Death, Sex and Money and Money and Money

Death Sex and Money are supposed to be the three subjects people don’t like to talk about.  I don’t really have a problem talking about any of them.  And neither do most of my close friends.  We may open with a “TMI” introduction to allow the other person to brace themselves.  But really, what would we talk about if those things were off the table? 

Well I have no intention of finding out!  Its tax season so let’s talk about money.  I like it, I’d like more of it, and it makes me sad to not have enough of it.  So I met with a new accountant this week to figure out how to stop paying my old accountant an absurd amount of money for the privilege of allowing me to give a lot of money to the government. 

It turns out the way my businesses (LLCs) are structured allowed the previous accountant to charge me high fees to file separate forms for each company when the same info could be included in my person return because the business are all owned by me and hubby.  I’m now deep in to New Jersey Treasury online bureaucracy (this is how they have managed to make doing business online as complex and frustrating as going to any government office to accomplish anything) in order to change the tax filing structure of the companies.  This small, but time consuming change, could potentially save me $4000 or more per year.   

Why am I telling you this?  Because if we don’t talk about money, there are plenty of people happy to take it off our hands.  Just as I feel women should talk to other women about women’s health and child-bearing issues – so we can stop thinking we are “not normal.”  The same is true for money.  There are so many ways to get, earn, save and invest money.  Everything isn’t for everybody, but knowledge is power.

I’m annoyingly detailed in the tracking of expenses.  I’ve used Quicken and occasionally, QuickBooks, for at least 16 years.  When I worked in an office, I always had a file draw for my bills and a spreadsheet on the computer to track my monthly budget.  Those habits really benefit me now when tracking the expenses/income on multiple properties means saving the cost of paying a bookkeeper and also knowing where my money goes.  I also get to see what’s working and what’s not working, and prepare for the unexpected, which I can expect to happen often.

Another way I make money work for me is using credit cards for points not credit.  There is a rare occasion where I may have to put a large expense on the business credit card and leave it there for a few months (for example the huge plumbing job at Villa Pompano which replaced all the underground piping).  But for personal expenses credit cards are just a way to make money/value.  The two best benefits of credit cards are frequent flyer points or cash back.  I don’t do cash back, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.  I just like to travel and having points pile up makes heart happy.

But tracking points is a whole game in and of itself.  And there are people who do it very well.  It involves changing cards annually, if necessary; taking advantage of bonus deals; and even taking a useless trip just to get an astronomical amount of points.  I’ve not taken the deep dive into all of this, but I do stay informed by reading The Points Guy .  He and others like him do a good job of letting us know how we can use credit cards and airline rules to get the biggest bang for our buck.  Other sites will help you choose the best credit cards for you (say you prefer cash back instead of points, you want to make sure you get more cash back than you pay in annual fees). 

Look under that tree, I earned a lot of points this Christmas!

Busy Mom Kimya (BMK), like you, doesn’t have all the time in the world to spend on this one aspect of life.  But, I do deem it worth my weekly attention.  So once a week (it’s on my calendar), I download all my transactions from the bank and credit cards and categorize them in Quicken.  This also allows me to catch errors (banks, credit card companies, and vendors make mistakes).  And because Momma loves and app, I use a few of those to help me out as well:

Quicken App – allegedly this app will sync with the Quicken software on my computer.  It did for one day 4 years ago.  Then I got an error message and since then it doesn’t sync.  So, I don’t bother.

Chase – why wouldn’t you have the app for your bank on your phone?  Not only can you see what’s going on in bank land, but you can deposit checks and send money to friends and family in a snap.  If I actually walk into a bank it’s because I have a desire to slam my head into a wall.

American Express – I should use this app more and I expect they will give me more reason to soon.  Right now I use it just to check on charges.  But Amex has lots of double and triple point promotions.  The promotions aren’t automatically applied to your account you have to enroll in each one.  So doing that in the app would be great.

Key Ring – all my store loyalty cards are loaded in here, so as to keep my key ring empty and mostly unnecessary. It also stores and syncs (with a person of your choosing) grocery/shopping lists.  And it shows you current coupons and circulars for those stores.

Amazon – I use this to scan everything (not produce) I’m thinking of buying.  Amazon isn’t always cheaper.  But when it is and I can wait two days.  I just one click and order.

Freshbooks – a website and app, allows consultants to track billable hours and anyone to track mileage.  You can have multiple clients and projects and select which items should be added to the invoices you can generate from the website. 

Starbucks – you knew this was coming.  I think I mostly go to Starbucks so I can use my app.  Hubby goes for the coffee.  The app is just so friggen genius.  Yes I can pay with the app.  But that’s not the revolutionary part.  It’s that I pay with my Starbucks card in the app, which unlike most gift cards has a built rewards system.  So every time I buy something, I’m on my way to earning a free drink or treat.  But wait, the app is all like, let me help you some more.  Place your order via the apps mobile order function and your drink will be waiting for you.  Thank you technology.  And the marketing devil that Starbucks is, they are constantly offering bonus points for buying what they want you to buy or clicking where they want you to click and so earning a free drink that you didn’t need, but now want is super-duper easy!

That’s all for now.

BMK’s got things to do … thanks for reading … talk soon