CARNIVAL BALLET

ANYTHING BUT TAXES is represented in “Tax Carnival #27: Waiting for the Tax Ball to Drop” compiled by Kay Bell of DON’T MESS WITH TAXES. As Kay states, “in ‘Won't You Take This Advice I Hand You Like a Brother’ he discusses the burden of proof during an audit, particularly when it comes to the cost basis of an investment sale.”

Actually, I start the Carnival off with a posting from my tax blog. According to Kay, “As the traditional Auld Lang Syne says, let's not forget the old acquaintance of this soon-to-end tax year. To that end, Robert D Flach, aka THE WANDERING TAX PRO, brings us a review of 2007's tax happenings.”

The same post from THE WANDERING TAX PRO is also in the “Carnival of Personal Finance #133 - Last of 2007 Edition” over at WE’RE IN DEBT.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEARS, NEW YEAR’S EVE?

I am all set for New Year’s Eve – day and night.

Like Christmas Eve, I will be spending the day typing W-2s for clients.

As for the evening – I have my frozen cocktail franks, potato skins and pizza rolls, my Ritz Crackers and Temptee Whipped Cream Cheese, a bottle of Jack Daniels (an annual birthday gift from a friend/client) and a large plastic bottle of Coca Cola, and a handful of cigars - so I am good to go (although I am not actually going anywhere)! It will be just me, Nosey, and Dick Clark.

I started dining on hors d’oeuvres many New Year’s Eves ago when we lived in what was then pretty much “the country” in Stirling and Warren Townships, and have continued the tradition ever since.

I haven’t gone out on a New Year’s Eve since the beginning of the 1980s! On purpose – not because I wasn’t invited anywhere. I did my couple of years at Times Square as a young man, so I can say, “been there – done that”.

I remember one NYE in NYC. We were in the crowd on the corner of Broadway and 45th Street. Once the ball dropped we were swept up in a wave and carried toward 42nd Street under the momentum of the crowd. One of my friends fell in the street and the “wave” continued to “flow” over him as he smiled, waved, and called out “Happy New Year” to those walking over him.

BTW, I always know where one of my 1040 clients will be on New Year’s Eve. He works the machinery that drops the ball from the top of One Times Square!

Happy New Year to all!

TTYNY

A LITTLE THIS-A AND A LITTLE THAT-A – WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE LATTA!

+ Robert Powell over at MARKET WATCH provides some interesting numbers in his article “Lies, Damn Lies and (Retirement) Statistics: Reluctant Retirement Savers May be Scared Straight by These Data”.

The moral of his story –

If you are among the 150 million who are not saving for retirement, now would be a good time to do so.

If you are among the 50 million who are saving for retirement, now would be a good time to save more.

+ Brad Trechak of TV SQUAD gives us a preview of the upcoming “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” Fox series in his post “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles -- An Early Look”. The sci-fi show premieres on Sunday, January 13, at 8 PM before settling into its normal timeslot on Monday, January 14, at 9 PM.

+ TV SQUAD also reports that “David Letterman has struck a deal with the Writers Guild of America, and both his show and “The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (both produced by Letterman's Worldwide Pants) will return next Wednesday, January 2.”

No big news. The David Letterman show is not funny!

If I am watching tv at 11:30 at night it is usually Jay Leno. After his monologue and nightly “bit” (I especially like his “Headlines”, but am sick of “Jay Walking”) I usually switch over to CBS to hear Letterman’s “Top Ten List”.

While waiting one evening I had to sit through a bit in which the crew threw a safe off the top of the building. It landed on and flattened a car. So what? Was this supposed to be funny? If so, the humor was certainly lost on me.

Apparently David Letterman often has items thrown off the top of his building. Can someone tell me why?

The David Letterman Show makes a habit of beating a lame bit, at most mildly amusing the first time, to death. Some bits eventually end (for a while he had a different person lock up The Late Show Bear each night - stupid indeed) while some go on forever ("Will It Float" - who gives a f - - -?).

I have not seen a David Letterman monologue and I have not viewed any of his interviews, so I can't comment on these portions of the program. With the exception of the occasional Top Ten entry I have found very little of what I have seen to be even marginally humorous. I can't, for the life of me, understand why he has been on the air for so long.

+ It was recently announced that the publishers have “delayed” indefinitely publication of a book of parenting advice (“Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World”) by Lynne Spears, mother of the infamous Britney and Jamie Lynn, after 16-year old Jamie Lynn, of “Zoey 101”, announced that she was pregnant.

Having Lynne Spears write a book on parenting is like having a young John McEnroe write a book on anger management, or Charlie Sheen write about the benefits of sexual abstinence.

I wish Rance and Jean Howard had written a book on the proper way to raise a child star. I don’t remember ever reading about Ron Howard’s trips to Rehab or Clint Howard’s bouts with drugs and alcohol.

While Lynne Spears should not take all the blame for her daughters’ behavior, she certainly deserves a big chunk of it, as do the parents of the other popular tabloid darlings.

Guess who has come to her defense? Why all-knowing Dr. Phil! The jury consultant and professional tv finger-wagger has said "An asset that Britney and Jamie Lynn both have is a great and dedicated mother" and that her kids are lucky to have her. Phil, shut up!

TTYL

CARNIVAL BALLET

I just got the word – the latest edition of the “Carnival of Financial Planning” is now up at The Skilled Investor’s PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG.

The “Carnival of Financial Planning” takes a long-term view of personal financial planning for individuals and families. The focus is on efficient and sustainable personal financial planning practices that can lead to lifetime financial security.

My post “WON’T YOU TAKE THIS ADVICE I HAND YOU LIKE A BROTHER” appears in the Investing section of the Carnival.

YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK

The movies are famous for sequels. Most, as I have discussed here, are “at best unnecessary and at worst an insult to the originals”. However, while there are often revivals (more successful than movie remakes), Broadway musicals are not known for spawning sequels.

There has been no “West Side Story – The Next Generation”, “Return of the Music Man”, “Cabaret II – Back to Berlin”, or “Guys and Dolls and a Baby”.

But there have been, to my knowledge, three actual Broadway musical “sequels” – new musicals with the same characters and similar situations that take place after the original production. Since you have probably not heard of them you can correctly assume they were not box office, or critical, successes. Only two actually made it to Broadway.

I would have used this as another trivia contest, but, judging on the response to my first one, it appears you would not be interested. So I’ll just tell you about them.

The first is “Bring Back Birdie”, obviously a sequel to the classic “Bye Bye Birdie”, which had 31 previews and only 4 performances (the original had 607) back in early 1981 at the Martin Beck Theatre. It reunited the creative team of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams and librettist Michael Stewart. Chita Rivera reprised her roll as Rosie, but Albert and Mae Peterson, originally Dick Van Dyke and Kay Medford, were played here by Donald O’Connor and Maria Karnilova. There was no sign of the Peterson family from the original, the patriarch of which was Paul Lynde.

In the sequel, 20 years after the end of the original, Albert is offered twenty thousand dollars if he can find Conrad, who has disappeared into obscurity, and persuade him to perform on a television show. Albert takes a leave of absence from his job teaching English and locates Conrad, now overweight and the mayor of Bent River Junction, Arizona.

I was in the audience for one of the 35 performances. There was an unsuccessful try at updating the innovative “Telephone Hour” production number idea using videos. And Donald O’Connor almost attempted to reprise his “Singing in the Rain” off the wall back flip during one of his solo numbers – but thought better of it considering his age.

Despite its short run, Chita Rivera was nominated for a Tony and a Drama Desk Award as Best Actress in a Musical for BBB2. The original “Bye Bye Birdie” was nominated for, and won, many Tonys 20 years earlier, including a win as Best Musical, a nomination for Chita Rivera as Best Featured Actress in a Musical and wins for Gower Champion as Best Direction and Best Choreography. Dick Van Dyke also won a Tony.

Ken Mandelbaum writes in his book “Not Since Carrie, 40 Years of Broadway Flop” – “’Bring Back Birdie’ may rank as the worst Broadway musical ever to be created by top-level professionals. The book was tasteless and ridiculous.”

