in football tryouts.  I had been a lineman during my first two years of playing football.   During the third season of tryouts, one coach challenged the players in a blocking match.  He offered a quarter (a lot of money to a 10 year old in the 60s) to any player who could knock him over.   Of course, none of the players expected to do it since we all were under 100 pounds, the league weight limit.   Somehow, I must have caught the coach off balance and knocked him over backwards, which surprised everyone including the coach.   After the tryout, he gave me a quarter.

He later drafted me for his team, saying, "I had to get something back for my quarter."   Two things happened that year that changed my future for football.   First, I was the middle front lineman on the kickoff receiving team.   Our job was to block and fall on any football that came to us.   During one game, the ball was kicked to me.   Instead of falling on it, I picked it up, started running, and didn't stop until I was in the endzone.  My first touchdown, and my only kickoff touchdown.

Later that year, the coach converted me from a lineman to a running back.

Ran a 4.9 forty in high school football tryouts.   Today, that is not such a fast time, but it was in the 70s.   It was also fast enough for the coaches to put me on the Varsity football team as a freshman and as a running back.  

Of course, I was relegated to special teams, for kickoffs.  I was also the third string fullback and didn't expect to see any action.   However, during our first game, which we lost 47-6, the coach pulled both the first and second string fullback and put me in.  I lasted a few plays before I had the wind knocked out of me and left the game.   I guess I impressed the coach enough to become the starting fullback for the second half of the next couple games.   Back then freshmen didn't play on Varsity teams very much and the coach still wasn't sure about me.

By the middle of the season, I became the first string fullback, scoring all the touchdowns in our team's first win.   In my senior year, our team was the State Champion for our class. 

Although I did play football in college, my career ended with graduation since I definitely wasn't even close to pro material.   However, I enjoyed playing and I credit the above pivotal events for my football experience turning out the way it did.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday Friday for a new segment.


This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Pay Attention to the Arithmetic

"Now people ask me all the time, how we go four surplus budgets in a row. What new ideas did we bring to Washington? I always give a one word answer: Arithmetic." President Clinton from his 2012 DNC speech

I agree.  Simple math is all that is needed for good personal finance.   Here are some examples:

• Income - Expenses > 0.  What one spends should not be greater than what one makes.



• Tax Revenue - Spending > 0   To have a budget surplus, the government should spend less than what it takes in in taxes.

When the equation yields a number less than zero, debt is required to balance the equation.   Too many years of taking on additional debt will mean bankruptcy.  This true for individuals and countries, as is being learned in Greece.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday  for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #105

Welcome to the one hundred fifth edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now on to the Carnival.

Earning

Russ Egan presents How to Increase Your Engineering Salary posted at Chemical Engineering Guide, saying, "5 key ideas to increase salary and earnings for engineers"

Kerin Gedge presents Pimp My Hundred Bucks - Part Ten posted at Kerinthian's, saying, "Ten weeks ago I set myself the challenge of turning $100 into $500, here is the continuing saga of my "success"..."

Moyo presents How Do You Get Rich? 5 Myths That Hinder YouMoyo Mamora #BeInspired posted at Moyomamora- Inspiration, Motivation & Challenge to Exceed Higher Goals In Christ, saying, "This article explores some of the mental hindrances to creating wealth"

Vytas presents How to make money trading posted at Trend, saying, "How to make money trading? I guess all of us who got fascinated by the fact that one can live trading securities asked ourselves and others the question. It sometimes seems that making profits in financial markets has become a phenomenon of ‘Loch Ness monster’ – everybody has heard about it, but who has really seen it. In the same fashion you have heard that it is possible to make money trading, but have not heard who has done it."

Insuring and Protecting

Liana Arnold presents Do You Know What’s On Your Specialty Credit Reports? posted at CardHub.com, saying, "So you thought FICO scores and social influence were the only factors in underwriting decisions? Think again! Undisclosed information you wouldn't have thought about is provided by specialty reporting agencies to these financial decision makers."

