Monday, December 1, 2014
I went up to the old house Saturday morning, November 15, just for the day, just to make sure the furnace was on and that it was running well. It was 40 degrees in the house when I arrived and turned the furnace on. I spent the next five hours sorting papers in the big filing cabinets, while the house warmed up.
I found a lot of neat stuff. Once upon a time, in the old days, people wrote letters - actual penmanship, on real paper. I had always kept personal letters and cards. I found letters from my mother, letters from my youngest sister, copies of letters I had written to Jay's family when he was sick, and a few old love letters from suitors, including a love letter from Jay from before we were married.
I set most of those aside to bring down here. I read the one from Jay several times up there before adding it to the "keep" pile; I'll read the others some day. I brought back with me a large box of paper for recycling, thinking I'd bring the "keep" letters back on the next trip, which was supposed to be later that next week.
I stayed only until evening. By 5 pm the house was up to 65 degrees, but I'd had enough. I was freezing! Shivering. My hands were shaking so badly I was having difficulty handling papers. We forget that it's not just the air in the house that's cold and needs to be warmed, but everything in the house. Walls, floors, furniture, appliances - they all suck heat out of the air (and out of me) until they get up to air temp. That takes a long time. So I set the thermostat back to 60 degrees, went to the diner in the village for dinner, and came on home. I intended to return the next Thursday, the 20th, then stay until Saturday, and sort and pack up some more.
That Thursday morning I woke up and couldn't bend my left knee without a lot of pain, and it wouldn't support any weight bent. It was fine straight, I just couldn't bend it. There was no swelling, no heat or redness, no lumps, no tender spots, nothing. I suspect I'd slept on it funny and sprained or strained something. The main problem was the knee, but my hip was complaining, too. (I notice stuff like this happening more as I get older. Side effect of increased wisdom, I guess.) I was walking like a pirate swinging a wooden leg. Stairs were interesting, and I couldn't drive because I couldn't use the clutch, so I wasn't going north.
By Sunday it seemed a bit better, but I didn't really trust it until like Tuesday, but with Thanksgiving on Thursday, there was no way I'd be on the highways until ... well ... today at the earliest. Sigh.
So much for my determination to get moving on that house. I hadn't been up there since early summer, for various reasons that now sound like excuses, but were really valid at the time - like Hal being in the shop and waiting for parts several times, and a very bad cold followed by a sinus infection, and commitments made to Daughter and to Nugget, and so on. Not to mention that IRS thing and some other businessy garbage that took time and attention.
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Speaking of the IRS thing, I am going to have to have a serious talk with Piper. He is in charge of my investments, and he moves money around too much in my estimation. He's always buying this and selling that. I can't complain that he has lost money for me, but he seems to consider it a game to "beat the market". He's starting to look like a damn day-trader, with MY MONEY! Having no particular expertise in that area, it's difficult for me to rein him in. Well, he was proud that he had increased my holdings by something like 22% in 2013. Then I got the annual statements from my 401K and my IRAs, which I control, not him. My strategy is to find the best place to put the money, put it there, and LEAVE it there.
My 401K and three IRAs all had gains over 33% in 2013. That's 33%. If 22% is pretty damn good, then 33% is fantastic!
So next time I see him, I'm going to tell him to find the best place to put the money, put it there, and LEAVE it there. I don't want to see more than three trades a year. Period. I'll spoil his fun, and he's going to have fits, but that's it. I've had it. Every trade he makes costs me money in processing fees, and I see no advantage in "playing" the market. My IRAs are in no-load low-fee index-based mutual funds, and they are growing just fine, thank you. They dipped a little in 2007-8ish, but they more than recovered just fine.
Actually, I know what's going on. He dearly loves everything Wall Street. I don't think he has any other hobbies. The Market IS his hobby. His daughter has joined him in his business, and over the past five years she has gradually taken over most of his accounts, the largest of which are large union and business retirement funds. He has retained his private accounts. Like mine. We are all he has left to indulge his passion.