I met BBB librettist Michael Stewart, who also wrote the books for “Hello Dolly” and “42nd Street”, when he was a guest lecturer on one of my post-tax season transatlantic crossings on the QE 2 back in the 1980s. I saw the original "Bye Bye Birdie" during its Broadway run, but with "Match Game" host Gene Rayburn and not Dick Van Dyke.

“Annie”, which first promised Broadway audiences in early 1977 that “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow”, had not one but two attempts at a sequel. The first was “Annie 2: Miss Hannigan's Revenge”, which opened at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. in December 1989 to “universally disastrous reviews”. Wikepedia reports that “extensive reworking of the script and score proved futile, and the project was aborted before reaching Broadway”. The second attempt was made in 1993, with a completely different plot and score. “Annie Warbucks” opened off-Broadway at the Variety Arts Theatre, where it ran for 200 performances. It never made the transition to Broadway. I have not seen either sequel.

It is a coincidence that the music for “Annie” and “Annie Warbucks” was also written by Charles Strouse, although the lyrics were by Martin Charnin.

The third Broadway musical sequel, which did briefly make it to Broadway, was “The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public”, which ran for 28 previews and 16 performances in the spring of 1994. The same creative team returned for the sequel, including Tommy Tune as co-director and co-choreographer. This musical told the tale of the best little whorehouse in Las Vegas.

Miss Mona, “madam” of the original Texas “Chicken Ranch”, is coaxed out of retirement to take over Las Vegas brothel “Stallion Fields”, which has been seized by the government and is being run by the IRS in the hope of recovering $26 million in back taxes. Mona is once again at odds with a zealous right-wing politician trying to close the “house” down.

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The New York Times review indicated that, while it had all the glitz one expects from Las Vegas - and even had Siegfried and Roy (portrayed by one actor, half of whom is made up as Siegfried, the other half as Roy) - “What it ain't got is fun”.

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Dee Hoty, “Miss Mona”, was nominated for a 1994 Tony as Best Actress in a Musical. I also did not see this apparent fiasco.

While “Lorelei”, which I did see, opens and ends years after the original “Gentlemen Prefer Blonds” story takes place, is not so much a sequel as a revival of GPB – created to capitalize on the popularity of Carol Channing after “Hello Dolly”. So it doesn’t count. Lorelei remembers her earlier Atlantic crossing while embarking on another after many years of marriage.

“Lorelei” opened January 27, 1974, at the Palace Theatre and ran 320 performances. While it has updated lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and a new book by Kenny Solms and Gail Parent, it is really just the original "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" by Anita Loos and Joseph A. Fields with lyrics by Leo Robin with a few new scenes and songs thrown in to book-end the original story and score. The show also featured Peter Palmer (Broadway’s “Lil Abner”), Dody Goodman, and Lee Roy Reams, who would many years later again appear with Carol in one of her revivals of Dolly.

So there you have it – the extent of Broadway’s experimentation with sequels. Did I miss any?

TTYL

SLICE UP THE FRUITCAKE - IT’S TIME WE HANG SOME TINSEL ON THAT EVERGREEN BOUGH

I trust you all had a “successful” Christmas!

As promised, and as has been my custom for many years now, I spent Christmas Eve closing out and reconciling payroll and typing W-2s for my clients. Three sets down and three to go! My biggest client, a doctor with three corporations that have employees, does payroll bi-weekly (every other week) and this year it worked out that I did the final payroll for the year this past Sunday. I have done the local Social Security union, headed up by a friend of mine since probably the 5th grade, and two of the doctor’s companies. I will do the third company on New Years Eve (another tradition) once I have determined how much I will pay the doctor herself for the year after reviewing the situation next Sunday. I also have a bar and a deli to do – but will not have all the info for them until January.

For, I believe, the first time since I was a newborn I “dined” in on Christmas Eve. As a family we would always dine out on Christmas Eve (originally at a place called “Ray Grimes” on the Boulevard in Union City). Lately, while the folks were still in Jersey City, we would go to the “Lincoln Inn” in the Jersey City heights. Two years ago was my first CE on my own – it was when I discovered the hidden treasure “Renato’s” behind the “Pizza Master’s” next to the heights police station. Last year it was Burger King – hey it was still “out”.

We would have our “home-cooked” meal on Christmas Day, at the home of my paternal grandparents while they were alive, and then it moved to our home. This year our Christmas dinner was cooked by “the home”- my sister and I dined with the folks at the Francis Asbury Manor, their current residence, which is a United Methodist Homes assisted living facility in Ocean Grove. As with the mid-day Thanksgiving dinner there, it was not exactly a “sumptuous” meal, but satisfactory considering it was free.

Today I am going back to the home for my father's birthday. As we discovered last year, IHOP will give you a free dinner on your birthday!

Then it is back to work. Year-end "stuff", finishing up my 2007 1040 work, and a Form 1041 to do. And then there is my annual January client mailing to get out and forms and worksheets to update and prepare for the new tax-filing season, etc, etc, etc. Hopefully I can get a few days of leisure in before the deluge begins on February 1st!

TTYL

TRADITION

Whoop de do and dickory dock – Don’t forget to hang up your sock!

As has become my annual custom, I will be spending Christmas Eve typing W-2s!

Happy Holidays to All!

TTFN

IF I HAD MY DRUTHERS

Do you want to know what I want for Christmas? I would like all the steaming piles of excrement of the “reality tv” genre banned from broadcast and cable television by the FCC.

Granted “little people”, while faced with some unique challenges, are just like anyone else, and have families and lives just like anyone else. But I do not want to watch them go about their everyday life.

I do not want to watch a woman give birth, or a family raise children.

I do not want to watch the lower classes bicker at work, whether at a beauty parlor or one of several tattoo parlors.

I do not want to watch brain dead college drop-outs living and playing together.

I do not want to watch the work and personal lives of anyone unfold, regardless of their level of income or degree of celebrity.

I do not want to watch total idiots degrade themselves for the sake of greed or to get a mate.

Pardon my “French”, but there is really no other word that describes what America has mis-named reality television than shit – human excrement.

At its worst it is gross soft-core pornography (i.e. the VH1, MTV, and E! offerings) and at its basic bad it is people of low intelligence and no self-esteem being humiliated. None of these offerings have an ounce of entertainment, educational, or socially redeeming value. And I challenge anyone to provide an intelligent explanation otherwise.

So Santa, do you have any pull at the FCC?

TTYL

A LITTLE THIS-A AND A LITTLE THAT-A – WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE LATTA!

+ I have never read or watched alleged financial guru-ess Suze Orman, The word I have seen on the blogosphere and heard from other professional financial speakers is basically that she is an idiot who doesn’t know her arse from a hole in the ground (a speaker said something to that affect at a tax seminar). The PERSONAL FINANCE MORON confirms what I have heard elsewhere – that, to say the least, “Suze Orman is Annoying”.

The Moron (the blog author, not Orman) makes a good point, that also applies to tax planning-

“I‘m a firm believer that Personal Finance is a very personal thing and there is no one solution that fits everyone’s personal situation.”

+ My tax blog THE WANDERING TAX PRO is the tenth awardee of the TICK MARK blog’s “Twelve Blogs of Christmas”! Blog author Dan Meyer of Tennessee writes that my “’What's the Buzz’ column, included at least weekly, is a good review of tax posts”.

+ FIVE CENT NICKEL (is there any other kind?) suggests a good year-end activity in his post “Clearing Out Your House for Fun and Profit”. Apparently this posting is part of the Money Blog Network Group’s Writing Project on year end money moves. The rest of the Group also provides some good year-end ideas.

+ Dawn of FRUGAL FOR LIFE discusses the concept of “re-gifting” with some good advice in her post “Re-Gifting In 4 Simple Steps”. While I no longer really exchange gifts at Christmas any more, I do often find myself in a position where I bring a “token” gift, and also receive such gifts myself. I have often received perfectly good “stuff” for which I have absolutely no use and have on occasion done what, according to this post, apparently a lot of people do. I think that “re-gifting” is fine as long as it is done properly, following the advice in Dawn’s post.

+ JLP of ALL FINANCIAL MATTERS offers some truly sound advice in his post “Solid Advice: ALWAYS Question Commissioned Salesmen!” Just as I said in an earlier post that there are times when you can say NEVER, there are also times when you should say ALWAYS.