Louis presents Credit Reporting Agencies | Wallet Hub Education Center posted at Wallet Hub, saying, "Perhaps by now you are aware that there are numerous alternative credit reporting agencies. But do you know who they are and what they report? Take a look at some of the companies whose information is influential where financial decisions concerning consumers are concerned."

Investing

harry campbell presents What to Look for in an Online Brokerage posted at Your Personal Finance Pro - Personal Financial Advice for Young Professionals, saying, "We’ve all seen the commercials for online brokerages; one has a green line, another wants you to talk to someone named Chuck, and still others have celebrity pitchmen telling you to take control of your financial future with their platform. They’re all members of the multi-billion dollar online brokerage industry. Up until the last few decades, if you wanted to invest in the stock market, you had to go through a high priced broker that might charge you several hundred dollars."

Dividends4Life presents This Dividend Stock Traces Its Origin Back To Oldsmobile posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "This company's origins are with auto manufacturer Ransom E. Olds, who founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company in 1897. Later, the company was known as Oldsmobile and would become part of General Motors (GM). Having left his company years before it was acquired by GM, Olds established a new company..."

John Schmoll presents Why Rebalancing Your Portfolio is Like Buying a Carton of Eggs posted at Frugal Rules, saying, "Portfolios, much like eggs can be damaged for numerous reasons. You also want to make sure you have a well balanced portfolio, just like you want a well-balanced diet. Part of a balanced portfolio is rebalancing it annually to make sure you have the best allocation possible."

Living Frugally

Super Saver presents Little Fixes, Big Difference posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "I choose Do-It-Yourself repair for two reasons: to save money and to learn about how things work, since I'm pretty good at taking things apart and getting them back together 99% of the time."

Savvy Scot presents SALLTYE – Spend A Lot Less Than You Earn posted at Savvy Scot, saying, "A GREAT point from The Savvy Scot this week; SALLTYE - Spend A Lot Less Than You Earn.. And Here's why"

Emily presents I Wish We Could Buy a House posted at Evolving Personal Finance, saying, "A bunch of reasons why I want to buy a house… and more why I don't."

kurt@mymoneycounselor.com presents How Rich People Go Broke posted at Money Counselor, saying, "Like me, are you mystified when you hear a news report of some formerly rich person filing for bankruptcy because he or she is now broke? How could that happen? Well, it turns out that the simple bad habits that can get you and me into money trouble have the same affect on the wealthy. They're just operating on a different level."

Retiring

Timothy Mobley presents 7 Threats To Your Retirement When All You Have Is a 401K Plan posted at Timothy Mobley's Blog, saying, "An article about the threats to retirement in the current environment when most people only rely on defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans barely exist."

John presents Will Coming Face to Face with Your Future Self Help You Plan for Retirement? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, "Snap a picture, take a peek into the future, and give some much-needed attention to your 401-k, IRA, and stock portfolio."

Taxes

Jeff - Middle Class Money presents Preparing for the Fiscal Cliff posted at Middle Class Money, saying, "The Fiscal Cliff is coming, are you prepared? We'll take you through the fiscal cliff and tell you how you can protect yourself."
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Keeping My Parents' Fund and Stock Investments

Recently, my sister and I inherited some stocks and mutual funds from our parents.   For now, I plan to keep the exact investments that my parents had for a several reasons.

The first reason is diversification.  My dad's investment strategy was primarily focused on energy stocks, biotech and international funds, in which I previously had relatively little exposure.    Second, some of these stock and all the mutual funds pay dividends, which contribute to the goal of creating a stream of regular dividend payments.  In addition, the mutual funds distribute capital gain payments which can be offset by the carryover stock losses and therefore, no income tax is paid.   Third, the specific investments are a reminder to me of the many conversations my dad and I used to have about stock investments.

Finally, my parent's investments have provide a positive return over the past six years.    Therefore, most the specific stocks and funds have been good choices, and I expect them to continue to do well in the near term future.

