Has anyone [in the U.S.] received your stimulus check? How are you going to spend it?

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

Aren't wives always pushing the limits?

Compared to people in third-world countries I am the one percent?!

Running water and indoor plumbing?

Historically, yes, I have it good.

Every day I appreciate not being in Afghanistan--or Fort Leonard Wood.

[Shudder]

Compared to middle income countries you have it very good. People in places like Vietnam or Costa Rica or Thailand would love to have a scooter for family transportation. You have two cars for one person.

You are building a man cave to get some personal space from a house you share with your mother and brother. My older colleges in Japan shared an typical 600 sq ft apartment with 3 generations. Younger colleges lived in company dormitories with just a bed and foot locker for personal space and a shared kitchen and bathroom for 20 people.

There is another huge advantage if you are willing to step outside the box a bit. Even a modest amount of money in the USA is a LOT of money in most of the world. So a US retiree can take their average $1,500 Social Security check and live upper middle class in lots of middle income countries. They can sell their modest house and buy a villa.

The same thing is true within the USA. A California homeowner can sell their average $578,000 house and buy a much larger house in another state for cash and have 1/2 to 1/3 of their money left over. People in Portland love to complain about this.

When my neighbor sold their house they went camping for the weekend. Sunday night they came home to more than 10 offers starting at the list price. The sold it for $50,000 over list to a California couple paying cash and offering to let them stay in the house for another 2 months while they finished their new house. The new couple was nice, both retired out of chip industry in their mid 50's.

It is MUCH easier to go from a wealthy area to a poorer area than the other way around. One person's expensive is anther person's cheap. I thought houses in the Portland area were crazy expensive. Californians think they are crazy cheap. My younger colleges in Portland can't fathom that you can buy a house in other states for $100K - $150K.

I like to follow round-the-world motorcyclist blogs. Plenty of middle class people from the USA and EU sell some stuff, pack up the bike, and travel the world for 1-2 years. That is only possible if you are one of the global elite.


As to COVID Checks - the IRS website says my wife and I will get our direct deposit on the 30-April.

[roosterk0031]

My boss and I got them 4/15 direct deposits. Other co-worker who makes them write him a check is still waiting.

[hayden55]

Same here. 4/15 received.
Looking like I will get a 6 month safety fund going after seeing how much worse this could've been if this had been last fall instead of this spring. (tax refund season, no warm weather = no airbnb bookings, lay off, interview cancellations, etc...)

[Xist]

I always owe taxes as a 1099 contractor. I figured out how much I owed as soon as the information was available, before all of it was sent to me.

I just did not see the point in submitting it any earlier than necessary. I do not know that I could have come back once they gave us 90 additional days to pay our taxes and postponed it, but it seems that since I wanted to hold onto the government's money, I need to wait for them to give me money.

[redpoint5]

Is that true, that checks are delayed for those who have only filed 2018 taxes?

I set up witholding so I owe, and my procrastination paid off this year since we made much less money in 2018 than 2019.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

I always owe taxes as a 1099 contractor. I figured out how much I owed as soon as the information was available, before all of it was sent to me.

I just did not see the point in submitting it any earlier than necessary. I do not know that I could have come back once they gave us 90 additional days to pay our taxes and postponed it, but it seems that since I wanted to hold onto the government's money, I need to wait for them to give me money.

I'm not in a hurry to pay taxes either but just a word of caution. If you under-withhold by more than 10% the IRS charges penalties. When I was working on a 1099 I had to file quarterly estimated taxes.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by JSH

I'm not in a hurry to pay taxes either but just a word of caution. If you under-withhold by more than 10% the IRS charges penalties. When I was working on a 1099 I had to file quarterly estimated taxes.

I'm looking at a penalty at the moment, though I don't know how considering I never have been in that situation before and if anything, having a kid should have reduced my tax liability further. My plan is to make 2019 IRA contributions now to lower my liability and get out of penalty territory.

The only thing I can think that would explain my increased tax liability is perhaps the Trump tax plan increasing taxes on upper-middle incomes.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'm looking at a penalty at the moment, though I don't know how considering I never have been in that situation before and if anything, having a kid should have reduced my tax liability further. My plan is to make 2019 IRA contributions now to lower my liability and get out of penalty territory.

The only thing I can think that would explain my increased tax liability is perhaps the Trump tax plan increasing taxes on upper-middle incomes.

Two things that burned us:

1. The reduced the withholding tables again so companies withhold less in income taxes during the year.
2. SALT deductions (State And Local Deductions) were capped at $10,000 which screws over people that live in states with high local taxes to fund local and state government. My wife and I easily exceed $10K in State income taxes alone before we even look at property and other local taxes.


Trump's "tax cut" cost us a few thousand in extra federal income taxes.

[Xist]

Book I: I Don't Know How Good I Got it.

Originally Posted by JSH

You have two cars for one person.

One of them even runs!

