If your financial situation isn’t super complex, a fun exercise is to use a pay when you file software to audit your tax professional.
Enter your info, see your return, and compare it to the numbers your preparer gave you to see if they are saving you anything at all. Of course don’t file it because they already have.
Most people think a CPA is combing through every nook and cranny of their financials to save them the most money possible. In reality, an intern is just entering your info into software, the software does all of the work, and the CPA signs off on it.
For the vast majority of people the preparer fee = convenience + perceived piece of mind
Intern or even long time professional, a standard W2 employee with 1099 interest income and maybe some capital gains income is an easy return to file. The software asks all the questions to try to find tax savings.
This is directed to people shelling out hundreds to have an accountant file their return
We have historically had a slightly more complicated than average tax situation, but things are becoming increasingly less complicated and we might need to look at doing it ourselves next time. My wife looked at me last night when we got the bill from them and was like “do you think they might be trying to drop us as clients?”
I will say, the guy we’ve been working with does actually comb through everything and review with me. However, this year they netted me nothing (taxes saved = cost of working with them), and their hesitance to help with a pro forma / advise on withholding led to us having a huge bill. So probably time to go elsewhere
I think there are income limits on some of the cheap stuff. But adding to the fact doing it on your own can save some money. Heck could use the tax return from the accountant the previous year and do it yourself the next year.
I like the idea of using the software to double check the accountant. Gives confidence that you know what to do for next year
Well folks, it’s a bloodbath in the market today. Hard to believe my chart played out like I had thought (39Kish on the DOW as I mentioned above) . Were there now.
Interestingly my positions I’ve held haven’t moved much since my last purchase March 20. I was actually hoping they would drop a bit more, but for now I’m just being patient.
Starting to look like some nice opportunities out there though, assuming you’re a longer term investor. Kind of surprised how well crypto is holding up overall as well.
Hard to say. Any stock in my experience will move ahead much faster than the underlying fundamentals in either direction usually. They both got quite over-extended it seems, but the proper valuation is probably somewhere in the middle of either extreme high or low point.
Nvidia looks like it’s at a fairly nice entry and almost touched the August 2024 lows this morning which is an important level for a lot of stocks it seems. As long as we close above that low ($90.69) over the next week or so, you can probably count on it rebounding over the next while.
TY Tariffs, Bank of England now expected to reduce base interest rates 3 more times over the 3 remaining quarters to combat anticipated tariff-related inflation, and therefore mortgage rates are about to come down just in time for my renewal
Plenty of people discussing how tariffs will benefit the average American consumer in the medium-to-long term (cheaper to buy American, gas prices coming down, manufacturing industry stimulation (more jobs, growth) just as happened with the 2018 Trump tariffs on steel & aluminium etc) but far fewer people talking about how during times of stock market turmoil (i.e., now) investors tend to move capital into less risky assets… like US government bonds. Simultaneously, the Fed will lower interest rates to combat inflation and stimulate economic growth through greater consumer spending (i.e. helped by cheaper consumer debt).
Approx $9T of the ~$36T US government debt needs to be refinanced within the next year. Refinancing 9T at lower interests rates means paying down national debt much more quickly by simply taking out cheaper loans to repay older, more expensive (higher interest) loans, reducing the overall debt burden. Combining this with the efforts of DOGE, which I believe is cutting between $1B and $2B per day from government spending, the US deficit is about to get slashed. US income taxes will probably also get reduced, with government income being replaced in part with what is essentially becoming an ‘External Revenue Service’. Whether or not people agree with the incredibly aggressive tactics Trump is deploying internationally, he is doing exactly what was promised to voters which is to put American interests first.
Depending on the US government’s next play, and of course how other countries react, the American economy probably has very bright times ahead.
I’m not sure if this is a guarantee here. Jerome Powell in recent history has been clear when he feels that the US Fed needs to provide support to the economy (generally via rate support), but he hasn’t here. He was vocal after COVID hit, as well as when regional banks went through a scare in 2023. It’s possible that interest rates will drop, but if that does happen, it means that the tariffs have, at least in part, reversed the downward trend we’ve seen with inflation over the past couple years.