+ Thanks to Dave of MY TWO DOLLARS for mentioning my Cabaret of Common Sense Advice in his weekly Blog Carnival and Festival update! So far he is the only “common sense advisor” who has done so.

+ Don't forget to check out the ANYTHING BUT TAXES December trivia contest!

TTYL

WON’T YOU TAKE THIS ADVICE I HAND YOU LIKE A BROTHER

Did you know that, in the event of an IRS audit, the burden of proof for the cost basis of an investment sale you have reported on Schedule D is with the taxpayer. As per T.C. Memo 2003-259, if a taxpayer cannot provide proof of the cost basis of a stock or other investment sold it will be considered to have a "0" cost basis. As a result, the entire gross proceeds will be fully taxable!

It is very very important that you hold onto the "confirmation" slip you receive from your broker for the purchase of an investment for as long as you own that investment, and four (4) years thereafter. You should also save the monthly brokerage account statements that show the initial and subsequent purchases, notices of splits, and any dividend reinvestments for stocks, and the annual year-end account statements that list all the activity for the year for mutual funds for the same period of time.

I would recommend setting up a separate file folder or pocket in an accordion file for each individual investment you own. Start with the paperwork for the initial purchase (i.e. the confirm) and add any appropriate statements and documentation each year. If you invest in a limited partnership put the Form K-1 you receive each year in the file. When you sell all or a part of the investment put the sale confirm in the file and give the file to your preparer at tax time.

The cost basis of an investment you receive as a gift is generally what the person making the gift paid for it. If you receive a gift of stock, a bond or mutual fund shares ask the person giving you the gift for a copy of the purchase confirmation slip for your file. Also make a note of the date you received the gift and place it in the file. If you are gifting an investment to a relative you should give that person, or his/her parents if a minor, a copy of your purchase confirm.

The cost basis of an investment you inherit is the “fair market value” of the investment on the decedent’s date of death. This is the “mean average” price of the investment on that date. It is also the value reported for the investment on the decedent’s federal estate or state inheritance tax re-turn. If you can, get a photocopy of the page of the estate or inheritance tax return that lists the value. If this is not available to you, you can go to www.bigcharts.com and look up the price for the date of death. You will need to know the “ticker symbol” of the investment. Print out the result and put it in your file for the investment. You should also be able to get the information from your broker, or possibly the Executor of the estate.

If you inherit real estate you should also document the date of death fair market value for your re-cords as soon as you can. Again, this value will be in the estate or inheritance tax return and you should be able to get it by contacting the Executor.

Any questions?

TTYL

PITIFUL CREATURE OF DARKNESS

One of the “Hot Topics” on my Comcast.net home page was the article “Vick Letter Sought Mercy”.

According to the article, “Michael Vick declared ‘I am not the bad person or beast I've been made out to be’ and asked for leniency in a letter to the federal judge who sentenced him to 23 months in prison for a dogfighting conspiracy.”

If there is anyone who does not deserve leniency it is this arsehole. I truly hope that the shower is crowded in prison when he drops the soap – and he learns a new perspective to the term “doggy style”! He deserves every indignity, indecency and humiliation that he will experience in prison. His life and career deserve to be destroyed as payment for his despicable and indefensible behavior.

TTYL

WHAT HAVE I GOT A GREAT BIG LACK OF?

So what did I do wrong?

A traditional Blog Carnival is a post that provides a series of individual postings from other blogs on a specific topic, category or theme. The postings are submitted to the “host” by individual bloggers, and, for the most part, the host includes all submitted posts in the Carnival, unless there is no obvious connection to the topic, category or theme.

There is only one Tax Carnival, hosted by Kay Bell of DON'T MESS WITH TAXES, but there are many Blog Carnivals on Personal Finance issues.

With a Blog Carnival everyone wins. The individual blogger gets his blog exposed to many new readers, as does the host of the Carnival, which is generally mentioned in each of the blogs whose postings are included. And the reader of the blog is exposed to many new blogs, and a wealth of possible helpful information and advice.

I wanted to take the concept of the Blog Carnival one step further and created the Cabaret of Common Sense Advice. Rather than just printing submitted posts, I wanted to focus on specific posts that I have personally selected. I did not solicit postings for the Cabaret ahead of time. I chose postings that I found during my “wanderings” in the web.

I had used this concept originally when I was the “guest-host” of TAX CARNIVAL #10 in January of this year. I chose a specific tax topic, getting ready to prepare your 2006 federal tax return, for my installment of the Carnival. While I reviewed all the postings submitted, I did not automatically include them. In some instances I used different postings then the ones submitted by the individual bloggers. For example, Blogger A submitted post B, but I used his post C instead.

Whenever one of my posts from THE WANDERING TAX PRO or ANYTHING BUT TAXES has been included in a Blog Carnival I am sent an email from the host to notify me and to request that I publicize the Carnival on my blog. After reviewing the Carnival I immediately publish a posting identifying and linking to the particular Carnival.

After publishing my first Cabaret of Common Sense Advice I sent an email to the authors of the postings that I chose to include telling them about the Cabaret, announcing the fact that one of their posts is included, and closing with “I would appreciate any coverage you can provide the 1st ‘Cabaret of Common Sense Advice’, my blog ANYTHING BUT TAXES, and/or my other blog THE WANDERING TAX PRO in your blog.”

I did not receive any replies to my email. As of this writing, none of the authors whose posts I included have made any mention of either the Cabaret or ANYTING BUT TAXES in their individual blog. MY TWO DOLLARS and WORK AT HOME MOMMA did post comments here, but there was no mention of the Cabaret on their blogs.

So I ask you once again – what did I do wrong?

TTYL

A LITTLE THIS-A AND A LITTLE THAT-A – WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE LATTA!

+ The BROADWAY BLOG reports tht “The Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider is to be the latest in a very long line of former TV celebrities to join the cast of the Broadway revival of Chicago. On January 14, Schneider will begin a two-month stint in the role of Billy Flynn, the too-slick lawyer who knows how to razzle dazzle a courtroom.”

The BB also reports that “Broadway Revival of Company To Air in February” - February 20, 2008 to be exact, on PBS as a part of its "Great Performances" series. Check out my review of the revival at “Phone Rings, Door Chimes, In Comes Company".

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+ JD of GET RICH SLOWLY and Jim of BLUEPRINT FOR FINANCIAL PROSPERITY have “dueling posts” on the subject of using home equity (secured) debt to pay off credit (unsecured) debt. So what do you think?

+ Kevin Geary of CHANGE YOUR TREE reminds us that we are in control of our lives and provides advice to “help guide you through taking back control over your life” in his post "Your Life Sucks Because You Expect It To Suck (and 10 Ways to Improve It Right Now".

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Just a note on his #7 “Suppress Drama and Embrace Reality” - this certainly does not apply to television! Just the opposite!

+ Kristen Sample over at TV SQUAD reports that NBC has a “two-hour television movie Knight Rider set to air on February 17 at 9 p.m. ET. This modern-day sequel to the iconic 1980's show stars Justin Bruening (Cold Case), Deanna Russo (The Young and the Restless), Sydney Tamiia Poitier (Veronica Mars), and Bruce Davison (Breach). Will Arnett (Arrested Development) will play the voice of KITT. And don't worry, the Hoff will make a guest appearance as Michael Knight” in her post “New KITT Car for Knight Rider Movie Unveiled”.

+ NO CREDIT NEEDED, one of Dan Meyer’s (of TICK MARKS) “12 Blogs of Christmas” in the Personal Finance category, provides some interesting spread sheets on what you would have if you saved $1.00 - $10.00 per day every day for up to 50 years, figuring in 5% annual interest, in his post "$10 A Day Equals 3/4 Of A Million Dollars". I start with $1.00 per day today!

TTYL

LIFE IS A CABARET, OLD CHUM. COME TO THE CABARET.

Welcome to the very first “Cabaret of Common Sense Advice”!

My Cabaret is somewhat like a traditional Blog “Carnival” in that it contains postings from many different blogs on a similar topic or theme. However, it is different in that, rather than printing whatever posts have been submitted by bloggers, I have personally chosen the posts in the Cabaret from my “wanderings” on the internet.

I will begin the Cabaret with some of my own postings.

+ While the title of this blog is ANYTHING BUT TAXES, I will stray a bit with my post from THE WANDERING TAX PRO on “My Best Tax Advice”.

