The Benefits of Experience

In the course of a 38 year career I have used pretty much all of the runway. I have worked in public accounting, government, manufacturing and long term care. In public accounting I served clients as varied as the Yellow Pages. Blessed with a great memory and a solid education I gained a wealth of experience throughout the years. And although some of the career changes probably cost me financially I would do it all again the same way. It has not been boring!

Why am I telling you this? Because I have noticed of late that experience is a much discounted commodity. In a time when Google makes us internet geniuses it seems that the opinions of people that have ACTUAL experience are beat down by obscure and irrelevant links. Whoever said there is no substitute for experience has been dead a long time.

But is information a substitute for experience? Can access to unlimited information equal the value of having actually done something? I guess it depends on the importance of the matter. If I need heart surgery I want someone trained and experienced cutting on me. If it is some inane trivia contest I'm not sure years as an English professor are required. You can only read so much and eventually have to get your hands dirty to get experience.

And therein lies the problem. While it seems like there is never a shortage of opinions finding one that is backed by actual experience is rare. One reason for that is because such opinions usually cost money. And nobody wants to pay for anything! Lawyers, doctors and CPAs are always sought for free advice as if their knowledge and experience was in the public domain. So you will occasionally see professionals giving free advice generally it is worth what you pay.

So here is some free advice. There are times when the prudent thing to do is find someone with experience to help you solve a problem. I know more about the law than most non lawyers but wouldn't think of preparing my own will. If you have a real estate issue find the professionals that can get you through it. You will have the benefit of their experiences to back you up and someone to hold accountable. Google is not going to be there when you screw up!

Making Things Last

Emma and I have a history of keeping things a long time. As long as something is functional we keep using it. There are exceptions, of course but generally we take care of things and they last. This has saved us a lot of money over the years and it is a good plan for us.

Sadly we have moved rapidly toward a disposable economy. Cheap products are designed to be replaced rather than fixed. We had a microwave go out on us recently. We had bought it 4 years before for $140. Fixing it, if you could find someone to work on it, would be aggravating and cost prohibitive. So I went and purchased another one. How long should it last? Its predecessor lasted about 8 years. Does that mean the new one will be gone in 2 years? One wonders.
Somewhere along the line price became the only consideration in making a purchase. Companies found cheap sources of labor outside the U.S. and it was game on! Things got cheaper and cheaper and that blender that had cost $40 is now $24. Of course the $24 is a piece of crap that may blow up if you really use it. So I dread when our 18 year old washer cashes in its chips because, in all likelihood the replacement will be inferior.

Is this trend irreversible? Do we want to reverse it? There hasn't been much of a backlash that I can see so maybe the world is happy with all things disposable. I can't remember the last time I saw a kid in cloth diapers. Relationships seem to be just as disposable, lacking more than a superficial commitment from either party. It used to be a lucky person that had 5 good friends but social media gives us hundreds at the click of a mouse. And when it seems to be the social norm to have an ambiguous description of your most significant personal relationship (used to be called a marriage) maybe our lives are becoming disposable as well.

Where our society goes depends on the example we set for our children and grandchildren. They watch us intently and learn from our behaviors much more than our words. They will be the ones to decide what a marriage is and whether we will continue to be a disposable society. I pray they are smarter than we were!

Reality Check

Each year about this time I usually attend some kind of income tax seminar that updates CPAs on tax law changes for the upcoming filing season. As I do not work full time with income taxes it gets my head into the game for year end to assist my clients in planning to minimize their tax burden. I just completed an advanced update the past two days and, needless to say, there was a lot of information imparted. While it may be thoroughly stimulating to me (not) I will not bore you with the details. I will give you a brief snapshot of the state of income tax law and what you have to look forward to.

Much of the time and discussion over the past two days centered around the Affordable Care Act, it's requirements for compliance and the penalties if you don't. I consider myself pretty up to date on current events so I was not surprised that the material in the course, which was prepared about 3 months ago, was outdated. That was before the much touted roll out of the Healthcare.gov website and its abysmal failure. This was also before BHO was caught in one of his many lies. And before he went on TV to announce changes, delays, etc., that, the last time I checked, will require an actual change in the law to affect. So the takeaway from the seminar was "this is the law, subject to changes by Congress, executive order, or regal edict". There are a couple of things that are unlikely to change: you will be required to be covered by insurance for 2014 and if you are not you will be assessed a penalty on your 2014 income tax return. This penalty is assess on each month you are without qualifying coverage for each person on your tax return. And most people, including me, have no clue what the specific requirements for the insurance will be as the government will be making this up as they go along, apparently. So my clients and I will be having a discussion soon about the requirement to get the dialogue started.