The other problem is that his buddies are all gloom-and-doom Wall Street Republicans who can't see anything ahead but recession and depression from Democrats (especially when led by a brown one), so he takes their advice and panics and sells off everything before every election. I could strangle him for that. Is anyone aware that the economy is just fine? 33% growth in index accounts in 2013? Yeah, the middle class isn't recovering very quickly, but that fabled 1% is doing just fine. The rich are getting richer. Corporations are doing just fine.
I hope I can convince him to settle down. I hope I don't have to fire him. I will if I have to, but it would cost a small fortune to pull out, and I don't know where I'd put it then. I've met a few investment counselors in the past decade (remember The Ditz, for example? That's what she does) and I don't trust any of them. At least I can trust Piper - trust is not the problem with him. He really thinks he's doing the best for me. I just don't agree with his political philosophy and management methods.
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Oh, almost forgot. There was a big storm at the old house the day before Thanksgiving, and a huge tree fell across the top of the driveway. One of those that pulled the root ball out of the ground. The Hairless Hunk sent me a text msg plus photo this morning. His wife's mother had died last week, too, so he apologized that today was the first time he'd checked the house since the storm. (Sheesh. Yeah, take care of your family first, Hunk. Don't apologize for that.) He has been rotating his excess vehicles at the top of my drive so it looks like there's activity at the house, and from the tiny photo it looks like maybe his car got hit by the tree. His note didn't say anything about that. So, anyway, until he clears the tree out, I don't think I'll be going up there. I hope It doesn't snow before then, or it will be a real mess!
Why are things so complicated?
.
"Most people would
rather be certain they're miserable than risk being happy."
--Robert Anthony--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I went up to the old house Saturday morning, November 15, just for the day, just to make sure the furnace was on and that it was running well. It was 40 degrees in the house when I arrived and turned the furnace on. I spent the next five hours sorting papers in the big filing cabinets, while the house warmed up.
I found a lot of neat stuff. Once upon a time, in the old days, people wrote letters - actual penmanship, on real paper. I had always kept personal letters and cards. I found letters from my mother, letters from my youngest sister, copies of letters I had written to Jay's family when he was sick, and a few old love letters from suitors, including a love letter from Jay from before we were married.
I set most of those aside to bring down here. I read the one from Jay several times up there before adding it to the "keep" pile; I'll read the others some day. I brought back with me a large box of paper for recycling, thinking I'd bring the "keep" letters back on the next trip, which was supposed to be later that next week.
I stayed only until evening. By 5 pm the house was up to 65 degrees, but I'd had enough. I was freezing! Shivering. My hands were shaking so badly I was having difficulty handling papers. We forget that it's not just the air in the house that's cold and needs to be warmed, but everything in the house. Walls, floors, furniture, appliances - they all suck heat out of the air (and out of me) until they get up to air temp. That takes a long time. So I set the thermostat back to 60 degrees, went to the diner in the village for dinner, and came on home. I intended to return the next Thursday, the 20th, then stay until Saturday, and sort and pack up some more.
That Thursday morning I woke up and couldn't bend my left knee without a lot of pain, and it wouldn't support any weight bent. It was fine straight, I just couldn't bend it. There was no swelling, no heat or redness, no lumps, no tender spots, nothing. I suspect I'd slept on it funny and sprained or strained something. The main problem was the knee, but my hip was complaining, too. (I notice stuff like this happening more as I get older. Side effect of increased wisdom, I guess.) I was walking like a pirate swinging a wooden leg. Stairs were interesting, and I couldn't drive because I couldn't use the clutch, so I wasn't going north.
By Sunday it seemed a bit better, but I didn't really trust it until like Tuesday, but with Thanksgiving on Thursday, there was no way I'd be on the highways until ... well ... today at the earliest. Sigh.
