You Cannot Make This Stuff Up

I snatched this right from a job ad, no kidding.

I think this hospital organization must have had some trouble in the past with communicating the job requirements and expectations or the applicants had difficulty understanding.   

Read below a portion of the job requisition and what must have been lost in translation:

The "Position" will on a routine and daily basis, be required to see colors, hear voice, phone, and radio communications, speak, sit, walk, and communicate in English both verbally and in writing.
 

Need Help Re-Negotiating Your Mortgage?

Quoted from the Star Ledger, "With a new campaign called Restore Our Homes Initiative, the Urban League wants to prevent more people from teetering on the precipice of losing their home".

Homeowners needing immediate assistance are encouraged to visit the Urban League of Union County at 288 North Broad Street in Elizabeth or call 908-351-7200 to make an appointment with a counselor.

In some cases The League has been successful in getting mortgage payments cut in half for homeowners.

The Urban League is a nonprofit organization and the services referenced above are FREE.
 
 

Inside Voices

I was taught as I think many of us were and I know I passed on to my children that when you are in the Library you are expected to use your inside voice.  This goes for children and adults.  Everyone is expected to use their inside voice.  The library is a place where children really get the opportunity to excercise self control and parents get to help their children step up to the challenge.

No running up and down the stairs, yelling, squeeling, wrestling on the floor and playing with the automatic doors.  No, no, no! 

Yes, mom was there but she was engaged in her own high pitched squeeling of "Oh my god, how are you doing" catch up with a friend, speaking at heights one would use when bumping into someone on the street in Manhattan.  Hmmm wonder if that's where they are from.

I held back as long as I could and out it came.  "What is the matter with you, have you taken leave of your senses or do you really believe everything is about you and your children, that the rest of us don't matter, that you are somehow entitled to behave badly at will and anyone in your path should just move out of the way or get run over"? Well not today.  "Do you not have any inside voices of your own that would lead you to a place of knowledge and understanding for respecting the library's environment"? 

There was more of course, not much more but enough.  She stood there, mouth hanging open, her friend fidgeting while her children were blocking the entrance way repeatedly pushing the buttons for the automatic doors to open and trying to swing on the door handles as the doors opened and closed.  She looked around, slowly panning the area with a steady even head movement, almost like Tai Chi.  My guess is she was looking for a face confirming I was one of the town's crazy residents on the loose and my keeper would be along to collect me soon.

A hush came over the lobby, people quietly went about their business, some walking past with their heads hanging down, all avoiding eye contact and the children were still in the entrance way bouncing off of the door handles.  She beckoned to her friend to walk with her towards the door, they scooped up the children and left the library.

I went back to my reading.
 

New Sites, Scroll Down...............

New additions to the Resources, Favorite Haunts and People Making Things Happen at the bottom of my blog.

Note the new blog called FabFit50s, really good stuff, I think you'll want to save it to your favorites.

Nice job Kathleen !!
 

Dave Bass

Posted by Dave Bass and his band:

On behalf of Dave Bass and his group, the DBG's it is my pleasure to share this original song with all of you, "We Made It Through" . Dave wrote this song in 2002. His vision at that time was to respond to Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come". He understood that there must be something that would allow a people to move beyond circumstances that would forever alter the dreamer and the quest to be free.

In celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday and our 44TH President of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama, we present "We Made It Through".  See the Youtube link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4n5TCSraT0&layer_token=ad579d3baf4f738e

For additional information and cd purchases www.cdbaby.com/davebass.
 

Still Unemployed? Want to Go Back to School ??

If you are unemployed, collecting unemployment benefits and would like to return to school to work on completing a Bachelors or Masters in a degree or certificate program of study, you may be interested in the Tuition Waiver program. 
The Tuition Waiver Program through the State of New Jersey's One Stop Career Center under the Department of Labor's Workforce Development provides Tuition Waivers for eligible recipients.

