Enjoy Working with Clients

Since retiring I've worked at nine different part time jobs, which were very different from my previous career. The jobs I liked best were the ones where I could use my experience and leverage my strengths to work with a specific client of the business.  I get the most gratification from my job when I feel a client has benefited significantly from my interaction with them.

My seasonal financial services job and my tutoring job both fall into the category of client focused work.  I enjoy the one-to-one interactions and the ability to tailor a service for a specific person.  In both jobs, I'd like to develop a core group of returning clients that I enjoy working with and can provide outstanding service. My after school program teaching job also comes close to falling into this category.

As I look for other part time retiree job opportunities in the future, I will focus on client based types of work. 

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

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Enjoying Tutoring

I enjoy tutoring high school students on college prep exam tests, such as the ACT and SAT.  Each week I get to work with students who are very interested in learning how they can improve their test scores.  Each week, I challenge myself to make a difference in the two hour session I spend with them.  Eighty percent of the time, I succeed in making a noticeable difference in one or two sessions which is very gratifying.
 
Its great to work with students who are truly interested in the concepts I'm teaching and the advice I am giving.  I hope I have the same experience with my daughter when I start helping with her homework :-)
 
For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday  for a new segment.

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Timeless Articles from the Archives #37

It's been over four years since I started My Wealth Builder. As I think about topics to write , I often remember, "I've written about that before," and decide to find a new topic. However, since many principles of personal finance are timeless, I want to include them in a recent post on My Wealth Builder. Therefore, I have started a series called "Timeless Articles from the Archives" which highlights posts from the same week in 2007-2010.


2007

Retirement In My Forties - What Would I Do?    - This post was a good prediction.

2008

When Was Life Harder - Then or Now?    -  Although my nephew believes it's now, I think it depends.
An Elegant Solution For Those Wanting Higher Tax Rates  - For all those wanting higher tax rates, I offer a solution.


2009

None


2010

Pizza Strategies for Personal Finance   - The questions of more slices or a bigger pizza can also be applied to personal finance.

Still Learning - A great benefit of early retirement is having the opportunity to learn about professions and businesses through part time work.

To me, the content of these posts are still relevant today and worth reading again.

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

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #38

Welcome to the thirty-eighth 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 them into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.


And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Darwin presents Day-Trading is a Total Scam. Don’t Fall For the Pitch posted at Darwin's Money, saying, "You've heard the pitch for incredible "Trading Systems" and working from home as a day-trader. It's a total scam. Here's why."

Insuring and Protecting

None

Investing

Dividends4Life presents 8 Dividend Stocks For The Ultimate In Deferred Gratification posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Deferred gratification is a principle where one or more people choose to postpone near-term benefits in order to enhance their chances of greater benefits in the future. In our microwave society marked by the ‘I want it now’ attitude, it is unusual to find someone willing to wait."

Kevin presents Adam’s Golf: A Balanced Micro Cap Golf Stock posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, "Adam’s Golf (ADGF) is the micro-cap of all micro capitalization stocks—you could buy the company outright for just over $42 million dollars. But while its small size may be threatening to some, it is important to remember that sometimes the biggest earners come in the smallest of stocks. This stock, I believe, is one such stock."

Boomer presents When You Need Cash From Your Investments posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, "Consider your needs when cashing in your investments. Are you having a short-term financial dilemma, making changes to your lifestyle or starting to fund your retirement?"

Dividend Growth Investor presents Reinvesting Dividends Pays Off posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, "The moral of the story is to save a lot, buy quality dividend growth stocks at the right times and reinvest dividends when you can."

Diva presents AssetBuilder and My Rollover IRA Part 2 posted at Diva In Debt, saying, "Continuing my blog story about why I selected AssetBuilder to invest my Rollover IRA and the subsequent investment strategy and model portfolio I invested in."

Living Frugally

Khaleef @ KNS Financial presents Can I Afford That? posted at Faithful With A Few, saying, "Can I afford that? This is a question that we need to ask before we make any purchase. It has nothing to do with monthly payments, but with our bank accounts!"