+ And from this very blog, I will show you that there are times when you can, and should, say NEVER in my post “In Never Never Land”.

And now, on to some common sense advice from others.

+ Laura Spencer, a WORK FROM HOME MOMMA, answers the question "Should You Set Your Initial Price Low to Get Clients?“ for WAHMs as well as any other self-employed professional.

+ And speaking of home-based businesses, Mary Emma Allen of HOME BIZ NOTES provides “5 Tips for Success In Your Home Business”.

+ I am a big fan of Jim’s BLUEPRINT FOR FINANCIAL PROSPERITY blog, and often feature his postings on my WHAT’S THE BUZZ and A LITTLE THIS-A postings. He suggests “7 Responsible Ways to Spend Your Holiday Bonus.” I also recommend that you take his advice to “Ignore Personal Finance Experts”.

+ JLP at ALL FINANCIAL MATTERS helps to provide an answer to the question “How Much Mortgage Can You Realistically Afford?"

+ The Silicon Valley Blogger provides “12 Money Moves for Your Year End Financial Checklist” at her blog THE DIGERATI LIFE. I must point out that prepaying real estate of estimated state income taxes may backfire if you will be a victim of the dreaded AMT (and at this point you cannot determine this with certainty) for 2007.

+ Trent at THE SIMPLE DOLLAR provides some good advice in “Facing A Difficult Personal Finance Decision (Or Other Major Decision)? Try These Seven Techniques".

+ JD over at the GET RICH SLOWLY blog gives some timely holiday advice in his post “The Pros and Cons of Gift Cards”.

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+ Kevin Geary over at CHANGE YOUR TREE advises you to “Teach Your Children The Four Basics of Smart Money Management”.

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+ David of MY TWO DOLLARS rounds out the Cabaret with his post “Make A New Year's Resolution To Get Organized - A Step By Step Guide”. He advises “Whether it be your finances, your house or your life in general, getting organized can only make things better.” This is especially true when it comes to your tax records!

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So there you have it – an even dozen postings of common sense advice.

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While I have your attention – do you know that I am hosting a contest here at ANYTHING BUT TAXES? Click here to find out more!

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TTYL

A LITTLE THIS-A AND A LITTLE THAT-A – WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE LATTA!

+ Several weeks ago I came across a new weekly syndicated radio show that fit my tastes perfectly – “Radio Deluxe”.

Every weekend NJ’s John Pizzarelli and his wife and co-host, singer Jessica Molaskey, play music, mostly “American popular standards”, and entertain guests in their "deluxe living room." It is very similar to the week-end WNYC-FM shows of John’s good friend Jonathan Schwartz. This week’s guest was Los Angeles Times jazz critic Don Heckman.

I listened to it this past Sunday at 4:00 PM eastern time online via WTRI "Vegas Radio" 1520 AM Frederick, Maryland, “the online home of the greatest music ever made, by the coolest cats to ever enter a recording studio”.

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FYI, the JOHN PIZZARELLI QUARTET will perform live at Shanghai Jazz in Madison, New Jersey on Sunday, December 16, 2007.

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Many, many years ago, at the beginning of my long tenure as accountant for the then Summit Art Center (later the NJ Center for Visual Arts, and now the Center for Visual Arts of NJ), the center hosted an annual Sunday jazz series. One of the offerings featured father and son Bucky and John Pizzarelli performing together. Unfortunately I was unable to hear the performance as I was working as the receptionist that particular Sunday (a position affectionately referred to as “the Bimbo”), although I did meet John when he used our inner office as a dressing room.

+ One of the news items on my mail.com “homepage” last Sunday was an excellent tribute article on the classic television drama LOU GRANT, one of the best written and acted television shows of the 1970s and 80s, which premiered on CBS 30 years ago. It was a nice change from the “who gives a damn” items on Britney’s or Lindsay’s latest FU that usually appear as entertainment news.

Thinking back on shows like LOU GRANT, television that actually provided entertainment and caused viewers to think at the same time, makes one realize just how truly despicable the steaming piles of excrement of today’s “reality” genre really are. For every reality piece of shit that appears on the network schedule we are deprived of what could be another LOU GRANT.

+ Hugh at COOL INVESTING provides a good basic introduction to 529 College Plans in “More on 529 Plans and Saving For College”. And GLG over at GINA’S TAX ARTICLES answers the important tax question in “Deductibility of 529 Plans”.

+ FYI, I will be off to Atlantic City for a year-end tax update seminar on Thursday and Friday, returning to Resorts after a long absence, so there will be no posts until I get back.

TTYL

CARNIVAL BALLET

My posting “In Never Never Land” is included in the Everything Else Finance section of “Carnival of Everything Finance #8 - Investment Education Edition” compiled by Blain Reinkensmeyer at STOCK TRADING TO GO. The Carnival covers investing tips, tricks, picks, and education from market professionals and also includes 10 great ways to learn investing in the stock market.

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The Carnival contains lots of interesting posts. Check it out!

I LOVE A FILM CLICHE

I still have tax work waiting to be done, but it has been hard to get motivated considering the distractions offered by the Turner Classic Movies cable tv station’s daily line-up of films. For the past few weeks TCM has filled its daytime schedule with continuous episodes of classic detective movie series of the 30s and 40s. Another reason why TCM is the absolute best cable, or broadcast, television station around now that American Movie Classics (AMC) has “sold out”.

The offerings have included -

· Two famous film series about literary detectives that began with George Sanders as the star – The Saint, more famous as a British tv series with Roger Moore, and The Falcon. Interestingly enough, after making 3 Falcon films Sanders decided to retire from the role, and in the 4th of the series, THE FALCON’S BROTHER, Sanders was killed in the end and his fictional brother, played by Sanders real-life brother Tom Conway, took over as the new Falcon and continued for all but the last three of the 16-film series. A point of information – when called in one title THE GAY FALCON the reference was not to the detective’s sexual preference. Back then gay meant something else entirely.

· The adventures of retired jewel thief Boston Blackie, brought to life by Chester Morris, a real-life amateur magician who shared the hobby with his screen character, and his sidekick “Runt”. I had seen many of the Blackie movies during my youth on Saturday afternoon television. It was one of the few series in which the same actor played the lead throughout the run.

· The Perry Mason series, which, while keeping the actual ESG mysteries intact, took too many liberties with the characters, portraying Perry as a drunk bon vivant amateur chef who marries Della Street in one episode, a far cry from the more true to the books portrayal of Raymond Burr with which all boomers are familiar, and Paul Drake as a typical bumbling movie sidekick nicknamed “Spudzy”.

· Another retired jewel thief who appeared in a series of 15 files over 14 years – Michael Lanyard, aka the Lone Wolf. This literary detective’s nickname was actually the source of the popular term “lone wolf”, used to describe “one who prefers to go without the company or assistance of others.”

· The uniquely named debonair detective Philo Vance, whose initial entry, THE CANARY MURDER CASE was completed as a silent film and hastily adapted for sound for its 1929 release. This series included THE GRACIE ALLEN MURDER CASE, not among the TCM offerings, written especially for the comedienne by Vance’s creator S.S. Van Dine. A later entry in the series, CALLING PHILO VANCE, was actually a remake of the earlier THE KENNEL MURDER CASE, both of which were shown by TCM.

· A very interesting series I had never heard of before about Nick and Nora–ish rare booksellers Joel and Garda Sloane, from a novel by famous screenwriter Harvey Kurnitz writing as Marco Page. There were three films with three separate sets of actors playing the couple – Melvyn Douglas and Florence Rice in FAST COMPANY, Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell in FAST AND LOOSE, and Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern in FAST AND FURIOUS, directed by Busby Berkeley.

· And of course, the father of all such detective series – William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles. Of course you do know by now that the Thin Man was not Nick Charles but a character in the first book that never reappeared, despite the movies’ titles.

While the individual detectives had their unique quirks and subtle differences, to be perfectly honest in many cases the characters and stories are interchangeable. All the heroes are handsome, urbane, witty, and intelligent, generally with some kind of shady past or underworld connection. They usually have a comic relief sidekick and, even if married, are often in the company of a beautiful dame. And they are frequently at odds with a hard-boiled police lieutenant or inspector with a blundering sergeant. They become involved in the mystery or adventure to help a friend, or one of the aforementioned beautiful dames, or to clear themselves of wrongful charges. As some of the films were made during the war years, the heroes occasionally tangled with Nazis and foreign spies.

