Question from a reader:”Why should I bother going to college when I am going to probably join the military?”
My answer is that you still need to work the brain. The military is just like any other business and if you look at recruiting information you can get more money by having more skills. More skills result from having a better education. Let us presume too that the Depression we are in won’t last forever. What are you going to do for work if there are more people who have better qualifications than you?
The same will hold true in the military. The Army wants to have soldiers who know their stuff in technology as do the Navy, Air Force and Marines. You will not get the promotions that you want (nor the extra income) if you are an uneducated grunt.
You also will get a great opporunity to start thinking (hopefully) a little bit more about things in life as you pursue a higher education. I will also throw in that getting an education is a gift because unlike grade school, in college, you can have a choice for what classes that you want to learn.
Talk to your friends and also a recruiting officer (unless he just wants to get you to sign up) for more information. Anytime you can get an opportunity to work your brain, you should take it. In the current business climate, heck, in any climate, there is always competition for resources. If you were an employer or the military and you want to have the best, greatest candidate that you can for the position, you would want to see what kind of education they had, right? Just simple economics.
This holds true also for older people and is one of the reasons that they are flocking back to school in droves. They not only want to retrain to still be able to work but so that they can also keep themselves from getting infirm. Brain deterioration happens from disease and also like anything else, from not using your muscle or organ. So help yourself out and do what you can to keep your brain working.
Question from a reader:”I am over 62, live in California with my lady friend who is 67 and we are not married. Can we qualify for Qualified Domestic Partner? Thanks.”
My answer is based on the information that you provided, sure, you can qualify. The term is also Registered Domestic Partner or abbreviated with the acronym RDP. You may need to register and on the website for California Franchise Tax Board, check out publication, 737, Tax Information For Registered Domestic Partners. At the Federal level you still would file as both being single or one being the Head of Household for the other if that applies and you hit the qualifications. At the point that you are over 62, you need not be of the same gender for the State of California for RDP status. You just need to pay attention to the differences and situations between the Fed and State tax filing requirements.
At the State of California level you would file as Married Filing Jointly. You will have to mail in your tax return since you cannot e-file (yet) RDP tax returns for the California system. Also pay attention to the community property rules. Remember that California is a community property state and that you will have to split income evenly if you end up filing Married Filing Separately or if you are dividing up things that can be divided for the purposes of income tax filing.
When in doubt, contact a tax pro and you can see that I am open to taking clients right now. Thanks for asking me the questions, please keep them coming.
Oh, and before I forget, remember that for the purposes of taxes, don’t forget that quarterly tax filing is coming up and if you haven’t completed your work on your tax extensions that you have to start getting things ready for the October 2009 deadline. I know it has been a rough year for business and people in general but you still need to get your taxes completed.
August 17 2009
Also, please don’t quite go anywhere yet. Having some tax issues or tax questions? Any problems with trying to make it through the financial Depression we are in that is making you depressed? Please read on.
I am expanding my practice and taking on new tax clients. If you are interested in having somebody who is a successful businessman and tax professional with integrity review your returns discretely and see if your tax guy or gal is doing a good or goofy job, please drop me an email or post a comment with your contact information and time.
I have experience in international business, small businesses, partnerships, multi-state tax returns (they can get complicated) and anything else you can probably think of.
I also do business consulting and have ran several businesses (still running a few) myself so you are in good hands.
If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book, Practical Money Making, that is listed right after his paragraph in this very post. There are some great suggestions and ways to survive the Depression we are in.
Interested in any of my books? You may want to make a stop over here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale.
Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax Idea“? Please order it today. The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars! Tax planning should be done year round and not just two weeks into January or later.
Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book go to Rett Syndrome research. One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes. My daughter Arianna has Rett. Thanks for your support.
Kim Isaac Greenblatt
Work the Brain