Thankfully, we citizens do have the ability to get help with our taxes. There are people who are trained and licensed to help us prepare taxes, and they have to stand behind their work. If someone other than the taxpayer prepares the tax forms, that person has to sign the form along with the taxpayer. If you were smart and hired an enrolled agent to help you prepare your taxes, the enrolled agent can appear before the IRS if you get audited, and they can even negotiate with the IRS on your behalf.

Becoming an enrolled agent requires formal training, which is available online now. You have a variety of courses that you have to take, such as the enrolled agent ethics course and about 50 hours of study on a list of required courses.

A lot of people like to file their taxes as soon as they receive their W-2s in the mail, around the end of January. These are usually the people who are expecting a refund. However, a lot of other people wait until the first or second week of April to even look at a tax form and try to figure out whether they will get a refund or have to pay in. I know that I need to get busy organizing my home filing system and get the receipts sorted so that when my W-2 comes in the mail I can do a rough estimate and find out if I need to start saving up to pay in, or if I can expect some money back for a change.

There is a sign out front advertising a hiring fair. Evidently there will be a need for several CNAs, housekeepers and maintenance workers. My step daughter has been looking into the CNA programs here and was even recently checking http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Women/ to get an idea of how much she will need to spend on nursing uniforms.

Most of the nursing homes here will sponsor interested applicants while they attend school for their CNA certificate. The classes are widely available through technical schools and community college campuses. They have schedules for mornings, afternoons and evenings, so it is possible to work a job and also take classes. Once she has earned her CNA certificate, the nursing home will give her a full time position and all she needs is a week’s worth of uniforms to get started in her new job.

Although these circumstances are very disturbing, the underlying culture of winning college football games at any cost is what disturbs me. I have never been a fan of college football and now I am even less inclined to be a fan of any college and their corrupt sports programs.

My good friend, Nick, just returned from the U.K. where he had attended a two day medical teaching course, in hopes of easing away from his medical practice and doing something a little different, like mentoring younger doctors. He already works with some interns at the medical school here. I think it is great that he wants to give something back to his industry.

The best doctors do find a way to give back. They teach and mentor through a teaching hospital or they give seminars and write for medical journals. For a doctor who has never actually taught a class or seminar, there are classes designed for doctors who want to teach. Someone like Nick who is serious can sign up for a teach the teacher course
and learn about the teaching craft before they jump into a classroom setting without the proper preparation.

The asteroid will be moving fast, but you should be able to see it from an East Coast viewing spot around 6:28 pm. It is expected to pass Earth, at only 201,700 miles from us. According to NASA, that is the closest any asteroid has passed Earth since 1976.

Of course, this is not going according to her plan at all. She thought that once she retired from her 25 years at the phone company that she was going to be able to stay home and just be a retiree. Maybe even a Red Hat Lady.

But, if you remember my mentioning it, her husband was in a terrible car accident about two years ago and has not been able to work since the accident. So my sister is back to being the breadwinner again. It looks like she is going to have to work for at least three or four more years. So she checked out the Walden University’s online degree programs for something different. She is looking for something that she can get certified in quickly and will have enough demand for her to be able to find work relatively quickly once she finishes the coursework and gets her certification. I wonder what she will choose this time?

I would like to take a couple of classes to learn more about cameras and the different settings and effects. Post processing is also something that I would like to learn more about. I think I have a pretty good handle on composition, but I would be interested in learning what is taught as compared to what I have figured out for myself.

A good photography is an artist. I can really appreciate a photograph taken by a skilled photographer and would like to do more of that myself. I often see things that would make a great picture, but don’t have the camera with me or don’t have a sophisticated enough camera to get the effect that I want – like the way sunshine coming through the tree leaves make them glow.

The stores have been pushing school supplies for over a month and there are some great prices on things like crayons, notebooks and pencils. I have seen hundreds of different ways to carry books back and forth from school. I wonder if the kids prefer backpacks or messenger bag? There are a great selection of styles and designs or both of them.

Personally, I like the idea of messenger bags, especially of your kids has to ride the school bus or ride in a car back and forth to school. If they have a backpack they cannot sit comfortably with a backpack on. But if they have a messenger bag, then its just a matter of setting the bag on the floor or on the empty seat beside you. Fast and easy.

This is a prime example of do-gooders doing the wrong thing. I know for a fact that a whole lot of kids won’t drink milk at all if all you offer them is the plain vitamin D enriched white stuff. Studies have shown that overall milk consumption drops by over 30% when you remove the option of flavored milks. So all those kids are not going to get their calcium and other nutritional needs met if you withhold flavored milks.

I don’t care how “healthy” something is for you – you are not going to get the benefit of milk if you do not drink it. For 30% of the kids that refuse plain white milk – and I don’t blame them one bit, I can’t stand the stuff – you are robbing them of their milk by withholding chocolate and strawberry flavored milks. I say let the kids and their parents decide if they want to drink the flavored milks and the rest of you who just want white milk, fine. But keep your noses out of the affairs of me and my kids milk and food choices.

I like the people watching at the lake, too. The kids are running around, swimming and splashing, playing games and having fun. There is nothing like the laughter of a little kid to put a smile on your face.

This week is going to be great! The “Discovery” PBS channel is doing “Shark Week.” All the shows are documentaries about sharks all over the world. It’s totally fascinating! I want to see it all!

I was talking with a golfing buddy who is looking into a medical teaching course as a way to give back to his industry. I think that is a great idea. I know a lot of industries have opportunities for experienced members to teach in various capacities.

Even if you are not interested in becoming a professor at a university, you can contribute by teaching a medical management course or something that interests you.

My good friend who retired from teaching last year after 24 years in the classroom can still contribute to her field. It is good to give back to your industry – it is a Win-Win situation. Students need to learn from an experienced person – not just read a book. Although it is good to have the internet as a resource, too. Sometimes we still need a good reason to get up in the morning and put on makeup, dress up and get out into the real world. Teaching part time and sharing what you know is a great way to help others.

My golfing buddy is looking into a teach the teacher course to stay to get a start in teaching other doctors. I have to give him credit for being so generous with his time and experience.

I worked with and talked to a lot of different financial experts over the years. I am by no means qualified to give anyone financial advice over the internet. You have to be licensed and accept a fiduciary responsibility when you do that. And professionals get paid well for doing that.

That is part of the whole point of using this Online Portfolio Manager that I found. It seems to be a better way to manage your investment than using a money manager who charges you a fee.

Once you set up the Portfolio rebalancing software for your current investments and learn how to use the program, you don’t really need a commissioned money manager to hep you. Everything you need is online. The information that I found most helpful was introducing the concept of a core portfolio dedicated strictly to your retirement goals, and then another allocation for emergency cash and the last allocation for speculative investments. You set up the parameters and then make your trades based on keeping that balance.

Do It Yourself portfolio management is obviously not for everybody, but if you have some financial savvy and want to avoid the management fees by using an easy to learn and easy to use software, now you know that you do have options.