While these films were considered to be “b” films they often featured actors and actresses who would later go on to greater fame on the big and and small screens early in their careers. One young dame who crossed paths with Boston Blackie was Harriet Hilliard, who would marry a band leader named Nelson and raise her two boys on radio and television.

As with any genre, some series were better than others. And as with any episodic series, some entries, usually the earlier ones (although not always), were better than others. With few exceptions, different actors portrayed the various detectives during the runs of the individual series, and some casting choices were far superior to others. But they all were entertaining.

A few of the movie series were later translated to the small screen – Boston Blackie, The Thin Man (which starred Peter Lawford as Nick Charles), and of course Perry Mason and the Saint.

TCM also offered the comic series about radio detective The Fox, which starred Red Skeleton “Whistling” in Dixie, Brooklyn and the Dark, and Margaret Rutherford’s classic run as Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple, all of which I had seen many times before. Some bits of movie trivia – Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple in the first BBC series, had a minor supporting role in MURDER SHE SAID (not Wrote). And did you know that before she updated the Marple retired school teacher detective character to modern day Jessica Fletcher, Angela Lansbury was Jane Marple in the 1980 film THE MIRROR CRACK’D, whose cast included Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis and Pierce Brosnan.

On some week-days TCM also featured episodes of non-detective movie series such as the Mexican Spitfire (Lupe Velez), Maisie (Ann Sothern), and Judge Hardy’s family.

I wish TCM would stop this so I could get back to work!

TTYL

A LITTLE THIS-A AND A LITTLE THAT-A – WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE LATTA!

+ I recently came across the BROADWAY BLOG, which “covers all the news and gossip about Broadway shows now appearing on Broadway in New York City”. It is the blog of NYTix.com, which provides discount Broadway tickets, free TV Show tickets, discount parking, and other NYC offers. During the recent stagehands strike the blog kept readers up-to-date on developments and reported on Broadway shows that were open despite the strike. The site also has a section that provides a brief summary of all current musicals.

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A recent post reports that another revival of GYPSY is headed for Broadway – this time with Patti LuPone as Mama Rose. Broadway’s original Rose was, of course, Ethel Merman, with subsequent productions starring Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daily, and Bernadette Peters. I saw all but the original, and I expect that I will go to the Patti LuPone revival as well. Bette Midler was Rose in the television adaptation, and Rosalind Russell played her in the movie. While it was apparently not well liked by the show’s creators, the movie version was my introduction to the show and I could not find fault. Liza Minelli has always wanted to play the famous stage mother, so there may still be another revival yet.

+ BLUEPRINT FOR FINANCIAL PROSPERITY is a great personal finance blog. In his post “Ignore Personal Finance Experts”, Jim asks the question: What do the likes of supposed “experts” Suze Orman, Robert Kiyosaki, and David Bach have in common? “They don’t know you but they know exactly what’s wrong with you and how to fix it.” He rightly tells you to ignore these “cafones”, whose only purpose is to sell you a book or a program, and that you will get much better advice and information from personal finance blogs.

+ It appears that this past week Ellen DeGeneres called tv’s current BACHELOR a jerk. I thought – great, an idiot reality tv spade finally being called the spade that he/she is! I wish more tv personalities (Jay, Dave, Regis, etc) would call these idiots what they truly are – especially to their faces when due to required network cross promotion they are booked as guests. But I learned that the reason Ellen called him a jerk was not the fact that he appeared on a reality tv program, but because he did not pick one of the bimbos that the network pimps provided for his pleasure to be his mate. A reality tv person actually did something real! Then I learned that Ellen apologized for calling him a jerk, although she still thought he was wrong in not choosing one of the bimbos. If Ellen takes this crap seriously then it is she who is the real jerk!

TTYL

WILL EVERYONE HERE KINDLY STEP TO THE REAR AND LET A WINNER LEAD THE WAY

You may have noticed that the titles of my postings here at ANYTHING BUT TAXES are a bit “unique”. I will use these titles to kick off what will become a monthly contest.

So here goes:

(1) What was my source material for the titles of the November (and all future) postings to ANYTHING BUT TAXES?

(2) One of the titles strays a bit from the source material, although there is a definite link. Identify the title and explain why it is different.

Submit your answers to rdftaxpro@mail.com with “ANYTHING BUT TAXES CONTEST” in the “Subject Line”.

The first five readers who provide the correct answers will receive, as a pdf email attachment, a free copy of my special report SURFIN’ USA.

TTYL

IT HASN’T SNOWED A SINGLE FLURY, BUT SANTA, DEAR, WE’RE IN A HURRY!

It’s that time of year again – when PNC Wealth Management releases its “Christmas Price Index” and we learn the cost of the gifts in the holiday classic “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Each year I report on the Christmas Price Index in THE WANDERING TAX PRO – and now I will move this report to ANYTHING BUT TAXES.

According to the 23rd annual survey, the cost for “The Twelve Days of Christmas” for 2007 is $19,507, a 3/1% increase over 2006. PNC points out that this increase mirrors the US Consumer Price Index. The CPI is up 2.8% so far this year.
The cost of the individual items are:

* Partridge ($15) in a Pear Tree ($164.99)

* Two turtle doves ($40)

* Three French hens ($45)

* Four calling birds ($599.96)

* Five gold rings ($395)

* Six geese a-laying ($360)

* Seven swans a-swimming ($4,200)

* Eight maids a-milking ($46.80)

* Nine ladies dancing ($4,759)

* Ten lords a-leaping ($4,285.06)

* Eleven pipers piping ($2,213.40)

* Twelve drummers drumming ($2,397.85)

The price of the 5 gold rings is up 21.5% from 2006. According to PNC, this “reflects the general trend of increasing commodity prices in the Consumer Price Index, including gold, In addition, increased fears about inflation and the value of the dollar may have led investors to turn to gold as a safer place to invest their money.”

As “unskilled labor” the eight maids a-milking earn the minimum wage, which has finally been increased for the first time since 1997. Thanks to Congress, the cost of the maids is up 13.6%. This cost will also increase in 2008 and 2009, as the minimum wage increase was a 3-year process.

Most of the “skilled” labor, leapers, pipers and drummers, only saw a small 3-4% increase in their pay. The dancing ladies pay was the same as last year. As I point out each year, the performing artists’ union does a better job for its members than the musician’s union – as the dancers and leapers earn about twice as much as the pipers and drummers.

The price of the four calling birds (aka canaries) is up 25% and that of the six geese-a-laying is up 20% over 2006, while the price of the other birds (partridge, turtle dove, French hen, and swan) remained even with last year’s rates. Food prices have increased over the last year which has had an impact on birds traditionally served as food, like geese. The calling bird increase is a result of higher demand and increased shipping costs.

As part of the annual tradition, PNC also calculates the “true” cost of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” – the total cost of the items gifted as repeated in the verses of the song (i.e. on the 2nd day the giftee received 2 turtle doves and another partridge in a pear tree). The wealthy “True Love” in the song would pay $78,100 this year for all 364 items – up about 4% from last year’s cost of $75,122.

TTYL

EVERYONE WILL LOVE YOU IF YOU BE A SANTA CLAUS!

It appears that this past “Cyber Monday” (the Monday after Thanksgiving) broke all records for online shopping.

As a youth my family was always very organized and efficient when it came to holiday gift giving. I exchanged gifts with my parents, my sister, my bachelor Uncle Ted (my father’s brother), and my “old maid” Great-Aunt Tess (my father and Ted’s aunt). Each Thanksgiving after dinner at a local restaurant we would return to my uncle’s house and exchange “Christmas Lists” on which we each identified exactly what we wanted for Christmas. Considering my sister’s and my limited spending allowance, the lists of the grown-ups always contained several inexpensive items. Each person would, in turn, leave the room while the others would decide who would purchase what.

This was a great system. I never had to wonder what to get my family for Christmas, and, unless there was a size issue, no gifts were ever returned. Plus I was assured that I would get at least some of what I really wanted each year.

We continued with this system through my adult life, after my aunt and uncle went on to their final audit, until we finally decided to no longer exchange gifts at Christmas several years ago (although my mother would still give my sister, my father and I a “stocking” with mostly nominal items – up until they moved into an Assisted Living facility last August).

