Accountant by Day

I missed it this year, but I hope to be there next year - the Financial Bloggers Conference was held from September 30 to October 2, 2011. Since I couldn’t be there, I’ve been eagerly reading the posts by those who could attend, and I thought I’d share some here: Financial Bloggers Conference 2011 Links Thousandaire writes about what he learned aboutall the bloggers he met at the conference. I hear Ninja from Punch Debt in the Face is rather painful to look at?

Would you support your child if they showed signs of artistic genius? If your teenager started churning out oil on canvas masterpieces, or writing heart-wrenching musical compositions, would you support them on their way to fame? Chances are, yes (assuming you recognized the merit of their artistic endeavors, which could be the tricky part for the non-artistically inclined parent.) What if, instead, your child had a burning desire to write/paint/play music, but thus far hadn’t showed any particular genius in that area?

There is way too much going on inside this candy bar. Caramel, peanut butter, pretzels… I have no idea. Does anyone like these?? The home buying process is going well - the sales price is $136,500, and the appraisal came in at $154,000 - thank goodness! I am rolling some seller-paid closing costs into the purchase price, so if the appraisal had come in too low, the seller probably would have just reduced the amount of closing costs they were willing to pay.

Number 9 on the Stuff Accountants Like website is “Throwing people under the bus.” This phrase comes up all the time in public accounting, and seems to come from a slightly desperate need to make sure everyone knows that what went wrong wasn’t your fault. Of course, this conflicts a bit with the desire to be loyal to and friendly with your coworkers. Typically, when something goes really wrong, it is ultimately the partner’s responsibility.

I will have to fork out extra money at tax time this year, but I try and remind myself that it’s really a victory to owe a little, rather than to be refunded $2,000 that you could have been using all year! Plus, I had to pay in a bit, due to my blogging income I made this year! With income from advertising on this blog, plus some additional articles I wrote on the web, I managed to make over $1,000 in extra income in 2011!

As Obama pushes the “Buffett Rule” (which is not intended nor expected to actually pass into law - by the way, I started writing this post last week, and this bill failed to pass the Senate today), I have heard some different reactions from people interviewed about it. NPR conducted a segment a couple of days ago where they tried to refute the complaints that the high tax rate on individuals with over $1 million in annual income will hurt small businesses.

I’ve written before about how every month there seems to be another “unexpected bill.” Some large amount that’s not budgeted for, but it seems to pop up every month. In January, that was our gas bill - over $800! Luckily split between three people that was only $200-something. This month it was taxes. This weekend I had some free time, so I decided to sit down and file my taxes so I could get my refund check quicker.

I was tagged by FirstGenAmerican to complete the "7 Links" game. Here are my 7 links: Most Popular Post My most popular posts by far are those that talk about daily life of auditing. More specifically, my number one most viewed post is Big 4 vs Regional Firms Part 1. I’m not sure how many regular readers are interested in this kind of thing, since my most “vocal” (commenting) readers tend to be from the Yakezie personal finance crowd, but I know that you accounting readers are out there, even if you’re quiet!

This is a guest post by MoneySupermarket.com.  As someone with a lot of memory problems, I appreciate this message :).

Is your memory the culprit for your poor financial standing? How many times have you forgotten to pay a bill in the past year? The past month? The past week?

If you are in need of credit cards for bad credit, you may already be suffering from the consequences of having a bad memory.

When you forget to make a payment, your credit is affected. Your rating can go down and if it becomes a habit, you may not be able to open any lines of credit. It takes time to get the rating back up and get your financial standing back to a stable level.

But it isn’t just about your credit rating. Your late payments are costing you money. It might be one of the reasons you are looking for credit cards for bad credit.

Nicoleandmaggie have brought up quite a controversial issue with their post “Education and kids these days: a cranky rant.” Notwithstanding their opinions on working or not during college, it made me think about how much someone should be willing to pay for college. If you go to a public university in-state, in general you will have fewer loans, or have to work less, than you would if you attended a more prestigious private school.