Important Information to Know:

• You must pursue a course of study in a Demand Field of Labor.
• Link to the One Stop Career Centers site http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wfprep/aidgrant/Financial_index.html.
• Applicant must be registered with the One Stop Career Center (option on the above site to find Center locations)
• You must be registered with Workforce New Jersey http://www.wnjpin.net/ and have current core services  (e.g., R.O., etc.) that include an assessment plan with an OSCC Employment Counselor.
• You must be fully unemployed, and not receiving any monetary compensation for any work performed.
• You need to provide proof of Financial aid Application for the admission year http://www.fafsa.gov./
• All books and fees are the responsibility of the student.

The Tuition Waiver program is separate from other training programs offered by Workforce Development that provide monies to learn a demand skill such as cdl licenses, microsoft certification or medical billing coder.

I am participating in the Tuition Waiver Program this Spring.  Classes begin this week.

Thank you President Obama !!!!!

Macy's and your $2.00

I thought it might be helpful if I provided a visual to assist in explaining the new "Initial Interest Charges" which are included as a line item on your Macy's account statement in the Account Summary section of the bill.

                                                 Account Summary                                   

Balance of last Statement                                                  0.00

   Payments                                                                         0.00

   New Transactions this statement                                     96.30

Interest Charges                                                             +2.00

    New Balance                                                                   98.30

 Minimum due                                                                   5.00

This account is not past due, it is current, and the balance is 96.30 which is due in 30 days. Upon receiving this bill I immediately called Macy's customer service to ask some questions and point out a few things:

• The explanation of the 2.00 interest charge is strategically placed at the bottom of the account summary section under the PRIVACY POLICY information, in a smaller font, not bolded, and not made to stand out for easy reference.
• The explanation reads: To avoid initial Interest Charge, if you pay your New Purchase Balance of $96.30 by Jan 28, 2010, your Initial Interest Charge of $2.00 on your Revolving Account will be refunded on your next statement.  Which means that you do not owe nor are you required to pay this $2.00 as long as you pay the bill on or before the due date.  Do you think they could have simply printed, "This $2.00 is not due or payable to Macy's unless you pay this bill after the due date"?  Additonally, this information should be printed right next to this NEW $2.00 Initial Interest Charge.  Yes, I know it would cause Macy's to have to redesign the layout of their statement, which is what they chose not to do.  Statement layouts are pretty much done digitally these days and I doubt that it would have taken much effort to move a few things around but oh, they were probably not thinking about effort, just the cost of the effort.   
• How many people do you think will pay Macy's the $2.00 not realizing they do not owe this money?  Now let's take this a step further.  Macy's will accept this $2.00 from you and millions of other customers, deposit the monies into their investment accounts and earn interest off of this money for 30 days before they refund it back to your account.  And remember you will only be refunded if the account was paid on time.  If the account is paid late, Macy's will keep your $2.00 and charge you with additional interest accrued on the overdue balance of the account.
• It was further explained to me by Macy's customer service the following:  If the account was paid late and the $2.00 Initial Interest Charge was applied, as a result of the Minimum INTEREST CHARGE of $2.00 being applied to your Revolving account, the actual ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE charged on the account is 79.20%, way up from the already obscene 24.50%.
• If you find this confusing, can you imagine how this is affecting the senior citizen population?
• Lastly the customer service representative said they are overwhelmed with phone calls about the NEW $2.00 change to the account transactions.  Hmmm......... wonder why?

Food Stamp Income Eligibility

The following chart lists the current gross and net income eligibility standards for the continental United States, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

Eligibility levels are slightly higher for Alaska and Hawaii.

(Oct. 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010)

Household size      Gross monthly income             Net monthly income
                           (130 percent of poverty)        (100 percent of poverty)

      1                              $1,174                                       $903

      2                                1,579                                      1,215

      3                                1,984                                      1,526

      4                                2,389                                      1,838

      5                                2,794                                      2,150

      6                                3,200                                      2,461

      7                                3,605                                      2,773

      8                                4,010                                      3,085

Each additional member       406                                         312

*************************************************************

The current maximum allotment (Food Stamp dollars received as a benefit) levels for the continental United States:

(October 2009 through September 2010)

People in Household                               Maximum Monthly Allotment

           1                                                                 $ 200

           2                                                                 $ 367

           3                                                                 $ 526

           4                                                                 $ 668

           5                                                                 $ 793

           6                                                                 $ 952

           7                                                               $1,052

           8                                                               $1,202

Each additional person                                          $150

Note: you can use your food stamp card at any participating vendor anywhere in the United States.

