Personal Finance Info

This blog will contain information about personal financial planning items of interest to CPA advisors and others. It also has information on Israel, public affairs, culture and other things I care about.

Name:
Location: United States

I live with my husband and our spoiled dogs—an English Springer Spaniel, Sasha and an English Setter, Alley in Westfield, NJ.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

George Harrison’s “Tax Man”

The full lyrics to this still very timely song, courtesy of SeekLyrics.com

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five percent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

(If you drive a car car) I'll tax the street
(If you try to sit sit) I'll tax your seat
(If you get too cold cold) I'll tax the heat
(If you take a walk walk) I'll tax your feet

Taxman!

'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Don't ask me what I want it for
(Ah, ah, Mr. Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more
(Ah, ah, Mr. Heath)
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advise for those who die
(Taxman!)
Declare the pennies on your eyes
(Taxman!)

'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman

And you're working for no one, but me

(Taxman!)

A Personal Guide to
Personal-Finance Blogs


By ANDREW BLACKMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
August 18, 2005

The blogosphere, that smorgasbord of screeds, musings, news and advice, is doubling in size every few months. There are now 12.5 million blogs, up from six million four months ago, and almost 100,000 new blogs are created every single day, according to estimates from blog search-engine firm Technorati.

Personal-finance blogs are still little more than a blip in the blogosphere, but are growing quickly: Technorati estimates there are about 5,000 of them, up 40% from six months ago. Some are written by financial professionals and offer investing tips or advice on financial planning; others provide links to and commentary on financial news; and many are chronicles of the writer's personal financial triumphs and failures.

The most obvious attraction of blogs is their immediacy: A blog post can be published in seconds, as can reader comments, and the most recent post appears at the top of the page, so it is easy to see at a glance what the latest news is. A good blogger will also act as a filter of all the articles and stories on the Web, and will comment on them or post links to alternative points of view. And the personal nature of blogs affords a voyeuristic and often fascinating glimpse into other people's lives.

The problem, of course, is in knowing whom to trust. After all, many bloggers post anonymously, especially those dissecting their own finances, and there's no guarantee they know more than you do.

The WSJ article shows some popular personal-finance and investing blogs, along with their pros and cons. I will attempt to link my blog with more blogs soon.

Tax Jokes


IRS Theme Song

Tax his cow, Tax his goat;
Tax his pants, Tax his coat;
Tax his crop, Tax his work;
Tax his ties, Tax his shirt;
Tax his chew, Tax his smoke
Teach him taxing is no joke.
Tax his tractor, Tax his mule;
Tell him, Taxing is the rule.
Tax his oil, Tax his gas
Tax his notes, Tax his cash
Tax him good and let him know,
That after taxes, he has no dough.
If he hollers, Tax him more;
Tax him till he's good and sore.
Tax his coffin, Tax his grave,
Tax his sod in which he's laid.
Put these words upon his tomb,
"Taxes drove him to his doom."
After he's gone, we won't relax.
We'll still collect inheritance tax.





Guided Tour
The devil was leading a guided tour through the halls of Hades. He led the group through the fire and brimstone exhibit, then they entered a room where billions of clocks hung on the walls. The devil explained that every person on earth is represented by one of the clocks. Every time a person does something nasty, their clock ticks backwards one minute.
One of the tour participants raised his hand and said "I know an IRS agent named Johnny Anonymous. Where's his clock?"
The devil grinned and said "Oh. His is in the back room. We use it for a fan.






IRS Agents
1. Post Office just recalled their newest stamps: They had pictures of IRS agents on them, and people couldn't figure out which side to spit on.
2. If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the newspaper?
3. What do you call 25 IRS agents buried up to their chins in cement? Not enough cement.
4. What do you call 25 skydiving IRS agents? Skeet.
5. What do you throw to a drowning IRS agent? His co-workers.
6. What's brown and looks really good on an IRS agent? A Doberman.
7. What's the difference between an IRS agent and a mosquito? One is a bloodsucking parasite, the other is an insect.





Lemon Squeezer
The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man around that they offered a standing $1000 bet. The bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money. Many people had tried over time (weight-lifters, longshoremen, etc.) but nobody could do it.
One day this scrawny little man came into the bar, wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit, and said in a tiny squeaky voice " I'd like to try the bet" After the laughter had died down, the bartender said OK, grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little man.
But the crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass. As the crowd cheered, the bartender paid the $1000, and asked the little man "what do you do for a living? Are you a lumberjack, a weight-lifter, or what?" The man replied "I work for the IRS."



