Early Retirement
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Yes, you will miss the kids when they move out, but you will adjust to your new freedom. And odds are they will come back often, seeking your advice and for companionship.
However, you must insist the kids move out at a certain point or you will harm them, perhaps irreparably. They can’t truly grow up until they are on their own.
You bounce better when you are young. Struggle is a natural part of growing up, moving out and finding your way in the world. There will be scars. That is the natural order of things.
It hurts. Life hurts! You fought through the difficulties when you were young. It is how you got where you are. A bird never learns to fly sitting around in the nest.
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Some tax strategies are so common most people know about them. Why is it then almost nobody is using the strategy?
A large part of my tax practice is consulting. There isn’t much room for more tax preparation clients. However, I love helping people reduce their taxes, so I spend considerable time outside tax season working with good people designing strategies tailored to their personal needs.
The past several months I have repeated the tax break in question countless times. It is missed nearly 100% of the time. Of my regular tax clients, the ones using this strategy did so at my encouragement.
It started earlier this year when I published this post on traditional retirement accounts and how they have an implied interest rate on the tax savings. Before that I published this post because I was seeing consulting clients who had rather large retirement accounts at a young age.
It is to be expected in a community of savers and investors to have large retirement accounts at an early age. My lament was about how big those accounts were going to get and the loss of control over tax issues in the future as a result.
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Camp Accountant is officially in the books and there was money to be made and taxes to be cut. There were lots of smiling faces and new friends made. It goes to prove you do not have to be a tax professional to enjoy this stuff. (Anything that keeps money in your pocket automatically generates…
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Letters from the IRS scare the bejesus out of taxpayers. Unless you can see a check through the envelope window it is doubtful it is good news.
Office policy is straightforward. When a client comes in with the nasty-gram from the IRS (or state taxing authority) we immediately get a power of attorney (POA). Once the POA is signed we contact the taxing authority to get what they have and determine what they are looking for.
Income tax audits are most feared. However, the real audits that require a fresh Depends are the state sales tax audits. Sales tax has so many moving parts and is so complex it is virtually impossible in many states to avoid running afoul of the rules. Wisconsin is one of those states.
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Life is filled with stress. Since I’m one of the few in the FIRE and PF communities taking consulting sessions I get to hear a lot of stories first hand. People have real challenges and they hurt, deep inside. They want so badly to unyoke themselves from student loans and debt. So badly want to reach financial independence so they can pursue their dreams. The ones feeling wanderlust to travel the world are the minority. So many want to start a business or explore their creativity. They have beautiful minds.
Ryan Holiday has always been a fan of slowing down and experiencing life. It is a lesson this author struggles to learn (or at least heed). In Stillness Holiday gives us 34 stories to motivate us to stillness, that peaceful calm where we are content.
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Several false starts have finally ended in a real Camp. The changes were important. I was pushed to do a Camp by someone else’s rules and it kept falling apart. I finally decided to have the Camp right where I want it: a short walk from my tax office.
I also decided I would run it my way. These things are a lot of work and I expected somebody else to do all the lifting. I would show up would be my contribution. That does not work.
Instead of the traditional FI and FIRE camps around the country, I settled on a one-day event. I brought in two speakers and all attendees get a Wealthy Accountant t-shirt. We also will tour my office so the proletariat can see how the bourgeoisie works in his natural habitat.
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The willingness of so many to embrace this concept without serious thought made me nervous. The only relevance we got from the developer was, “They are doing it in Europe with great success.” And since we are in Florida, I have some land I’d like to sell you, too.
One thing was clear. The FIRE community, the FIRE movement, has reached critical mass. There are enough people with cash available to fleece. The old Microsoft Support Scam and IRS Scam are peanuts to what can be pried from the fingers of this group.
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Pointing out the emperor has no clothes is a sure way to lose your card-carrying status within a community. The alternative is to deny the truth and be part of the problem. If I’m out, I’m out. At least I was honest.
This brings us to the scariest part of the movement no one wants to talk about: phalanstery.
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