For additional information http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/faqs.htm.

Medicare Updates for 2010

Please share:



The following is a listing of the Medicare premium, deductible, and coinsurance rates that will be in effect in 2010 from the http://www.medicare.gov/Updates.asp website:

Medicare Premiums for 2010:

Part A: (Hospital Insurance) Premium

•Most people do not pay a monthly Part A premium because they or a spouse has 40 or more quarters of Medicare-covered employment.

•The Part A premium is $254.00 per month for people having 30-39 quarters of Medicare-covered employment.

•The Part A premium is $461.00 per month for people who are not otherwise eligible for premium-free hospital insurance and have less than 30 quarters of Medicare-covered employment.

Part B: (Medical Insurance) Premium

Most beneficiaries will continue to pay the same $96.40 premium amount in 2010. Beneficiaries who currently have the Social Security Administration (SSA) withhold their Part B premium and have incomes of $85,000 or less (or $170,000 or less for joint filers) will not have an increase in their Part B premium in 2010. For additional details, see our FAQ titled: "Will my Medicare Part B premium increase in 2010?"

For all others, the standard Medicare Part B monthly premium will be $110.50 in 2010, which is a 15% increase over the 2009 premium. The Medicare Part B premium is increasing in 2010 due to possible increases in Part B costs. If your income is above $85,000 (single) or $170,000 (married couple), then your Medicare Part B premium may be higher than $110.50 per month. For additional details, see our FAQ titled: "2010 Part B Premium Amounts for Persons with Higher Income Levels".

Medicare Deductible and Coinsurance Amounts for 2010:

Part A: (pays for inpatient hospital, skilled nursing facility, and some home health care) For each benefit period Medicare pays all covered costs except the Medicare Part A deductible (2010 = $1,100) during the first 60 days and coinsurance amounts for hospital stays that last beyond 60 days and no more than 150 days.

For each benefit period you pay:

•A total of $1,100 for a hospital stay of 1-60 days.

•$275 per day for days 61-90 of a hospital stay.

•$550 per day for days 91-150 of a hospital stay (Lifetime Reserve Days).

•All costs for each day beyond 150 days

Skilled Nursing Facility Coinsurance

•$137.50 per day for days 21 through 100 each benefit period.

Part B: (covers Medicare eligible physician services, outpatient hospital services, certain home health services, durable medical equipment)

•$155.00 per year. (Note: You pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for services after you meet the $155.00 deductible.)

Additional information about the Medicare premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance rates for 2010 is available in the October 16, 2009 Fact Sheet titled, "CMS Announces Medicare Premiums, Deductibles for 2010" on the http://www.cms.gov/ website.

• The open enrollment period ended on December 31st.
• This was the last day to enroll or change plans until November 2010.
• You could save an average of $612 per year.  Use the CVS calculater below to compare 2010 Medicare Part D plans.http://www.cvs.com/medicare/?WT.mc_id=EM_MED_121009_MedicareD_V2

Have questions?  Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227)
 

Krys Hall, Certified Public Accountant

Many were not ready to think about taxes when I originally pubished this newsletter in December.  I hope you find it helpful now.

**   A personal referral from me - For 16 years, each December, my CPA sends to her client base an annual tax newsletter and each year I share this newsletter with my friends, neighbors and family.  I have published this year's newsletter below.

KRYS HALL
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
P.O. Box 769
Montclair, New Jersey 07042
Tel 973-746-9609
Fax 973-352-6074
kryshall12@verizon.net
chall1249@yahoo.com


December 2009

This is my annual “newsletter” to get you ready for the 2010 tax season. Yes, it is that time of the year when it is necessary to plan for it.

There are several changes worth noting. First, the taxable gross wages for the 2010 social security tax is $108,600, the same as 2009, while the rate remains 6.20%. The taxable 2010 gross wages for Medicare remains unlimited, the rate remains 1.45%, the same as 2009. Because there is no Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2010, the gross wage for Social Security and Medicare limits will remain the same. Second, there are several tax credits still available for the 2009 tax year. For example the first-time homebuyer credit, the first $2,400 of unemployment is tax free, credit for sales taxes paid on a new 2009 automobile purchase and many more. You can get more information on The IRS website http://www.irs.gov/ .

