Household finances

[TAC]

As a single father (who raised two upstanding and outstanding adults) who married a single mother

[TAC]

Actually, that's awesome Gregg. Not my post..yours!

[King Postwhore]

Rich, in this day and age, having a parent as a stay home is so worth it.  In a world of a 2 family income, morals are out the window more than not for the average family.

No doubt. Except the problem isn't one vs two family incomes, it is one parent families!

As a single father (who raised two upstanding and outstanding adults) who married a single mother (who provide for them while for five years while getting two college degrees and being PTA president at the same time) I have to say you two don't know shit! 

And your wife today kicks ass.

[Cool Chris]

Sorry Podaar to generalize. I stand by what I said, but don't let that take away from the wonderful job you and the Missus did with your children.

[Stadler]

No separate accounts for us.  Savings/Checking both our checks get deposited.  I'm the guy that takes care of the finances.  Both can go on at any time to look.  Ours is ours.  I find that much easier.

We are the same and has worked for 32 years, but I can see how couples would want separate accounts.

This is us too.  We both had exes that abused the "one family, one account" thing, but though that it was still the best way.  Both her check and mine go into the same account, an account we both have access to.    She  does have a second account that she uses to collect her child support, and I have a second account from before we met, but we don't use them in the way that some here do.  I don't have a separate account with $1,000's of dollars to do shit on my own.   It all comes out of the same pot, and if one of us has a problem with any expenditure, we just say it.   "Hey, what's the deal with the $75 on Amazon?"   I don't know, maybe it's our personalities, but it's just not been an issue.   

[King Postwhore]

My life is already too complicated to deal with separate finances. 

I pay all the bills btw.

[TempusVox]

Ours is not unique, but a tad complicated. We have several accounts. We each have our own accounts, but have access to both. We each both have our own private personal accounts as well. We also three joint checking accounts; and a few trusts set up. We have a revocable bypass trust; as well as a QTIP trust, a CR trust, and a life insurance trust.

[Phoenix87x]

With taxes, do you guys do your own or have someone do it?

For those that do it personally, Does it take long to do on your own and what program do you use?

[Grappler]

With taxes, do you guys do your own or have someone do it?

For those that do it personally, Does it take long to do on your own and what program do you use?

When I was single and a non-homeowner, I would use turbo-tax. 

Since I got married and bought a house, we use our local H&R Block office.  It costs a lot more (over $300 each year based on the number of forms we have), but it's easier to let someone else think about what information goes where and what we can deduct.  We would generally sit in the office for an hour and just knock it out with one of the employees there.

In 2020, they started a drop-off service, which is awesome.  I drop off the documents, they do the work and call me with questions, then I sign it online and it's done.  Still costly, but certainly less frustration for us.

[hunnus2000]

I trim the hedgerow and she says it looks real nice.

Did you find a bustle your hedgerow? 

[Stadler]

I still do my own via Turbo Tax, and have for the last... 20 years or so.   It's a little complicated at times, especially with divorces and remarriages, and owning a couple properties, but it's not insurmountable.  If anything, I'm probably leaving a little on the table each year, because I try to be conservative, but I'm okay with that.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

With taxes, do you guys do your own or have someone do it?

For those that do it personally, Does it take long to do on your own and what program do you use?

My wife is a bookkeeper, so she does our taxes. So to answer your question....I have no clue. 

[jingle.boy]

Haven't done my own taxes in almost 25 years.  When I got my first commissionable sales job, I realized I was out of my league, then with home ownership, kids, etc ... I've never done them.  It's worth every penny to just hand it over to my accountant every April, answer a few questions, and let them do all the hard work.  It's more than paid for itself every single year.

[lordxizor]

I've always used TurboTax. Can't guarantee I'm not missing out on a deduction here or there, but I think it's a pretty thorough program. I've had home businesses, rental properties, sale of a home and other investments and it's been able to handle it without an issue. The guy at H&R block is basically just running your information through their version of tax software. It's not like they're doing it by hand, but they admittedly should have more in depth knowledge of tax laws than the average Joe.

[TAC]

I've always used TurboTax. Can't guarantee I'm not missing out on a deduction here or there, but I think it's a pretty thorough program. I've had home businesses, rental properties, sale of a home and other investments and it's been able to handle it without an issue. The guy at H&R block is basically just running your information through their version of tax software. It's not like they're doing it by hand, but they admittedly should have more in depth knowledge of tax laws than the average Joe.

This. I've used Turbo Tax for years. One year, we had our lawyer do it, and he was just using a program as well. And he had to pay him a ton of $$ to do it. Nope..back to Turbo Tax.

[jingle.boy]

I've always used TurboTax. Can't guarantee I'm not missing out on a deduction here or there, but I think it's a pretty thorough program. I've had home businesses, rental properties, sale of a home and other investments and it's been able to handle it without an issue. The guy at H&R block is basically just running your information through their version of tax software. It's not like they're doing it by hand, but they admittedly should have more in depth knowledge of tax laws than the average Joe.

This. I've used Turbo Tax for years. One year, we had our lawyer do it, and he was just using a program as well. And he had to pay him a ton of $$ to do it. Nope..back to Turbo Tax.

Do you get legal advice from your accountant??

[ProfessorPeart]

My Dad did mine until I moved out. Then my wife and I used H&R Block for the first couple of years. Then I moved to their PC software which I have used for many years now. I did learn a trick a couple of years ago. I used to submit my State taxes through the software which cost $25. Then I learned that if I submitted them right through the State's site it cost me nothing. I use the printout from the H&R Block software to fill out the State website form and save a few bucks.

[wolfking]

Haven't done my own taxes in almost 25 years.  When I got my first commissionable sales job, I realized I was out of my league, then with home ownership, kids, etc ... I've never done them.  It's worth every penny to just hand it over to my accountant every April, answer a few questions, and let them do all the hard work.  It's more than paid for itself every single year.