For more on Strategies and Plans Ideas, check back every Monday for a new segment.


This is not financial or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

New Life Tasks in Retirement

In the past month, I've been learning about the new complexities to deal with in retirement.  Not that the complexities didn't exist before, they were less extensive.   Here are some of my new complexities so far:

1. Medical.  I've never been one to go to the doctor much.  In my youth, most of my visits were to the emergency room for rugby injuries.  After adopting our daughter, there was an uptick in medical visits, but these were covered as routine visits.  Recently, I've been seeing specialists for a variety of reasons.  My new process now is to call the insurance company to confirm the provider is covered "in network" and what the exact cost will be.  That way I won't get an unpleasant surprise.  In addition, I've needed to call the insurance company and billing departments to determine how "non covered" tests are paid.  (Answer, the provider absorbs the cost since they are in network.)
2. Executor. As an executor of my parents' estate, I have learned more than I ever want to know about inheritance, transferring assets and working with financial institutions.  Hopefully, I can put my new knowledge to use in simplifying my estate for my executor.  In addition, I realized that estate planning will become important again with estate tax thresholds being lowered with the expiration of the Bush era tax cuts.
3. Income management.  When I retired in 2007, my company stock was at an all-time high and projected to grow 6% a year.   I expected to live off gains from my stock for at 10 years.  The Great Recession changed that.  Since I didn't have a pension,  I  realized I needed to more sources of income streams and have expanded to more sources than capital gains.

Of the three, the task I dislike the most is the Medical area.  It seems most of the new work I need is to deal with the health care bureaucracy, which will likely be made worse by Obamacare.   So the working the medical area only keeps me from losing benefits I should be getting.  The other two area have some upside potential for working on them.  So the extra work has potential to be productive.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.


This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Hard Work to Eat Healthy

Since taking early retirement in October 2007, I've been consciously working to maintain or improve my health.  I was 25% over weight (according to standard height/weight charts), 25% above maximum targets for cholesterol and triglycerides, and was eating too much processed foods and meats.  Eating healthy sure takes a lot of mental and physical effort.

First, eating healthy involves making a lot of our meals from scratch.  In general, processed foods fall into my "eating unhealthy" category.  So there are numerous trips to the grocery store, lots of cooking, and a lot more cleanup due to pots and pans.  Making meals from scratch takes a significant amount of time.
Second, eating healthy requires me to think differently about food. I used to be a big meat eater, probably eating five times my daily requirement.  I loved deli sandwiches, steaks and burgers, chicken and fish.  For a while it was difficult to consciously avoid what I liked to eat.  My solution was to learn how to make healthy food more of a habit and more appealing, as in how to make a great salad.

Third, eating healthy costs more.  In general, it is cheaper to buy the processed prepacked foods than it is to buy fresh ingredients to prepare.  We also try to buy organic which is another additional cost.

So far the hard work has paid off.   I've lost 15% of my weight, reduced my cholesterol to 5% above the target, and lowered my triglycerides to 40% below the target.  The results have made the effort worth it.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.


This is not financial or health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Creating a Great Salad

When I retired, I took a gourmet cooking class and learned the three key elements of creating a good salad

1. Texture.  Lettuce leaves should be torn into bite size pieces and other ingredients should be chopped or minced. 
2. Variety.  A salad should have multiple complementary flavors.  In addition to other vegetables and salad dressing, nuts, fruits, cheeses and meats are good ways to variety.
3. Mixing.   The salad ingredients should be mixed with a salad dressing and tossed.  This will create a homogeneous mixture off the ingredients.

I used to eat salad by putting a lettuce in a bowl and adding some salad dressing.  No wonder, I didn't like eating the salads I made.   Since using the technique I described above, I am able to eat a salad as my main course five or more times a week.

