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Questions About Radio Shack, Pocket Notebooks, CSAs, Eggs, and More!
What’s inside? Here are the questions answered in today’s reader mailbag, boiled down to five word summaries. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question.
1. Fast food after work habit
2. Radio Shack sales
3. Thoughts on micro housing
4. Pocket notebook organization
5. Secret inheritance and executorship
6. Boomers and the stock market
7. Most valuable tip at 18
8. Amazon product reviews
Four Ways to Impress Your New Boss
You don’t have to bring in doughnuts to impress your new boss (although it never hurts). But keeping your desk tidy might make a bigger impression than you realize. Photo: David Wall
If you have a new boss, it’s important to start off on the right foot. After all, you want to let them know they made an excellent choice when they hired you! You probably know all the basic things not to do at work, like show up late or spend your whole day reading Facebook.
You probably even know not to overdo it. For example, there is no need to bring your boss doughnuts every day (unless I’m your boss, in which case, please keep the doughnuts flowing).
Is Your ‘Business’ Just a Hobby?
Just because you make some money off it doesn’t mean your hobby is a business — at least, not according to the IRS. Photo: fasteddy760
There’s an old Gershwin song that goes, “You say tomato, I say tamahtoe … let’s call the whole thing off.” Taxpayers and the IRS have their own version: “You say hobby, I say business.”
The difference between businesses and hobbies is that you have to prove that your hobby is a business by passing not one but nine tests. It matters because the outcome of the hobby-business tests can have rather serious tax implications.
How to Make Money Online Without Really Trying
They take some upfront effort, but passive income streams generate revenue even while you sleep. Photo: Iain Buchanan
The good news: Making money online is no longer a pipe dream. The bad? Who knows where to start? There are countless success stories of people earning passive incomes online, whether it’s from blogging, creating YouTube videos, or through a startup. Then there are others who make money online, but you’re not sure how, and you’re secretly hoping they’re not part of Silk Road or the dark Web or the latest scam.
To Itemize or Not to Itemize? That Is the Question
Got receipts? You’ll need them if you want to itemize your tax deductions. But only do so if you can write off more than the standard deduction, currently $6,200 for singles and $12,400 for married couples filing jointly. Photo: Jinx!
Misconceptions are common when it comes to taxes in general, but some aspects of income tax preparation seem to have more than their fair share.
Some Thoughts on the Parable of the Fisherman and the Banker
Over the last week, several people have sent me this story from a bunch of different websites. I’m not sure where it originated, but the first place I saw it was on Financial Mentor. Here’s the parable:
The Parable of the Fisherman and the Banker
An American investment banker was taking a much-needed vacation in a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. The boat had several large, fresh fish in it.
The investment banker was impressed by the quality of the fish and asked the Mexican how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.” The banker then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?
The Mexican fisherman replied he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.
The American then asked “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
Small Business Saturday: Meet SPOT, ‘the Uber of Parking’
A new app called SPOT allows users to rent parking spots in dense urban areas when they’re not in use. Photo: SPOT
For those living in overcrowded urban environments, the routine is familiar, and frustrating.
You battle rush-hour traffic to get home each day, only to spend another half-hour (or more) cruising slowly around and around your neighborhood, in ever wider circles, in search of parking.
And when snow is added to the equation, finding on-street parking practically becomes an all-out battle. This winter in New England is a prime example – with drifts of six feet or higher making parking a dwindling and highly coveted commodity.
Back in Debt? A Strategy to Pay It Off for Good
Find yourself staring back at the same mountain of debt… again? Make a plan to get rid of it for good. Photo: Rick McCharles
Debt is one of those things that’s very easy to get into and much more difficult to get out of. I spent 14 months getting out of debt, only to find myself right back in a similar place about a year later.
Like me, you probably didn’t even notice debt was piling up until you were staring up at the mountain. This is exactly what I experienced when I got out of debt the first time.
I had just gone through a bad divorce at the age of 25 and had to start my financial life over from scratch. I could no longer depend on anyone else to take care of my bills or be the breadwinner. Because of this, debt started creeping up on me for the first time in my life.
Expensive Items and Buying for Life
One common question I get in the reader mailbags concerns buying items for life. Given the prevalence of these questions – and many of the comments I’ve seen about my responses to them and the suggestions from readers – I thought it might make sense to dig further into the “buy it for life” idea.
First of all, the idea of “buying it for life” means that you’re focusing on reliability above all else when making a purchase. You want an item that will do a job well and keep doing it for a very long time, ideally through the end of your life.
DIY Investing: Choosing the Right Industry at the Right Time
Capital goods, such as Boeing aircraft, tend to see an uptick in the middle of an economic expansion. Photo: Jetstar Airways
By Gaspar d’Orey
Many people consider the stock market an alien and complex thing to grasp. But it doesn’t have to be this way. With some grounding in the basic elements of investing and a little demystification of the terms involved, anyone can further their interest in investing and develop a solid portfolio that will sow the seeds of investment success.
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