NOAH 2002
If Noah had lived in the United States in the year 2002, his story may have gone something like this:
And the Lord spoke to Noah, and said, "In one year, I am going to make it rain and the rain shall not stop until it submerges the entire earth and all living flesh is destroyed. Because of this, I want you to save the righteous people and two of every living species on earth. Therefore, I am commanding you to build an Ark." In a flash of lightning, God delivered the specifications for an Ark. Daunted by this task, but respectful of God's wishes, Noah took the plans and agreed to build the ark.
"Remember," said the Lord, "you must complete the Ark and fill it in one years time."
Exactly a year later, fierce storm clouds covered the earth and all the seas of the earth went into a tumult. The Lord saw that Noah was sitting in his front yard weeping.
"Noah!" He shouted. "Where is the Ark?"
"Lord, please forgive me," cried Noah. "I did my best, but there were big problems. First, I had to get a permit for construction, and your plans did not meet the building codes.
I had to hire an engineering firm and redraw the plans.
Then I got into a fight with OSHA over whether or not the Ark needed a sprinkler system and approved floatation devices.
Then, my neighbor objected, claiming I was violating zoning ordinances by building the Ark in my front yard, so I had to get a variance from the city planning commission.
Then, I had problems getting enough wood for the Ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees to protect the Spotted Owl. I finally convinced the US Forest Service that I really needed the wood to save the owls. However, the Fish and Wildlife Service won't let me take the 2 owls.
The carpenters formed a union and went on strike. I had to negotiate a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board before anyone would pick up a saw or hammer. Now, I have 16 carpenters on the Ark, but still no owls.
When I started rounding up the other animals, an animal rights group sued me. They objected to me taking only two of each kind aboard. This suit is pending.
Meanwhile, the EPA notified me that I could not complete the Ark without filing an environmental impact statement on your proposed flood. They didn't take very kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over the conduct of the taxes. I just got a notice from Creator of the Universe.
Then, the Army Corps of Engineers demanded a map of the proposed flood plain. I sent them a globe.
Last month the ACLU got the courts to issue an injunction against further construction of the Ark, saying that since God is flooding the earth, it's a religious event, and, therefore unconstitutional.
Right now, I am trying to resolve a complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that I am practicing discrimination by not taking atheists aboard.
And, finally, the IRS has seized my assets, claiming that I'm building the Ark in preparation to flee the country to avoid paying the state that I owe them some kind of user tax and failed to register the Ark as a 'recreational water craft.'
I really don't think I can finish the Ark for another 5 or 6 years."
Noah waited.
The sky began to clear, the sun began to shine, and the seas began to calm. A rainbow arced across the sky. Noah looked up hopefully,
"You mean you're not going to destroy the earth, Lord?"
"No," He said sadly, "I don't have to. The government already has."


Two income tax collectors died and arrived at the pearly gates. Just ahead of them were two clergy, but St. Peter motioned them aside and took the internal revenue into heaven at once. "Why them ahead of us?" the surprised religious leaders asked. "Haven't we done everything possible to spread the good word?" "Yes," said St. Peter, "but those two IRS agents scared the Hell out of more people than you ever did!"


A man has spent many days crossing the desert without water. His camel dies of thirst. He's crawling through the sands, certain that he has breathed his last, when all of a sudden he sees an object sticking out of the sand several yards ahead of him. He crawls to the object, pulls it out of the sand, and discovers what looks to be an old brief case. He opens it and out pops a genie. But this is no ordinary genie. He is wearing an IRS ID badge and dull gray suit. There's a calculator in his pocket. He has a pencil tucked behind his ear. "Well, kid," says the genie. "You know how it works. You have three wishes." "I'm not falling for this." says the man. "I'm not going to trust an IRS auditor." "What do you have to lose? You've got no transportation, and it looks like you're a goner anyway!" The man thinks about this for a minute and decides that the genie is right. "OK, I wish I were in a lush oasis with plentiful food and drink." ***POOF*** The man finds himself in the most beautiful oasis he has ever seen. And he is surrounded with jugs of wine and platters of delicacies. "OK, kid, what's your second wish." "My second wish is that I were rich beyond my wildest dreams." ***POOF*** The man finds himself surrounded by treasure chests filled with rare gold coins and precious gems. "OK, kid, you have just one more wish. Better make it a good one!" After thinking for a few minutes, the man says, "I wish that no matter where I go beautiful women will want and need me." ***POOF*** He is turned into a tampon. The moral of the story: If the government offers you anything, there's going to be a string attached.

A bright, young, fresh-out-of-school auditor just joined the IRS, excited to begin tracking down high-powered offenders-just as the Enron ordeal. Anxious for his first high-powered audit, he was a bit dismayed when is assignment was to audit a Rabbi. Looking over the books and taxes were pretty straight forward, and the Rabbi clearly very frugal, so he thought he'd make his day interesting by having a little fun with the Rabbi.
"Rabbi," he said, "I noticed that you buy a lot of candles." "Yes," answered the Rabbi. "Well, Rabbi, what do you do with the candle drippings?" he asked. "A good question," noted the Rabbi. "We actually save them up and when we have enough, we send them back to the candle maker. And every now and then, they send us a free box of candles." "Oh," replied the auditor somewhat disappointed that his unusual question actually had a practical answer. So he thought he'd go on, in his obnoxious way...
"Rabbi, what about all these matzo purchases? What do you do with the crumbs from the matzo?" "Ah, yes," replied the Rabbi calmly, "we actually collect up all the crumbs from the matzo and when we have enough, we send them in a box back to the manufacturer and every now and then, they send a box of matzo balls." "Oh," replied the auditor, thinking hard how to fluster the Rabbi.
"Well, Rabbi," he went on, "what do you do with all the foreskins from the circumcisions?"
"Yes, here too, we do not waste," answered the Rabbi. "What we do is save up all the foreskins, and when we have enough we actually send them to the IRS."
"The IRS.?," questioned the auditor in disbelief. "Ahh, yes," replied the Rabbi, "the IRS. ...and about once a year, they send us a little prick like you."