Kevin Slater

↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑ THIS! I try (with limited success) and get all my escort friends to do a solo 401. You still have to pay both halves of Fica (social security and medicare at 15.2% on the first 176k) but after that it's not taxable unless you wanna Roth it. Kevin Slater

...advertising, airfare, hotels, cabs, separate cell phone & plan... Kevin Slater

Why complicate the issue by considering after tax earnings-- which would depend heavily on other income sources and the like. If you're looking to compare to other professions, I'd simply look at net earnings before taxes: revenue less business expenses. Kevin Slater

Easing into retirement if the bastards would just stop calling. So yeah, not a lot of effort to attract new clients. Kevin Slater

2008 was more personal reasons than global economics. Wish we had more industry-wide data versus just one guy's records. Kevin Slater

Per annual tradition: Revenue declined 12% again in 2024 (same as 2023). 62% of 2024 revenue came from the year’s top three clients, up from 44% in 2023. (Two of 2023's top three placed in 2024 as well.) 4% of revenue was from clients newly acquired in 2024, replacing the previous (pandemic) low of 11% in 2020. Kevin Slater

One simple, easy to read book to cover the basics is The Elements of Investing. http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Investing-Burton-Malkiel/dp/0470528494 Kevin Slater

There have been some articles about how hard it is to redeem paper bonds. I can't imagine it getting any easier over time, so maybe start the process now? (That being said, I'm still holding a shit ton of paper bonds.) Kevin Slater

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0DGNTZMR3/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r Kevin Slater

Fidelity reimburses foreign atm fees as well, although they don't come out and say so. Not sure why they can't clearly state that policy. Decades ago I had accounts strewn all over and a few wanted to start having monthly fees. I realized that if I threw all the funds into one, it would be of sufficient size to wave those fees. So now it's just Fidelity with a couple dinky checking accounts that I just use as a passthrough between Fidelity and Venmo, CashApp, etc. (I don't want those apps having direct access to my Fidelity.) Kevin Slater

I've never used Vanguard but always had a high opinion of them, mostly around their low fee ETFs I guess. I've been with Fidelity for (ahem) over 30 years and have been extremely pleased. They offer four mutual funds with truly *zero* fees and scores more with exceptionally low fees. I get 2% cash back on everything with my Fidelity Visa. The other place you'd want to check out is Schwab. Kevin Slater

Yeah, paper I-bonds go away January 1. Kevin Slater

Yeah, I'm not a fan of timing the market. (As they say, time in the market is more important.) I would dollar cost average my way in. Kevin Slater

Or more specifically, earned income (so not interest, rents, or other passive income). Kevin Slater

This would be a great time to launch a competitor site. Should Mastercard cut off Rentmen as well, whichever site was sitting as a distant #2 would become the de facto leader. (That's what happened to Rentmen when Rentboy got shut down.) Kevin Slater

Yeah, it doesn't sound like you're the one to be helping him out here. Kevin Slater

No income taxes are owed, but the self-employment tax (FICA, which covers medicare and social security) starts at 15.2% from the first dollar of profit. Kevin Slater

The IRS doesn't really care the source of the income, just that you claim it. They do not differentiate between cash and other forms of payment; it's all taxable. Kevin Slater

All earnings should be reported on a schedule C (profit or loss from business). Business expenses go on the same form Kevin Slater

It's available for rent or purchase on AppleTV and Amazon Prime. I watched it this weekend. Quite good. Kevin Slater

Yup, I just got a notice that my recurring payment couldn't be processed. Typical of their lack of customer service, they didn't bother to send an email to their membership with a heads up explaining the situation, just an automatic rejection message when the payment cannot be processed on their end. I suspect Visa cancelled them because of too many chargebacks. I know rentboy was always terrified of this as well after a few warnings from the payment networks. Kevin Slater

Gents, this is the Finance Forum, not politics. Several posts have already been hidden, and I don't want to have to lock this thread. If you want to refute someone, simply post your data and let that do the talking for you. Better yet, just stick to personal finance free of any political agenda. Admin

Yes, especially if the top is uncut. Kevin Slater

No opinion on whether you should use it or not, but want to point out that Orajel has the same active ingredient at a much lower price. Kevin Slater

Huh? How would one party purchasing equities fund dividend payments to shareholders? Kevin Slater