This.

That's true. But since annualcreditreport.com started up, they're actually pretty easy to grasp in terms of where you stand in general.

But yeah, if you're looking to buy a house or finance some other large purchase, knowing your score certainly will let you know about what rate you can expect, as well as prevent the seller from pulling any shenanigans (like Honda tried to do with us -- which didn't work, thankfully :) ).

You know, I'm going to have dig up some stuff I wrote about credit scores and bureaus on my old blog and post it here. Maybe even some of the one's I've done for work. (I write financial education articles for a living.)

MM
~~:hmmm:

Capital gains on stock investments are even more ****ed up. Everyone thinks it's a great deal you only pay 15% on gains but what they don't realize is there's no corresponding capital loss.

You make $1,000,000 on a flying stock you pay $150,000 in taxes.

You lose $1,000,000 on a crappy stock the max you can deduct is $3,000 per year. Yeah, that's fair.

Washington makes the rules and Washington sees that they are the winner every time... unless you're a bank who made stupid decisions. Then we'll just give you taxpayer dollars. It pisses me off.

You can't take home your entire check if you're a W2 employee. They will withhold Socialist Insecurity and Medicare IIRC. If you do try and underpay your taxes per paycheck be aware that you will have to make quarterly payments or you'll wind up with penalties at the end of the year. The govt won't pay you by the quarter, but they won't wait all year for their money.

The govt. is like a really shitty pimp when it comes to taxes.

I'm not going to bother to read this thread, but I would imagine that it consists of people telling Lono what a moron he is for over contributing and letting the Fed. Government hold his money and accrue interest off of it for a year?

Only once or twice, actually.

Damn this kinder, gentler Planet!

Go play hide and go **** yourself.




Better?

How much does a good financial advisor cost?

If you have to ask you can't afford it. ;)

Yup, and all of is going to pay off my student loans, because they say so.

That's the way I've always felt about them too. The money I'd pay them would probably be more than what they save me so why bother.

I was joking. I have one. I also have a tax guy. And a lawyer. Everyone should, IMO.

Question, I "donate" plasma for a little extra cash. Do I claim this as income?

If you submit a W4 and bump up your withholding by about $400 per month (do this on line 6 of the form), you'll probably get a little over $5,000 back next year.

I knew you were joking but that's still been my view on them. So when you say you have a financial advisor and a lawyer do you meet with them periodically, say once a year or so as a checkup, or just on an as needed basis? I assume you only pay them per session?