Originally Posted by JSH

You are building a man cave to get some personal space from a house you share with your mother and brother.

It is an office. I only go out there to work, not to play video games or watch anything. I am unsure what qualifies as a man cave. I just want drywall, insulation, and a proper door.

So, if Mom retired to Costa Rica she could have money beyond dreams of avarice?

We couldn't afford to visit her! What are the employment opportunities down there?

These states are the cheapest places to live in America in 2019

#10 Wyoming.

Wait, why don't I skip to #1?

Eh.

[Y]ou can rent a two-bedroom apartment in Laramie for just $861 per month.

I have not looked at apartments for a while, but everything that I found was around $750, whether one bedroom or three. However, there often aren't any vacancies. This is a 2-3 bedroom townhouse for $743, but it is affordable housing. I make 50% too much! Here is a 2-bedroom in the next town for $800. It has a higher elevation, gets more snow, and is greener. However, if you insist on living in the thriving metropolis of Show Low, here is a 2-bedroom manufactured home "in-town."

So, if you can find a place in Show Low, it may be cheaper than Laramie, but it only has about 35% of the population, and does not have a four-year college like the University of Wyoming.

#9 Indiana
#8 Kansas
#6 Tennessee and Alabama [tied]
#5 Michoacán Michigan [I always confuse those!]
#4 Missouri. The last time that I mentioned them I called them Misery because they weren't supposed to peak until May 22nd, but the same site says they peaked April 22nd.
#3 Arkansas
#2 Ooooooooooooklahoma
#1 Mississippi
America's 10 cheapest states to live 2019 - CNBC.com It didn't say how much rent was in Mississippi!

You know how I will spend hours researching something that doesn't matter to anyone?

Yeah...


I noticed that many states with a low cost of living were in the same area. I couldn't find a good heat map, so I made this. I wanted to give each state a different color, but since the map uses shades of grey to smooth edges, it would take too much work to make it look right. Except for Texas and Louisiana, everything from New Mexico to Georgia and up to Missouri are among the cheapest places to live, with Michigan being a cheap island.

I got that list from here: Cheapest States To Live In 2020 The list was a bit different than the first one and it didn't provide a list, just a table at the end. It was silly how long it took to make a list in descending order.

Book II: The Green Goes Further on the Other Side

This list does not give an order, but of course it mentions Mexico. I hear nice things about that country, I speak the language, and love the people, but when I was in the Guard they asked us to not visit.

The 5 Safest Places to Live in Mexico
Look, I specifically chose a U.S. map that showed the state names because I am not sure that I would get all of them right, but that says the safest town in Mexico is Sayulita, Nayarit.

Um, what?

Nayarit is a state?

How to get there: Drive 253.8 miles south from Show Low, another 970.2 miles, and you are there!

Google says that it takes 22.5 hours and has 2,262 people.

I don't care where you live, that is a small town!

I mean... how many dating options would I have?

#2 is Campeche, Campeche. It has 220,000 people, but is 41 hours southeast of here on the Yucatán Peninsula!

#3 is Tulum, Quintana Roo with 18,233 people.

I am not looking up the drive time, it is near Campeche² (268 miles further!).

#4 ¡Mazatlán, Sinaloa! I have heard of that one! It has half a million people and... it is only 250 miles north of Sayulita...

#5 ¡Cancún! Nevermind. I am not getting excited. I got my hopes up before and... what? It is in Quintana Roo?!

It is almost 2,500 miles away.

Sure, people fly, but I cannot really see how much flights cost right now. Who knows what they will be in the future?

I guess that Sayulita, Nayarit sounds a lot better. I am sure that current flight data is pretty useless, but what else do I have? When I search TripAdvisor shows $18, but it is $280 round-trip with American.

Of course, this is actually to Puerto Vallarta.

Another Google results says $47 flights, but is also $280. The first Google result claimed $83, but why pay that much when you could pay only $47 or $18 [you can't, you can't pay just $83!]

They just want $243.62, although it kept changing from Phoenix to Victoria.

Would I be using Amazon even more down there?

Book III: Fan\Hate Mail

RedPoint, sorry, I do not know, and I cannot find anything about delays due to only filing 2018 taxes.
JSH, I know that I am supposed to pay quarterly taxes, but I have paid at the end of the year five times, and as far as I know, it has been okay, but I looked it up:

If you owe more than $1,000, the IRS wants its owed taxes paid during the year.
Any missed quarterly payment will result in penalties and interest.
Additionally, waiting until the end of the year to file and pay taxes may lead to other financial issues if you fail to reserve enough funds to satisfy your tax debt.

Facts About the Failure to File or Pay Penalties However, all that I can find about that underpayment fine is this saying it was 3% in 2012.

I haven't been charged for not paying during the year.

I wish that I knew why I paid far more in taxes this year than previously.

[redpoint5]

You could have rented a place for $400/mo from me in OK. Had 4 connected units for about 10 years. Right across the street from Sonic too.