A day in the Life of Patty O'LoW (3/17)

[Sagar]

Film at 11.

[DinbinFanfoom]

Went over to my parent's place and had dinner, helped my dad with the drywall in the new bathroom. Hit the treadmill for 2 miles at a fast walk alternating with a jog. Came home, did a load or 2 of laundry and read to sleep. :lowsmile:

[Sagar]

Set up as a vendor early then did some stuff around the house.
Came back in and joined a Bloodtalon group in TS. We basically killed anything that came our way (or that we could reach) for a few hours but no BT. After a while, I gave up my space to Slainte - I had a good book calling my name and I REALLY needed to get to bed on time for a change.

Bad combination, huh. The book REALLY is good.. getting to sleep at midnight wasn't.

GREAT day of sales, though - 20-25g (from a quick review of the file - game crashed ~ 2:30am.)

Logged back in this morning for some fence farming but didn't find anything to re-sell. *sigh*

I hope you guys got BT last night!

[Yuglooc]

Unfortunately, Bloodtalon didn't make an appearance during our time in the Thundering Steppes. It was a pretty good day for me though...

While with the TS group, I managed to complete the Big Trouble quest (kill 10 giants), and get my first giant idol (for the giant language quest). After the group broke up, I returned to Graystone Yard to sell off some items and have my armor repaired. I had intended to continue hunting in TS, as I had several outstanding quests to complete. While I was heading back, the low 30s folks were discussing forming a Zek group. I mentioned that I needed two more kills in the Tomb of Varsoon - they responded by coming out and helping me. Once there, it was non-stop action! Once I got the two kills needed, we proceeded deeper into the dungeon, killing golems and enchanted tomes (red to me). Zoldan (I believe) made progress towards the Strange Black Rock quest by killing one of the named tomes.


Afterwards, it was back to the docks in TS. I talked to the Gnome engineer, and got a quest to talk to the captain of the boat sailing to the Isle of Zek. We boarded the vessel. After talking to the captain, we were attacked by several waves of orcs. Once the orcs were disposed of, I again spoke to the captain. As a result, I am now flagged for Zek. I'm currently camped on the dock there.

In addition, I made progress towards AQ5 and writs.


I'm looking forward to a lot of adventures in a new zone.

[Greebo]

Gave my Presentation yesterday on "Agile Methods". Pretty good turn out, 17 of 25. I'm glad we didn't have more cause the room we were in was small.

Overall the presentation went well. The discussion between the attendees was good and the remarks were all generally good.

I then proceeded to get a speeding ticket on the way to the office. :mad: Then I sat in the office for about 3 hours playing Mental Zombie before going home and crashing REAL early.

[shadowgate]

Didn't play long last night but did gain some amazing ground in that in helping Zyz finish one step towards Zek access in RoV we decided with some pushing for Kullen and myself to go get Deepfred his pick up books for SBR so he could us the torq. We also wanted to see if we could get lucky and find the Book of Death four of us needed. Well both rooms where camped as we can to them and Book of Death was taken down as we entered it's room... decided to wait for two rooms spawn to see if we got luck and we did as it spawn the first time!!! That is now twice this has happened with the books! WOOT! :) Now we just have to get three named to finish CoI access and then get the named there. After that I had to go as my daughter was up sick again. She seems somewhat better today but still has over a 101 fever.

[Lycos]

Congrats Chuck!

DNP. Instead, I watched with Cindy, Ordinary People, this is another off my list of Academy Award winning films. Overall, a pretty good movie. It's mostly character development involving a kid who has attempted suicide, and his relations with his friends, family and love interests. It can be boring if you're not into those types of films. I found myself really engaged with the characters from the start. You immediately begin to wonder what's wrong and slowly the movie unfolds before you.

And Mary Tyler Moore plays the bad guy. Nice to see her do something different. :D

Went to bed and woke up early today.

[Shiz]

Joined the TS griffon group for a bit. Then when we lost Sagar and Murgos, we headed to CoB to trigger the first spawn in my "sullied note" quest. We stayed to do some quest cleanup, but ran into some issues (i.e. deaths). Biax's armor actually vanished on the last one so the group broke up due to the hour. I completed the ire minions and Vegalys quests for 19s each and some exp. Each of us picked up a "kill 15 agonized essence" quest as well. These are the 27-29 level skels. Our plan was to bang this out, but then the deaths happened.

