Questionable help for furloughed Fed employees ...

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management on Thursday tweeted advice to furloughed federal workers on how to explain their precarious financial situation to creditors and landlords.

There's even one sample letter with the suggestion that they offer to perform chores in exchange for rent payments.

I'm not sure I'd want some of my tenants running around with hammers or sharp objects.

You can download the sample letters here: https://t.co/t6h6OzALsS.

#OPM, #landlords, #rent

The IRS is open for business … sort of

Just before Trump’s shutdown of the government, a spokesman for the IRS said,

“The IRS is making great progress moving towards the opening of the filing season. Each year, we test our programming and make sure we have the right guidance and instructions ready to go for a successful launch of the filing season.

“We are on track to be able to do that between January and February, and of course as soon as we have completed all of our testing, we’ll come out with a formal announcement for the opening of the filing season.

“The IRS is positioned along with Treasury to have the right personnel and staff available for us to continue with our on-time plans to be able to deliver and open the filing season, so right now we are tracking very well to have another successful filing season in 2019 as we did in 2018.”

Sending refunds and providing taxpayer assistance, however, is a different story …

In late November, the agency came up with a Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan for what they’d do if Trump shutdown the government.

9,946 IRS employees are considered essential and would continue working. The balance of the 79,868 would be sent home, without pay.

How could this affect you?

During the shutdown, the IRS will stop:

·       Issuing refunds

·       Processing Form 1040X amended returns

·       All audits

·       Processing paper tax returns that include payments

·       Answering your questions

Needless to say, none of this is good in the light of recent tax law changes and filing season days away.

#IRS, #incometax, #filingseason

Smile … you’re getting paid to wait!

It’s been a super busy hurricane season, and it’s not over yet ...

Three CAT 4 hurricanes have hit the U.S.

Harvey, Irma, and Maria made landfall in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico, respectively.

And it was the first time in recorded history when two 150-mph hurricanes were in the Atlantic at the same time.

I’ve lived in Florida for decades. So I know what it takes to prepare for a monster storm that’s beating a path to your door. And when Hurricane Irma looked as though it was going for us, I didn’t waste any time preparing for the worse.

Plywood, screws, cordless drills, and generators flying off the shelves!

I needed a heavy-duty extension cord. So I went to Home Depot (HD). Finding one was a piece of cake. Paying for it was a different story …

The registers were fully staffed, and all the self-service machines were working. Even so, the lines at each were at least 25 bodies deep. Plywood, screws, cordless drills, and generators were flying off the shelves.

I was stuck at the far end of a checkout line. There was a fellow ahead of me who had a generator, a half-dozen pieces of plywood, and several boxes of screws on his cart; he looked frustrated.

I took a deep breath and smiled. Not out of arrogance because this guy had a heap of hard work ahead for the next few days, and I’d been through this several times before and was for the most part all set. 

No.

I was thinking about what a great business this was. A true American success story.

Two guys and a dream

Home Depot started out in 1978 with two guys who had a dream to create a superstore that would offer a huge variety of merchandise at great prices and with a highly trained staff. 

Image source: Home Depot

Now Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement retailer, a Dow component with more than 2,200 stores in three countries filled with stuff every homeowner needs.

And what made standing in that line even better was knowing that a small piece of that man’s $1,000+ purchase would land in the pockets of individual investors, just like you and me.

Plus after the hurricane passes, he and thousands of others will be back. They’ll need things they can’t buy at Wal-Mart and Target, such as: face masks, sledgehammers, crowbars, plastic buckets, wheelbarrows, flooring, shovels, and sheetrock.

Get paid to wait

As investors, we all want to see our picks go up in value. But what I love about stocks like HD is that they pay you to wait. In fact, Home Depot has been consistently paying dividends since 2000.

Currently that dividend is $3.56 yielding 2.2%, which is slightly higher than the DIA’s 2.1% and the SPY’s 1.9%.

You can see in the chart below the share growth over the past 8 years. During the recession Home Depot cut back by discontinuing new store construction, closing 15 U.S. big box stores, and canceling 50 future store openings. Yet the company endured.

Since then shares have soared, and the trend is clearly upward. 

Chart source: TD Ameritrade

Rebuilding from the deluge of recent natural disasters will certainly boost sales and profits. Longer term, the demand for housing is on the rise according to the National Association of Home Builders. 

Moreover, according to Zacks, Home Depot has some of the strongest comparable store sales in the entire industry. Last quarter, sales and earnings reached historic highs. At the same time, online sales grew 23% and represented more than 6% of total sales.

Stock buybacks are on the rise too, which is a good thing for shareholders ...

Home Depot bought back 17.3 million shares for $2.6 billion last quarter. That took year-to-date buybacks to $3.9 billion. Management raised its fiscal 2017 buyback target from $5 billion to $7 billion.

Shares continue to hit new highs and are up about 24% so far this year.

Is this the time to buy HD?

I’ve owned HD since 2007. And in my opinion it’s a solid company with a track record of consistent growth and competitive dividends and worth considering for your portfolio.  

So if you do decide to pick up some HD shares, the next time you’re stuck at Home Depot behind a line of shoppers loading up on home supplies, don’t be impatient … SMILE … you’re getting paid to wait. 

No love allowed here ...

What's wrong with a little love? A lot, according to Washington bureaucrats. 

For the full story on what the FDA has against a small bakery and their secret ingredient, click here. 

Bottom feeding, blood sucking lawyers at it again ...

Bottom feeding, blood sucking lawyers going after the deep pockets of one of my favorite stocks: NEE …

Click here for the full story.

Healthcare costs delaying retirement?

If the price of healthcare in the U.S. is preventing you from retiring, check out these five destinations from International Living and make your retirement dream a reality.

And look which one is on the top of the list? My favorite travel spot: Costa Rica.  

Obamacare, Trumpcare … either way you win with this tax break!

Congress and President Trump continue battling over replacing Obamacare (ACA) with the American Health Care Act (AHCA).

The House narrowly passed its version, 217 to 213, on May 4. Now it’s with the Senate where resistance is building from both sides of the aisle.

Several senators have cited the CBO’s estimate that the AHCA would lead to 23 million more Americans uninsured by 2026. What’s more, insurers could charge less-healthy people higher premiums.

The report also found that effective 2019, the GOP plan would "directly alter the premiums faced by different age groups, substantially reducing premiums for young adults and raising premiums for older people." 

However, the majority of both sides agree one point:

Keeping Health Savings Accounts

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were created by the Medicare bill President George W. Bush signed on Dec. 8, 2003. They’re designed to help individuals save for qualified medical expenses that come with high-deductible health plans.

Eligible expenses include: doctor’s visits, prescription drugs, dental care, long-term care insurance premiums, COBRA premiums; and Medicare Part B, Part D, and Medicare Advantage premiums.

HSAs give you a rare triple tax break:

1. A tax deduction for the amount you put in.

2. The money can be invested and grows tax free.

3. Withdrawals are tax-free when used to pay qualified medical expenses. 

Just because you have a high-deductible health plan doesn’t mean you qualify for a HSA ...

Your plan must have a deductible of at least $1,300 for individual coverage and $2,600 for families. The maximum out-of-pocket for these plans are $6,550 for individuals and $13,100 for families.

You can contribute up to $3,400 for single coverage, or up to $6,750 for family coverage.

Suppose though, that you save nice chunk of money in a HSA while working but don’t have many health care expenses in retirement? No problem. At age 65 or older you can take taxable withdrawals and use the money for anything you want. 

For further details, see IRS Publication 969.