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Is there any data on how many sfr’s are rental properties in San Diego? This is not quite scientific, but observing my circle of friends I can say about 80% of the folks who purchased a move-up house in the last few years converted their old house to rental.

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+1 for TurboTax. Have used their software for over a decade, and the most time consuming task is pulling together the various paperwork for the year.

The one thing I did miss in the 2011 tax year software was the ability to submit the application for review with a tax professional. Prior to 2011 I received great feedback on specific questions during the review process. Hopefully tax year 2012 has this feature (for a fee) back on.

Over the year’s my tax situation had gotten complicated and found Turbo Tax Premier edition to handle them well.

Speaking about taxes can anyone suggest sites to follow tax conversations, and policies?

On my to do list is to also find a good CPA who has experience with C-corp. Anyone willing to share their favorite? Thanks a bunch. (Sorry about the slight thread jack)

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[quote=CA renter][quote=bearishgurl]I’m rather incensed that some Piggs (usually those who haven’t worked very long) are stating that pensions are “entitlements.”

They are NOT, in any way, shape or form “entitlements.” They are earned and paid for by the employee and employer as part of their pay package.

If you want one for yourself, they STILL exist in the public and private sector (even if somewhat “dumbed down” from the past). Everyone is free to attempt to “vest themselves” into a defined-benefit plan. You do whatever it takes to get vested and you earn one for yourself.

Plain and simple.

Any takers out there??[/quote]

Well said, BG. DB pensions were earned by working hard over many years. This is deferred compensation, nobody is asking for a “freebie.”

If people don’t like being salaried, then fight for hourly work. Of course, many salaried people wouldn’t do this because they would make far, far less for the same work as hourly employees.

And BG is right, there are still plenty of jobs available for those who qualify. If you want to have these “better” jobs/benefits, step right up. These jobs are open to the general public.[/quote]

BG, I am not saying pensions are an entitlement. IMO pension is just like any other work benefit e.g health/dental/flex/parking… Today some companies provide and many don’t.

Also with passing decades corporate benefits vary, and that is the evolving nature of workplace. Not much to complain about. What was offered as pensions in the past is available for most employees in the form of other retirement benefits.

I don’t have pension, but my Dad has one. I also know my Dad’s pension plan was revised over the years. Would I like one? Most likely. Do I miss not having one? Definitely not.

What bothered me (and perhaps few others) was your reference to people having not worked long enough yet willing to complain about someone with pension benefits 🙂

I don’t see the analogy – why does it matter how many years some one has worked. If one can work less hours and are able to spend more time with family/community work, I say more power to them for effectively managing their time and resources.

CAR, in my mind pensions are employment benefits, just like 401k’s. One can choose to have one or not. If one is enrolled (optionally/not) it is something to use after reaching a predefined age.

I know for a fact 401k balance follows the market, so there is no guarantee one will have the projected nest egg when the age limit is reached. Pensions perhaps predefined, BUT certainly not off limits to market variations.

The one other point I did not follow was the distinction between salaried worker moving to hourly work. If the salaried employee (most like exempt) does not like it, one certainly has the option to change to an hourly work. There is no difference between a salaried worker switching to an hourly worker and one who was initially hired as an hourly worker. The rates are market based, and companies can’t certainly have classifications of exempt, exempt but hourly, or ‘true’ hourly worker.

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Wow! this is an active thread with morphing topics. Considering I am a relative new comer in this forum, and usually not one to talk about money or personal economics with anyone let alone in an open forum… I felt compelled to respond after catching up on the recent posts…

I don’t quite understand all the negativity about people not having pensions, and talking up one’s work better than someone else’s career path.

Each person is their own, and for better or worse we land in situations we are familiar and comfortable. There is no point comparing the work scenario from 20+ years ago to something today. If we objectively look, FWIW each generation does better than the previous generation. Obviously each generation will have folks who are better off than their peers, and what ever anyone says the differentiation is mostly based on “randomness” and the ability to act on that. (Not sure if this should become the next topic of conversation!!!) I also find older generation saying the newer generation is a bunch of spoiled brats 🙂

I consider myself savvy for my age, but the current crop of 20’s and 30’s put me to shame with their openness to adapt and change. Like the generation(s) before they will shape the society, and everyone will need to adapt, thrive and make it their own or be left behind.

On the topic of pensions, not sure if that is truly relevant. Some were lucky to find work in places/companies that offered such a social benefit. Over the years the same companies found it was no longer necessary, as the benefit changed to some other entity (perhaps the 401ks…).

IMO having a pension or a 401k is no guarantee it will be available when one truly needs it. After all the contributions are not directly controlled by the individual. These pensions and 401k are dominated by funds/stocks/treasuries/securities which follow societal changes. In this scenario it is only prudent for each of us to look after immediate family needs, and take care of their tribe in the best possible way they know how. Who better to assess one’s needs than self, and accumulate the necessary resources?

