New Testing announced

New development in testing just announced.
Around Sunday
Google + private industry will open for evaluation and referral...
Good job! Amazing. The new tests developed will have a fast return rate.
Walmart/Walgreen/Target are opening parking lots
for drive through as soon as the tests are available.

Still working on regiment for illness.
Hopefully less of us will need that.

Medicaid and Medicare regulations will be lifted in certain areas.
Will soon suspend all visitors from nursing homes except in end of life....

They also announced more Telehealth for those who need it.

Our reality of today.

Also:
Waiving interest on Student loans until further notice.
Filling strategic reserves.
Voluntary 14 day quarantine for those US citizens returning from Europe.

Listen to the conference yourself instead of what the talking heads say.
Actually, go back and listen to most of the conferences.
They have been very informative.

STOP! Think!

Stop! THINK !
Please go to the market, the restaurant, your favorite store. 
IF you hold up in your house for the next three weeks- 
the people on the bottom of the ladder will no longer have jobs.
Do you think that busser gets paid a wage when they are not ill?
How about the towel person at the gym?

 I just listened to an NPR report that 
Pikes Market in Seattle is STRUGGLING.
 Empty. 
Laying people off. 

How about all of us who work in the convention industry?
REALLY. 
Think about all those who work part time to put things together?
 the food venders, 
the workers. 
The Airlines are struggling, hotels are struggling. 
They are NOT getting paid so you don't get a cough and a fever-
 Maybe.

If you are not 65 or over or medically compromised, 
Please, wash your hands and keep living. 
If you begin to get a sniffle, take care of it.

If you are in the above group, 
take things as they are- wash hands, 
avoid TIGHT crowds
 and just be more aware of your surroundings. 

Just as you did with the flu people.

 If you are seriously ill, 
send someone else to do the chores
 and hide like you did with the flu. 

No one is dying in the streets- 
but if we close schools - 
and lay off all of the min wage workers....
there will be LOTS of hungry people/kids very soon. 
THINK about THAT and quit scaring us to death! 
This is CRAZY!

Digital fail?

Maybe they need to hire one of the people
who really knows what they are doing with apps?
Like my eleven year old grandchild?

What is it with voting and computers?
We should be WAY past this type of glitch.
We should be able to vote from the comfort of our homes
on a computer
just like our banking.

Maybe it is time for the Gen X people to
let the Millennial run it
and the Gen Z create it.
Gen X- you are being kicked to the curb
with all of us Boomers.
We are allowed to give money,
but it is their world!

Vote for change?
I do it every four years.
Let's change the way we vote!

Taxes and Car Rentals

What do they have to do with each other?

I just can't seem to get either right!

Taxes
We are easy.
Easy.
Our problem is that Turbo Tax wants us to pay taxes on our entire Social Security.
We only have to pay on 80%.
It won't let me see the forms until it is files.
UGGGG!

Can you even DO paper taxes?

Car Rental
We have been renting our cars through Costco.
I think this will be the last time.

In Salt Lake was had to wait FOUR hours to get our car.
"Sorry, we don't have a Costco car"
What does that mean?

In Honolulu they gave me a car
with a fob that did not work.
How are you supposed to start a car without a fob?
The other choices were:
A mini van,
A V8 Mustang
or a Jeep
If you know Hawaii,
you know you do NOT want a gas hog.
We took the Mini van - it got the best milage.

Phoenix.
They charged me $10.99 for their measure of 1.1 gallons missing in the tank
Normally no complaints, BUT
I did fill the take .5 miles away.
Fill mean the pump stops and you fill again.
Plus they added another $52 in charges.
Really?

Last time.

Off to "watch" the old white people caucus.
Cannot wait until Nevada. Wo cares about Delaware? No one!

Walking in his father’s Holocaust steps

We often share what we do in retirement.
Our friend, Al, is the son of a Holocaust survivor.
Today Al started a 170 mile force march
that his father took in the middle of winter in Poland.
His father was in his teens.
Al is a recently retired.
I can say that he has researched all aspects of his destroyed German Jewish family.

My retirement is lazy and comfortable.
Al’s is all about reminding us what can happen
When things go way too far.

Here is his vlog
 http://138.68.248.231/

Please join him on the journey
And share this with everyone you know-
especially those younger then we
who knew this generation well.

Closing the books

My books are closed for the year.
I paid every bill that we started in 2019
Some I pay forward
Here was today's work:
- groceries purchased
- cars are on full
- insurances
- electric bill
- cable bill
- Physical Therapy sessions
- Doctor bills (from injury)
and finally, the credit card bill is completely paid off.

We had two major purchases in 2019:
 new roof
 land for our new house

We did several trips this year:
Two to Phoenix
Israel
Idaho
New York
Hawaii

We had two major medical incidents and one pet incident.

Nothing changed in income.
We did rolled the last of my husband's Traditional IRA into his Roth.
That will increase our income tax.
We chose to keep that money out from the actual funds.
Probably better not to, but it seemed the best decision at the time.

I added the roof and land back into our current balance
-they added to our net worth-
 to see how our money grew.

Overall we made about 9% between saving and interest.
We will begin 2020 about 1% less then 2019.

Clear as mud?

Outside of our regular savings
We also keep separate savings accounts In there we have:
 enough for half of a new car (three more years on this one),
Taxes, gifts and  insurance  until June (we begin to save for Jun- Dec tomorrow),
a month of emergency money,
 enough to fill the propane tank in March.

We do not keep track of each other's allowance,
but I know we each have enough for a toy or two if something comes up.

It only got a bit tight when we thought we may have had to help with
other family medical bills
but that passed
and we are back on our road of retirement.


And with that 2019 is a financial wrap.

End of the year money round up

There is always this lull
after Christmas presents are purchased and wrapped
That I work on the books.

This year I am making a list of what I do in the next six weeks
for tax season
and next year.

Although I will have to wait to do taxes until March
because I will be waiting for documents
Everything will be ready for them to be sent.

Here is my list:

Close the books on my envelopes

Did I allocate correctly? What is left over.? What is the budget for next year?

Consider starting a new envelope for moving?

dogs and propane

auto repair and purchase

gifts and taxes (they are the same thing, right?)

education

travel

take out/ special groceries

House repairs

  Personal Allowance (only to figure out the budget)

Pay off, every single thing that has posted, 

between Dec 31- Jan 1.

All of my spending that I did in 2019

needs to be paid for in 2019. 

I do not carry any negative balances into the new year.

No carry of credit card debt on 2020 money.

Print off the final statements, 

from every account, when they post in January

I am a hawk.

This one thing has saved me so many hours when preparing our taxes.

This will be first year for:

Calculate my husband's RMD for the year 

and prepare where it will be applied.

He will turn 70 1/2 in December 2020.

Almost all of his Traditional IRA accounts have been rolled in the last ten years.

What ever is left is divided by 27.4 

(how long the IRS plans before he dies)

and place that into an account.

What account will be a discussion. 

Calculate how much of my Traditional IRA should be rolled into a Roth, and do it.

I still have a larger T IRA

Right now the taxes are very much in favor 

of me rolling as much as possible next year. 

Until this year the emphasis has been on his IRAs

There are three years before my Social Security comes into play.

Roll, baby, roll.

Check rates on CDs 

Several CDs will mature soon.

Where will they go?

I just rolled some IRA money into a 3% CD

Oh, how I long for the days of 7%.

Do you have anything on your list that I am missing?