As I write these lines, it is Friday, February 13. Now, for many folks, the very prospect of a Friday the 13th is a frightening thing to behold. But from my perspective, looking out on a beautiful pre-Spring sunlit day, I am reminded that TODAY, for the Cubs and Cardinals, pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. Before long, we’ll (or at least I’ll) be glued to the radio, listening to every pitch of opening day. So, on a day with this kind of promise, how can you be afraid?
And just like the baseball season comes around again, so comes the promise that we’ll soon see some improvement in the markets. As you may have noted, I have no crystal ball, but nevertheless I am pretty certain we’re going to begin to see signs of recovery soon. As the markets get the opportunity to digest the concepts laid out in the Stimulus Plan, we should begin to see real improvements. Soon enough we’ll look back on this past few months – and shudder, yes – but it will be an interesting story to tell our kids and grandkids about.
This month, being up to my knees in tax preparation, I thought I’d point out a few wrinkles in the tax law that you may find helpful. And something that I hadn’t mentioned specifically on these pages: last year I finished jumping through the hoops and the like with the IRS to become an Enrolled Agent. What this means is that the IRS recognizes me as “eligible, qualified and certified as authorized to represent another in practice before the IRS.” In layman’s terms, this means that if you have conflicts with the IRS, I can help by representing you before the IRS, regardless of who prepared your return. Please let me know if you’d like to learn more about this service.
If you haven’t been to my blog yet – don’t let the term “blog” intimidate you, it’s really just a sort of online journal – you’ll find lots of articles that don’t make it into this newsletter, along with some other useful information. In addition, you’ll find all of the back-issues of this newsletter out there as well. Just click on this link to access the articles. And you can still follow me at twitter.com/BlankenshipFP if you like!
Click the link to pick up a copy of A Social Security Owner's Manual or if you'd prefer the Kindle version (and let's face it, ALL the cool kids do!), you can find that at this Kindle version link.
I can learn from you, you can learn from me - please leave your comments and links!Jim Blankenship, CFP®, EA, is an expert in personal retirement, IRAs, and tax issues, with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. Read more from this author
And if you've come here to learn about queuing waterfowl, I apologize for the confusion. You may want to discuss your question with Lester, my loyal watchduck and self-proclaimed "advisor's advisor".