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To estimate your effective tax rate, do a mock return based on your estimated income and deductions at retirement.

Mystic Seaport and Mystic Aquarium. If you care enough to take it off your bucket list, you can go have a slice of pizza at "Mystic Pizza" made famous by the Julia Roberts movie of the same name. The funny thing is, I don't think they filmed any of the movie there (I could be wrong) and when I...

I don't know how old your kids are, but there is a minimum age limit for horseback riding in Yellowstone. Depending on how comfortable you are with putting your kids on a horse, there is an outfit right outside the park in Gardiner, MT that has lower age limits. Hell's A-Roarin Outfitters |...

I don't understand the comment that you "do not have a checking account with the credit card institution, so the autopay would not work." How do you pay the credit card balance? Use that account for autopay. Also, I do not understand the comment "I would need to maintain a large cash balance...

I do and assume any logical personal would. When I get my credit card statements, I check each item and attach all credit card receipts to that statement as supporting proof. I also post each item in QuickBooks to keep track of my YTD spending as compared to my personal budget. The credit...

Wouldn't it be easier if you just set up autopay for the entire balance due? It solves this problem, gives you one less thing to worry about, and saves you the stamp. Setting up a lazy-man system saves you from trying to be careful.

Not sure if this is a "once in a lifetime" trip for you. Obviously, you can't see all of Italy in one trip (unless you stay there for a year). You should see Rome and Venice, but I would recommend Tuscany. Fly into either Rome or Milan. Here are some options: If you fly into Rome, go to the...

In summary: You've been to Napa 3 times. You've never been to Italy. You want to go to Italy. Conclusion: Go to Italy

One gem is The Harvard Museum of Natural History. Home - Harvard Museum of Natural History Harvard Square is a good visit for lunch or dinner. For a free museum and free parking, you may visit The National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA. National Heritage Museum > Home The North End of...

Lawyers do not want their kids to be lawyers, MDs do not want their kids to be MDs, etc. This is what I hear from doctors and lawyers when I speak with them. Engineers get so burned out they create retire early forums that attract other engineers like moths to a flame. I guess the grass is...

My son asked me for my advice on how he should make money during his life. Do I tell him to be a doctor, lawyer, etc? Or, do I advise him to take a chance and start a business? I know it's ultimately something he has to decide for himself and enjoy, but as his most trusted advisor, what should...

Read the previous posts for the answer on this.

I don't see a need for a break for owning more than one home. Anyone that can afford more than one home does not need a special break. It's possible that there may be some exemption for the truly poor, but compared to the thousands of loopholes in our current tax system, they would be minimal.

That's why there could be a very low rate (possibly even a threshhold exemption) on the first few hundred thousand dollars of value. Yes, there will be challenges to assessed values, but since towns don't have a major problem doing this, the federal government wouldn't either. They may just...

OK, such a radical change in the tax system would require an amendment. Seeing that the 16th amendment has turned into a disaster, perhaps it's time for that change. There are so many people in favor of scrapping the current tax code that there could be enough support for a national real...

LOL!!! Think of all the open land that would create! Although getting flood insurance might be tougher.

If property taxes are constitutional locally, then I'm not sure why they would not be constitutional from a national perspective, but it would be nice to see a good source to back up that claim either way. There is a reason the highest cost properties are in on the coasts. It's because people...

Could you list some examples of how a national real estate tax could get very complex? Regarding your example of the window tax, Chief Justice John Marshall once said, "The power to tax is the power to destroy." People don't necessarily need a lot of windows in their home, but they always do...

Like I said, this is what would happen if you went beyond my original proposal to tax only real estate.

Thanks. I like the idea too. :) The goal under the national real estate tax is simplicity, efficiency, and transparency. You don't want to worry about taxing items other than real estate because those other items you mentioned (cash, gold, art) are too easy to hide, less static (meaning you...

I'm no economist, but with everyone paying something into the system and with much less possible tax evasion than we have today under our current tax system, my gut feeling is that even those in the top tax brackets would be pleased to see their overall tax decrease under a national real estate...

I don't see that as a negative. If an area is conducive to agriculture and it's justified, more power to them. I can't see this happening in parts of Manhattan.

People may want to reduce their property ownership to pay less tax, but what is wrong with that? People do that now anyway. Why don't you live in a $50 million home right now under the current tax system? What's that? Because the cost of maintaining it is so high? People will always tend to...

There will always be complaints in any tax system. The nice thing about a real estate tax is that it is transparent, so fraud will be less than any other tax system. Of course an assessment falls within a range since the only time a property is more precisely assessed is when a willing buyer...

I'm really surprised nobody has ever talked about scrapping the entire tax code as it relates to individuals and implementing a national real estate tax. I can't think of any negatives in having a national real estate tax, but here are some positive points: Everyone pays some tax, except...