For more on Reaping the Rewards Reflections, check back every Friday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

An Education Solution to Low Wage Jobs

Low-Wage Jobs Cause More Problems Than They Solve reports that low wage jobs that are long term jobs keep workers from getting head due to the limiting the opportunities to get higher education or build skills to advance to higher paying jobs.  The article offers the typical solution of raising wages, which I believe is the addressing a symptom and not the cause of the issue.

To me, the issue isn't low paying jobs.  These are great entry level jobs for people to get work experience, e.g. teenagers or college students.   The issue is that low paying jobs become permanent jobs for some people.

The solution is better education, not getting a college degree, but having higher skills when graduating from high school.   My reasoning is that when I graduated for high school in the seventies, high school graduates had the skills need to advance from entry level jobs to higher paying jobs.

For example, I was able to get a summer job as an engineering assistant right after graduating from high school.  I had sufficient skills to effectively work the job in the seventies since some colleagues thought I was a permanent employee.  Of course, the job requirements have increased significantly in the past 40 years, and my high school education from the seventies would not be sufficient anymore.  Neither is the high school education of 2012.

Based on my experience tutoring high school students, I estimate that many, if not most, high school students need to graduate with a much higher lever of skills to be able to advance to higher paying jobs without a college education.  This would be a great opportunity to improve both our education and worker competitiveness.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday  for a new segment.
This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Inheritance - The Final Act of Personal Finance

While acting as executor for my parents' estate,  I realized that their transferring of the assets represented their final act of personal finance, even though many of the decisions were made years before. For reference, my parents wishes were very simple: equal division of assets for the two heirs.   However, the execution was a bit more complicated. 

1. Revocable living trusts.   In the late 90s, my parents both established revocable living trusts to minimize the estate tax impact, when the threshold for paying the tax was much lower.  While their estate was below the limits when the passed away, it was good to have the trusts in case the limits fall again, as could happen in 2013.   In most cases, having the assets in a trust made the easier to transfer.  In a couple cases, the trust made asset transfer more difficult due to internal regulations at the financial institutions.



2. Asset classes.  Cash was the easiest to divide, as an asset and procedurally.  It was simply writing a check.  Stocks were the next easiest.  Dividing the assets was simple, and the procedures involved a a significant amount of paper work, which varied by institution.   My parents kept stock in 9 different places, which required paperwork to be done 18 times for two heirs. 
   
   The most difficult was the real and personal property.  Of the personal property, my sister and easily split up the items we wanted.  However, disposing of the rest of the property will require personally selling or donating the items and involve significant time including a trip to the location.  The real property, personal home and investment property will be the most difficult.  These involve appraisals, agreement on value, and sale or joint ownership.



3. Time and effort required.  I've learned that being an executor is a full time job .   The work is significant to transfer the assets. However, there is a lot of research, preparation and execution effort.  In addition, the assets need to be stepped up to the date of death.  Fortunately, I am retired and can put a lot of time against getting the work done.

My parents didn't have the experience of being an executor.  Now that I have, I plan to structure our estate such that our executor and heir will have a easier time of doing the asset transfer.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday  for a new segment.

This is not financial or estate planning advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Links to Carnivals from November 27 - December 4, 2012

Here are the links to some of the Carnivals in which My Wealth Builder participated from November 27 - December 10, 2012:

The Wealth Builder Carnival #103

Cavalcade Carnival of Financial Planning

Baby Boomers Blog Carnival #168

Tax Carnival #109

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #104

Welcome to the one hundred fourth edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now on to the Carnival.

Earning

Theresa Torres presents 6 Helpful Tips for Lowering Common Business Expenses - Hispanic-Today posted at Hispanic Today, saying, "If you're looking for ways to cut back on your business expenses, here are some areas where you can manage your spending better."

Super Saver presents Choosing the Harder Right for a College Major posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "Back when we were in our teens, my spouse and I chose college majors that would lead to a good paying job."

Investing

Dividends4Life presents This Company Is Spicing Up Its Dividend With Another Increase posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "The company that started in one room and a cellar, now has 7,500 employees and annual revenue of over $3.5 billion dollars. You may not of heard of the company, but the cook in your family will be very familiar with its products. Who is the company? It is..."

