Beancounter

If you are currently at an age where you’re taking RMDs from your IRA you might want to consider a Qualified Charitable Distribution. There is an upper limit to the amount you can give as a QCD ($108,000, I think) and the stock must be transferred directly from your IRA to the charity. Using a QCD allows you to meet your RMD and is not taxable as income to you. Make sure the organization is a registered charity and that it can accept stock as a contribution. Many small non-profits and charities don’t have a brokerage account to accept stock transactions.

Hi, BigDMike! I live in Iowa (southeast Iowa) but have been to Des Moines too many times to count. The metropolitan area of Des Moines is roughly 750,000 to 800,000 people. It’s very laid back but a nice place to live and raise a family. However, as others have noted, it doesn’t have a WOW factor. If you’re only going to be in town for a short period of time you might want to check out the State Capitol building. It’s truly a historic and beautiful building. If memory serves me you can take a self-guided tour of the building. It sits atop a hill on the east side and overlooks the downtown area. Also, it’s not too far from Blazing Saddles, the city’s oldest gay bar. If you really want to be a tourist you can go to Living History Farms in Urbandale, a suburb just north of Des Moines. There’s not much happening gay wise there and even less so when it comes to RM guys. Have a great time in DSM. I think you’ll enjoy your time there.

https://rentmen.eu/ViktorBakalxxx

Andrew Justice was the quintessential man for me.

For those long-time Forum members who remember Epigonos (a well-respected member here before his passing), he highly recommended Dallas Steele.

I have overdraft protection for my checking account but funds to cover the overdraft are automatically transferred from my savings account to cover the overdraft protection. No charge for that service. Had I not structured my accounts that way the bank would have imposed a $35 fee for each overdraft. In the many years I’ve had my checking account I’ve never had to use that feature. On a related note, I believe banks are now required to follow a certain order in processing transactions: deposits and other credits first followed by debit transactions. This is to insure banks couldn’t ding your account several times for overdraft fees before depositing funds. It seems to me Congress passed this law. Some more knowledgeable than me will know if that’s true.

ACATS = Automated Customer Accounts Transfer Service.

My interaction with this particular provider left me with an extremely sour taste in my mouth. I contacted him when he was working in Fort Lauderdale and wanted to set up an appointment while I was in town visiting. He requested a deposit which I politely declined. He then texted me a screenshot from Mr. Number which indicated I had been a no-show twice with some other escort. I have never been a no-show with an escort but he didn’t want to hear my side of the story even though the screenshot also stated I had left 24 Rentmen reviews. He also left a couple of more disparaging texts. The whole text conversation was disappointing. This guy may be the best thing since sliced bread but even bread gets moldy once in a while. Just know that he uses Mr. Number to screen clients which is fine. I use Companyofmen to screen providers. Welcome to the Forum, @ScottB. You’ll soon learn to take the good with the bad here…..something I’ve learned here in a decade of membership. Feel free to read my many posts here.

A shameless confession…..I like the hash browns at Waffle House, scattered and covered of course!

I prefer to look at inflation as a consumer: My preferred coffee brand several weeks ago : $7.99 My preferred coffee brand last week: $14.99 87.6% increase. I could go on and on with respect to many other grocery items. Don’t get me started on health and auto insurance, etc. Inflation is not falling for the average American.

I use a combination of Quicken and Excel. Quicken is my check register and serves many purposes: 1) can be tailored to meet your revenue and expense categories, 2) allow for split transactions (useful for credit card statements), 3) reports can be designed in many different ways, 4) allows for multiple accounts (checking, savings, investment, etc.), 5) reconciliation feature. It can do much more but is a solid program that meets most of my needs. There is a learning curve and requires you to input data. Im a retired accountant who used Excel extensively when working. Excel is a powerful software program that allows me to build projection models, I.e, future and present value calculations, what if models. Also, there is a website calculator.net that has a ton of calculators that can help you answer a lot of financial questions. Good luck to you. It’s tough getting started but worthwhile in the end.

It’s the Kystle Carrington and Alexis Colby hour. 😂

Tax provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act WWW.THETAXADVISER.COM The bill extends portions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, provides deductions to eliminate income taxes on certain tips and overtime pay, and addresses other tax... I thought the above article summarized nicely some of the key elements of the recently passed budget and tax bill. Information and knowledge are powerful tools.

I’m not sure where you bank but my bank is required to report my interest earnings to the IRS for all interest earnings over $10.00. How do you propose the bank report that information? Let’s agree to disagree on that issue. And if the medical provider refuses me service because I refuse to provide my SSN, what am I to do? Perhaps we should get back to the original intent of this post.

I find it interesting that some replying to this post indicate they refuse to provide their social security number. I tried that once and the medical provider explained it was necessary to process my Medicare claim. If I refused to provide it I had two options. First, I would have to pay upfront for the full cost of services provided and not the Medicare negotiated rate. Secondly, the medical provider I was seeing could (and would) refuse service. This hullabaloo about refusing to provide a social security number is stupid. It’s false security if you think by not providing it you’re financially transactions are safer. Try not providing your SSN to a bank and see what happens.