Financial Fitness

The Internal Revenue Code Was Written By Sadists

2009-11-08T18:02:00.001-08:00

That's it, I'm done for now. Calling it a day.

Here I am doing my little mock exams to get ready for the CFP exam, and I come across this question:

'Punitive damages received as a result of bodily injury are or are not taxable?'

ohhhh...easy, I think.

I know this one!!

Bodily Injury awards....non-taxed!!!

WRONG.

Punitive damages, even for bodily injury, are taxable!!

EFF!!!

The distinction...this is Punitive Damages...not the actual award for the actual bodily injury...there is a difference....

Really, is it so hard to make the Internal Revenue Code any more sadistic than this?!?!

Might as well say 'unless it's a rainy day, then it isn't!' or 'except for those age 50 and under who are residents of Canada but not of the US for more than 201 business days exluding US holidays'.

Eff!!!

This Chase Story Is Like Putting Lipstick on a Pig

2009-11-08T09:51:00.001-08:00

Good try, but the brush off regarding not sponsoring the fireworks anymore ("we're a global bank, focused on much larger efforts") exposes them as tone deaf.

I don't know what in the world would make Phyllis Campbell take this job; but if anyone can make Chase stop acting like an arrogant East Coast bank, showing up here with those condescending faux folksy 'here we are Seattle' ads, maybe it's her.

Start with reinstating the fireworks, it's not a little thing.

But for now and until I have a positive customer experience with them, I.Hate.Chase.

I Hate CHASE In Case You Didn't Know That Already

2009-11-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

Is there a bigger crop of idiots than those that comprise Chase?

Good Lord, shoot me already.

All I was trying to do was buy some contact solution with my HSA Debit Card (hi, that's with Chase! No options! Thanks for that, Cigna!).

I inadvertently missed the last digit on the PIN.

EFF.

Tried again.

No.

Again.

No.

"Hmm....looks like you likely will have to call your bank."

F This Ish.

The Member Services number on the back of the card?

Not for Chase.

For CIGNA.

The phone number throws you into autoattendant HELL with no option for HSA questions.

So I keep choosing numbers until the next week when I finally get a live person (disclosure: 'next week' might be a slight exaggeration).

Who tells me that because the HSA is with my husband HE has to call them to find out what the crap went wrong.

OH GOOD so I just wasted my time only to find out 'Your husband has to call.'

Never mind that this Debit Card has my name on it.

CHASE sucks.

I.HATE.CHASE.

Game ON

2009-10-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

I vascillate between optimism and despair getting ready for the CFP exam in 3 weeks.

Yesterday morning I thought I was losing my mind, as I hit a patch of crazy challenging questions on Section 1231/1245/1250 and Like Kind Exchanges.

For some reason I could not remember the different steps (and there are several to each) and I got flustered and lost my confidence.

I went down in a blaze of glory when I scored myself, and really was not very happy at all.

I calmed myself down, and reviewed the steps. 'EFF!! How am I going to remember EACH of THESE?!?" I thought to myself, and reminded myself just the way you remember anything else.
Practice, practice, practice.

I spent alot of time reviewing content up until a few weeks ago, then switched to some content/some questions, and now am in full question/mock exam mode.

I need to seek out and focus on good ways of thinking: No Negativity! No Second Guessing! No Thinking Past November 21!!

I wish the CFP Board did a better job of marketing who the hell they are to the rest of the world, because if I hear, one more time, "what's a CFP?", I might go insane.

Aren't there any savvy marketers who work for the Board, or, aren't there any CFPs out there who have marketing skills and can increase visibility for what the hell this is we all put so much time and energy and money into attaining?

Starting last week sometime I started having dreams, every night, about either the exam environment (e.g. my dream is in a room with other test takers and they are all finding out they passed EXCEPT ME) or actual questions in my dream.

The latter is really weird. My brain is throwing questions my way in my dreams now!!!

How to keep myself optimized until last question on Nov 21:

Pick Your Team (All negative people and experiences get the HAND you don't exist in my world)

Play Your Weaknesses (Turn Them Into Strengths! Employee Benefits ugh!!)

Game Hard But Rest Harder (If it means Tylenol PM then that's what it means)

USAA Trumps Liberty Mutual

2009-10-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

Our fun little plumbing incident last week?

Turned out to be tree roots getting into the main line (FUN).