Living Frugally

harry campbell presents Review of my Car2go Car Sharing Experience posted at Your Personal Finance Pro - Personal Financial Advice for Young Professionals, saying, "Although Car2go hasn’t reached every major city yet, there is probably some type of car sharing service available in your local metropolitan. Whether it’s Zipcar or some other service, the idea of car sharing has really taken off over the past couple years. I’m pretty intrigued by the whole idea because less cars on the road is better for the environment and traffic congestion. This is pretty important for a city like San Diego with millions of people and no viable public transportation options."

Charles presents How to Buy a House posted at Wallet Hub, saying, "Whether you are ready to buy a home or just sticking a toe in the real estate water, it’s never too early to start doing your homework. Buying a home can seem overwhelming, so let’s break it down into a series of steps, and take them one at a time."

John Schmoll presents How to Slash Years Off the Life of Your Mortgage posted at Frugal Rules, saying, "Buying a house is one of the largest purchases many people will make. Unfortunately many of us have to finance the purchase and repay for many years. There are a number of ways though that you can reduce the life of the mortgage as well as lower the amount you end up paying."

Taxes

Sara Stanich presents Tax Planning for Beginners posted at Cultivating Wealth, saying, "Tax planning sounds complicated, but there are four basic things you should probably be doing."


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Using an ETF Portfolio

With the introduction of no commission ETFs by some brokerages, I am considering using an all ETF investment strategy in one of my retirement accounts.  There are several benefits of doing this:

1. Cost.  The index ETFs I am considering have expenses of about .1-.2%.  This is much lower than the 1% for a managed account, and often lower than mutual funds.  Even with some ETFs expenses at 0.5% the cost will still average out to be low.    I will be able to use commission free ETFs, which will keep down costs as a trickle funds back into the market.
2. Diversification. ETFs are easy diversification, allow me to invest in a broad range of stocks through an index or sector.  However, ETFs are segmented enough such that I can weight exposure in different areas, such as small cap stocks, REITs, etc.  To me, this allows some active involvement over just investing in the S&P500 index.
3. Simplicity.  Once I choose an ETF allocation, I can manage it by rebalancing periodically, probably on a monthly basis.  In volatile markets, I may choose a biweekly timing, but probably not more frequently.  I would also start focusing on macro trends and much less on individual companies.

Here are three articles that I will use to design my initial allocation:

• 6 Great ETF Portfolios
• The Cheapest ETF Portfolio
• How to Build the Cheapest ETF Portfolio

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.


This is not financial or investing advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Back in the Technorati's Top 100 Finance and Business Blogs

In the past year, My Wealth Builder dropped out the top 100 finance and top 100 business blog list by Technorati. This past week, My Wealth Builder was reinstated at 88 for business blogs and 46 for finance blogs.  For current rankings, check here.

As always, I am pleased to be recognized in the top 100 list for finance and business blogs. Although I don't know the criteria for the rankings, I believe one of them is participating in carnivals, which I just started doing regularly again in the the past month. 

Hopefully, I will be able to maintain a top 100 ranking for a longer period this time, maybe even for all of 2013.
For more on  New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or blogging advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

No Fiscal Cliff Solution, No Vacation

During my career, I participated in solving several business crises.   It was an all hands on deck situation.   I was working 70 - 80 hours a week, including weekends and adjusted my personal schedule.  I've worked on holidays and cancelled vacations when the business was in crisis.

Compare that to government.   The fiscal cliff and sequestration is a major crisis.   Yet, Congress still took off for the Thanksgiving holiday.    If the fiscal cliff and sequestration is still a crisis at the end of December, I would want Congress to cancel recess and vacations to work on solving the issue.

However, I suspect they won't.   Congress and the President will likely take their normally scheduled recess and vacations, as if there were no crisis at all.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.


This is not financial or policy advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Little Fixes, Big Difference

I've always been a do-it-yourself-fix-it person.  In my younger days, I chose this route mainly to save money.  Now that I'm retired, I choose this route for two reason:  to save money and to learn about how things work, since I'm pretty good at taking things apart and getting them back together 99% of the time.

This year I completed several small repairs.    I noticed that four of the repairs had a significant impact on functionality or reducing problems.

1. Grill.  This summer, the side burner on our grill started to burn yellow with an very high (5 inch) flame.  After researching the issue on the Internet, I determined the problem was likely a spider web in the gas piping.  When I disconnected the burner from the inlet pipe, I found a spider web and cleaned it out.  The side burner returned to a hot short blue flame.
2. Washer.  We have a high efficiency front load washer which works great, but has some mold/odor issues due to retained water that is not completely drained. After brief research on the Internet, I discovered the odor issue was likely caused by a drain filter which was lower than the drain tube outlet.  When I disassembled the filter compartment, it had significant amounts of soap scum buildup.  Cleaning the scum up eliminated the odor issue.
3. Sprinkler.  The ground near our patio had always been marshy.  At first, I attributed the issue to a slightly detached downspout which was fixed.  When I the issue continued, I adjusted our in-ground sprinklers to not water the area.  When the issue didn't go away, I just assumed we had an underground stream.  This summer, I noticed that even though a sprinkler was turned off, it was draining into the marshy area after the section stopped watering.   I mentioned the issue to the local parts distributor, and he recommend installing a sprinkling head with a check valve that stopped the drainage.   That change, which only cost $4, completely eliminated the marshy area this summer.
4. Dishwasher.  A couple years ago, we noticed that our dishwasher was leaving food particles on some of the plates and cups.   I assumed the problem was due to a change in the detergent since other people were having the same issues.   I had replaced a bearing ring on a washer arm which made a small improved.   Just last week, I noticed that there were large pieces of food (noodles) lodged in the spray arm.  With a little inspection, I found that the pump filter for the spray arms had been damaged.   Replacing the filter not only eliminated the food particles, but also noticeable improved the cleaning capability of the dishwasher.

I still have a few more projects that I need to get done.  (The list never shortens :-)   Hopefully, the impact of some of the repairs will be as noticeable as the four I described.

For more on Reaping the Rewards, check back every Friday  for a new segment.


This is not financial or home maintenance advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Completed State Quarter Collection

One of my bonding activities with our daughter is coin collecting.   We've been doing coin roll hunting and collecting quarters (regular, state and national parks) and pennies.

Yesterday, we found the last coin needed to complete our state quarter collection. We now have all 100 quarters: 50 states each from the Philadelphia and Denver mints.  We've been looking for the last coin for about six months.  It's not particularly rare.  It was just rare for us:-)

While looking for state quarters, we've found several of the National Park quarters from the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program.   So, we've started a new collection.  This one will be harder to complete since the mintage is only 70 million per design versus an average of 695 million (lowest 416 million) for the state quarters.  In addition, fewer of the new quarters are going into circulation due to a lower need for coins during the recession.

Also, we will be starting to do some coin roll hunting.  Now that I've found nearby banks with free coin counters, it will be easier to return coins that have been searched.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday  for a new segment.

This is not financial or coin collecting  advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Government Ponzi Schemes That Could Fail

A Ponzi scheme pays current investor returns from payments made by new investors rather than from earnings on investments.   Ponzi schemes are illegal and usually have a poor ending as exemplified in the the Bernie Madoff case.

Based on my observation, state and federal governments seem to manage some finances using Ponzi scheme approaches.   Here are some examples I have come across:

1. Social Security.  Although Social Security is theoretically supported by a trust fund, it is actually covered by current workers.  Unfortunately, the number of workers per beneficiary is declining.  In 1950, there were 16 workers per beneficiary; now there are only 3 workers per beneficiary.  It is expected to decline to 2 workers per beneficiary by 2030.   Although technically not a Ponzi scheme, it sure has the feel of one.
2. Government pensions.  Based on a brief involvement with a county job, my observation was that our state's pension system depends on current tax revenues to cover paymentssince the pensions are not fully funded.  If tax revenues falls significantly or if a municipality goes bankrupt, pension payments may not be sustainable at current levels.

