Monthly Archive for June, 2011

Slaved Away for Decades. Now What?

Published on June 30, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 1 Comment

So you have slaved away for decades at a job you probably hated or at the very least felt indifferent about and it’s time to retire; what now? Is it time to spend your days drinking mojitos on the shore of some beautiful island in the middle of the Caribbean while you finally start writing the novel you planed out when you were 33? Not just yet. If you’re about to start living on a fixed income you want to be sure your taxes are in order so no unexpected financial surprises will keep you from spending the rest of your days lounging on a tropical paradise. Luckily, you may be able to get free IRS efile from either your accountant or from accounting software.

If you’re receiving pensions, most of your pension tax pay out was probably done by your employer though that’s not always the case. If you chose to tax-defer your pensions then it will be fully taxable by those lovely people at the I.R.S. You can use a form 1099-R to report pensions and annuity income.

Many retiree’s have a 401(k) or an IRA. 401(k)’s are fully taxable while IRA’s are either fully or partially taxable depending on whether you have a deductible or non-deductible Traditional IRA. Also, savings. One is required to withdraw from their 401(K) and Traditional IRA plans once they reach 70. An exception to this is the Roth IRA. With the Roth IRA not only are you not required to make withdrawals but you could, in theory, leave all your money in the account to be disturbed to your heirs.

Something else to consider is whether or not you are going to move to another state after retiring. Different states have different tax rates. For example, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon do not collect sales tax while every other state in the union does. California has the highest sales tax with 8.25%. If you’re a smoker you should avoid New York City because the y have the highest taxation on cigarettes. Also, Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming do not collect personal income tax. Also, 27 states, including Alabama, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, provide a full exclusion for Social Security benefits.

After you’ve gotten your taxes in order and have a rough estimate of how much they’re going to cost you, you can relax worry-free. Who knows, you might actually get around to finishing that novel after all…

Donning My CPAP and Sleep Mask I Become Top Gun Ghostrider

Published on June 30, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 0 Comments Tags: .

 

As I don my sleep mask and CPAP mask, I say…

“Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.”

The answer is always the same…

“Negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.”

Rather than engage the target, I will pull a negative 4Gs, do an inverted rollover and bug out.

This summer is the 25th Anniversary of the movie Top Gun, and did I find a cool book about the movie and the Top Gun school.

I fantasize about flying an F-16 with Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt.

Dave “Bio” Baranek didn’t have to fantasize, he actually performed the deadly aerial maneuvers that made “Maverick,” “Iceman” and “Viper” household names and wrote Top Gun Days.

Bio (because Baranek kinda rhymes with Bionic, but that didn’t work, so it became “Bio”) was one of 451 men to become a Navy Flight Officer in 1980 and the only one that year to become a much-feared-and-respected Topgun instructor; an honor awarded only to the “best of the best.”

When Hollywood green-lighted  a movie about the elite Naval Fighter Weapons School (aka Topgun), they knocked on Bio’s door.

In his memoir  Top Gun Days, Bio does a great job of explaining what Top Gun is, how to get there, how to excel, and how all that became a movie. The book is loaded with technical jargon, (with a glossary) and inside stuff that should fulfill any pilot – or those that pretend to be one.

The book starts out painfully slow, I almost stopped slogging through the first few dozen pages, but I persevered and found myself not able to put the book down - except to pack a few more bins. This was my “break-time” book and is a perfect summer read.

This is more than just a book about the movie Top Gun, some highlights are:

  • First Person Faceoffs in the air at 700 MPH when the director of the movie wanted them “just a little closer”
  • A Cold War Perspective – aerial missions to neutralize Soviet bomber threats.
  • Life-or-death adventure — how he survived a split-second ejection from a crashing F-14.
  • Tidbits – How Topgun students receive their call-signs
  • The first takes of Top Gun—which had to be redone because they were inaccurate or improbable and the extra added babbling needed to make the scenes
  • A glossary of flight terms and important Topgun information.

Top Gun Days is a cool book.

Baby Boomers At a Glance

Published on June 28, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 2 Comments Tags: .

The Savvy Boomer found this great Baby-boomer graphic at 50-Plus Marketing.

72 million of us, 10,000 reaching retirement age everyday. And I love this goal:

Collect capital, not stuff.

Remember Popping Zits?

Published on June 28, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 0 Comments Tags: .

Guest post while I am making the move to Costa Rica. If you never hear from me again. Pura vida, and blame Costa Rica.

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For every high school teenager out there that is mourning every morning in front of the mirror, wondering how in Catherine Zeta Jones’s name they are going to get their pimples to disappear in time for the spring fling, there is another person in their twenties wishing one thing: That their pimples would come back.

Sounds absurd at first, but an alarming rate of people all over the U.S. from the ages of 19-24 are wishing that they had at least some of their pimples back.

Why? Why would anyone want their pimples back? Pimples are one of the leading causes of stress in a young teenager’s life. The struggles of being called awful names like “Pizza face”, or “Pimple Pete,” can have a traumatic effect on a young adolescent’s life and hundreds and hundreds of dollars are spent on Acne treatment products just to have a chance at some nice clear skin.

So why are so many people wishing they could grow their pimples back?

The answer lies deeply rooted in the psychology of the human brain. Studies show that popping pimples can be one of the most stress relieving activities in a person’s daily routine. And with the pressure of having to make to it work on time, “popping a few juicy whiteheads” is just what the average person needs, says the average Joe Henson.

I like to wake up early in the morning, go straight to the mirror, and get my day started with a nice POP.

He adds.

I prefer the ‘underground railroads.

When asked what an ‘underground railroad’ was he replied in his pleasant and cowboyish southern accent

“Those are the ones that you really have to work at. From the process of growing them to the actual popping of them, you have to take your time. They grow under the skin and accumulate a lot of – well whatever it is that pimples accumulate! But they are the best stress relievers.”

People like Joe Henson and others are going as far as to try to concoct the perfect pimple growing mix. Joe says he uses a mix of peanut butter and miracle whip and spreads it all over his face before he goes to sleep. Other concoctions include even crazier methods such as mixing bleu cheese dressing with melted pieces of chewed gum – it can get pretty nasty.

Some Say “Pimple Farming” is just a fad, while others insist it will be around forever. One thing is for sure, as long as there are people like Joe Henson around, there will always be the need to pop zits.

 

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This article was written by Anthony Benedict. By Day, Anthony helps to run and maintain AcneCentre.com – which is a website that guides people to the best acne products like Clear Skin Max. At all other hours of the day, he enjoys being goofy and a good laugh.

Image from yapsnaps

Geeky Animated Gif Monday

Published on June 27, 2011 in Baby Boomer. 0 Comments