We had this happen at the rental house 8 years ago.

That policy was with USAA.

They fully covered it.

The whole line was replaced. It was very expensive ($25,00?) involving a backhoe and everything ripped up from the street to the house.

When the plumber came last Monday and yep how 'bout that, roots from the rhody bush outside are making their, no, change that to, made their way, into the main line.

YAY!!!

Just last Monday (snaking and camera in the line) was $650 or something.

The cost to dig up that part of the pipe and replace it?

$3500.

I called Liberty Mutual (insurance provider for this house) and nope......they don't cover the lines, just damage that is done within the house as a result of line problems.

So hey right there if you are comparing USAA to Liberty Mutual you want yourself some USAA.

Couldn't get it for this house because it's not retro-fitted for earthquake damage.

Yay...we get to spend $3500 on new pipes!

Fortunately we can wait up to a year though (per our plumber) since the roots are little and just started.

But he said we don't want to wait longer...

Guess what we will be doing in the near future?

Reviewing Dalton Review's CFP eReview

2009-10-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

I have < 4 weeks now until the November CFP Board Exam. Part of my preparation was to attend a review provided by one of the different providers out there.

Thanks to the CLU MBA program for Financial Planning, I found out about alternatives to Kaplan just in the nick of time.

I've written before about the process I went through to compare the key ones out there, and that I went with Dalton.

Simply put, Dalton rocks!

I've had a really fabulous experience with their materials and their people so far. Well structured and well written program.

Then came The Bete Noir (the little one, the biggie being the real deal next month): the 4 day, 10 hours each, live review.

Think of it as bootcamp for the CFP Exam.

The last 4 days were 10+ hour days (each) starting at 5am.

I decided to go with an online virtual review (it was live over the internet) as opposed to in-person.

There are lots of benefits to virtual if you are a person comfortable with online communication and delivery.

You just roll out of bed and turn on your computer.

You have coffee right there whenever you need it...and all the other comforts.

When a topic comes up you know, you can go throw a load of laundry in the washing machine.

Even when a topic comes up you need to pay attention to , but you need to let the dog out, just grab the laptop (assuming you have wireless) and take it with you to the door.

It was fabulous.

Days 1 and 2 were led by an instructor who has been with Dalton for a long time, and not only knows his content, but knows how to present and handle questions.

He was great.

Day 3 was a different guy. Right away I was challenged by his style. Sort of a mix of condescending tone, aggressive volume (don't know how else to put that one), and not really adept at handling questions.

But I was game.

Until he got to a point regarding Section 121.

Section 121 allows for a homeowner to get a capital gains exemption for their home sale proceeds ($250k if you're single, $500k if you're married).

I mentioned that hey you also get this exemption if you are a widow/widower.

To which....he shot me down like I was a Patriot missile gunning for his privates.

Bear was still sleeping upstairs, but I verbally replied (not to him, to the computer) 'WHAT?!?'

He didn't say hmmm...not sure about that...hmmm...no let me look into that...he said, and I quote:

"No Finance Girl, that's not correct" or something equally blunt.

So then I went to look it up.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007.

Widows and widowers get to exempt up to $500k in capital gains on a home sale if they sell within 2 years of their spouse's death.

So at the next break I put that in the text chat for the class. Simply stated it, nothing else.

I couldn't believe it, but once the break was over, he actually said very patronizingly 'well that's a good point, great point actually'.

He was wrong. He wouldn't admit it.

He lost all credibility with me.

He also got the calculations wrong for Section 1231, Section 1245, and Section 1250 recapture.

Very very bad.

And when I brought up Section 1231 Netting?

"You don't have to worry about that".

He just dismissed it.

When he got the calculations wrong, he was confusing everyone at this point, and I just started to think of options here.

I remembered they had recordings of past sessions, including past reviews, so I hopped over to the recordings section and fortunately found some recordings for the exact same content for the remainder of Day 3 and Day 4.

The instructor for those recordings was not him (fortunately) it was another instructor who really knows her stuff and whose sessions I have logged in for in the past.

So for the rest of Day 3 and Day 4 I just did that.

I would hop over from time to time to see if Junior Instructor was still up to his obnoxious self.

He was.

I think it's a great program still, but they need to either get Junior Instructor some training on the content and more importantly how to present and field questions or fire him.