And this debacle pretty much characterizes the state of current tax law. Since it's inception 100 years ago the collection of federal income taxes has been used for social engineering. How was the government funded the previous 130 plus years with out it? Then when FDR dreamed up the Social Security Act in 1937 and Lyndon Johnson the Medicare Act in 1965 the fix was obviously in. Most of the complexity in tax law is a result of making a commitment to redistribute wealth from one group of citizens to the other and the back door deals it takes to appease those that were just stolen from. The problem is that we haven't truly paid for all of this since the sixties and the piper needs to be paid. The deficit spending can't go on and I anticipate that, absent Draconian spending cuts, increased taxes will be coming to a return with your name on it! We haven't had adults in charge of this mess for a long time.

I have been a Certified Public Accountant since October 5, 1978. I began preparing income tax returns in 1976 and my longest client was my first in that year. Most of my clients are older folks and I will continue to get them through this mess as long as they want me to. For me it is not about the money. I believe our government will be unleashing an assault on the bank accounts of the achievers and people that have worked and saved and I will work to mitigate that assault as much as I can within the law. The tax code is much too complicated for the average taxpayer to understand and I just don't believe we can trust the government to look after our interests. It's a sad state of affairs but reality usually is.

Being Thankful : It's Not Just for November!

I get a lot of my material by watching Facebook comings and goings. I am more of a voyeur with it, usually sharing funny or thoughtful posts of others, and occasionally commenting of them. Sometimes my particular brand of wit is not appreciated by the masses for I reserve it for smaller groups that appreciate it.

One of the things people do each November is to post about things for which they are thankful, one each day leading up to Thanksgiving. It appears to be a "woman thing" as I rarely see a man participating in the endeavor. They all seem to start out the same, thanking God for their blessings, then their families, and then their great friends. It is always interesting, and somewhat amusing, to read the posts after about the 3rd of November. Many just post a variation of the earlier posts but some get real creative. For some it seems to turn into a contest of who can be the most thankful. I'm not sure how posting a litany of things you are thankful for means anything but if it puts people in an "attitude of gratitude" I guess it serves its purpose.

Gratitude, or thankfulness, seems to be an action falling on hard times. I a time where we are spoiled with the comforts and conveniences beyond the dreams of our parents we take it all for granted. Worse yet, we complain because it's not better! I see people, sitting at their computer, complaining that their lives aren't perfect, don't have every conceivable convenience at their fingertips, We are like the child who makes a Christmas gift list that would bust the family budget and pouts because they don't get EVERYTHING on the list! I have a hard time finding people that appreciate what they have and demonstrate that appreciation in a meaningful way.

And before you start in with the pot/kettle accusation I readily admit I am guilty as well. I am not as good about thanking people as I should be and especially in thanking God. I pray but it is usually asking for something such as comfort and healing for the sick. I work on it but my guess is that I am still a disappointment to the Big Guy....

Being thankful is really not about words. It is about actions. The old saying that "actions speak louder than words" is very true in regards to gratitude. For the mere mortals in your life it is about recognizing what they mean to you. Not only telling them but showing them! A simple conversation in which you listen twice as much as you talk is a way of demonstrating your appreciation of the value they bring into your life. Random acts of kindness have the same effect. Being in a thankful state of mind is contagious and is usually paid back in spades! If you think about it there are many people that make your daily life special, from family to co-workers and friends. And they do it all year, every year! Make note of these contributions and be grateful for them!

Moving past the mortals, we are woefully lacking in showing our thankfulness to God. He who provides us with the air we breathe, our very lives, talents and being, we probably show less appreciation to Him than to the mortals. The goal of society these days seems to be to marginalize God's contribution to our lives to the point of irrelevance. We are so arrogant to think WE are responsible for our existence and do our best to ignore God's contributions.

So how do you show appreciation to God? I have read some eloquent prayers, each one a literary masterpiece. And yet, in my opinion, they are hollow and empty if not followed up by action. Thankfulness is an action! You demonstrate it by following the teachings of God as laid out in the Bible, serving God AND your fellow man. Leading a spiritual life and avoiding the trappings of sin, all while recognizing that we are sinners and are bound to come up short. But the effort is required nonetheless. Because God has provided us with our lives and our beings and asks us to share our blessings with others. Opportunities abound in our daily lives to show gratitude through service. You just have to open your eyes!

So I guess this is my thankfulness message. It is being sent to you because you are my friend or family and I really don't get to see any of you enough. We have shared a life and you have enhanced mine more than you can imagine! I look forward to the next opportunity to show you.