Biax, how in the world can you go 9 deaths without repairing?

[EricStratton]

Ugh, sorry about the ticket, Greebs.

DNP. Came home from work late, Joy made nachos, we watched b-ball.

Then Joy opened her mail and we got some messed up news. The IRS says Joy owes another $11K from '03's taxes. Now, I don't pretend to know anything about tax law but just from looking at the IRS's explanation and seeing Joy's documentation, it doesn't make sense to me.

Joy had $30K in one mutual fund. In mid-'03 her financial advisor told her they were going to diversify the fund. Part of that was putting $10K into a tax exempt fund so she could pull it out to use as a down payment on her condo. The rest of the money went into other funds. She ended up pulling $7500 out of that tax exempt fund in late '03 for the down payment.

So the IRS says she owes taxes on the $30K that they diversified and the $7500 from the tax exempt fund. Here's what doesn't make sense to me. 1) We never saw that $30K. It went from one mutual fund to others w/o ever touching our fingers. How's that income? 2) That $7500 was supposed to be from a tax exempt fund so I didn't think she'd have to pay taxes on it. This is the only part I even partially agree that we'd have to pay taxes on since, yes, we used it as income. 3) She's being charged taxes on the $7500 twice (first as part of the $30K, second as the $7500 alone). How's that right?

Joy is great w/ keeping paperwork and records. But, as lucky would have it, her '03 tax docs are the only ones she can't find. /sigh. So now we get to call her financial advisor to find out what the deal is and hope he can send us the '03 1099-Bs that the IRS says they filed. And probably spend some time arguing w/ the IRS. The sad thing is that if we do have to end up paying this money, we'll have to cancel the wedding ceremony and just elope. Maybe have another ceremony next year or something when we've saved enough money.

And to top if off Joy surprised me today by taking the day off...w/o knowing that I have to go into the office today (I normally WFH on Fridays). :roll: :lowlol:

[EricStratton]

Biax, how in the world can you go 9 deaths without repairing?
I grouped w/ a healer once in TS that had died so many times w/o repairing he was naked. Granted he died like 2/3 times just getting to our spot doing giants. It was a pretty funny sight until I realized that I had almost twice the power he did. Doesn't allow for much healing. :lowlol:

[leng]

Took a vacation day to do some chores around the house. One of these was to take the cats to the vet for their booster shots. No problems, although the smaller cat disgraced himself by trying to bite the vet while he was having his nails clipped. I put a stop to that by sticking my hand into his (the cats) mouth which surprised the vet (he did not believe that the cat would not bite me). Actually, I'm not sure he would have bitten the vet - he has a habit of striking but not biting down with me but I've never found anyone else brave (stupid?) enough not to pull away when he goes for them.

Got some chores done and played too much EQ 'tween chores to finish the rest. T&T picked up about half a level so they should both ding again this weekend. Made a couple of gold selling T2 harvested crud overnight - some of the T2 stuff seems to sell better than the T3. If anyone is in SH when I'm around give me a yell 'cause I still need some feign zombies for Tant (amongst other things).

[Shiz]

Eric, on the taxes, if the $30k was in an IRA and she transferred it to a non-IRA, that is a taxable event that carries a 10% penalty. The full $30,000 would be considered income plus the 10% penalty. The $11,000 is about what that would be. If one moves IRA/401(k) money between funds, one has to use the rollover mechanic to do that. A rollover gives one 60 days to put the money in a new investment before the funds lose their tax exempt status. The simplest way to confirm this is what happened (or not) is to look at the statements before and after the transfer. If the new account does not say IRA somewhere on it, then she has a problem.

PM me if you want more.

[Shiz]

I grouped w/ a healer once in TS that had died so many times w/o repairing he was naked. Granted he died like 2/3 times just getting to our spot doing giants. It was a pretty funny sight until I realized that I had almost twice the power he did. Doesn't allow for much healing. :lowlol:

This explains why Biax has been burning through his power so fast the last few nights I have grouped with him. Biax, you are really hurting yourself by not repairing ASAP.

[Asharad]

Greebs, sucks about the ticket.

Pats, listen to Shiz. Also, hammer that financial advisor who should have advised Joy about this at the time.

