More Google Coolness - Blogger Style

Sometimes Google gets on a roll with getting new features out there.

First, this may have been there for a while, but I finally notice it tonight. You can now check a box after commenting to have all additional comments on a post emailed to you. About time, now maybe commenting discussion can being to improve on a wider scale with blogs. Blogger is at least trying now to go a little ways toward improving the poor blog commenting that some have discussed in the past.

Second, I continue to find good things at Blogger in draft. For those who haven't seen it, Blogger in draft is where Blogger first rolls out new things (primarily for blog site design for now) before giving it to the general public. To see this, just go to draft.blogger.com, rather than www.blogger.com. I noticed today that they now have available any of the literally hundreds of Google gadgets that are already available for places such as the Google personalized homepage. Now, I just have to find a way to wade through the cruft, and find the goodness.

On a separate note, as those who added it to their RSS will already have seen, I finally kicked off my financial advice site tonight. There is a link under my other sites in the sidebar, but the site is http://financiallysimple.blogspot.com if you are so inclined.

Negative Feedback

No, not Ebay, a bank. I do plan to create a financial advise blog very shortly, as I have a fair amount of experience in that area. Until I do, I will have to let some of it leak into this blog.

For tonight, enjoy my response to a certain large banking company who requested that I fill out a survey after a recent loan application. Keep in mind that I am glad to see companies requesting feedback of any kind, but I was particularly annoyed with them.

I did not have any problems with a recent mortgage through Countrywide, so I assumed I would not have problems with an equity loan either. Since I had the offer on my online account, I assumed it could be done more cheaply and easily than somewhere else also.

Instead, while I wanted to be closed within 2 weeks of my loan application (about 2 weeks before the end of the year), it was a few weeks into the new year before I received anything in the mail.

Once I did receive the package, I was expected to fax/mail an exorbitant amount of paperwork. My emails to my designated loan officer about this went completely unanswered.

Moreover, the closing costs were $600, compared to my local bank, who were able to close within 3 days, who had costs of $48.

So, a company that had just recently obtained all of my information and advertised this service to me (Countrywide), was completely inattentive, slow, and wanted to charge me over $500 more than my local bank for the privilege.

Congratulations. That is a spectacular formula for generating negative word-of-mouth and pissing off existing customers.

Stuff I Didn't Know

Learning is good for you. Yes, it really is, and I try to learn new things as often as possible. Often they tend to be just stupid, simple things that I didn't previously know or understand. The Internet is often my tool of choice to tackle these issues, and that was the case tonight.

Item #1 - What does being an at-will state really mean?
It turns out that my state, like many others, is an at-will employment state. I always pretty much understood that to mean that at any point in time myself or my employer could tell the other to hit the road, with paychecks ceasing. I was not sure however how this all played into severance and potential litigation after a termination. I now know the answer:
http://research.lawyers.com/Iowa/Employment-Law-in-Iowa.html

Item #2 - How do you really distinguish between a muffin and a cupcake?
This question came up during dinner, as we were discussing some tasty insomnia cupcakes I ate at work. I still don't think I really have a satisfactory answer after searching a bit though. I'll go with Shannon's definition of cupcakes having frosting, and muffins not. Here was another guy's take on it (and I like his statement of having a "Seinfeld moment"):
http://calderonline.blogspot.com/2006/10/seinfeld-moment-muffins-vs-cupcakes.html

Extreme Stupidity

(Click here to skip the background, and go straight to the stupidity)

First, some background. I am not particularly fond of cell phones. I hate when the ring, pretty much always. I hate when people talk on them very loudly, about worthless and mundane topics. I think they are the single biggest contributor to ADD in existence currently. What I really dislike personally though is paying for them.

I had a cell phone for about 4 years in college. I remember being excited to move from my analog to a digital phone. I liked them occasionally. However, I really didn't like paying lots of money, so that people could get a hold of me immediately, rather than waiting until I was near another phone. Sometimes it's actually nice to just disappear for a bit. So, even though I never moved beyond a $25 per month plan, I eventually dropped the phone about 3 years ago, and haven't regretted it since.

People are often amazed that I am able to survive without one. Apparently, generations previous to us were just lucky that they didn't die on a daily basis without a mobile telephone.

Now, to the point. Our friends at one of the plethora of cellular service providers have decided they need to help people out, give back to the community. They have a new deal for those less-fortunate, who somehow can't manage to pay their bills, but absolutely have to have a cell phone (and a satellite, and new sneakers, and...sorry, getting off-topic).

Now, if you already qualify for low-cost utilities or subsidized phone service, they will give you an extra special package. It has 700 minutes, free incoming everything, blah blah blah. All for the low, low cost of $37 per month. $37 per month!!! That's over 1/3 more than the point where I considered my service too expensive to continue. And this is for those who are struggling with money? Bullshit. This is just one more excuse for the cell companies to line their pockets.

However, lest you think all lost, the Hawks won big today. All is now well with the cosmos again.

Hawks 47, Purdue 17

The Taxman

Taxes. The word alone seems to inspire fear in many, especially when you are talking about preparing the yearly income tax return. I fully believe and understand that the IRS is incompetent, and that our system is horribly designed, but I still don't fear preparing my return in the least.

Perhaps it is my accounting background from high school shining through, but I simply don't find it difficult at all. The laws and process are clearly defined, although it does take a bit of searching sometimes to find the right document. Before someone goes and says that I just don't have a complicated enough scenario though, let me demonstrate to the contrary.

I have a long list of itemized deductions that I take advantage of, both on the federal and state return. Everything from donations, to mortgages, to a 529 college plan for all 3 kids. I fill out at least 2 schedule C forms for my wife's businesses every year, and have filled one out for the LLC that I co-founded in the past as well. Add several income sources, multiple investment types, etc., and my taxes are about as complicated as an individual return needs to be. On top of this, since last year I have been preparing the return for my property owner's association as well.

Yes, I agree, that some corporations will have returns that dwarf this, and they absolutely should use a paid tax accountant. However, for everyone else, I just don't understand the confusion, concern, or the money paid to tax preparers. The price to do simple forms is outrageous. Especially the 1040EZ. There is a reason it has "EZ" in the name people, a freaking monkey could fill it out correctly. You have to think more and follow instructions more when you order fast food (granted, some people seem to fail that concept too. Meh).

Okay, to the real point of the post. Although taxes make sense, the sheer amount of filling out the paperwork would drive me mad. That's where my friend Mr. Turbotax comes into play. I have used Turbo Tax for the Web for the last 7 years, and I wouldn't want to do my taxes any other way. The software makes it so simple to do the return, I don't have to fill in any actual papers, all math is done automatically, and at the end everything is checked and then whisked away to be e filed. The addition of importing from previous returns and from online statements has only improved the program over the years.

Each year, a few of us play the game of trying to pay as little as possible for the opportunity to use TurboTax. THe first two years I used it for free due to it being new, and my low income as a college student. After that, I managed to find deals each of the following years to greatly reduce the price. Last year, after checking out taxfreedom.com, we found that going through Fidelity offered the greatest discount. That coupled with a coupon code I found floating out in the Ether led to me only paying $19.95 for both state and federal taxes to be e filed.

This year, Fidelity once again is giving $10 off federal taxes. That takes your cost to $9.95 + $24.95, for a total of roughly $35. I still have the box taunting me for a promotion code too, so I will wait for a code to show up and then send away my already completed taxes. As in years past, I can then be treated to my money showing up electronically in my savings account in just about a week. That is freaking cool.


Summary: Tax system bad. People Silly. Use TurboTax with many Discounts. Grab a beer from the magic fridge.