Variable Universal Life insurance or in short VUL is sold by insurance agents as a smart investment to unsuspecting people. The pitch usually goes like this: You invest in VUL. The money in the policy grows tax deferred. You get to choose what you invest in, stocks, bonds, international, you name it. It’s like a […]
The Commutative Law of Multiplication
The Commutative Law of Multiplication is a fancy way of saying when you multiply two numbers, it doesn’t matter which number you put down first and which number you put down second. a * b = b * a This basic law of arithmetic is taught in the second grade in elementary school. Yet it’s […]
Tax and Inflation Penalize Savers
I bought some EE savings bonds in May 2002. Today is the first day I get to redeem them without penalty. Each $100 saved back then is now worth $118.40. This is one of my worst investments in the last five years. My return on these EE savings bonds is 3.44% a year over the […]
Which Vanguard Money Market Fund?
This post was written in 2007. Things have changed since then. Please read the update Which Vanguard Money Market Fund Is the Best at Your Tax Rates.
Tax Deduction Denied
I started doing my taxes last weekend. I’m not ready to file yet, but I just wanted to see where I stand. When I compared my first run with my 2005 tax return, I noticed that although my income was higher in 2006, my total itemized deduction was a few thousand dollars less than that […]