I didn't expect to get to play, but managed to get on about 10. Nothing was going on so I joined a RE group. Of course, 15 minutes in a LoW groups started. Oh well! Group moved all the way down to the bottom of RE (EE side) and then I saved our asses via escape.

Was tired, so I camped and went to bed.

[Shiz]

I re-read Pats' post and was going to PM him some more thoughts, but everyone should know about this stuff and it isn't a secret so I will post it here.

Tax exempt savings accounts like regular IRAs and 401(k)s have a minimum age (59 1/2) at which one can start withdrawing money. This is the tradeoff for the tax exemption. This is also Financial Advisor 101 and if what I think happened actually did happen, Joy has cause for legal action.

Withdrawing money before the minimum age incurs a 10% tax penalty and the money is considered income in the year of the withdrawal. So, assuming Joy is in a 25% tax bracket we get the following:

$30,000 X 25% tax bracket = $7,500 income tax (just happens to be the same as the down payment. Coincidence only.)
$30,000 X 10% early withdrawal penalty = $3,000
TOTAL = $10,500

Now, Joy is not denying she withdrew $7,500 for a downpayment. This is not unusual, but the tax consequences should have been made clear:

$7,500 X 25% tax bracket = $1,875
$7,500 X 10% early withdrawal penalty = $750
TOTAL tax liability = $2,625

Now, transferring retirement assets from fund to fund is done all the time. IRAs have a rollover allowance that I referred to above, but this is a separate form from just opening a mutual fund.

Bottom line, if her financial advisor moved IRA/401k money without using the rollover forms, Joy is screwed and the advisor should be shot.

*Just for completeness sake, non-Roth IRA/401k withdrawals after 59 1/2 are also considered income, the point being one will be in a lower tax bracket at that time. Roth IRA withdrawals made after the minimum age are not taxed at all since the contributions are made with after-tax money instead of pre-tax money*

[Drax]

Had a short day at work because my family celebrated my brother's birthday. Would've celebrated on his actual birthday (Sat), but he originally had a trivia night to attend, which as of yesterday became a ticket to the NCAA Wrestling championship, "ring"-side seats. So trivia night became, well, trivial... :lowlol:

Managed to make a couple stops on the way to dinner, tho'. Bought a pair of shorts (JCPenney's) and some cards (Hallmark). Then ate at O'Charley's (O'Charley's). Had my mom's homemade milnut cheesecake for dessert (Yum yum!).

Didn't get home til late, like 10:30ish, then gathered up trash and prepared for bed... which was delayed when Becky opened up a bottle of grape soda that, apparently, had been shaken a bit... So we spent a good half hour cleaning grape soda from our master bedroom carpet, dresser-top, bathroom floor and sink. Ew. Plus, in recollection, I think that was the first time that we have had soda in the master bedroom (and hopefully the last), since we've owned the house (Dec1).

[Drax]

Shiz, are there any books or websites you would recommend for those of us who want to know more about finances, taxes, funds, etc? I've felt inadequate about this type of thing (and this type of thing only! No comments! :mad!: ;) ) for quite a while, and would like to be "brought up to speed" on the subject.

Thanks!

[Raveneye]

That sucks Pats. I'd be livid at that advisor for not warning you that you were moving 30K into a non-rollover fund and would owe 30%. I'm also not sure why the financial institution involved did not take 20% of that up front. I've done the same thing Joy did, and the fund management took 20% of the distribution and paid it as taxes right away, leaving me only a 10% tax liability for the end of the tax year.

As mentioned above I was part of the TS "BloodTalon where are you?!" group. A fantastic hour of xp, I'm now only 14% from cracking 25th level, and I also completed Big Trouble (10 giants) and got bridge access (more giants) during the evening. I spent the forst part of the evening soloing because I thought the TS group was full but it turns out I simply missed the offer to join in my chat text (distracted by basketball no doubt!). While solo I completed a couple of TS writs and hunting quests as well as finding some nice cash loots though so it was all good in the end.

Won't be on tonight between Sci-Fi Friday and basketball, unless it's as a vendor. I will likely try to work on more TS stuff and/or tradeskills if I play on Saturday/Sunday.

[shadowgate]

This explains why Biax has been burning through his power so fast the last few nights I have grouped with him. Biax, you are really hurting yourself by not repairing ASAP.

