I saw a news blurb that announced that on January 27, 2013 the price to mail a one ounce card or letter will rise to 46 cents. Any price increase anywhere for anything is going to bring complaints, but I’d like to share an opposing opinion. I think they should have started charging 50 cents a number of years ago.

Gas is about $4 and if I get about 25 miles a gallon, it’s 16 cents to move one mile. So, a round trip of anything over a mile and a half each way and I just burned over 50 cents in gas. My supermarket is nearly 5 miles away, so even without counting the value of my time, it’s $1.60 to go there and back. On the other hand, if I need to send a birthday card to my family in NY, just under 200 miles away, for 45 cents, it’s there in 2 days, max.

With on line bill payment, I send fewer items by mail, greeting cards, thank you notes, and a very small number of checks that go to people I don’t pay on line. Even if that stamp went up to a dollar, I’d not have the same annual postal bill I had ten years ago. Congress has forced rules regarding future health care funding onto the Post Office and they now have a higher burden than  non-quasi-government companies. This is really a shame, and gives the appearance that our congress folk are looking to do away with the traditional post office and let private carriers take over. I hope that doesn’t happen. I like my postman and in all my years, have had a few pieces of mail that didn’t quite get through 100%. Compared to my driving 33 years and being in 6 accidents, I think the post office record of getting to the destination on time puts my own reputation to shame. If you are a postman (or woman) or have one in the family, please accept my complements, my respect, my sincere gratitude.

Aside from the great service I get, I collected stamps as a youngster, and remember buying the stamps pictured above. There was an excitement that’s tough to describe, to see the new stamp designs each year, designs that included simple thinks like flowers and animals, as well as the stamps that commemorates historical events. It would be the end of a era to have that come to a stop.

written by Joe \\ tags: post-office, stamps

It’s Sunday, and usually that means a roundup. The weekend had different plans for me.

It happens that this is the week I turn 50, and while I don’t reference my age too often, I’ve mentioned my daughter, 14, and made other references that should make this no surprise to regular readers. But, I digress. I got a call yesterday morning from my best friend (I once saw a quote – a friend will help you move. Your best friend will help you move a body) and he asked for some help moving stuff. Generic boxes of garage items. No problem, I was planning to be out with just my wife and daughter to celebrate my birthday last night, and would write when I got home. As we finished moving things around, his wife calls and offers to bring pizza and cake to my house to celebrate my birthday, and I countered by inviting them to join us for the restaurant dinner.

I needed to get changed first and as we headed back to my house, I see cars on the street and a neighbor’s house really lit up, and figured they were having a party. Nothing unusual about that. I walk into my house to find it full of people. 40 people. My wife (Jane), daughter(Jane 2.0), best friend, his wife, and others all conspired to throw me an amazing party. Cousins from New York drove my mom up for the day, which was great as she’s not the best of travelers, a 4 hour car ride is tough.

My best friend and daughter gave speeches that both made me laugh and nearly move me to tears, and a great time was had by all. The thing that was so remarkable was what Jane went through to keep this secret. First, since she got her iPhone we turned on the tracking feature. If she were to misplace the phone, or have it stolen, we could track it down. More important, when we have to pick up Jane2.0 from some place, I can see who’s closer just by signing in. Not that I use it all the time, but it would have been awkward to track, and say find she’s at the local iParty store or caterer. She went to some extreme measures dropping her phone off at her mom’s or sister’s house to then run the party errands. Worse than this, we share credit card accounts, and I’d see a charge if I signed in the our main credit card as I often do. So for the purchases that were pay in advance, she has her sister charge the expense.

Mom and the New York Cousins stayed in town, and today was brunch and family time. Some exciting news to share later in the week, and back to a roundup on Sunday. Meanwhile, this week will bring a guest post and other financial thoughts I’ll plan to share. As the title said, funny, I don’t feel 50.

written by Joe \\ tags: AARP, birthday, old

In 2004, I started publishing the JoeTaxpayer website. It was before I heard anything about blogs, and was organized as a static web page which created issues of its own. I wrote a monthly article, and started to find other writers who started blogs on finance.

It was August 2007 when I dropped the static page layout and started using blogging software (WordPress) to run the site. Going from a monthly article to a site where I try to publish at least a half dozen original articles per month, along with the popular weekly roundup was a struggle. Admittedly, I get writers’ block now and then, but the economy offers so much to discuss, the topics will never run dry.