A House Sold In My Neighborhood

2009-10-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

After well over a year on the market (I lost track for this particular one), I was pleasantly surprised to see a house that's been languishing has finally sold.

I was confused as to why it hadn't sold earlier.

Until I saw the flyer after it was listed.

'Original' kitchen, bathrooms...likely 'original' systems too.

Very charming brick tudor and a really great street near the lake, but obviously overpriced.

I don't know how much they ended up selling if for but it was listed for 1.4 (million) originally.

This is not one of the 6 within one square block of me...this one is 4 blocks away.

One More Month Until The CFP Exam

2009-10-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well for better or for worse I am now down to the wire.

4 1/2 more weeks, November 20-21.

I am somewhat relieved to know I still have a month, as I feel I have done so much to this point, and now I have a month to refine everything and really nail my weaknesses.

I took the Insurance Mock Exam this morning and did not do good on it. It and Employee Benefits are my weak points, because they bore me the most (note to self fix that attitude!) but guess what? They are also the least tested subjects!

Funny how that works in my favor!

I have done really well (so far) on Income Tax, Retirement, Investments, and Estate Planning.

There are some weaknesses in there, but I've identified them so I know about them at least.

I think Insurance and Employee Benefits, because they have all these little arcane rules, conditions, and formulas, just simply irritate me and bore me (yes....I need to fix this).

The funny thing is that when I went throught the CFP courses and took Insurance, it was one of my highest scores! LOL go figure!

Starting tomorrow I'll be getting up at 5am for a 10 hour review for 4 days in a row (10 hours each day).

This will be great and I am actually really looking forward to it, because so far my experience with this provider (Dalton) is so much better than the provider for the courses (College for Financial Planning).

Since getting the Dalton Review material last month, I've on occasion referenced the CFFP books. OMG what a nightmare! I no longer do that, since when I go to the CFFP book on said topic, I realize why I had such a frustrating time with them: everything is overly narrative and non-structured.

I am so grateful that I found Dalton Review and didn't go with College For Financial Planning (or Kaplan) for my review!

And Just Like That, Something Happened

2009-10-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

So much for hoping the house would be on autopilot until next summer.

I went downstairs to pull some laundry out of the washing machine.

Guess what I found?

Water underneath the washer/dryer, totally soaking the floor and rug.

Then I looked in the bathroom closest to the laundry area, and guess what?

Bubbles in the toilet.

I suspect something between the washing machine, the main out line from the house (which is connected to main drain underneath washer/dryer) and toilet.

So here comes the plumber later this afternoon and there goes, what do you think, $2500?

$5000?

Why not?

Doesn't look like it's good so why not go for 4 digits?

I am beyond frustrated.

October Balance Sheet: Up $11,229!

2009-10-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

Pretty happy about that!

The asset allocation ratios between the house, rental house, retirement accounts, and non-retirement accounts is more or less the same.

We've set a goal to max out our IRAs next year (we are currently 50% and maxing out 401k).

And we are paying Grover (LR2) off in January (bought him just 4 months ago) and well everything else is on autopilot.

I want to see an asset allocation readjust in 2010 of non-retirement making up a bigger percentage of overall asset mix.

I also want this house to be on autopilot until we get the exterior repainted and new shutters (next summer).

So those are some of the goals, long term and short term.

Getting those IRAs maxed starting in January is going to be such an awesome feeling!

DJIA 10,000 (Again) Please Let This Be Real

2009-10-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not alone in realizing that the underlying fissures of what have caused the last 2 bubbles this decade still have not been fixed.

Until they do (and imo that means a whole lot more regulation of financial cowboys) we will continue to see up down up down turn yourself around.

I know I'm not the only one out there who will get mighty pissed if they see their accounts drop again like they have in the last 10 years (first time? 2000, I was heavily in tech. second time? last October, just like everybody else).

I would like to personally bitch slap the financial cowboys who look at today's goosing at the expense of long term appreciation with total disregard.

Well guess what financial cowboy, you play with my future and everybody else's who has a dog in this race (which is pretty much everyone at this point, either through their own accounts or their defined benefits plan).

I think Mark Cuban gets it right.

I Really Hope That's It For Awhile For The Rental House

2009-10-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

When we bought this house 7 years ago, we assumed we'd be selling my house and using the money towards a down payment.

Then we realized we already had the money for 20% down payment without having to sell the house.

We also realized that the neighborhood the house was in was definitely up and coming with young, educated, urbanites, meaning a cute litte house would be a prime rental for that market.

The experience has been, more or less, pretty fantastic, and we've recognized significant appreciation, regardless of the current hits in the general market.

The neighborhood hasn't been as hard hit as other Seattle neighborhoods nor has the house.

It's an 'entry level' type home, which tend to hold their value and recover before upmarket houses do.

Yet, for some reason, our rental house has been quite the squeaky wheel these last 12 months.

We've had more issues with it in the last 12 months than the last several years combined.

The tenant is great; it's not his doing nor negligence.

But I am ready for the rental house to be in 'auto pilot' for at least 6 months.

My least favorite part about being a landlord?

The time it takes to manage problems (when they hit).

My most absolute definite favorite part of being a landlord?

Getting a monthly rental check and holding income producing property that continues to appreciate and has positive cash flow.

None Of These Houses Are Selling

2009-10-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

The real estate market in my neighborhood is still horrible.

There are even more homes on the market now than this summer or spring...actually more than I care to admit I've ever seen in the (almost) 7 years of living here.

There are 6 houses for sale just within one block of us.

Separate from that, the 3 on our street that were up For Sale earlier this year are either rentals (2 of them) or were taken off the market (1 of them).

And tenants let the dandelions take over which is always sort of frustrating when you've worked so hard to keep your property in good shape.

(Is it illegal to sneak out in the middle of the night and bombard their property with RoundUp?)

I suppose it's always relative, and being that we have lived here 7 years we'd at least get more than we paid for it, but not more than it has cost us.

I am so happy about the fact that we have finished most of the major projects with the only major ones left being exterior painted and new shutters and kitchen remodel.

I still have the house at a cost basis on the Balance Sheet, but if we were to have to sell (which we don't anticipate) before the local market (and by that I mean our neighborhood) recovered, we'd take a big hit on the Balance Sheet for the losses realized when factoring cost basis.

Cost basis won't always be to this proportion though, simply because we have finished with so many of the projects, and now it'll ease up a bit with the exception of the Usual Suspects (e.g. maintenance, insurance, property taxes, and mortgage).

Some of these houses For Sale need to be updated in a big bad way....I have shook my head in befuddlement at how some of them have been put on the market without making some easy changes first.

But I suspect that's sort of a classic mistake, whether due to inexperience selling property or laziness, who knows, but they are definitely taking a hit by having their homes languish on the market without dropping their price to move them.

We Now Have Over $400k Towards Retirement

2009-10-11T16:38:00.001-07:00

oh I really really like that.

Our retirement accounts have received a nice recovery in the last 6 months, and that's great!

I think when I do the annual asset allocation (in January) I am going to add commodities to the mix.

Bear's work has a Gold Fund to choose from (in 401k).

But I am skeptical. Mostly because it's such a horrible time to start diversifying into a commodities fund (overvalued, have had a big run of the last few years) and also because this one's an actively managed fund (Gamco Gold AAA).

So I need to think about that more. At a quick glance it's a mix of bullion and mining activities. That is very very high risk....so I don't know.

We are diversified with the rental house for our retirement strategy, so it's not all securities, so there's not as much of a sense of urgency to divest further.

I won't be thinking too much about it until post CFP board exam (now 6 weeks from yesterday!!).

Aside from that, I am really looking forward to being able to start maxing out our IRAs starting January (a 2010 goal) and paying Grover (our LR2) off in January.

Both of those things are going to feel really great to do.

This Is Every Spare Second Now

2009-10-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

Now in the middle of the real nasties...Estate Planning. Yeah, I would take anything else (even those arcane Employee Fringe Benefits) over some of these Estate Planning rules that I Must Know.

I already learned all this and have been tested on it from when I took the classes, but there are so many little rules and exceptions that one really has to nail in order to confidently master the content.

I think I stared at one sentence for about 5 minutes; that was my cue to get up and go do something else for awhile.

It worked!

After this section I am done with content review (Saturday) and pretty much go into full-on practice questions (as oppposed to now, which is mostly review with some practice questions).

The information in these Dalton study guides is so much clearer than when I slogged through the CFFP books for the (CFFP provided) classes.

The CFFP books are narrative, random, don't use footnotes (so all the information is right there in the sentence, whether it's helpful to you learning a concept or not), total disregard for headers, sub-headers, graphs, and they don't identify what you really truly absolutely Must Know.