Damaged stuff is less effective? Didn't know that... it makes sense but didn't know that!

[EricStratton]

Damaged stuff is less effective? Didn't know that... it makes sense but didn't know that!
I'm not sure it's less effective but if it goes to 0 durability (or whatever it's called) you can't wear it.

[EricStratton]

Thanks a lot, Shiz. I still don't know exactly what Joys' accts were but this helps. She did call the place her financial advisor works this morning, he wasn't available so she spoke to someone else. The woman said that it's normal to be taxed on this. Which annoys me b/c the money Joy has been contributing to the fund (for I don't know how long) has all be post-tax dollars. We shouldn't be taxed on that again, right?

[shadowgate]

I'm not sure it's less effective but if it goes to 0 durability (or whatever it's called) you can't wear it.

Ok, I knew that and it HAS happened to me twice now due to having alot of deaths in a session or before returning to Qeynos due to long camp sessions.

[attriel]

Got started with a pickup in Nek doing owlbears. When we were looking for a healer, Taurel comes sauntering by :o So we shanghai'd him :)

Many owlbears were ruthlessly slain. Finished 5 owlbear tasks, including the "collect 60 meats" !!!

Then we decided to move on to offing Grinnins as half our folks left (including the other 2 assassins !!! at one point we had 3 assassins ... we decided healer or a tank and we;'d be set since it'd only live a couple rounds anyway :) Worked on some of those, but they appear to be scarcer than I remember, but that might just be the d'morte quests wantign them dead

While we were doing that, LoW invited us to come finish our EL access, since we had the owlbear part done from earlier! So, Taurel and I went and joined Mos, Kullen, Zoldan and Draeken to finish of EL. Then we went and did the Zek access quest, finishing off Taurel's in the process :o Yay new zones :)

As I finished Zek access I levelled to 26, too! Yay! Then I went to bed incredibly late :o

--attriel

[EricStratton]

Update: Good news. Joy just got a call from the financial advisor guy. To sum up what he said (b/c Joy didn't remember exactly what he said and I don't remember exactly what she said :lowlol:) "That's wrong." He said that he filed everything. We don't have to pay taxes on the $30K or the $7500. He said we do have to pay taxes on about $3500 of gains so that should come to about $500. Which, of course, is much better than $11K. I'm not exactly sure what happens now. I guess we get some papers from him and forward them on to the IRS. But I'm so relieved. Thank Karana.

Thanks for the comfort, gang.

[GravenStone]

Update: Good news. Joy just got a call from the financial advisor guy. To sum up what he said (b/c Joy didn't remember exactly what he said and I don't remember exactly what she said :lowlol:) "That's wrong." He said that he filed everything. We don't have to pay taxes on the $30K or the $7500. He said we do have to pay taxes on about $3500 of gains so that should come to about $500. Which, of course, is much better than $11K. I'm not exactly sure what happens now. I guess we get some papers from him and forward them on to the IRS. But I'm so relieved. Thank Karana.

Thanks for the comfort, gang.

Soooo.... you're saying the hit on the Financial Advisor is defintely off, then? :lowrazz:

[EricStratton]

Soooo.... you're saying the hit on the Financial Advisor is defintely off, then? :lowrazz:
No no no. That plans a "go". He took about 10 years off my life so he's got some pain due. :twisted:

[attriel]

i'm guessing they misread the post-tax ira as a pre-tax ira and saw it going to a post-tax, and wanted their tax in between.

MD wanted me to pay some ungodly amount in backtaxe for 01 or soemthing a couple years ago. Except the part where I was unemployed most of the year, their taxes (without penalties) were more than I made, and none of it was taxable by maryland even if it HAD been more, all apparently slipped their notice :o

Every year in GA, I got a note from GAIRS saying that their calculations didn't match my tax return, and I had better pay the difference IMMEDIATELY!. My numbers :xxxx.yy income. Their numbers: xxxx.yy income. Uh? My tax: aaa.bb ... their tax? aaa.bb ... these two columns are identical in every way, wtf?

"Oh, yeah, the system just sends those out to everyone, ew tell people to ignore them"

Yay tax organizations and incompetance :o

[EricStratton]

LOL, that's just horrible. USA! USA!