In my adult life I only added three people to my annual gift list – and also used the list system, at least where my shopping was concerned. I was given a selection of items to choose from, most of which could be purchased online. I would complete my shopping in front of my computer early in December. Now that two of the three have moved to Florida I no longer purchase any Christmas presents for anyone.

For those of you who still shop – you may want to check out the “Jeremy Vohwinkle's Financial Planning Blog” posting on “Tips to Save Money This Holiday Season”.

TTYL

"WELL, THAT’S WHAT COMES FROM TOO MUCH PILLS AND LIQUOR”

The NOW section of this past Sunday’s edition of New York City’s DAILY NEWS featured the “Useless Celebrity Index” – and calculated 2007’s “biggest waste of space”.

The winner was someone I have never heard of – Heidi Montag. She apparently is from the MTV “fake” reality show (aren’t they all?) THE HILLS, which I have also never heard of, and currently makes her living getting paid for appearing at parties and acting badly (the others on the list do it for free). #2, an appropriate distinction, was Kim Kardashian, another stranger to me. She is the daughter of late OJ Simpson lawyer Robert Kardashian and is famous for a sex-tape leaked on the internet.

Speaking of sex-tapes on the internet, as expected Paris Hilton also make the list. Like the top two space wasters, Hilton has absolutely no talent and is basically just “famous for being famous”.

Tabloid darlings Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, also as expected, rounded out the feature. Spears, a once moderately talented singer of bland generic pop songs, is a has-been at age 26. I expect her career, other than as a party girl, is over. Lindsay Lohan is actually a talented actress when sober, and could make something of her life if she cleans up.

Considering Britney and Lindsay’s initial claims to fame, one hopes that Billy Ray Cyrus is a better parent than the Spears and Lohans were!

Where was “the Donald” on the list? Trump certainly wastes as much space in the media as the 5 girls. Like most of them, he is also someone who is famous for being famous. In discussing his latest useless book he said Rosie O'Donnell (he is obsessed with her) ate like a pig at his wedding, Joy Behar has no talent (what does Trump know of talent – he has none himself), George Clooney is short, and Angelina Jolie is no great beauty (what – did she turn him down?). “I really understand beauty. And I will tell you, she’s not - I do own Miss Universe. I do own Miss USA. I mean I own a lot of different things. I do understand beauty, and she’s not,” the arsehole told Larry King.

I am sick and tired of being bombarded with celebrity non-news everywhere I turn. I don’t need to know, and don’t care, that Hulk Hogan’s wife wants a divorce, or that Paris Hilton did a pole dance at a New York City club, or that “Dog” the bounty hunter still loves the son who sold him out, or anything about anyone who ever appeared on a so-called “reality tv” show. Any person who appears on a piece of excrement from the reality tv genre is a total idiot with no self-respect, someone with absolutely no value – certainly not “newsworthy”.

Supposed entertainment news shows such as “Entertainment Tonight” have really hit bottom. They are nothing more than video tabloids, spending as much time on the likes of the woman addicted to plastic surgery or sad anorexic victims as they do on real movie stars. When “ET” first appeared I would watch it every night – now I never do.

Entertainment news is not “Former 'Bachelor' Contestant Arrested” or “Dennis Rodman Sued Again in Las Vegas”. It is “’Enchanted' Casts $50M Box-Office Spell” or “Producers and Broadway Stagehands Resume Talks” or “At 90, Borgnine Stars in Christmas Film”.

TTYL

MY HEART WILL BE BLESSED WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC

My mentor, Jim Gill, would play NYC radio station WRFM - home of "American Popular Standards" - all the time in the office at Journal Square. I learned the art of tax preparation listening to radio personalities Jim Branch and Jim Alewood (sp?), the music of Andy Williams, Jack Jones, Steve Lawrence, Mantovani, Henry Mancini, Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, Nat King Cole and Frank, Dean and Sammy, and learning "Things No One Ever Told You".

The music was relaxing and helped us cope with the stress and frustration of the tax season. To this day I must have music on when I am working - I cannot work in silence.

When WRFM changed to WNSR and soft rock in 1986, after we had moved from Journal Square to Newark Avenue, we switched to WNEW-AM. When WNEW-AM was replaced by Bloomberg we switched to WQEW-AM until Disney took over in 1998. I then tuned in to WMTR-AM from Morristown, whose signal was not always strong enough to get in Jersey City. But that station changed its format to oldies. "American Popular Standards" had disappeared from my radio!

Nowadays with streaming radio playing on the internet one is not limited to the stations that can be picked up on the office radio. In my wanderings on the web I came across Radio Locator, the most comprehensive radio station search engine on the internet. This site has links to over 10,000 radio station web pages and over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the U.S. and around the world. You enter a “format” (i.e. adult contemporary, country, hip hop, jazz, oldies, rock, top-40, and so on) and get a listing of radio stations from across the USA that feature that format.

This is how I eventually found AM 880 KIXI radio from Seattle Washington, which is a member of the “Music of Your Life” syndicated radio network, where “disc jockeys” Peter Marshall of “Hollywood Squares”, legendary singer Pat Boone, Gary Owens of “Laugh-In”, and Dean Martin’s daughter Deana and her husband play the “music of your life” and reminisce.

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I had seen Peter Marshall, Julie Harris and Charles Nelson Reilly in the Broadway musical “Skyscraper” (music and lyrics by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn and book by Peter Stone) over 40 years ago. On the anniversary of its opening in 1965 Peter Marshall played several of the songs from the musical and talked about his memories of the show.

I also discovered WJAS 1320 AM, an oldies station from Pittsburg PA that every Saturday morning at 9:00 am plays an original cast album on THE BEST OF BROADWAY. This show features Broadway musicals from the 50’s through today. This past Saturday was WICKED. Previous Saturdays have included CALL ME MADAM, THE KING AND I, CAN CAN, GODSPELL, ME AND MY GIRL, THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG, MISS SAIGON, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and HAIRSPRAY.

And of course on Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon to 4:00 PM it is Jonathan Schwartz on WNYC 109.3 FM.

I can now play American Popular Standards and listen to Jack, Steve, Henry, Barbra, Perry, Nat, Frank, Dean and Sammy while I work once again!

As I am writing this post I am listening to Jack Jones singing “Lollipops and Roses”.

TTYL

A LITTLE THIS-A AND A LITTLE THAT-A – WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE LATTA!

Very little, actually.

+ There was no traffic on the way down to my parents’ assisted living facility at the Jersey shore via Rt 1+9, 9 and 18 on Thursday. And I left at 3:00 PM to avoid traffic on the Parkway on the way home - and did so.

The mid-day meal at the home was good, but not exactly “sumptuous”. Not what I had been used to in the past for a Thanksgiving dinner, but certainly better than last year’s meal from Dunkin’ Donuts! My evening meal was from NATHAN’s at the Parkway rest stop en route home.

+ Jim of BLUEPRINT FOR FINANCIAL PROSPERITY provides a brief primer on the "History of the Indices: Dow, Nasdaq, S&P & More".

+ Say it isn’t so! It seems that the steaming pile of excrement known as “The Apprentice” is returning – this time with “celebrity” contestants. Their careers must really be heading for the toilet if they have to stoop to licking Trump’s boots.

+ Each year in December I report on the annual Christmas Price Index – the cost of the items gifted in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” – over at THE WANDERING TAX PRO. Little did I know that there is a similar Thanksgiving Price Index. Kay Bell, the yellow rose of taxes over at DON’T MESS WITH TAXES reports in her posting “Cranberry Thanks” that “The American Farm Bureau Federation says that menu items for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner -- turkey, stuffing or dressing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings -- will cost more this year. According to the group's 22nd annual informal survey of the prices of turkey day dinner items, the average cost to feed a table of 10 this year is $42.26. That's $4.16 more than last year’s average of $38.10.”

TTYL

LBJ TOOK THE IRT DOWN TO 4th STREET USA. WHEN HE GOT THERE WHAT DID HE SEE? THE YOUTH OF AMERICA ON LSD!

Americans, or at least most of us, are fascinated with acronyms – “a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term”. Like FYI for For Your Information.

