Tuesday, September 1, 2015

I fired my insurance agent

...and I'm so happy I did!

No, I don't enjoy firing people as much as Donald Trump but sometimes you need to do the deed.  I had the same agent for 8 or so years.  The first hint of the relationship changing came about 3 years ago or so when the smaller independent agency that I used was gobbled up by a larger agency.  The changes weren't immediate but there was a feel that things were different.  Then about a year after the acquisition we received a scary letter from the new company.  The short of it was that our existing insurance company, Adirondack, didn't meet whatever new criteria the new company had.  I spoke with the agent who reassured us that Adirondack was still a good company but that the new company just had different criteria.  We were glad to hear this as we like Adirondack; we had experienced a claim and we thought they handled it very professionally.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

The Next Bubble to Bust

Happy days are here again - housing is working itself out of its doldrums and stocks have been surging for the past several years.  I know my retirement accounts are looking much healthier so with my cup half fully, why do I worry about the half that is empty?  Perhaps it is from recently reading Michael Lewis’ Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World or maybe it was a recent Facebook posting chirping an explanation of the fiscal cliff or perhaps it was Greece coming around to the brink of default once again.   The convergence of these 3 events lead me to wonder, "what if the housing meltdown is merely a prelude to a larger event?"

One of the interesting tidbits that are provided in our (United States) annual tax (1040) instructions are 2 pie charts reflecting major categories of Income and Outlays for the federal government.  I thought it would be interesting to grab some of these charts from the past 15 or so years to see if I could spot any warning signs.  After a quick internet search, I was able to produce the following charts for 1990, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2013.  (This was purely an unscientific grab, trying to space out years and avoid years where there may have been an atypical event such as in 2001...although in thinking about the past 15 years and the "tech wreck, 9-11, 3 wars, the housing melt down and government bailouts who knows what a "typical" year looks like).

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Cruise 2015 on Renssellaer Lake (Six Mile Waterworks)

I've been a bit stressed and cranky as of late and instead of writing a tempting social commentary quip on any one of many sources of irritation, I've elected to offer a brief quip to share a few photos and thoughts from my recent yachting cruise to the great (ok local) Renssellaer Lake (also known as Six Mile Waterworks).  As I've noted in my prior posts, my "yachting" is done on a budget - using an affordable inflatable boat purchased from a Dick's Sporting Goods sale, a hand air pump from Big Lots, a life preserver from a lawn sale and an affordable kayak paddle from the Sports Authority.  This is married with my usual cheap sunglasses, my flap hat, swimsuit, flip-flops, bottle of water and spare quart jug.  Yes, with imagination and the Barney bag, you too, can afford a fabulous cruise.  For those who are less adventurous, I would recommend going to the Colonie Mall and booking an excursion with LL Bean as has been suggested in my prior posts.  This is a great way to sample the lake and not have to haul a lot of equipment.  If you find that you really enjoy it, go a second time and if still enthused then consider purchasing some equipment.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Reflections of a Lawn Sale

Although I have been working steadily to downsize the house, it has been a few years since I’ve held a lawn sale.  During this stint of downsizing I have largely relied upon either donations or Craig’s List and both have been good resources to knocking down clutter, but each has its limitations.  For example, Craig’s List is great for ticket items over $5 or $10, but isn’t so good if you have a lot of “small” priced items.  Donations are great, there is the intrinsic value of contributing to a good cause; however, financially you will need to itemize to benefit which means record keeping and also keep in mind that a deduction only reduces the amount that you are taxed on.  (For example, if you donate $100 worth of stuff and your tax rate is 20%, the value of the tax deduction is $20, not $100).  With this being said, I am going to hit some of the high notes from my recent lawn sale experience.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

The many faces of giving up

Giving up - we all know the words and we all feel the negativity associated with the notion of "giving up".  We embrace perseverance - those we point to and say "he's a fighter...".  But what about those of us who aren't fighters?  And does "giving up" deserve the dread and negativity that we attribute to the phenomena?

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Saying goodbye to a friend

Mick the Wonder DogIt is with much sadness that I write that my friend, Mick the wonder dog has perished.  Like his owner, Mick had been on a steady decline.  Mick wasn't up to many of the walks that he commonly enjoyed and these were steadily scaled back and when Mick was unable to participate as a walker I bundled him in a blanket and pushed him around the block in a baby stroller.  Sadly, he did not have a heart attack; with much anguish we made the decision to terminate his life when he reached the point where he was no longer able to hold down water (and had lost much weight by this time).  As odd as it may sound, I believe Mick knew in the weeks leading up that the end was coming; he spent many hours curled up near my wife and I clearly wanting to be included as part of the pack.

We adopted Mick from the Mohawk Hudson Humane society (known locally as the Menands Animal Shelter) when he was around 2 and he was a member of the family for over 14 years.  With a touch of stubbornness, he was a perfect fit to this family.  We enjoyed his persistent reminders around 5pm when he would quickly pace around the house to attract attention that it was time for his favorite dog food, Beneful (wet chopped blends).  Mick was a faithful companion on numerous walks; I would speak to him often to relate that I like some enthusiasm from my dog... and he was enthusiastic.

Mick's aura remains with us and we continue to feel his spirit throughout the house; you were greatly loved and will be missed.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

This IRS is (not) calling me

A few months back, my wife called me to relate that she had received a phone call from someone purporting to be the IRS who engaged her and ultimately threatened that she would be arrested if she did not cooperate.  This caller was very convincing and left my wife upset by the exchange as she related to me that the caller had informed her that she would be arrested within the hour.  This was the last thing I needed to hear at the labor camp (also known as my place of gainful employment).  I managed to calm her down a bit... after all, I've been around the track enough and watched enough episodes of "Cops" to know that it is never the wife that they take, its always the male head of household that they drag out usually clad in his boxer shorts and since we've always filed a joint return this could only mean that I should make sure that I'm always wearing clean boxers.  As anticipated, my wife was still around when I got home from work and no cops so far.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

VHS to digital

Happy post holiday!  Yes, Christmas and New Years were great and it was nice to have 2 of the 3 kids back from college (the other is in high school and also home).  Early in December, I had my epiphany – if I scrambled, I could burn all those VHS tapes (mostly of my kids from baby to 6 or so) onto DVD and give them as Christmas gifts.  Further, I was scanning the Craig’s list electronics items and I found a new listing for a DVD recorder from a seller in my home town which I scrambled and purchased.  Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of those situations where haste made waste.  In my excitement, I didn’t do any research on the specific DVD recorder nor did I research and consider the best way to convert my cherished memories to a modern format.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Unclogging a plugged ear

Yup, you read that title right.  This week's post is about unclogging a plugged ear.  Yes, I understand that I should if I want to build my blog I should do the "right" thing and search Google for trending buzz words - perhaps write about extremist fundamentalists or push e-commerce by hawking some product, but MTQ the blog that provided vital information on how to select the best dog poop bag is here to rescue you when you have a plugged ear...