December is the month for planning for your health insurance and retirement plans. Many employers have open enrollment and you may make any adjustments to your plans at this time. In addition this is an excellent time to check your withholding. Are you withholding enough? If you have to pay the taxing authorities, the federal government, more than $1,200 on April 15th then your withholding is incorrect. You can check your withholding by going to http://www.irs.gov/ and see Pub 15T. Self employed individuals need to make sure the correct amount of estimated taxes have been paid in by January 15, 2010. The states are a bit more difficult to calculate so the best solution would be to make sure your state withholding is equal to 100% of what you paid in the prior year. The same would hold true for estimated state taxes.

A note on non-cash charitable contributions, The Salvation Army now has a valuation guide available on its web site, http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/.  You can use this guide to determine the value of your non cash donations. For automobiles, The IRS no longer accepts valuations stated in The Blue Book. The value of the automobile will be based on the money the charitable organization receives from selling it. It is best for you to sell your automobile and then donate the cash to the charity. Automobile donations are now a red flag.

In NJ there will be an increase in taxes. NJ Dept of Labor has increased its rate base to $29,700 up from $28,600 in 2009. The rate for the Family Leave Act is .12% up from .09% in 2009. Another example of tax increases in the State of NJ is if you have gross income (not taxable income) of $150,000 to $250,000 your property tax deduction will be limited to $5,000. If it is over $250,000 your property tax deduction will be zero. I expect that to change with the new incoming NJ governor.

NY has several new taxes; the tax affecting the most individuals will be the taxi surcharge. The second tax will be the metropolitan commuter transportation mobility tax. It is imposed on certain employers and self-employed individuals. See www.tax.state.ny.us/ for more information for NY. There are no other increases in taxes as of this writing.

A reminder to let your family and friends know about my accounting and tax service. In addition to preparing taxes I train individuals how to use Quickbooks and am an excellent bookkeeper. I can represent my clients before the Internal Revenue Service if necessary.

Please make your appointments early. If you have any questions please contact me.

Happy Holidays,

Krys Hall, CPA

Credit Card Companies are Predators, Don't Get Caught up in a Trick Bag

I shared this story last January with anyone who would listen before I started my blog.  It prompted several people to review their credit card statements and to the surprise of some, the terms of their account had been modified in one way or another. Now I have a place to publish the story.

I was carrying a balance on a major credit card.  Automatic payment was in place, the account was never delinquent, the payment amount was always more than the amount due and the payment was setup to process 3 days earlier than the due date every month.  If the due date fell on the weekend (even with a holiday) the payment would never be late.  This was a balance transfer account with no interest, that's right zero percent interest for the life of the transfer balance. So every dime paid reduced the balance of this account. Now if the card was used for new purchases (which it never was) the interest was 7.9% on all new purchases.  I had all the safeguards in place to keep me from failing to make this payment each month.  You are aware of what will happen if you make 1 late payment or miss a payment aren't you?  All bets are off and you now own the interest for the entire balance transfer.

January 2009, I received the paper statement in the mail for this account as normal.  I opened the envelope, unfolded the bill, glanced over the top portion of the statement and in keeping with my New Year's resolution to manage the filing of papers more efficiently i.e. "touching every piece of paper once", still holding the bill in my hand I walked over to my file cabinet, opened the file drawer and as I placed the bill in the folder, my peripheral vision and short term memory brought forward a snapshot of the top portion of the statement.  Something was different.  I had not read the bill, I had only glanced at the top of the bill.  After all, I was quite familiar with the account, and did not need to read all the details of the statement every month.  The account was setup with automatic pay and automatic email reminders populated my inbox 10 days prior to the due date.  Slowly my antenna began to rise.  I removed the bill from the folder and started to read the statement focusing on the hit parade of the most important details first.