I hope that economically this works out for everyone, but I’m waiting on some significant negotiations (% and category restrictions) to feel better about it. There are certain industries where additional US manufacturing and job creation is feasible, but there are others where it just isn’t. We don’t have the infrastructure, and we don’t have labor that would be cheap enough to maintain some level of end consumer price consistency. If wages increase to offset that, that’ll help, but then we get on the inflation merry go round again.
Yeah there’s still a huge amount of variables in how tariffs play-out, especially in regard to what the US Gvt can’t control, which is of course the actions of other countries (though not for lack of trying LOL).
China will obviously be key to defining outcomes in both shorter and longer terms, not just economically but also in regard to meeting US defence goals (rare earth trade, moving American defence industry reliance back to American-made semiconductors etc etc).
This is in large part what Trump wants to reverse through keeping more USD in the US, reduced trade deficit, goal of reducing income tax to 0 by utilising the “ERS” approach and DOGE, persuading (read: forcing) American consumer attention back to American products, private sector growth, de-regulation (RIP the EPA?) to allow business expansion = more infrastructure, jobs, skills being deployed on US soil, lower business costs and greater profits in theory translate to better wages and end consumer pricing, though of course not guaranteed. This all sounds like it would play out on paper, but reality can yield ‘varied’ results. Enough Foreign or domestic resistance, legal or trade, could delay or even completely scupper the longer term goals of the tariffs.
I also find it comical (but also kinda sad) to see the level of MSM scaremongering going on, which is expected during periods of uncertainty, but uncertainty and turmoil clouds visions of opportunity during these times that are accessible to the average individual.
Agreed! Anyone who pretends to know how this’ll play out either has two crystal balls or doesn’t understand the situation well enough.
I’m not overly shy about my employer, so will preface this by stating this is 100% Will opinion, nothing formal. I’ve worked in a manufacturing adjacent industry for nearly a decade now, and have visited over 100 factories across all types of consumer goods, both in the US and abroad. It would take a massive amount of subsidies, a massive amount of time, and great trade relations globally to move manufacturing to the US for most industries. We don’t have the natural resources, we don’t have the expertise, and we don’t have the supporting industries to make it happen without significant financial pain for the consumer. Just to make a button up shirt, you’re talking fabric mills, you’re talking washing facilities, you’re talking button/trim facilities, and then you make the shirt itself. Sure you can build those facilities, and buy those components, but it’s so much less efficient. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze for so many products and industries, which is why I’m hoping that there are adjustments to tariffed categories, and reductions in the rates to maintain (as best we can at this point) positive relations with our trade partners.
How to read news almost needs a course taught in schools now. It’s very difficult to find unbiased news, so understanding your source and any associated biases up front will help people process. But most won’t, and it just further polarizes our already Team Magma vs. Team Aqua world.
Anyways, looping this back, we’ll see how interest rates and macro/micro budgets may be impacted here long term. I feel like we just need to wait and see at this point, things can change in minutes as we saw yesterday with market shifts.
NEW YORK, April 9 (Reuters) - A violent U.S. Treasury selloff, evoking the COVID-era “dash for cash,” has reignited fears of fragility in the world’s biggest bond market. The $29-trillion Treasury market had surged in recent weeks as investors dumped stocks for the safety of government bonds in a tariff-fueled risk-off shift. But on Monday, even as equities stayed under pressure, Treasuries were hit by a wave of selling that sent benchmark yields soaring by 17 basis points on the day, while trading within a yield range of about 35 basis points, one of the wildest trading swings for 10-year yields in two decades.
Turns out equity turmoil has been a bit too turmoil-y
Some market participants said they believed based on the dramatic Treasury market moves and sharp tightening of swap spreads that investors including hedge funds have been selling liquid assets such as U.S. government bonds to meet margin calls due to portfolio losses across asset classes. Some hedge funds have offloaded stocks as the market plunge forces them to curtail trading using borrowed cash.
my thoughts and prayers go out to those folks
. Were there now.