The Dalton study guides?

Total opposite.

Nice crisp tight sentences.

Bullets.

Headers and sub-headers.

Graphic illustrations of various concepts (soo helpful to see a graph of something!)

Practice Questions embedded right there with the respective content.

So happy about this!

So much more effective!

Dalton Review and the CLU pre-study sessions are really helping me feel like I am doing everything I can to get ready with the content, test approach, and right mindset.

I feel like with the CFFP courses and books I was doing things 'the hard way', trying to understand what I needed to know from information that was presented as circuitously as possible.

That plus the CLU and Dalton people are massively helpful and provide information in a very relevant manner (no falling down the rabbit hole).

6 more weeks!!

89%, That's More Like It

2009-10-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

Just took an Estate Planning quiz and got over 89%.

Much better than the rate I got on the Fringe Benefits part of the Employee Benefits quiz I took yesterday!

And yes, most of that was my lackadaisical approach to the content (my attitude is much better today, why of course, just love those little jibblet fringe benefits!).

Practice practice practice...pretty much living this stuff at this point and trying to keep really positive and enthusiastic (easy most of the time, but I have my moments).

Less than 7 weeks to go, Lord help me!

What Happens When You Don't Take It Seriously

2009-10-04T15:16:00.001-07:00

I think it's really really really stupid that I have to memorize all this mundane employee fringe benefits crap for the exam.

I mean c'mon, it's stupid!

I am not going to ever get a question from a client about how their employer just bought them lunch and jee whiz, should that be included in their income?

But yeah because I didn't take the fringe (in more than one way, fringe!!) benefits seriously I just flunked the part of quiz that had them on it!!

Ugh, stupid fringe benefits.

At least it's just 1/1000 of what I need to know and the least weighted on the exam.

(Yes yes...I reviewed it after the quiz. Yes yes...taking 'employee fringe benefits' seriously now. Really, do you want to know what your mileage rate would be if you moved for your employer?)

Why I Am (Still) Bullish On Seattle

2009-10-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

When I first visited Seattle 21 years ago after graduating from college, I fell in love. No.. I didn't meet someone; I fell in love with the city.

The months leading up to my visit were filled with comments from others on how Seattle is 'beautiful', 'progressive' (said as both a compliment and insult, depending on the source), and vibrant.

I had family here and had a pretty good impression of the city, but after visiting, I knew I'd likely end up here someday.

I moved here a year later after sometime in New Orleans with my first 'real' job out of college, and have ever since been grateful I made that decision.

Of course, the real estate market here has been affected like everywhere else, and in my neighborhood there are more "For Sale" signs than comfort dictates and they languish for months on end.

But this city intrinsically draws smart, creative, ambitious people with new ideas and the city responds by providing a perfect mix of natural beauty, intelligent planning, vibrancy, and an environment that nurtures intellectual horsepower.

So I was naturally heartened by WSJ's take on the cities that will (continue?) to draw the young and the smart.

If I would have married that car designer and ended up in Detroit, my fate would undoubtedly be very, very different.

How is that city ever going to recover?

The Most Overrated Restaurant In Seattle

2009-09-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

Likely is Zoe.

"So, where would you like to go for your birthday?" Bear asked about a month ago.

"How about that place we saw next to Spur when we were there with R, what was it's name, Zoe?" say I.

And so it was. It was just going to be us and then a couple other couples wanted to celebrate with us, so they came too.

It started out with making the reservation.

"I tried calling several times but no one answers, and the automatic greeting pointed me to a website to make a reservation" grumbled Bear.

I thought, that's sort of odd and makes it annoying, but ok.

Well...then the first couple wanted to join us, so I went up to their website to change from 2 to 4.

Hassle.

Then...another couple...bringing us to 6 (which is great! I love my friends!). I go to the website and....time is no longer available, so now I have a crazy early time as my only option, and no one to call to ask for any options.

Grumble grumble grumble....

So we get there, right?

Nice surroundings, friendly staff...but they initially didn't want to sit us until we were all there (wtf?).

Then the other couple grumbled a little and so they decided to let us sit, and couple #3 were at the bar anyway waiting for us, and saw us as we sat, so....?

OK, moving along here.

I had noticed on their online menu that they had Halibut as a staple, which was pretty much the only thing I wanted (no, I didn't feel like veal, boar, buffalo, or steak).

But....the menu only had Cod (Cod, isn't that what they make kids' fishsticks out of?!?) as an option, and no specials.

I 'get' that they are going for French Bistro and being loyal to the concept, but this is Seattle so shouldn't you have one decent seafood item (many actual bistros in France do, so it's not a departure from authenticity)?

OK....moving along, I order Cod and figure well maybe they do something amazing with it, who knows?

Never thought I'd pay $26 for an entree of Cod, so surely it would be exceptional.

However, before that, the salads arrived.

You know how you buy a bag of small greens, and when they start to go bad, they get slimy on the edges?

Yep.

I can't even remember the last time I sent a dish back, it's been at least 10 years, but yeah this sort of really wasn't what I was expecting from a place like this.

And I didn't want another one because really, when you send a dish back, do you really want the same person that made the first one to make you a second one?

I worked in a restaurant in college, so no thank you, I sort of know what is said about people that send dishes back.

So here comes the Cod, yay, fish sticks!

It was nothing exceptional, and they left the brown meat that attaches to the skin on the white meat....?

The place was packed, but I sure don't know why.

I suspect the reputation is from the boar and from the other 3 things on the menu...as well as a different prep cook or whomever is responsible for the salads.

No thanks Zoe, I can buy a bag of fish sticks with some tartar sauce for, what, $5, and open my own bag of greens, able to toss out any that have turned.

Yes to Spur, big ol' NO to Zoe.

Don't Be Intimidated By The Goal

2009-09-27T21:08:00.001-07:00

8 weeks left until the November CFP Board exams.

Actually less since it was 8 weeks ago last Friday.

I feel I have a good start, but then other times I don't. I started shifting to testing vs. reviewing today, and had a horrid start (got lots of WRONG answers).

Worse, I am finding that I know the correct answer, but then change my answer or convince myself otherwise.

I need to Stop That Now and stop second guessing myself and need to go with the first answer.

Too good at thinking I'm not smart enough or don't have what it takes and need To Just Stop That Now Already.

8 weeks left, let's Go Big on this and Really Go For It.

What I Bought With My $50 Neiman Marcus Gift Card

2009-09-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

After being tipped off by the nice helpful anonymous commenter about my $50 Neiman Marcus gift card that I got in the mail, I decided to take their advice and use it online.

I was not too keen to going to the store to use it, as I felt sort of silly going just to look for something that was under $50.

Good thing I didn't, because there's almost nothing under $50 there (at least if their online site is an indicator of in-store prices).

I did finally find a nice scoop neck cotton tee with 3/4 sleeves.....for $44.

I used the free shipping code they have, and voila! *Only* $48 (after taxes)!

Sort of like a little birthday present for myself, courtesy of NM!

iPhone: Engineering Elegance

2009-09-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

My birthday was a couple of days ago, and it was great! No matter how old I get I still like and appreciate people taking the effort to remember it and greet me (doesn't everyone?).

Bear took me out to lunch (Portage Bay Cafe, definite recommend!) and then we went to pick up my birthday present.

"Park in the garage (UVillage) and then we'll go pick it up"

I was wondering what it could be.

When he started guiding me to the Apple store I got very excited, as I knew I would be getting an iPhone.

I have been pondering a new Smartphone for quite awhile, but have hesitated with the requisite Data Plan and it's monthly cost.

I've been fighting Lifestyle Creep unsuccessfully (Lifestyle Creep = Your lifestyle expands).

However, I had a Pocket PC when I was at Microsoft, although it is now obsolete (I left 3 years ago).

So There It Is. Necessary? Well, that depends....

The whole experience was effortless and hassle-free.

Apple really gets it with the Customer Experience (Microsoft, you so missed the boat on this).

I spent the day playing with it, initially clumsy with the touch keyboard, but quickly accomodated it.

"This is an amazing piece of technology, it's a real delight" I said to Bear.

'It represents Engineering Elegance", I said.

And it does. It's so easy, intuitive, (addicting?), and delightful.

It replaced my 2 year old Nokia flip phone, which dated me and was embarrassing (I am surrounded by people in software or hardware technology).

Bear got it for me to have 1st hand user experience too (he is in hardware) and for productivity and communication.

Why not another vendor's Smartphone? Mostly because of lack of multi-function that the iPhone provides.

My iPhone has music functionality (replaces my old Zune), camera functionality, and of course text, phone, email, and internet functionality.

All that (relevant) functionality combined with intuitiveness makes for one of the most delightful customer experiences I've ever had.

Coming from a Luddite that means something.

And it synchs effortlessly with Grover (the LR2)!

$125 To Listen To Jim Cramer? Yep, Scam Artist

2009-09-23T09:31:00.001-07:00

Pretty sure it should be the other way around...you should pay ME to listen to YOU.

I've no tolerance for flash-in-the-pan Financial Sales Guys, supposed 'technical analysts' (does this guy even have his CFA?).

Jim Cramer is good entertainment, nothing more.

So yeah, if one is willing to pay these prices for this sort of entertainment, go for it!

But don't confuse it with thoughtful or methodical financial insights.

This would be the opposite of that.

(NOTE: Yeah I get that it's a fundraiser for the department, but still).

If You Work At What You Love, You Won't Work Another Day

2009-09-23T09:04:00.001-07:00

Can't claim that for myself, it's a Confusius quote.

But think: If you loved what you do (more or less), it wouldn't feel like work. It might feel hard sometimes. It might feel frustrating.

But you'd feel fulfilled, challenged, invigorated, and useful.

The latter part of my time at Microsoft, I didn't feel this way.

Part of it was my life stage (personal challenges) but a larger part of it was I didn't feel I was doing work that I was meant to do, nor that I was passionate about.

I was very blessed to be around amazingly bright people that were some of the smartest I'd ever known and innovative...because it made me realize I wasn't doing the work I was meant to do.

I did 'ok' there, but I was never a rock star nor was I ever a key employee.

So I left.

No job lined up.

(caveat: I planned the departure for a year, so it wasn't exactly impulsive).

I spent alot of time thinking about what to do next, but for the most part just enjoyed taking my foot off the pedal.

The obvious was sort of right in front of me.

I was only able to leave Microsoft because of my (some would say) gift with money management.

"You need to do this full - time". "People need someone like you to lay it out for them." "You are such an encourager, when are you going to go work so you can be my financial person?"

So now here I am.

And even in the midst of all this studying, trying not to feel intimidated by the exam, I can honestly say I feel very blessed to feel I have finally found what I was meant to be doing, what I was meant to be contributing.

And that's a great feeling, to finally know where you are supposed to be, what you are meant to accomplish, and it uses the best parts of what you have to offer.

Variable Annuity Is The Worst Vehicle For Retirement

2009-09-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

There are many savings vehicles available to save and invest for retirement.

The most significant one most people have is their employer - sponsored retirement account, whether that's a defined benefit plan (commonly referred to as a pension plan) or a defined contribution plan (e.g. 401(k) or 403(b) plan).

But once someone has taken full advantage of that plan, there are many other tools to help towards retirement planning.

IRAs, either in the form of Roth or Traditional.

Life Insurance with a Cash Value.

Annuities.

And, even just a taxable brokerage account.

So, what do you think is the best, and what do you think is the worst?

Factoring in equal rate of return, equal annual deposits of $6,000, equal tax bracket at 28%, what's left is tax treatment (e.g. deferral or no) and expenses.

Well, here's each option's outcome over a 20 year time horizon :

Deductible IRA $343,650
Roth IRA $247,428
Nondeductible IRA $247,428
Taxable Account (e.g. mutual fund) $197,692
Variable Annuity $208,989

It would appear that the worst is a taxable account, but we then have to look at the effect of taxes on distribution (when you are ready to take the money out at retirement). Here's how that looks for an annual distribution at retirement:

Deductible IRA $40,268
Roth IRA $40,268
Nondeductible IRA $34,461
Taxable Account (e.g. Mutual Fund) $29,462
Variable Annuity $28,054

Unfortunately, annuity sales guys hit up the least financially literate in the population.

Retirees (for immediate annnuities) and people who fear risk (for deferred annuities) who have never learned the fundamentals of investments and have the lowest risk tolerance, partially due to lack of financial literacy and exaggerated fear of market volatility.

They pay an extreme price in fees and inflexible terms when they buy these annuities.

It's definite testimony to the fact that financial 'services' companies know how to prey on fear and position their financial products to part someone with low financial literacy from their money.

(Above numbers pulled from College for Financial Planning's material for Retirement Planning)