Retiring

Mike Piper presents How Social Security Benefits Are Calculated posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, "Given that Social Security makes up a significant portion of retirement income for most US retirees, it's worth knowing how your benefits are calculated."

Saving

Tarik presents Be wealthy today - by cutting your paycheck in half.. posted at Success starts today, saying, "To be wealthy every day of your life, you need to have some savings aside. It is simply not easy to go day to day without any money saved. Even $100 is enough to start with. Don’t have even that? Start with $1. You don’t have to be financially free to feel wealthy, you need to have a sound financial system in place to be wealthy. Learn to save money, invest it, and reinvest it starting this month."

Taxes

Al Peters presents Are You Keeping The Correct Tax Records? posted at TaxFix Feed Update, saying, "This article explains the need and way to keep the correct tax records."

The Amateur Financier presents Preparing for Next Year’s Taxes posted at The Amateur Financier, saying, "Advice on what you can do now to decrease the amount you'll owe in taxes next year, as it's always good to think ahead when it comes to money."

Jim Yih presents Are You Taking Advantage of the Pension Income Tax Credit? posted at Retire Happy Blog, saying, "The Pension Income Tax credit is available to Canadians that are 55 years of age or older."

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 © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Timeless Articles from the Archives #36

It's been over four years since I started My Wealth Builder. As I think about topics to write , I often remember, "I've written about that before," and decide to find a new topic. However, since many principles of personal finance are timeless, I want to include them in a recent post on My Wealth Builder. Therefore, I have started a series called "Timeless Articles from the Archives" which highlights posts from the same week in 2007-2010.


2007

Deferred Income Can Significantly Help Retiring Early   - For me, having deferred compensation may be a key enabler to retiring in my forties. Of course, there is always a downside risk that the stock options will expire worthless, if the company does not do well.

Would I Do The Expat Assignment Again?   - Knowing what I know now, the answer is absolutely yes.

Being A Big Kid - Frugal Entertainment    -   Not only is playing like a kid fun, it also can be very inexpensive.


2008

Teach A Child To Become A Millionaire      -  Start saving early and use the power of compound interest.

Adjustments In Early Retirement - Here are some of the ones I've experienced, which I did not expect.



2009

None


2010

A Gift of Opportunity  - When I was a child, our family didn't have much. However, I now know I received something that was much more valuable: opportunity.

Still Learning - A great benefit of early retirement is having the opportunity to learn about professions and businesses through part time work.
To me,the content of these posts are still relevant today and worth reading again.

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

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #37

Welcome to the thirty-seventh 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 them into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

The number of submissions was very low this week with several regulars absent.  Perhaps, everyone was working on his taxes to meet the April 19 filing deadling :-)

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

None

Insuring and Protecting

None

Investing

Dividends4Life presents 6 Dividend Stocks Building Shareholder Returns posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Numerous research projects have shown, a conservative dividend growth based investment strategy has consistently outperformed the market over time. My goal as a dividend growth investor is to build a steadily increasing income and not necessarily to outperform the market via capital gains. But given the choice, I certainty don’t mind having both."

Living Frugally

None

Retiring

Robert Moore presents Why Choose Your Roth IRA Online ? posted at 2011 Tax, saying, "It is no different with Roth IRA accounts, and the online resources have allowed investors to take advantage of more options and compare the rates and services of many providers to get the best plan for any given situation."

Saving

None

Taxes

None


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 © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Composting Early

Typically, we begin our composting in the fall after raking up our leaves.   The challenge is that our compost pile has too much carbon material and not enough nitrogen material.  As a result, not much composting occurs and we basically have a wet pile of leaves after the winter.
 
Last fall, based on my spouse's input, I began adding large amounts of grass clippings to the compost pile.   To increase composting effectiveness, I created an new pile by layering the grass clippings and leaves.  The composting process took off.  Within a couple days, the internal temperature of the pile reached 140 degrees and the compost pile was being reduced noticeably in height.  In a month, I was able to reduce 20 large bags of leaves to pile that could fit in one to two of the bags.

