J S

Comments:

• To clarify, Pa requires the tax return to be filed within 9 months. A saving of 5% if you pay the tax within 90 days and can be done in advance of the filing. Just make sure you keep records of payment as the state can be slow in sending a receipt which you would use with the return.

  Post: A Time to Give

  Link to comment from August 24, 2024

• I appreciate the savings at Costco, however being single puts the savings under a different light. If membership costs $60.00 and I purchase 60 items over the year, I would add $1.00 to the cost of that huge pie! Not to mention my added tailor bill due to my increasing waistline by not allowing that extra pie go to waste! LOL!😂

  Post: Taste Those Savings

  Link to comment from December 21, 2023

• While in my industrial engineering program (electrical was considered the hardest with the smartest students), I realized I did not want to sit behind a desk all day but work with people and with my hands. So I added the necessary courses to satisfy dental school entry. Being an older student it did not sit well with me that my organic chemistry class had 16 as a passing score out of 90! My annoyance with not being taught anything of value but evaluate my ability to memorize was my downfall for my first attempt. There where many grumblings amongst the 200 students because one student consistently got scores of 80 thereby moving the curve up from 12! Next month I’ll have been retired for a year at the age of 75 after 41 years of practice. I admire those with pensions, paid vacations, and paid sick leave, Paying off practice loans, providing staff with med insurance and retirement monies, dealing with insurance companies, and the public are some of the downsides of private practice. As I look back through all that transpired I am very satisfied with my career change, the satisfaction of the quality of the care I provided, and all the interesting people I had the opportunity to treat. If the US Navy had trained me to be a jet mechanic instead of a reciprocating engine mechanic, I would have retired maybe 10 years ago with a pension from one of the airlines! 😊

  Post: Long Time Leaving

  Link to comment from October 12, 2023

• People have asked me what my middle name is? I have told them Nimin and they want to know about such an unusual name. I inform them the US Navy gave it to me as it is on my records and dog tags. It appears as NMN for no middle name! LOL.

  Post: What’s in a Name?

  Link to comment from August 26, 2023

• “Food insecurity” is a problem with food banks struggling for product. Some of the obesity issues are the foods available at low cost or available in poorer neighborhoods are not necessarily the healthiest. For decades the mini convenience building, with only a few vending machines, on Native American reservations had lots of sugared drinks (soda) and snacks with no alternatives. Hence a lot of tooth decay and calories both contributing to their weight and diabetic tendencies.

  Post: Going Bananas

  Link to comment from August 24, 2023

• New this year for 2023 is a one time max donation of up to $50,000 to fund a charitable gift annuity(CGA) as part of your QCD. The University of Pittsburgh sent information with an annuity through this CGA.. something to look into, it is new and my enrolled agent was not aware of it and just returning from an update course.

  Post: Easy to Miss

  Link to comment from August 19, 2023

• As a retired dentist in Pennsylvania in my own practice, that was non-participating I told patients if their employer paid for dental insurance great otherwise they should consider self insurance. Insurance companies have to make a profit and they contract with dentists to take a discounted fee. Most plans that I saw had a maximum of $1000 up to $1500 per year. In recent years, some of these insurance companies have reduced payouts to their participating dentists! So there’s been a tendency for dental offices to do some type of self insurance within the practice to benefit both the patient and the dental office. Insurance driven offices have to increase their production, and reduce the cost of supplies to be profitable. Rents and staff salaries along with benefits continue to increase. Over the years gold prices have forced dentists to find less costly lab bills by making changes in the materials and lab used. Technology and new materials have helped but some offices seek out the cheapest lab they can find. There have been articles questioning the use of labs out of China offering 1/5 (or greater) the price of using a top quality lab! The patient is unaware of the quality of care and materials used and usually respond to the personality of the dentist. luckily, most are ethical, honest, and caring.

  Post: What Medicare Misses

  Link to comment from August 16, 2023

• My parents had a number of brokers that transferred to new companies, one a couple of times. The stocks came across in the new statements, but not the basis! Not one of the brokers indicated that the purchase date and price needed to be added! When mom moved to assisted living, those three shelves of looseleaf binders containing 5 to 7 decades of information, went in the trash, containing the necessary information to trade her stocks as POA. There was no way to even “ best guess “ the basis to satisfy the IRS requirement. It took another eight years till her passing at the age of 100 to get a new basis.

  Post: What Did We Pay?

  Link to comment from July 15, 2023

• I was going to suggest you spend some money and buy a trailer to pick up your mothers ZT mower and move it back-and-forth.

  Post: Nothing Saved

  Link to comment from July 12, 2023

• Thought I would point out another item in regards to passing them on as my parents did not use a computer. They did have a number of brokers that switched companies, more than once, and my folks followed the broker. What was not transferred was the basis for their purchases over the years. It never dawned on me to look back at all the old records from the 70s and 80s! They had multiple shelves of looseleaf binders of all the old monthly reports. Becoming POA for mom and moving her to assisted-living all those old papers went in the bin. It became a nightmare to attempt making trades of holdings that had no basis listed. The IRS let you use best guess. Having no idea what decade my folks purchased their stocks became a bit of a nightmare to make a trade. The brokers should have known better and requested the basis as it doesn’t transfer from one brokerage to another, only the holding!

  Post: Passing Them On

  Link to comment from July 8, 2023