The world of emails and text messaging has created a whole new appreciation for and vocabulary of acronyms – BTW (By The Way), LOL (Laughing Out Loud), MIRL (Meet In Real Life), TFB (guess). I found an online Internet Acronyms Dictionary and discovered that AAAAA was not a group for drunk drivers but the American Association Against Acronym Abuse.

Government, at all levels, has always been famous for its acronyms. We all know what the FBI, the CIA, and the DMV are. And, thanks to television, we are also aware of SWAT, JAG, CSI and NCIS. The military is especially enamored of the practice. A PFC could be promoted to become a CPO. In military speak PABST does not refer to Blue Ribbon Beer but to Primary Adhesive Bonded Structure Technology. And let’s not forget the infamous WMDs – Weapons of Mass Destruction. Click here for a Military Acronym Directory.

A lonely SSM (Single Straight Male) might place a personal ad for a SWF (Single White Female. Or he might surf the “escort” sites to look for a BBW (Big Beautiful Woman) who provides a GFE (Girl Friend Experience).

Some acronyms have become actual words. A classic example is “snafu”, a military acronym for Situation Normal, All Fouled (not the original word) Up. The word “radar” is actually an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging, as the word “laser” is for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

I was told many years ago by, I think, a teacher that the “n” word for persons of Puerto Rican extraction came from a US Immigration category stamped on the papers of certain individuals arriving on Ellis Island – Spanish, Portuguese, Indian and Colored - although I cannot find any real documentation of this online. I do know for a fact that I am a WASP (While Anglo Saxon Protestant).

It is, however, an “urban legend” that the “n” word for Italians came from the fact that, as illegal aliens in the 30s and 40s, they were With Out Papers, or With Out Passport. The real derivation of “wop”, according to Wikepedia, “is the Neapolitan ‘guappo’, meaning dude or thug. The word defines those who belong to the Guapperia o ‘Camorra’, a criminal organization similar to the Sicilian Mafia located mostly in the province of Campania.”

Acronyms are certainly in frequent use in my profession – taxes. The AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) has been around for at least as long as I have been in the business, and is now paired with the non-gift bearing MAGI (Modified Adjusted Gross Income). We have all become familiar with the dreaded AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax) lately.

TRA 86 (the Tax Reform Act of 1986) created a whole new set of acronyms. Under TRA 86 a PAL (Passive Activity Loss) needs a PIG (Positive Income Generator). There is ACRS (Accelerated Cost Recovery System) and MACRS (Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System), both the result of FACRS (Foolhardy Acts of Congress under the Ruse of Simplification).

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Many taxpayers save for retirement with either an IRA (Individual Retirement Account), a SEP (Simplified Employee Pension plan) or a SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match PLan for Employees). One of the more complicated areas of the Tax Code concerns the NOL (Net Operating Loss).

As I have said before at THE WANDERING TAX PRO, I have often found errors in tax returns prepared by a CPA.

I belong to the NATP (National Association of Tax Professionals) and the NSTP (National Society of Tax Professionals) – as well as AAA (Automobile Association of America) and AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). Over the years I have also briefly belonged to the ASTP (American Society of Tax Professionals) and the NSA (National Society of Accountants). I have often attended tax seminars sponsored by the CSEA (California Society of Enrolled Agents).

I have been having fun with acronyms for years. During my 20+ years as the accountant for the NJ Center for Visual Arts in Summit (formerly the Summit Art Center, and now the Center for Visual Arts of New Jersey) I used them on checks, memos and cards to colleagues. It all started when a payday happened to fall on February 14th and I wrote “HVD” on the memo line of the employees’ checks. It took them a while to realize that I was saying “Happy Valentine’s Day”. If payday fell on an employee’s birthday I would write “HASB” (Have A Successful Birthday) or something to that effect on the check. It got to a point that we would send each other messages in only initials and the fun was trying to figure out what was being said.

Back before my mentor Jim Gill retired and handed me his tax practice he had given me a return to work on. Included with the client’s “stuff” was a listing of deductions on which there was one item whose nature I was unsure of. So I wrote “WTF?” next to it and put it in the “Need More Information” box. A few days later Jim said that the client had been in and they were not sure what I had meant – but thought it might be “What’s This For?”. I told him he was close, but it actually stood for “What The F***?”

I use certain specific acronyms in my blog postings. Those of you who read THE WANDERING TAX PRO are aware that I hate GD extensions. A client asked what the GD stood for and I told him “exactly what you think it stands for!” It is not Government Deferred or anything like that. I often speak ill of the DFB’s in Trenton or Washington, a reference to our federal and state elected representatives, and provide the “clean” version as Damned Fool Bureaucrats, although that is not really what it stands for. When I discuss a FU you could interpret this as a Foul Up, but you would be wrong. Again, it is exactly what you think it stands for. FFR is For Future Reference and SGTM is Sounds Good To Me.

Depending on which blog of mine you are visiting, I end each day’s postings with either TTFN (Ta Ta For Now – THE WANDERING TAX PRO), TAFN (That’s All For Now – NJ TAX PRACTICE BLOG), or, as you will see below, TTYL (Talk To You Later).

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FYI, you can find out what any acronym, abbreviation, or initialism stands for at Acronym Finder or Abbreviations.com.

TTYL

CARNIVAL BALLET

While I was driving down Route 1+9 toward the Jersey shore to visit with my folks this morning CREDIT CARD LOWDOWN was posting the 23rd edition of the “Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness”, which includes my post on Debit vs Credit cards.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A LITTLE THIS-A AND A LITTLE THAT-A – WITH THE EMPHASIS ON THE LATTA!

+ The production of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” by John Bishop at the Bickford Theatre (actually in Morristown and not Madison) on Sunday was entertaining, but…..

The set, a library in a Westchester NY mansion with multiple secret passages, was excellent. The actors were all well cast professionals. I was familiar with the director, Deirdre Yates, from her past work with the Seton Hall Summer Theatre-In-The-Round program, and she is no stranger to comedy or mystery. The script contained a lot of witty dialogue and “inside” theatre and movie jokes, and the plot, involving a serial killer, Nazi saboteurs, undercover agents, and Broadway show people, was relatively plausible and its unfolding handled well. It is just that it somehow seemed a bit slow, particularly the First Act. I really can’t put my finger on it.

I was a bit surprised at the number of empty seats in the audience for the performance, especially as it is not a large theatre like the Paper Mill.

I must point out one glaring historical FU in the script. The radio broadcast that opened the play and set up a part of the plot referred to the FBI and the CIA. While the FBI was around, there was no CIA in 1940. The CIA grew out of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a military intelligence agency that itself was not established until June 1942.

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+ I was looking something up on the Internet Broadway Database site, which provides records of productions from the beginnings of New York theatre until today, when I noticed a “Born On This Date” listing among the items in the right hand margin.

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I looked up November 18 and discovered that I share the birthday with W.S Gilbert (of “…and Sullivan), Imogene Coca, Johnny Mercer Brenda Vaccaro (who I saw on Broadway in HOW NOW DOW JONES – I seem to recall she spent most of the show dressed in only a towel), and Walter Bobbie (who I saw as Nicely Nicely Johnson in the Nathan Lane revival of GUYS AND DOLLS – his last show as an actor before he went on to become a director). No one on the list was born in the same year. An impressive group!

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+ Just thought I would let those of you who are interested know that the annual Jonathan Schwartz radio “Christmas Party”, a tradition since 1970, will be broadcast on Sunday, December 16th on WNYC.FM – New York Public Radio at 93.9 on the FM dial. Jonathan’s Christmas shows always have a very eclectic collection of musical, literary and other guests.

+ I discovered the BankDeals Blog site in a book on the “financial blogosphere”. This blog will keep you updated on the latest deals and news with banks and credit unions. lt lets you know which banks have the best interest rates and who offers the best sign-up bonuses.

I have been telling clients and readers for a while now that online banks offer much higher interest liquid savings alternatives to the pitiful interest offered by local “brick and mortar” banks. My family and I have online savings accounts with ING Direct, Amboy Direct and Emigrant Direct. Many online banks have incentive programs that will give existing accountholders a “referral fee”, and the person you refer a “signing bonus”, for recommending new customers. If you are interested in opening an account with ING, Amboy or Emigrant let me know and I will refer you.

I think I will include the BankDeals Blog in my special report SURFING USA the next time I update it. FYI, SURFING USA is a compilation of useful, interesting and humorous sites I have come across during my travels on the web. The report identifies and describes links to free online calculators, sites on Personal Finance, Tax Planning and Preparation, and the World of Entertainment, as well as websites that are Just For Fun. For only $1.00 I will send you SURFING USA as a “pdf” email attachment.

+ The “Think Smart” page of this past Sunday’s USA Weekend reported on the top ten names for cats. They are, in order, Max, Chloe, Lucy, Tigger, Tiger, Smokey, Oliver, Bella, Sophie, and Princess.

I have had multiple cats, as many as 4 at a time, since my teens. Their names have included Boo, Feeble, George, Sebastian and Irving (from a line in a play “Butterflies Are Free”, a production of which I was working the lights for at the time), Sam, Thelma and Louise (named by my sister – I would probably have chosen June and Louise myself), Sneezey, and, my current roommate, Nosey. I have also shared accommodations with a Fatty and a Nutsie (both cats).

+ Give me a break! Last Sunday’s edition of the NPR game show “Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!” reported that Australian shopping mall Santa’s are being told to no longer say “Ho! Ho! Ho!” because it could be offensive to women.

+ I will be spending Thanksgiving with my sister and parents at mater and pater's assisted living facility. Last year we ended up having Thanksgiving dinner from Dunkin' Donuts (don’t ask), so this year we will be having our holiday meal mid-day at the facility.

TTYL

CARNIVAL BALLET

I have just started ANYTHING BUT TAXES and already it is featured in a blog carnival – the "Festival of Frugality #101 - Highway To Frugal Living Edition" at the RATHER BE SHOPPING BLOG.

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Author Kyle, from Redding, California, tours scenic Highway 101 while bringing you the carnival’s, or rather festival’s, entries. I especially enjoyed the entry “8 Holiday Shopping Tips from The Baglady”, one of the “editor’s picks”.

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Check it out!

ONCE, YES, ONCE IS DELICIOUS – BUT TWICE WOULD BE VICIOUS, OR JUST REPETICIOUS

I mentioned the remake of THUNDERBALL in yesterday’s post, which also starred Sean Connery as James Bond.

Most remakes are at best unnecessary and at worst an insult to the originals. Yet Hollywood continues to crank out mediocre remakes featuring actors who are inferior to the stars of the originals (I am waiting for an announcement that THE WIZARD OF OZ will be remade with Hillary Duff).

While not a bad movie, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN was totally unnecessary. The sole motivation for making the movie was money – to cash in on Sean Connery returning to the role of James Bond for one last time.

Adam Sandler is no Burt Reynolds, let alone a Gary Cooper (one critic wrote, “Adam Sandler is to Gary Cooper what a gnat is to a racehorse.”). His remake of THE LONGEST YARD was totally unnecessary and his remake of MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN was an insult to a classic movie.

A literal shot-by-shot remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO added absolutely nothing to the original.

There was even a remake of the classic Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn romantic thriller CHARADE, perhaps "the" classic film of its genre, titled THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE, which lasted about a day and a half in the theatres, and rightfully so.

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Some remakes are not really remakes - they simply steal the title and a basic plot idea. The producers hope to boost the box office of their movie by evoking memories of a far superior film. The Steve Martin CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN films had absolutely nothing to do with the Clifton Webb original other than the fact that both films are about a family with 12 children, and was, to say the least, an inferior film.

Don’t get me wrong. There have been remakes that have improved and expanded on the original film – though this is the exception and not the rule. In two of the best examples of this exception the remake was done by the same director. Alfred Hitchcock remade his THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH some 22 years after the original. And Frank Capra remade his 1933 film LADY FOR A DAY as POCKETFUL OF MIRALCES in 1961. Although I have not seen the original films, the remakes are certainly top notch classic films.

KING KONG was remade twice. The 1933 original was a breakthrough masterpiece. The first remake, made in 1976, was totally unnecessary, and inferior in every way, even though I was in the film (my friend Howard Bernstein and I were among the crowd that ran across the top of the World Trade Center tower to avoid a falling Kong). The recent “threemake” was better, and relatively respectful to the original.

So, does anyone out there want to suggest a movie sequel that you think was better than the original?

TTYL

IN NEVER NEVER LAND

Forget what the title of the remake of “Thunderball” [aside – a rare, if not the only, occasion where the star, Sean Connery, plays the same main character, James Bond, in both the original and the remake] tells you – there are times when you can, and should, say NEVER.

For example:

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use a debit card to make an online purchase!

A debit card allows you access to the available cash in your checking account to make a purchase. A credit card allows you to borrow money, often at usurious interest rates, to make purchases. With a debit card you cannot spend more than you have.

Several years ago I cut up my credit cards to avoid falling deep into debt at the above mentioned usurious interest rates. I vowed to only use my debit cards, one for my business checking account and one for my personal checking account. I soon learned that there is an important difference between debit and credit cards, and now I use both.

In the past, whenever I had a problem with a credit card charge I would notify the card provider and on my say-so the charge would be automatically removed from my account. On the other side of the aisle, I have heard horror stories from business clients regarding credit card payments for their goods and services.

A client who provided escorted rail travel told me about one of his customers who charged a trip to her credit card. The customer went on the trip and received everything promised in the trip itinerary. However, for some reason the customer did not enjoy the trip as much as expected and told her credit card company to reverse the charge for the fee, which it did. My client was out his fee for the trip after laying out all the costs of travel and accommodations for the unhappy customer. He had to fight long and hard with the credit card company to get his money back.

When I had a problem with a debit card charge a while ago my bank was not as accommodating as the credit card providers had been. It would not automatically remove the debit to my account. I was told I had to resolve the matter with the vendor, and eventually had to sign all kinds of forms to get restitution. I had to fight long and hard with the bank to get my money back.

In the case of a credit card charge the customer receives the benefit of the doubt and the merchant or vendor must prove that the charge was valid, as it should be. With a debit card charge the merchant or vendor receives the benefit of the doubt and the bank customer who was cheated or shorted must prove the charge was invalid.

As the website www.collegeplastic.com points out in an article on debit vs credit cards, "It is much easier to dispute a charge on a credit card than on a debit card. A credit card issuer will remove the charge until a resolution is made, but a debit card charge will not be removed without dealing directly with the merchant."

The reason for the different treatment is because credit card charges are covered under federal and state consumer protection laws, while debit card charges, like ATM activity, are covered under banking laws that pertain to the electronic transfer of funds.

A debit card, which is basically a cash card, should only be used in places where you would normally pay in cash - at restaurants, local supermarkets, stores and theatres, and hotels and motels - instances where you are actually receiving the product or service "in hand" at the point of purchase. A credit card should be used in all cases when you are making a payment in advance, both online and offline, for products or services to be delivered in the future. This way if the product or service is not received as promised it will be much easier to get your money back.

So now, when should you use your debit card to make an online purchase?

NEVER!

Another never - NEVER order printed checks from your bank. You will generally pay through the nose (sounds painful). There are many online and mail order options for check printing that will save you more than 50%!

Click on the “Need Checks” ad in the left hand margin of this blog for a wide selection of checks at great savings over what your bank would charge you.

TTYL

WILLKOMMEN, BIENVENUE, WELCOME!

Welcome to my new blog!

My other blog THE WANDERING TAX PRO is concerned with individual federal and state tax issues. I will use this new blog to discuss other topics of interest to me – pretty much anything but taxes.

Narratives of my post tax-season trips and theatre reviews, which I had in the past posted at THE WANDERING TAX PRO, will now appear here.

Many of the posts to this blog will be in the nature of my regular Saturday WHAT’S THE BUZZ feature at TWTP – links to and comments on news items, blog postings, and websites and pages of interest that I have come across during my “wanderings” on the internet. There will also be a regular feature of RAMBLINGS – general commentary and ranting on all kinds of issues.

Your comments on, questions about and suggestions for this blog’s postings are always welcome.

Today is the anniversary of my birth – so I am off to celebrate by attending the matinee performance of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” at the Bickford Theatre in the Morris Museum (I will post a review here next week), followed by a couple of greasy cheeseburgers at “Marco Polo Restaurant” in Summit.

TTYL