This year I decided to not wait until the fall to add grass clippings. I am cutting my lawn and bagging the clippings for four to five cutting cycles.  I will add mix the clippings with the leaves from last fall and then letting the pile compost over the summer.   Hopefully, the process will benefit from the summer heat and result in a fully composted product by fall, which can be then added to our flower beds.

A month before the leaves start falling, I will begin cutting the lawn again and bagging the clippings.  This will enable us to rapidly compost the leaves that we collect immediately, rather than for the following spring for sufficient grass clippings. 
 
For more on  New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.
This is not financial or composting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Correcting Tax Return Errors

While most people consider a tax return finished on April 15 (or 18 in 2011), I don't consider a tax return final until three years after the original due date, which may include extensions. 
 
Each year I seem to learn about another tax deduction that I could have benefited from in a previous year. Although I am disappointed that I missed claiming the deduction, I know that I have three years from the original due date  to file an amendment to get an additional refund.  After three years, I will forfeit any refund, but can still file an amendment for informational purposes.  For reference, the IRS will allow unlimited time to file an amendment if I owe money :-)
 
In general, I believe that I can better spend my money than the government. So I will file an amended return to get the additional refund. Although I don't have a firm cutoff, I probably wouldn't file for an additional refund below $25  Below that, it probably isn't worth the effort to file an amended return.


To me, doing an amendment is a relatively easy process.  The return is done using the new information  and a new refund is calculated.  The difference from the previous refund received is determined and claimed.  The information is then put on a 1040X form which sent in with the schedules that were amended.  Around 8-12 weeks, a refund check arrives in the mail. 
 
Although I plan to file a correct return initially,  I won't consider our 2010 tax return  final until October 18, 2014, which is three years after the 2010 extended due date.  During that time I will probably find out about another deduction or credit I missed :-)
 
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 © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

A Treasure Hunt for Silver Coins

A few weeks ago, I started a project with my daughter to find silver coins.  We ordered a box of half dollars (50 rolls worth $500) and began to search through the coins for 1964 or earlier dates (90% silver) or 1965 to 1970 dates (40% silver).  Our first attempt yielded no silver coins.
 
However, my daughter enjoyed the treasure hunt.  So I ordered another box to inspect again.  Hopefully, we'll find at least one silver coin :-)   Based on a conversation with a coin hunting enthusiast, I may also try dimes and nickels next time. 
 
We may not find many silver coins, but this is a fun activity to do with my daughter.   Perhaps, I'll even buy a few coin collecting books and we can start putting some of the coins we inspect into a collection.
 
For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Timeless Articles from the Archives #35

It's been over four years since I started My Wealth Builder. As I think about topics to write , I often remember, "I've written about that before," and decide to find a new topic. However, since many principles of personal finance are timeless, I want to include them in a recent post on My Wealth Builder. Therefore, I have started a series called "Timeless Articles from the Archives" which highlights posts from the same week in 2007-2010.


2007

Expat Frugality  - An oxymoron but possible :-)

Estimating The Value Of My House  - Despite the real estate crash, I still like to estimate the value of our house.

The Difference Between Risk and Fear   -   Fear takes over when the absolute loss become large.

College Admissions - What I Consider the "Right Stuff"   - To me, it's not just good grades.


2008

Agility Versus Skill     -  Showing agility is good, demonstrating skill is better, and having both is the best.

Do What You Love and The Money Will Follow - Counterpoint   - Not in my case :-)


2009

Why Do Small Businesses Fail?  - It's not for lack of ideas or passion.

Privilege and Responsibility - With privilege comes responsibility.

Five Signs of Getting Old -  It's not just thinning or graying hair.

2010

I Avoid Financial Advisors with These Characteristics - Here are some of the key misses in my expectations of financial advisors I've met.

To me,the content of these posts are still relevant today and worth reading again.

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

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC