Advanced Child Tax Credit Issues I'm Having

I just found out from the Manage Your Payment Portal that our Advance Child Tax Credit Payment is being deposited to someone else's bank account, even though our bank account is listed correctly to Portal.

The bank deposit error itself is extremely concerning.  Here are the other reasons I am very upset:

• The IRS would not assist on the phone when I had questions about not receiving a payment.  They required me to sign up with the Manage Your Payment Portal, which took me two days to do since I am not tech savvy and do not have a smart phone.
• This is the weekend, and no one can help me with correcting this incorrect payment issue via phone.  I could unenroll us from the program, but it requires my spouse to sign up for the Manage Your Payment Portal also.
• I would not have requested receiving Advance Child Tax Credit Payments.  They advance payments were automatic and one had to opt out via the Manage Your Payment Portal.
• I will now have to deal with the IRS to correct THEIR issue.
• The IRS may contest my 2020 Child Tax Credit claim due to THEIR mistake.

I should be compensated for the pain a suffering I will experience to correct this issue :-)

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

This is not financial nor tax advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Save by Pre-ordering Parts Online

I try to do as much of my car maintenance as possible to save money.  Changing cabin air filter in our car costs about $60 at the dealer.   I can buy the part for about $20 and it only takes 5 minutes to change.   

Today, I got an additional savings of $5 on the part.   It turns out if I order the part online and pick it up at the dealer, it only costs $15, instead of $20 if I walk into the dealer at purchase.  I guess I save the parts person time by not asking questions when I pick up.  However, if I need help choosing the part online, the parts person will help me choose the correct part.   Thus, I don't understand the reason for the savings.

In this case, my is not to question why, but to order online and save when I buy.

For reference, this is not an extra trip either.  I usually buy the part when I go in for an oil change, which I do at the dealer, since the cost is often about the same as buying the parts/oil and doing it myself.

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

This is not financial nor car maintenance advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Avoiding FOMO

"Stonks only go up.~ Wall Street Bets saying

After Monday's dip, the indices have only gone up.   Shortest correction ever.   Retail bought the dip.   New highs at the end of week.

Do I think the market could keep going up?   Yes.   Do I also think there is a risk of going down?  Yes.   I think the upside potential is equal to the downside risks.  Therefore, I'm not putting significant funds into the market.

FOMO, maybe.   Risking significant amounts of money.  Nope.  Testing with minimal funds.  Yep.

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

This is not financial nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Remaining Patient

Today may be the start of the correction for which I've been waiting.   I'm not buying yet, since I believe the market will go down further.  Too much uncertainty and not enough fear yet.   When I can no longer bear to look at my investments accounts, I will consider significant buying then. 

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

This is not financial nor investment advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Going Almost Full Boomer for Stock Investments

I've enjoyed reading Wall Street Bets and trading some of the meme stocks and meme options.      I've learned a lot about trading options.  I've learned a lot about trading stocks that spike. I've felt the exhilaration of making a big winning trade.  Fortunately, I've made money with about 90% of these trades.

I've been lucky, because I'm not that good of a trader.

The downside is that I feel I need to be ready to make a decision to buy/sell or close out options every moment the market is open.   That's because some of the stocks and options will spike, but only momentarily, as short as few hours, but often for a few days.   These spikes are often also unexpected.  Thus, trading meme stocks and meme options can be stressful.

In addition, I don't have a reliable system to replace positions that I close out.   This means that I have to be consistently watching the market for the opportunity to buy.  Otherwise, I may miss a good entry prices before the spike.

Finally, as I get older, I realize that my trading ability will diminish as I've seen happen with many elderly people.

I fell I have two choices:

• Put our investments with a financial advisor for a fee of about 1% of assets.
• Put our funds into a total market or S&P 500 index funds for a fee of about .05% of assets.

I'm leaning towards the index funds for the following reasons:

• Very few investment managers consistently beat the total market or S&P500 index over  a 5 year period.  Almost not beat the indices over a 10 year period.
•  With commission free trading, we can dollar cost average in the index funds.

I plan to start scaling into the indices over time as corrections occur, maybe a few percent at a time, just in case there is a unexpected major decline in the market in the future.

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

This is not financial, investment nor trading advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Still Hate a Daily Commute

I've been retired for over a decade and haven't had a regular daily morning and evening commute during that time.  Until now.   This week, I've been driving my daughter to her volunteer internship all five days.  

Although the traffic is not as bad as as I remember, due to many still working from home, it still was "rush hour" traffic.   It's 15 miles to her location, mostly on highway.   Of course, I head back home after dropping her off, which makes it a 30 mile trip.   So 60 miles a day, about an hour and half on the road.

I don't miss it.  Not one bit.

If I ever go back to work, I think I will only do a work from home job.  

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

This is not financial nor career advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2021 Achievement Catalyst, LLC