[Asharad]

Soooo.... you're saying the hit on the Financial Advisor is defintely off, then? :lowrazz:

Yeah, cause I gotta know this, and quick. Things are in motion.

[DinbinFanfoom]

I just did my taxes online (still have to send in the generated forms).

Cost of filing: $22CDN
Return: $3.66

Go me.

[Kiir]

Logged in yesterday afternoon but no one was really on so I did a few quests in Zek that I wanted to finish off then headed to EL and logged for a bit. Played some Sims2 and then checked back with EQ2 still not much going on killed a few things but didn't feel like soloing or a pickup so logged back off. Got on later after some more Sims2, and got into the get Va Zek access boatride, it went well, we then helped Tauren and Knemo get EL access and ran the Zek access quest for Knemo too, it is fairly easy however it is long with all the running here and there, we got Zek access done and I set up vendor mode and headed to bed.

[BobHamfist]

Got Taurel into EL and Zek and stayed up way too late.

Taurel dinged 28 and now has the most stupid heal spell... it turns the recipient into a male lion. I hate it. *I* don't like running around as a bug-eyed feline, why would I want my party members to suffer with me? :roll:

Then again... :twisted:

[EricStratton]

I personally love being a lion. And IIRC it gives a sweet AGI bonus. Hehe.

[Sagar]

Got Taurel into EL and Zek and stayed up way too late.

Taurel dinged 28 and now has the most stupid heal spell... it turns the recipient into a male lion. I hate it. *I* don't like running around as a bug-eyed feline, why would I want my party members to suffer with me? :roll:

Then again... :twisted:

Will the new lion say "ow" too?

[BobHamfist]

Not so good pats. Agi was something pathetic like +2 (but that was appI). There is also a +2% to dps, which is so trivial as to not be a worthwhile tradeoff for a warden's much much better equivilent heal spell nature's caress.

Only if you step on it's tail Sagar ;)

[EricStratton]

Really 2? Is that all? Hmm. I thought it was more. Oh well.

[Shiz]

Shiz, are there any books or websites you would recommend for those of us who want to know more about finances, taxes, funds, etc? I've felt inadequate about this type of thing (and this type of thing only! No comments! :mad!: ;) ) for quite a while, and would like to be "brought up to speed" on the subject.

Thanks!

I don't know of any books, but if you call any of the major mutual fund companies (I recommend T. Rowe Price) it is in their interest to edumacate you and they all have tons of well written materials on all the retirement plan gobbledygook. Just call thier 800 number (or visit www.troweprice.com (http://www.troweprice.com) ) and say you are interested in opening an IRA and are unfamiliar with your options.

[Biaxin]

Hey,

Just to clear: I fight, I die, I revive/get rezzed, I fight. At the end of it all I try to remember to repair the damage - doesn't always get done - it's, "Fly home, go to the bank and sell off what I know won't sell on the market, stash what I want to keep, and pick up any banked items that need to be listed on the market, go get repaired, head for the apartment, feed the cat, pull up the sales board, set up new sales items, and settle". Sometimes the 'get repaired' part doesn't get done. It stacks up on you.

[Yuglooc]

Hey,

Just to clear: I fight, I die, I revive/get rezzed, I fight. At the end of it all I try to remember to repair the damage - doesn't always get done - it's, "Fly home, go to the bank and sell off what I know won't sell on the market, stash what I want to keep, and pick up any banked items that need to be listed on the market, go get repaired, head for the apartment, feed the cat, pull up the sales board, set up new sales items, and settle". Sometimes the 'get repaired' part doesn't get done. It stacks up on you.
My usual procedure when I call to Qeynos is:
1. Sell stuff, and restock on arrows (I like to have 3 full stacks on me) - all transactions are with the bowyer, as she offers me the best prices for my items
2. Repair armor (sometimes I visit, and find out no repair is needed)
3. Bank
4. Check armor and weapons. Attempt to upgrade if armor/bow is green, or weapon is blue. If I visit the broker, check collection quests to see if I can complete them cheaply. Restock on food/drink as required.
5. Pay rent on room if required
6. Camp for the night or head out for next adventure

1-5 are all done in Graystone Yard (I'm a member of the Seventh Smiths Society, so I use the broker there). When I'm meeting someone to transact business, I'll usually head to Castleview Hamlet.