Scared to Death of Early Retirement, No More. An Update.

Enjoying Early Retirement Travel in Switzerland – photo by Bob

{GCC – Since publication 6 years ago of the widely popular financial review for ‘The Bobs’ , people have inquired on social media, email, blog comments, and even in person, “Where are they now? Please tell us how it turned out!” Not wanting to let you all down, I asked (often) if they might share an update of what they have experienced and learned. Alas, they were much too busy enjoying retirement. Until now…}

Happy New Year GCC readers. Bob here from our now infamous financial review, Scared to Death of Early Retirement. I just had my 5-year retirement anniversary, so I thought we would give you and Jeremy has been pestering me for an update on how things have been going.

First off…

(more…)

Maximizing the Child Tax Credit (even without earned income)

So you’ve done the impossible – retired with young children (or retired and then had children.)

Congratulations, you are eligible for a generous $2,000 Child Tax Credit (per kid.)

But if you no longer have earned income and/or already have a low/zero tax burden, you could miss out on thousands of dollars.

This is how to avoid that. (This is especially important now that we have doubled our potential for Child Tax Credits.)

(more…)

All the President’s Taxmen

Follow the money. Always follow the money. – Deep Throat

Recently the New York Times published an analysis of 20 years’ of President Trump’s tax returns, concluding that he paid no taxes in 10 of the last 15 years and just $750/year during the first 2 years of his presidency.

Is something dubious going on? Or is this quality advertising for his accountants?

I’m tax-curious… let’s follow the money.

(more…)

Cashing Out Our Rewards Points

Accumulating rewards points is a great hobby. Redeeming them for world travel and adventure even more so.

But we are unlikely to travel before 2022, what with a global pandemic and the recent expansion of our family.

As such, I’ve cashed out all of our flexible rewards points… we can earn more later, and the cash out options were enticing.

(more…)

Find Unclaimed Assets

free money

When you are practicing social distancing and self-isolation, finding new pandemic hobbies is one way to keep positive.

One exciting option I used was finding unclaimed assets that were owed to us – 10 minutes of effort yielded $82.20.

Maybe you have some free money out there with your name on it!

(more…)