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Just to make things a bit more complicated, there is the tax-favored treatment of cap gains in effect for 2010. Personally I think I will take as much as I can in cap gains before looking at Roth conversions...

The 2009 tax forms look pretty straightforward so I think I will just use Excel for mine. For me, the main advantage of TC or TT is doing the extra AMT calculation, but since I'm just taking the standard deduction I don't think I need to worry about that this year.

No Tax Cut at Dollar tree I checked again yesterday - looks like they won't be stocking it this year...

I use rechargeable aaa & aa. My Logitech mouse lasts 3-4 months and is never turned off. Also all remotes, clocks & such. I use D's in my magnetic-resistance recumbent bike and get low battery warnings after maybe 15 30-minute rides, but they work for another 25 rides. Regular D's last about...

Flagship is $1M+ accounts, right?

I stopped at Dollar Tree yesterday - the clerk didn't know if they would be carrying Tax Cut this year. I received At Home in the mail but won't pay $35 to activate it. Turbotax has been running TV ads for their free on-line version at TurboTax® Free Taxes Online, Free Tax Return, Free Federal...

I stopped at Dollar Tree yesterday - the clerk didn't know if they would be carrying Tax Cut this year. I received At Home in the mail but won't pay $35 to activate it. Turbotax has been running TV ads for their free on-line version at TurboTax® Free Taxes Online, Free Tax Return, Free Federal...

SS spousal benefit Oops - I'm not sure how I came up with "abandon" rather than the correct term "suspend". There is also useful info at the SS section of Bud Hebeler's analyzenow.com site...

SS spousal benefit If the spouse's FRA (full retirement age) is 66, the spousal benefit ceases to grow at that age. Since the spouse cannot collect a spousal benefit until the primary beneficiary files to collect, a same-age couple should not delay past 66. The rules are hazy but it may be...

Well the Magellan 4350 still has a MSRP of $400 so the 40% discount to $240 looked good, but Amazon now has it for $235 so I'm waiting to see if the MSRP comes down...

I think if you have a reliable COLAed pension your early retirement should be more comfortable today than at any time in the recent past. There are great deals on travel, cars, dining, home improvements, electronics, etc. For the rest of us, the definition of "early" may be undergoing some...

Thanks everyone for the feedback - I think I will go for it and report back on my experience in case anyone is interested...

Jug, I take it you are happy with the Magellan's routing accuracy? That was my main concern with it. Any feedback on cost of map updates? Oh, and do you use any of the AAA features? I'm an AAA member so that looks like it might be a minor additional benefit... Thanks...

Ron, looks like a great unit but well beyond my price range. As far as lane assist, I have in mind those awful rotary things in NJ where you have about 8.2 microseconds to make your move. Thanks for the feedback...

The 4350 has the traffic receiver but I don't know how much the subscription costs. I doubt if it's worth it for me. One kinda cool feature though is that if you are on a freeway and your speed drops well below the limit, it assumes you are in a traffic jam and starts displaying alternate...

I've been looking at them for a while, leaning toward Garmin or Tomtom. Now my son can get me a Magellan 4350 for $240. It looks like it has some higher-end features like multiple destination sorting, lane guidance, FM transmitter (and a few I don't care about), and the reviews seem favorable...

And maybe employers as well? They would be incented to give employees the money to buy the cheaper coverage on their own...

Any thoughts on what the cost might be to buy into Medicare? The article put the 2007 combined cost of Medicare/Medicaid at $561B for 100M people, or about $5600/person. I would guess 2009 will be at least 10% higher per person. And Medicare coverage alone isn't that great. If the buy-in is in...

I have seen several articles that indicate the final bill has the 12 month 50% subsidy for laid-off workers, but so far no indication that the extension survived in any form at all (although no difinite statement that it isn't there either). Looks like we may have to wait for Obama's real...

Well the final bill is out of conference. I can't find anything yet on the COBRA provisions - it may take a day or two before those details come out...

Steve, I think Pete Stark introduced that COBRA extension act years ago - the stimulus provisions are similar but don't have the 125% provision. COBRA has gotten so expensive that extension at 125% would be pretty worthless...

You must be laid off for the subsidy in both bills, but the extension in the House bill is for anyone eligible for COBRA under existing law...

Correction I just read a piece on CNN/Money that indicates the reconciled bill IS "filibuster-able", and therefore the final bill will resemble the Senate version more to retain the 3 Republican votes. The Senate version has the COBRA subsidy but not the extension. I still think, though, that...

It's my understanding that the reconciled bill is just a majority vote but I could be wrong...

As far as I can tell, the Senate deal lowers the subsidy to 50% but also lengthens it to 12 months. The Senate version doesn't include the extension provisions passed by the House. So it will just depend how the two are reconciled for final passage. Since the COBRA extension involves no govt...