Although I am not receiving any payments, I am currently a participant in the Social Security system.  When I was part of the state retirement system, I chose the defined contribution (fully funded) plan over the defined benefit (pension) plan.  When I quit the county job, I rolled over my contributions into an IRA and left the state retirement system.

It will be interesting how Social Security benefits are affected by the fiscal cliff solution.  At this point, I don't know how Social Security reform will affect me, since I am below the threshold age for keeping current benefits.

For more on The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every  Wednesday for a new segment.


This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #103

Welcome to the one hundred third edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement. For reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now on to the Carnival.

Earning

Theresa Torres presents 6 Useful Financial Tips for the Newly Self-Employed posted at Under30CEO, saying, "You may need to make some adjustments from being a salaried professional to being self-employed when it comes to your finances. Here are some tips to help you make the transition as smooth as possible."

harry campbell presents Employee Benefits: Do You Have the Option to Purchase Additional Vacation Days posted at Your Personal Finance Pro - Personal Financial Advice for Young Professionals, saying, "A lot of people are talking about employee benefits right now. They are deciding which medical plan to choose(the answer should be HSA!), reviewing their investment choices and maybe even increasing their 401k contribution. But I’m here to talk about a different type of benefit today: vacation days. You might not think of purchasing vacation as a benefit since it’s akin to taking unpaid time off. But there are some financial and even mental/spiritual benefits to purchasing extra vacation that you may not be aware of."

Insuring and Protecting

John presents Are Banks Making You Sign Away Your Rights? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, "Big banks include mandatory arbitration clauses in checking account agreements and the statistics speak for themselves. It’s obvious that making consumers sign away their rights is a costly and legally-dubious practice toward consumers."

Investing

Dividends4Life presents This Company Delivers Dividend Increases, Not Bad Emails posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Today, George's little company has over 19,000 employees and annual sales of over $7.8 billion. The company has a presence in the international marketplace through joint ventures and placement of personnel in strategic foreign locations such as Australia, Canada, China, Japan and the Philippines. In addition it has a minority positions in companies in Mexico and the Philippines. What company is this? It is..."

John Schmoll presents 5 Frugal Ways to Start Investing Now posted at Frugal Rules, saying, "Investing in the stock market can be intimidating for many, but it does not have to be. With a little education and setting a plan you can invest in the stock market and not have to spend lots of money doing it."

Living Frugally

Super Saver presents 9-1/2 Years and 70,000 Miles posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "Even though we can afford to buy a new vehicle, I plan to drive my current truck for another five years."

Lance presents 10 Ways to Save for a Down Payment on a House posted at The House Mouse, saying, "So how can you save for a down payment for a new home? Saving up for a down payment on a house can be one of the most challenging parts of home buying. It takes many people years to save enough cash to afford the home they want."

Taxes

Bill Smith presents Eco Products That Are Tax Deductible posted at 2010Taxes, saying, "There are plenty of things that can help you save money if you go green. In 2011 you could write off home energy efficiency improvements."

David de Souza presents Where Does Your Tax Go? posted at TaxFix Feed Update, saying, "If you have ever wondered where you tax goes this post highlights how your taxable income is spent by the government."

James Powell presents What The Child Benefit Changes Mean To You posted at Tax Credits, saying, "Child Benefit is changing. This blog posts highlights what the Child Benefit Changes Mean To You."

Bill Smith presents IRS Tax Relief Programs posted at 2012 Tax - Free Tax Filing Options, saying, "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has several programs that offer tax relief for persons who have outstanding back taxes."


That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Tuesday for a new segment.

