A blog about things I find useful
The 2020 edition of FreeTaxUsa is now live (link). Despite the scammy name, it’s a great piece of software that I’ve used since 2016. They give the federal software away for free and charge a modest fee for state tax filings. Since I’m cheap (understatement of the century), I do my state filings on my … Read more
Another month, another update. A few random comments. Good Reads/Listens/Watches The Social Dilemma (link). A documentary about the consequences of wide-spread social media usage. Basically, it concludes that our attention is the end product that is produced (and sold to the highest advertising bidder) by Google/Facebook/etc. That’s a pretty fascinating paradigm. I’ve heard of this … Read more
Overview 2020 is almost over (good riddance!), so perhaps now would be an appropriate time to assess your 2020 tax withholdings for taxes due in April 2021. I find it slightly annoying that TurboTax & TaxAct don’t update their tax calculators until mid-late November, so perhaps my spreadsheet can fill the void for someone wanting … Read more
So you want to be a millionaire? Introduction I know quite a few people who are older and broke. Given the extremely favorable market returns over the past many decades, I find myself having little sympathy for such individuals. The purpose of this blog post is to see whether my lack of sympathy is … Read more
A few weeks back I indicated that it was a good time to refinance because: Rates are historically low, and For refi’s funded on/after December 1, there will be a 0.5% one-time surcharge to refinance which will make refinancing less appealing from that arbitrary date. Here’s what I ended up doing. I think it … Read more
My senator was among the unmasked buffoons at the September 26 White House super spreader event. Below is the email I sent him. Senator XXXX, I have a good deal of respect for you as a person. I’ve read your book and am generally supportive of your policies. I just read a NYT article in … Read more