I have been considering various options for my real estate investments. My preference would be to buy more rental units, but both markets I'd consider (where my current places are in Grand Rapids, Michigan or my current city of Colorado Springs) are waaaaaaay over-priced IMO. And I'm more of a value buyer when it comes to real estate. I could just call it quits and sell … [Read more...]
The Advantages of Using a Donor-Advised Fund
I've talked about giving several times on ESI Money. It's been an important part of our lives, and since this site is about what we did to become financially independent and retire early, it makes sense that giving is covered like the other issues. To be more specific, even while we were saving for financial independence, we were also donating 26% of our gross income to … [Read more...]
I Got a Call from the IRS: They Are Suing Me!
I have a policy that I never answer my cell phone if I don't know who's calling me. If a call is actually from someone I know, they'll leave a message and I'll get back to them. But 9 times out of 10 it's a tele-marketer or scammer of some sort. So why bother answering? It can't lead to anything good, right? The IRS Calls Me I got a call a couple months ago that I … [Read more...]
An Investment Gone Bad
This site often seems like a brag-fest to me. Many of the posts are about how I did this well or did that well. Of course, I have had my successes and they are worth learning from. But as we've seen now and then, I've also made a lot of mistakes. Fortunately these have been limited in number and not that large. But they do happen and are just as worthwhile to learn … [Read more...]
My Income Tax Preparation Process
I am knee deep in tax stuff this time of year. How about you? Are you done with taxes or do you still have them left to complete? I thought I'd take a break from the mind-numbing work to share how I prepare for mine. As you probably know, I use a CPA to do the hard work. And I have some good reasons why I do. The highlights of my process: I track EVERY expense and … [Read more...]
Big Tax Savings due to Early Retirement
Now that I'm retired, lots of things have changed, of course. One of them I have been expecting is the taxes I will pay. Not only am I earning about one-third of my former income each year, but I'm not doing it from earned income. On the tax-paying side, I won't have a job deducting income taxes for me, so there are implications there as well. To get a head start on … [Read more...]
More Reasons to Use a CPA for Taxes
One thing I love about running a blog is the great comments. ESI Money already has several readers who have left numerous insightful and helpful comments. Their thoughts posted on this site are a blessing to me. One such comment was left on my post titled Why I Use a CPA to Do My Taxes. It offered both great advice as well as the personal experience of an expert, two things … [Read more...]
What I Did with My Tax Refund
Now that tax time is over, we can all step back a bit and relax. Even though I use a CPA to do my taxes, it's a stressful and busy time for me. I can't imagine how bad it is for people with complicated taxes who do their own returns. Ugh. Anyway, I thought we'd talk about a "fun" tax topic today -- tax returns. I know getting one is not the objective (after all, who … [Read more...]
Why I Use a CPA to Do My Taxes
When it comes to financial issues, I'm generally a do-it-yourself guy. I don't need a financial planner because I'm my own financial planner. I don't need an investment advisor because I'm my own investment advisor. And the list goes on. I figure that if I know how to do something, why do I need someone else to tell me how to do it? Besides, no one cares more about my money … [Read more...]