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Fixing Home Appliances on My Own

By using the Internet, I have found making minor repairs to home appliances has become much easier.   In the past, it would take a lot of effort to find information on an issue and necessary diagrams.  I would need to check the library for any do it yourself books.  In some cases, I would call the manufacturer and talk to tech support on the issue.   That's all changed with the Internet. 

Here's how I approach fixing a home appliance now:

1. Check appliance repair forums.    To start, I do a search for the specific issue, which returns several results in repair forums.  Usually, several other people have had similar or the same problem as I am experiencing.  Often, there is a single answer.  Sometimes, there are two or three different solutions which require some further work in diagnosing the issue.
2. Check videos on doing the repair.  About half the time, there is a video on repairing my specific issue.  This is very helpful since I am visual person and seeing the video give me more confidence.
3. Check for parts diagrams.  The online appliance parts store typically have the manufacturer exploded parts diagrams.  These are useful for identifying the part and determining how the appliance is assembled.
4. Contact tech support.  I only do this about 10% of the time, when I don't find a video and there is a special disassembly procedure that isn't obvious from the parts diagram.  In these cases, I usually just ask how to take apart the appliance without damaging it.

In 2012, I made three successful small repairs to our washer, grill and dishwasher.   In each case, I probably saved around $150, which is about the cost of a service call and an hour's labor.   So my total savings was about $450.   I did call in a repair service for a dryer repair where I wasn't quite sure of the solution.   This was a good call because there were two electronic bad parts and I would spent a significant amount determining both were not functioning since I don't own the electronic diagnostic tools.

For more on Strategies and Plans Ideas, check back every Monday for a new segment.

This is not financial or repair advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Government's Definition of Spending Cuts

For financial amusement, I've been following the drama on the fiscal cliff and sequestration negotiations.  I have learned amazingly that the governments definition of spending cuts is very different that my definition for individuals.  To me, a personal spending cut is making a conscious decision on what to give up to reduce costs.  For example, I may choose to buy less or to buy a less expensive brand of a product.  In most cases, I need to give up something: amount, quality, or value.

However, I have learned that the government has several more options for "spending cuts:"

1. Pay the provider less for the same product.  The proposed 2% cut in Medicare is to simply have health care providers accept 2% for the exact same services and products.  The providers only choice is to participate or be excluded from Medicare.    Gee, I wish I could tell my grocery store or gas station to accept 2% less and have them participate.  Unfortunately, they will choose not to do business with me anymore.
2. Future promised cuts that usually don't materialize.   A typical government tactic is to claim a savings credit today for spending cuts in the future, even they don't materialize, which they usually don't.  For me, that would mean I could claim a spending cut of $25,000 in 2012 if I delay purchasing a car from 2014 to 2015.
3. Postponing benefits.  Another government spending cut is to delay benefits for entitlements, such as Social Security.  So raising the age for full retirement is considered a spending cut for the government.  I guess this works because starting later means less payments over the programs lifetime, but I don't see how it should be claimed as a current savings.  For example, if I take a major vacation every five years starting at 55 and decide to delay the start until 60, I will take one less major vacation over my lifetime.  But I shouldn't claim a spending cut in the year I decide to delay.

This year I probably saved a few hundred dollars in spending cuts.  However, if I used the government definition, I would claimed tens of thousands in spending cuts since I didn't buy a new car, delayed taking major vacation, and assumed all my providers would accept 2% less for the same products and services.

For more on  New Realities, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

This is not financial or frugal living advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

A Different Opinion on The Fiscal Cliff

As I posted before, I believe going off the fiscal cliff is inevitable.   Last week I heard an interesting opposing viewpoint:  The fiscal cliff compromise has been or is nearly complete.    The politicians' brinkmanship is just for the benefit of the constituency that voted for them.

I hope he's right, but I doubt it. That would be rising above the politics, which I don't think will happen.  I think it's more likely the politician have agreed to let the fiscal cliff happen, so that both parties can look good when negotiating a solution.  That would be more consistent with the behavior I've seen from our elected officials :-)

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC