You know that commercial where the H&R Block guy is walking around saying "Free, free, free" the entire ad? Yeah, that ad is a lie. I've used H&R Block for the last several years, and truthfully, I don't really mind paying a small fee, even though I file the 1040A and take the standard deduction.
Single, no dependents, no investments or anything complicated. It's the best option. Still, I've never been able to figure out how to file for free. This year, when I went to file, I found they had significantly jacked up their prices. It was going to cost me over $100 to file federal and state! And that was with the discount for filing early.
Um, nope. I went back to Turbo Tax and really did file for free. The good news is, Turbo Tax seems to have simplified the process from what I remember it to be, and got the whole thing done in under half an hour-- and that included the time I spent trying to find my log in information.
And then, there was my app I use to get my pay statements and tax info. For some reason -- even though I had just logged in two days ago-- it decided I didn't have an account any more. It took some doing to get all of that straightened out, then it wouldn't let me use face ID. Well, it would, but I had to enter my password every time to authorize it. What's even the point, then?
Be that as it may, I finally got that headache out of the way, and now I need to fix my 401(k). But what's wrong with it? Well, nothing really. I'd moved my money out of the stock market in early 2021, then in 2023 when we had all of those shutdowns at work, I'd lowered the amount I contribute quite a bit. I had been contributing 30%, and just couldn't afford that not getting all of those overtime hours.
A while back, when the hours at work picked back up, I increased my contribution amounts, and now I need to get my investments diversified once again. I think I might just bite the bullet and pay someone from the company to handle my money for me, because I sure don't know what I'm doing.
On the other hand, I'm hearing hints of a recession, so I may hold off on that until I see what's going on.
Once I'd gotten my taxes done, I watched the livestream of my church's service, which I've gotten back to doing. I've been watching the Cowboy Church of Orange County, but they don't livestream, and it just isn't the same. I'm still going to watch the sermon videos, though, because I really enjoy Pastor Harland's messages.
Then, since it's rained off and on all day, I settled in with some knitting and the 2004 version of The Alamo.
It's more historically accurate than the 1960 version, but doesn't have John Wayne in it, so it's a tossup.
And finally, I'm going to post a link to YouTube to a video I took a couple of days ago. I'd embed it here, but for some reason, FB doesn't like my videos and will mark that post as spam and take it down. So, if you want to watch it, click the link below.
No comments:
Post a Comment