M is the Roman Numeral for 1,000 and today is my 1000th post. It’s been a remarkable time, I’ve commented on Stocks, Real Estate, different aspects of the Tax Code, Social Security, and more. I’ve launched a second site, RothMania which is a niche site focusing on the single topic of retirement accounts and the Roth IRA and 401(k). I’ve made many friends, both regular readers as well as fellow finance bloggers. Last October, I had the privilege to meet over a hundred of those bloggers at the first Financial Blogger Conference held in Chicago. This year’s conference is in Denver, and it’s on track to sell out with 250 attendees. In September, 2008 Tracy Coenen, a fraud examiner with nearly two decades of experience in accounting and investigations, invited me to write my first ever guest post for her site Fraud Files, an article titled, The UFF Money Merge Account Money Shuffle Explained, On my blog I went on to write a total of 35 articles proving that this mortgage acceleration product was a scam, plain and simple.

In early January, 2010, I met a woman on line (through Twitter, actually) who was responsible for TurboTax’ blog section of their website. I was honored to be invited to guest post, still under the pen name JoeTaxpayer. The people there are a good bunch, and it’s no coincidence that I’ve used their software since filing my first tax return for 1985.

I look forward to the next 1000, and to meeting more nice folk along the way toward that goal. Thank you for being part of my journey so far.

written by Joe \\ tags: anniversary, blogiversary

The summer is quickly drawing to a close. Here most grade schools and high schools start on August 28th, the week before labor day, so just about two weeks left to go.

This week my belief regarding the 4% withdrawal rate was put in jeopardy by Rob Bennett’s Retirement Warning: The Safe Withdrawal Rate is NOT a Fixed Number. As Rob points out, the starting point for those withdrawals makes quite a difference. You might imagine, if you started in the early 80′s when the market was about to return 18% per year on average for the next 20 years you’d have quite a different experience than if you started in 2000, when the subsequent 10 years were negative. Rob explains how you might get a better feel what the market is likely to return over the next decades.

At Financial Highway, Miranda asked Focus on the Latte Factor? Or Sweat the Big Stuff? Spending is a trade-off. I’ve told my own child,”We can afford anything, we just can’t afford everything.” It’s more a matter of picking and choosing what brings you the most happiness for a given dollar.

On the subject of savings, a nice article at Mamiverse, 10 Ways to Save $2K a Year on Groceries. When the budget is just tight enough that there’s little or no money at the end of the month, it’s great to find just a few ways to save a bit, to pull you from the red into the black. This article aims to help you do just that.

Stocks should return 7.5% annually over next decade, Bogle’s new book says.  John Bogle is better known as the founder of the Vanguard Group, and commonly referred to as the father of the index fund.  His creation of the Vanguard S&P 500 index fund revolutionized an industry and help make investing less expensive for the small investor. I had my eye on an 8% return over the nest decade, but who am I to quibble with a legend. 7.5% it is.

We’ll wrap this up up with Retire by 40 discussing How early retirement will impact my Social Security Benefit. The rules regarding one’s social security benefit are not so well understood. This article will give you a great start to understanding this calculation, and what you can expect when you decide to retire and starting collecting Social Security.

written by Joe

I subscribe to the Rasmussen Reports web site, as I’m interested in following the polls in this election year. Rasmussen runs many surveys that are about the US, the nation’s views on many topics, including some which prompt me to scratch my head at the response.

Yesterday’s headline from Rasmussen -

74% Know July Fourth Celebrates Adoption of the Declaration of Independence

Huh? One in four adults don’t know why we barbeque today? I asked Jane2.0 (my daughter, 13) “What do we celebrate today?” She replied “It’s Independence Day.” Ok. “What happened today, exactly?” “They signed the Declaration of Independence.” Whew. No flies on her. To be fair, the exact wording of the poll question was “Does the 4^th of July celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the ratification of the U.S. Constitution?”

The constitution is important, but the Declaration of Independence is huge. I love this image. And I’m sorry it’s on a bill that’s not widely circulated. Years ago, I asked my bank to order me a bunch and they said they come 1000 at a time. They agreed to order a 1000 if I took 500. I’ve been spending them here and there ever since.

Since, by the laws of adverse selection, my readership isn’t random, I’ll assume that any US, Canadian, or Mexican readers already know what today is, and for the rest of the world, if you didn’t know, now you do.

Happy July 4th!

written by Joe \\ tags: Holiday, independence day