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The thread topic about 21% of homes w/ paid off mortgages caught my attention this morning. Curious to learn about the profile of owners in this scenario I read the entire thread with great interest.

20% of mortgage free homes is a healthy start, but the article did not expand on the type of owners. My guess is the 20% would be a combination of long term owners paying off their loans, parents buying properties for their kids, prudent Piggs, and possibly the cash purchases from investors we hear about.

Not sure how this applies, what happens when a property is purchased by business entities? Will the associated loans (if any) be visible in public records?

I was also surprised by the percentage of 20-25 year old owners without any mortgages! On the contrary, in my neighborhood the few occasions homes came on the market was because the kids could not agree on who gets the place and/or could not afford to take over the relatively low payments.

It was intriguing to read the discussion about paying off the primary residence. I still have one, only for the sake of potential tax benefits.

If possible I would like to hear about tax strategies used by folks in the forum who have paid off their mortgages? Thanks for sharing.

Personally I fall in the camp ‘it takes money to make money’, and that invariably results in using some form of debt. Fortunately the debt level exposure is dictated by a worst case scenario spreadsheet.

Thanks to all for the engaging conversation so far.

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Often times walking through the stores, I find items that I did not even know existed. HF has definitely expanded my gadget awareness….

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Like SD Realtor’s comment, definitely a good place to pick up items you don’t mind tossing out at the end of the project. e.g. paint brushes, drill bits, extenders etc. This said did find some useful tools that lasted more than a project – multi function tool, electrical testers, garden tools etc.

Be aware you might make several trips once you find the store 🙂 Also check the frequent 20% coupons online/mailers.

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[quote=ocrenter]seems like Nuance has a monopoly on speech recognition and doing a horrible job of it.

would be nice if there will be a viable open source competition.[/quote]

That seems to be the case. One or two companies/products I stumbled upon are now part of Nuance. I was even shocked when my favorite editor, Swype, was acquired by them last year.

I am looking for interesting university projects that might be helpful. I also plan to look into Asterisk for possible solutions.

Thx for the suggestion CAR.

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Josh,

I intend to use separate language models to allow for speech to text, and also to capture some user details from speech/voice patterns. This project is like a crash course on speech for me…. projects like sphinx appear to be language independent speech engines, and one needs to layer the desired language models for the application purpose.

Trying to figure out the necessary modules to build an open source based prototype. Please let me know if you have any recommendations. The closest I worked in this domain was when I intern’ed for a telecommunications company in early 90’s. The application was more text-to-speech synthesize for a personalized message hub, using tcl/tk, dragon dictate and some proprietary algorithms.

Thanks for your help. Cheers.

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wow! reading this thread makes me envious 🙂 Never having taken care of more than a few potted plants I am looking forward to starting a veggie patch next spring.

Early fall planted some fruit trees and 50% of them have survived the gophers! Now that I am aware of my cohabiters dreaming about my next set of trees.
So far couple of grape vines, and one of the figs and guavas have survived.
Would love to hear about your favorite fruits and places to buy. Thanks.

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[quote=desmond]I have been married over 25 years and the talking never ends, so I consider myself a expert……..[/quote]

Very funny 😉

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Sorry to hear about your experience craptcha. Hopefully your device issues are remedied quickly.

I received the 16g version last week, and absolutely love my Nexus 7. There were a couple of software upgrades since I received. The UI responsiveness is amazing, and is nice to hold. My one negative comment would be about the lack of headphones. Not sure if tablets in general include a headset.

Would be great to find out your favorite apps for Nexus 7. Any suggestions?

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[quote=spdrun]If you form an LLC on equal terms, wouldn’t you basically all be members/shareholders of the LLC, rather than employees? Forming an employer/employee relationship between friends seems like very bad juju.[/quote]

We are investigating our business structure, and will find one that works for us. I agree about forming business with friends. This was something we thought about, but having worked together since late 90’s we feel we can handle any disagreements in a mature way. Thanks for your feedback.

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Thanks for the Intuit suggestion – flu, Allan. The payment processing options sounds like what I am looking for. The cost also appear to be less than someone like Insperity (though they do more than payroll/tax compliance).

spdrun – I am not sure what the definition of true independent contractor is. Here is our scenario, as a group of friends we often work on the same projects with each of us with a separate independent contractor (mostly set up as sole proprietorship) contract.

Since we are planning to change our business entity to llc, we are looking at options to form a single business, where each of us are an employee.

If our plans are crazy wrong, please chime in with alternate solutions!

PS: My responses might be slow, as I have to periodically check if there are any new posts in this thread.

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