So much for my determination to get moving on that house. I hadn't been up there since early summer, for various reasons that now sound like excuses, but were really valid at the time - like Hal being in the shop and waiting for parts several times, and a very bad cold followed by a sinus infection, and commitments made to Daughter and to Nugget, and so on. Not to mention that IRS thing and some other businessy garbage that took time and attention.
-----------------------------------------
Speaking of the IRS thing, I am going to have to have a serious talk with Piper. He is in charge of my investments, and he moves money around too much in my estimation. He's always buying this and selling that. I can't complain that he has lost money for me, but he seems to consider it a game to "beat the market". He's starting to look like a damn day-trader, with MY MONEY! Having no particular expertise in that area, it's difficult for me to rein him in. Well, he was proud that he had increased my holdings by something like 22% in 2013. Then I got the annual statements from my 401K and my IRAs, which I control, not him. My strategy is to find the best place to put the money, put it there, and LEAVE it there.
My 401K and three IRAs all had gains over 33% in 2013. That's 33%. If 22% is pretty damn good, then 33% is fantastic!
So next time I see him, I'm going to tell him to find the best place to put the money, put it there, and LEAVE it there. I don't want to see more than three trades a year. Period. I'll spoil his fun, and he's going to have fits, but that's it. I've had it. Every trade he makes costs me money in processing fees, and I see no advantage in "playing" the market. My IRAs are in no-load low-fee index-based mutual funds, and they are growing just fine, thank you. They dipped a little in 2007-8ish, but they more than recovered just fine.
Actually, I know what's going on. He dearly loves everything Wall Street. I don't think he has any other hobbies. The Market IS his hobby. His daughter has joined him in his business, and over the past five years she has gradually taken over most of his accounts, the largest of which are large union and business retirement funds. He has retained his private accounts. Like mine. We are all he has left to indulge his passion.
The other problem is that his buddies are all gloom-and-doom Wall Street Republicans who can't see anything ahead but recession and depression from Democrats (especially when led by a brown one), so he takes their advice and panics and sells off everything before every election. I could strangle him for that. Is anyone aware that the economy is just fine? 33% growth in index accounts in 2013? Yeah, the middle class isn't recovering very quickly, but that fabled 1% is doing just fine. The rich are getting richer. Corporations are doing just fine.
I hope I can convince him to settle down. I hope I don't have to fire him. I will if I have to, but it would cost a small fortune to pull out, and I don't know where I'd put it then. I've met a few investment counselors in the past decade (remember The Ditz, for example? That's what she does) and I don't trust any of them. At least I can trust Piper - trust is not the problem with him. He really thinks he's doing the best for me. I just don't agree with his political philosophy and management methods.
--------------------------------------------
Oh, almost forgot. There was a big storm at the old house the day before Thanksgiving, and a huge tree fell across the top of the driveway. One of those that pulled the root ball out of the ground. The Hairless Hunk sent me a text msg plus photo this morning. His wife's mother had died last week, too, so he apologized that today was the first time he'd checked the house since the storm. (Sheesh. Yeah, take care of your family first, Hunk. Don't apologize for that.) He has been rotating his excess vehicles at the top of my drive so it looks like there's activity at the house, and from the tiny photo it looks like maybe his car got hit by the tree. His note didn't say anything about that. So, anyway, until he clears the tree out, I don't think I'll be going up there. I hope It doesn't snow before then, or it will be a real mess!
Why are things so complicated?
.
4 comments:
22%?! 33%?! I thought the only place you could get those kinds of gains was drug dealing.
You may not be the only one. I'd check to se if the SEC has had any complaints about piper. You don't have to complain yourself. Keep an eye out for the word churning.
www.sec.gov/investor/brokers.htm
And Google broker check finra
Rocky - That's not normal. Sometimes it goes down. But over years, it averages out.
Queen - I went to that link and checked him out. Nothing much there, but surprisingly (in that he hadn't said anything to me about it) he's got an IRS problem, income taxes 2009 to 20012.
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