Scanning the first line of data the New Balance amount was correct, so I moved on to the Minimum Payment Due.  Well you know how you read something and re-read the same something over and over as if your eyesight has suddenly decided at this moment to malfunction because you cannot believe what you are reading?  I went so far as to brush away invisible soot on the statement.  The credit card company had taken the liberty of modifying the amount of the minimum payment due, to an average of the amounts that I had been paying each month.  Now remember, I was paying more than the minimum each month, some months a little more, some less but always more than what was due, my choice and not a bank requirement.
Ok, let's move on to Payment Due Date. The payment due date had suspiciously been moved to 3 days earlier.  Those sneaky b_______ s!  

They really kicked it up a notch in the Account Summary.  Here the bank added a new line item called Service Charge with a delightful little fee of $10.00 added monthly to the New Balance. And if all that wasn't enough to send me reeling, the interest rate for new purchases had now been reset to 19.99%.  Yeah, yeah I know I said I never used the card for new purchases and I didn't but if I had, understand that the balance for the new purchases would not get paid off until the entire balance from the original balance transfer had been fulfilled. That's right, all the balances and interest for new purchases to the tune of 19.99% would keep accruing until the original transfer balance was paid off. Guess what fell into the category of New Purchases?  The Service Charge for $10.00 a month.

All of these changes, MAJOR changes with no notification.

Throughout the year I had received several pieces of mail marked in big letters "Important Documents, Open Immediately" from the credit card company only to find blank checks for cash advance usage which went straight into the shredder.  Do you think changing the terms of my account, changes that would immediately cause me to fall into delinquency and lock me into paying accrued interest (and boy did they ever cover their bases on this one) warranted one of the "Important Documents, Open Immediately" envelopes?

I called the credit card company, walked the representative through my concerns, and the explanation I received included "the bank is not obligated to notify customers of all changes to the terms of the account i.e. Service Charges etc.  The purpose of the service charge is to cover administrative costs for accounts that carry a balance, the bank has the right to make changes to the service agreement at will without prior notice etc etc etc".

So let's recap: 1. My minimum monthly payment had been increased to an amount the bank determined I must be able to pay since I had been paying extra each month. What if I had a month where I wanted to use the extra coins elsewhere and simply pay the original amount due?
                       2. The Payment Due date was changed to a date prior to the auto pay date already in place.  Example - the original due date was the 16th, the payment was setup to process on the 13th, 3 days early.  With the bank moving the due date earlier by 3 days to the 13th, the first time the due date were to fall on a weekend (Sat/Sun) the payment would need to process no later than the Friday the 12th.  The payment is setup for auto pay on the 13th so guess what, it would be late, the account would fall delinquent, the interest for the balance transfer now hits the account because I defaulted on the terms of the agreement.
                      3. Adding the monthly Service Charge of $10.00 as a New Purchase at 19.99% would accrue interest monthly until the balance transfer and the balance transfer interest were paid off.

This is what I call a Trick Bag and I don't like it when anyone tries to put me in one.

Realizing I had hit a brick wall after speaking with 3 supposed managers my thoughts fast forwarded to whether I would be able to get this situation resolved to my benefit before the payment was due.  I decided to stop the bleeding before it started by paying off the account in full immediately. 

Check your credit card statements.

Coming up soon:  My conversation with a Macy's customer service representative RE: the $2.00 initial interest charge listed in the Account Summary on all of their statements, yeah go check out your Macy bill.

In Flow

In discussing the concept of "Being in Flow", a friend said to me that when you are in flow, all living matter experiencing you, can benefit from your flow.

This Christmas holiday my daughter and I went to see the musical Chicago on Broadway, a lovely gift from a friend.  I love live theatre.  It is the next best thing to participating in a performance.  I feel as though I am a part of the cast. The past 4 years we have taken in a show on Christmas Day as a Christmas present to ourselves.  Ticket prices for Christmas Day performances are inflated and with the exception of Premium seating, the price is the same no matter where you choose to sit in many theatres.  I prefer to sit in the Upper Mezzanine, 1st row center but this year we were unable to secure seats in that section of the theatre so we purchased tickets for Orchestra seating.  Great seats, 3rd and 4th from the aisle, but then it's hard to find a bad seat in the Ambassador Theatre.

