by Leif Jensen | Jul 12, 2023 | Rant |
I was wasting some time and had on a section of an Arnold Schwarzenegger biography. He seemingly moved to the US in 1968 and as soon as possible he was investing in small rental properties. While he lived in a small sparse unit, every dollar he could he keep...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 11, 2023 | Taxes |
Can you gift an I bond before it matures and avoid an income tax hit? No. Like most people, you’ve likely been deferring reporting for federal income tax purposes the interest that you earned on the savings bond. Gifting away EE or I bonds to someone else before those...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 10, 2023 | Rant |
As crypto currencies become more unstable, the IRS continues to increase their scrutiny. Virtual currency under the IRS continues to be treated as a stock purchase, but the basis reporting is required to be done by the individual. We have seen more holding companies...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 5, 2023 | Rant |
The IRS is addressing the increasingly popular way of paying college athletes. Guess it is never too early to start the “brand”… Since the Supreme Court ruled that college athletes can be compensated for their name, image and likeness, college boosters have started to...
by Leif Jensen | Jul 3, 2023 | Rant |
Working with a budget is a bit like trying to lose weight, both require a plan and the ability to maintain that plan in spite of the obstacles. Years ago, I kept my household to a tight budget, both my wife and I were wage slaves and cash was always tight. It seemed...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 28, 2023 | Rant |
It seems that my whole adult life they have been talking about the Social Security funds running out. I laugh at that, because if it was real money and that money was invested it would never have run out. The damned politicians looked at it as a pork barrel to stick...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 27, 2023 | Rant |
Surprise! Cutting spending is unpopular, everyone wants more than their fair share of the pie.. Raising taxes is also an unpopular move for politicians. Members of both parties would like to spend more (granted on different things), not less.; social programs for the...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 26, 2023 | Investing |
For those of you who are unaware passive income is unearned income generated from investments, properties or side hustles. It’s a steady flow of cash not earned from active work, such as traditional employment or full-time entrepreneurship. There are a few...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 20, 2023 | Rant |
I have voted in almost every election since I was 18. I know I missed one, mainly because I too ill to go out and vote. I may have missed more, but I am out there for primaries and the lovely non-advertised District elections. But with the upcoming presidential...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 19, 2023 | Running a Business |
Franchises were slapped hard by the pandemic; it is expected that franchises will have only a modest 2023. The industry recovered most of its losses from the pandemic in 2021, but growth slowed in 2022, as franchises faced several headwinds, such as inflation and...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 14, 2023 | Banking |
I had a client asking me what happens when a bank fails, and you have a loan with them. If your bank fails, you still owe whatever outstanding loan balances you have. You’ll simply continue to make your loan payments to a new bank or FDIC-run intermediary. This...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 13, 2023 | Banking |
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a United States government corporation that supplies deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was created by the Banking Act of 1933, enacted during the Great...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 12, 2023 | General |
In the last statistics I can find is from 2019, there were 7 million US households do not have a bank account. So that is over 18 million people (2.6 per household) without a checking account out 328 million or 5% of the population in 2019. The reason are believed to...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 7, 2023 | Money Management |
The Glass-Steagall Act effectively separated commercial banking from investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, among other things. It was one of the most widely debated legislative initiatives before being signed into law by President...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 6, 2023 | Money Management |
The Gold Standard was a system under which nearly all countries fixed the value of their currencies in terms of a specified amount of gold, or linked their currency to that of a country which did so. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary...
by Leif Jensen | Jun 5, 2023 | Money Management |
I have clients asking me regularly if they should start taking their Social Security at 62, 66 or 70. So, I look into my crystal ball (yes, I have one just for this) and then ask them how long they are going to live. The longevity issue is the crux of the issue. To...
by Leif Jensen | May 30, 2023 | Rant |
If you’re planning your summer vacation… My wife and I keep talking about it but can’t seem to pull the trigger. She has time constraints and now we have adult children issues. Ceremonies to attend. Yes, I also have some time constraints as well, but I have a...
by Leif Jensen | May 24, 2023 | Rant |
No matter how good or how bad you feel, it strikes you dumb when you get your first unrequested solicitation for Long Term Care Insurance… This just happened to me. Granted it may not have been the first, but it was the first I noticed. I got it courtesy of the...
by Leif Jensen | May 23, 2023 | Rant |
Comic strips of yesteryear were a way to FastTrack fame and fortune. Comic strips are a dying medium trapped in another dying medium. I am a long time fan of comic strips, I had followed Bloom County and Drabble in the past. I also actively read collections of the...
by Leif Jensen | May 22, 2023 | Rant |
In 2021, Congress felt that everyone was not paying their fair share of taxes so they enacted more information reporting. Third-party settlement networks, such as PayPal, Square, Venmo and eBay, must send Form 1099-K to payees who are paid over $600 a year for goods...