This.  I couldn't be assed going through it all and doing it all myself.  I'm happy to pay my accountant to do it.  I trust he knows more than I do.

[Dublagent66]

I used to do my own taxes before owning a house.  1040EZ 

[Stadler]

I've always used TurboTax. Can't guarantee I'm not missing out on a deduction here or there, but I think it's a pretty thorough program. I've had home businesses, rental properties, sale of a home and other investments and it's been able to handle it without an issue. The guy at H&R block is basically just running your information through their version of tax software. It's not like they're doing it by hand, but they admittedly should have more in depth knowledge of tax laws than the average Joe.

My old roommate (I went to college with him) was an accountant and owned his own business. He would have a junior staff member do just that, run it through their software, and while he didn't have to spend as much time as I do looking up things, I read statutes for a living, so absent any complicated tax structures and/or year-over-year credits/depreciations, which I don't have, I'm okay with my doing it.

[Herrick]

I've used Turbo Tax for many years. I don't have a lot going on with deductions, properties, & shit so it's relatively simple for Herrick. The Wife files separately using a real human tax person.

[Lonk]

I never used Turbo Tax. I have only used Tax Slayer (10 years now) and is easy and quick. My taxes are simple enough that I don't need an accountant to do it for me.

[TAC]

I never used Turbo Tax. I have only used Tax Slayer (10 years now) and is easy and quick. My taxes are simple enough that I don't need an accountant to do it for me.

Tax Seasons In The Abyss 

[Cool Chris]

Been using TurboTax for as long as I can remember. Never had any problems, we have a straightforward tax situation and I can power through pretty quickly and easily. One year my employer messed up a line on my W2, and when I put that line in, TurboTax said "Are you sure that number is right?" Sure enough, it wasn't and TurboTax caught it.

[wolfking]

I never used Turbo Tax. I have only used Tax Slayer (10 years now) and is easy and quick. My taxes are simple enough that I don't need an accountant to do it for me.

Tax Seasons In The Abyss 

I'd still prefer to use my Accountant of Death.

[Podaar]

Tax Accountant. They're up on all the current laws, know all the right questions, and their fees are 100% deductible from next years taxes!

[Phoenix87x]

I ended up doing them by myself for the first time last night with Turbotax. Went pretty smoothly.

Thanks for all the the input though guys.

[Chino]

I'm actually embarrassed to admit this, but I just give my tax stuff to my dad. He's got an accountant that handles his money/portfolios, and the guy does his taxes every year as well. I just give that guy an envelope with all my forms, and a few weeks later a few grand shows up in the mail.

[ReaperKK]

We do our own taxes, things are pretty simple at our house so it isn't too much work.

[cramx3]

I've been a turbo tax user for awhile now, basically since I graduated college and started working on my own and my father stopped doing it for me.  It got more complicated as I got older and had a house and investments and whatnot, but turbotax is pretty damn easy and I've never had a problem.  I usually get a lot of money back and mostly look forward to filing my taxes each year because I like seeing that return money go up as I enter in my info. 

Tax Accountant. They're up on all the current laws, know all the right questions, and their fees are 100% deductible from next years taxes!

Any tax software like turbo tax is also 100% deductible.  I always write that off the next year.  It's one of the questions in turbo tax. 

[Phoenix87x]

I was tempted to make a whole new thread on this, but here we go.

In the event of an economic recession (or possibly another depression), what do you guys think are some smart financial moves to prepare?

and another question along those lines, Could bank runs happen again?

[Chino]

I was tempted to make a whole new thread on this, but here we go.

In the event of an economic recession (or possibly another depression), what do you guys think are some smart financial moves to prepare?

and another question along those lines, Could bank runs happen again?

Don't panic and take your money out of your 401K/other retirement accounts.

Build up a nest egg now. I know it's easier said then done, but try and put away enough to buy you a few extra months of buffer should things go really south for a while.

[WilliamMunny]

I was tempted to make a whole new thread on this, but here we go.

In the event of an economic recession (or possibly another depression), what do you guys think are some smart financial moves to prepare?

and another question along those lines, Could bank runs happen again?

Don't panic and take your money out of your 401K/other retirement accounts.

Build up a nest egg now. I know it's easier said then done, but try and put away enough to buy you a few extra months of buffer should things go really south for a while.

This.

Even at the peak of the Great Depression, 3 out of 4 people had jobs. No matter how bad it gets, history has proven that the economy is resilient on a longterm scale. The worst thing anyone can do is panic and make some sort of massive move based on a headline.

That said, I think the best thing for me has always been my personal real estate. If you have a mortgage and a savings account, $500 as an overpayment on your mortgage is worth way more than the measly 1% a high-interest CD is going to yield. Obviously, liquidity is an issue, so I like to have 6 months wages in the bank at all times, but anything above and beyond that goes against the principle of anything that's racking up interest.

[lordxizor]

Diversify your investments. Have 3-6 months in cash for an emergency. Cut back on unnecessary spending.

Otherwise just stay the course. Don't panic sell your investments. Keep contributing to your 401k or other investments monthly. People who did this during the great depression made out very well even though the market as a whole was flat for two decades.

[Dublagent66]

I started going into money saving mode around 7 months ago.  I mean beyond 401k and retirement accounts.  Those have been on-going for years.  No going out to restaurants or bars.  No concerts.  Major reduction in take out orders.  Before the pandemic and this pathetic joke of an administration we have now, I was spending 50 bucks a week just going out to lunch.  Right now, that 50 bucks would be more like 75 or 80.  Less driving of course since we're being butt raped at the pump.  Additionally, I have way more than 6 months of cash available.  Maybe even more than year's worth.