Once seated, my daughter pointed out that she had been listening to a lively conversation taking place in the row behind us. A young woman was recounting the details of a failed relationship with her ex boyfriend to the older man sitting on her left. It seems that the ex wanted a relationship with someone who would give birth to several babies, stay home, spend his unlimited fortune and participate daily in lots of meaningless projects. She wasn't going to sign up for that, so she split. The ex found someone more suitable and she is happy for him.

Privately I was beginning to feel really good about our seating.  The seats in front of us had not yet been claimed and it was 10 minutes before curtain time.  Maybe they wouldn't come.  Maybe these were the other available seats that I saw online and decided not to purchase.  No, that didn't make sense, it was the row in front of mine so I would have purchased them if they were available.  I tried not to get too overjoyed at the prospect of this amazing view, an easy task for me since I suffer from the "waiting for the other shoe to fall syndrome".

The family sitting behind us had lots to talk about.  They used this time before the curtain call to catch up on various family news.  Turns out the older man sitting next to the young woman previously mentioned is her grandfather.  Grandma, grandpa, 2 granddaughters and a grandson in law were out on the town.  Being more interested in people watching as I always am, the sound of their voices was just background noise to me until my interest was peeked by the grandmother's statement "The past 6 months have been much worse, I don't know what I am going to do".  She went on to say she understands he (the grandfather) is not in control of what is happening to him and as he slowly slips away, she finds herself getting frustrated and losing her patience more often to the point where she yells.  The grandson in law asked what help had been provided by the doctor and before she could answer the grandfather stood up and announced that he needed to switch seats. It was like Abbott and Costello trying to play musical chairs as they weaved about behind me in the cramped space, knocking me in the head repeatedly with their coats and Playbills. AAAGGGHHH!!!

Five minutes before curtain time and they showed up.  All 4 of them.  Two amazons and 2 short people.  Like bookends the 2 short people sat on either side of the amazons.  I couldn't believe it, they had to sit together?  There went my view.  I sighed and began to wiggle about to locate the best angle for me to capture as much of the performance as possible and praying the amazons in front of me wouldn't be swaying from side to side during the show.

The lights dimmed, the curtain went up, the orchestra began to play and the Grandfather wanted to change seats again.  Grandma had a few stern words with him and he sat down.

I discovered by positioning my folded trench coat behind me in the upper part of my seat, I no longer sunk as far down.  I now had a slightly better view of the stage.  I noticed the amazons were taking advantage of the sinking effect the seats provided and with my stretching to sit up, my view got even better. This made me happy.

Grandpa really wanted to change seats.  This time Grandma had a mini discussion with the family trying to convince them they should let Grandpa switch seats again.  When she was met with opposition from the family, she disclosed that Grandpa is prone to screaming and temper tantrums, something she has been dealing with increasingly in the past few months.

So throughout the performance, Grandpa kept changing seats and I kept getting whacked in the head.  No excuse me, pardon or I'm sorry from the family.  Just head whacking.  Remember that new sense of peace I talked about in an earlier blog post, well I'm trying, I'm trying.  Had I not overheard the family conversation prior to the rounds of pre-concussion prep, in perfect Amanda form, I would have turned around and read them the riot act; complete with an all telling facial expression.  But no, I was bound by an internal voice of compassion, reason and understanding for another's struggle to keep things as normal as possible for a loved one. 

My friend speculates that I am In Flow, I am beginning to believe her.  I thought about the Grandmother's comment of how her husband was slipping away.  These people were out for a family gathering on Christmas Day and wanted Grandpa to be included.  Who knows, maybe he'll remember the day or parts of the day.  I guess they'll be happy if he remembers who they are and any of the day. 

I leaned slightly forward for the remainder of the performance.

This day, this family got lucky; they experienced me and were sucked up into my flow.  They could have been seated behind anyone but they were seated behind me and I am learning to understand, accept and appreciate being In Flow.
The show was fabulous!  I would love to see it again, minus all the head whacking. As for the crick in my neck I developed from leaning forward and stretching upwards over the amazons, I wrapped a hot pack around my neck and shoulders and drank a glass of wine when I got home.