| #: |
From / Date: |
Question / Answer: |
| 3084. |
Mary
Las Vegas, NV
Age: 43
Nov 6, 2007
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Tax deduction for morgage
Jack, I am with you regarding the myth of "saving money via a tax deduction for mortgage interest". It is a myth and garbage that has been sold to the American people. It is spending one dollar to save the percentage of the dollar of your tax bracket, i.e., spend a dollar to save 28 cents in most cases. With the real estate market being so soft, it has actually devalued in many areas. Owning makes moving quickly impossible in most cases. Real estate does not always appreciate in value and often needs to be held for many years.
...
Yes, and even to "save 28 cents," the taxpayer is required to list his deductions rather than take the standard deduction which might save him more money.
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| 3082. |
Adam
Clearwater, FL
Age: 31
Nov 6, 2007
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Why buy? #3014
Why buy a home? For the considerable tax benefits! If privacy is the major concern, certainly Jack is right about only renting a home, but Jack, you should not overlook the tax benefits of owning real estate.
...
Many, many others besides me have said you should never take out a mortgage for any so-called tax benefits. That's a myth. Further, it makes moving on short notice very difficult, if not impossible.
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| 3072. |
Wendy
Richardson, TX
Age: 43
Nov 5, 2007
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I agree with Keith #3234
I'm always wondering if I've done enough to (legally) protect my privacy...while I still can. We all know the laws about what you can do and cannot do any longer or must now also do are constantly in flux. However, if you've already done something and established relationships with providers of services or whatever, usually, the new laws don't affect you. The point I'm making is that, in the US, we are only ONE major national security incident away from practical martial law when it comes to privacy. It's not a matter of IF, but WHEN. So, if you haven't LEGALLY applied or have been slow [to] institute the techniques in HTBI, the other books JJL has written or on this site, get busy before it's too late! If the laws change, much like they did after 9/11, it may be too late to do some things or harder than it already is. I'm glad I did it because life feels much more safe now that I have and WHEN things change, I'll be able to adapt quickly.
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| 3057. |
Stan
Atlanta, GA
Age: 42
Nov 4, 2007
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Article about escaping the job trap.
Article about escaping the job trap.
http://www.greenuniversity.net/Green_Economics/jobtrap.htm
Submitted Link #1: http://www.greenuniversity.net/Green_Economics/job...
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| 3033. |
Gina
Fort Worth, TX
Age: 25
Nov 3, 2007
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PO Boxes
Jack,
My husband and I want to get a PO Box and put it in the name of an LLC with us as authorized users. From what I read in your book we will have to use our real home address to do this and wait till we move and not update it. My question is, should we forward the mail we currently receive at our home address to the box? Or should we stop mail service to our home address permanently without forwarding, and notify all the appropriate parties of our change?
...
I never recommend filing a PERMANENT forwarding address, and even a temporary one may cause a problem. You can let mail coming to your home address slowly die out, no?
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| 3024. |
Keith
Port Saint Lucie, FL
Age: 44
Nov 2, 2007
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Do it now for protection and peace of mind later
What a life changer! Upon cleaning out my grandfather's basement after his death, I discovered books like "The Right to be left alone" and "How to be Invisible". Out of curiosity I read both. Wherein the former was full of a lot of opinions, the latter was an actual "How to" book. As I never thought about a "coming storm.." I couldn't FATHOM the peace of mind that would come as a result from aligning my life with Level 2. Upon selling my home and renting, obtaining three ghost addresses that lead out of the country and using a nominee, I felt a bit odd at first doing all this-it was like some sort of game-staying ahead of "the Man". But one day (and there may have been MANY more that I didn't hear about) Uncle Sam came a'knockin' and I was nowhere to be found. I am pleased to not find myself on the web under any search engine. Mr. Luna, Thank you for sharing these marvelous ideas with us! Most of us are trusting individuals and would like to think that "it can never happen to us", but preparing for that one event or that day when someone comes looking for you or that clown walks up to your door carrying parcels and balloons, well, you know the rest. Thank you.
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| 3022. |
Tina
Saint Augustine, FL
Age: 43
Nov 2, 2007
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Instant Messenging Responses
Thank everyone for their responses. I appreciate the support for my truly unnerved sense of things related to IM. I'm happy to know I haven't developed some kind of unhealthy paranoia but have been come fanatical about my privacy and am aware some things just aren't safe. This is one of them. Again, thanks, everyone for your savvy and supportive insight and input!
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| 3021. |
Elliott
New Orleans, LA
Age: 20
Nov 2, 2007
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Blogger.com Addendum
Using a nominee starts the anonymous account off right, but to keep it anonymous you'll need to make sure you aren't seen to connect from your home IP. A combination of Tor and HTTPS should be sufficient, or a series of random public hotspots with HTTPS to the site. This way, the account isn't connected to your finances, by virtue of the nominee. Then, your traffic and access to the blogger site is never connected with the rest of your IP trail through the use of Tor or the public hotsopts (or both), and protected from nearby snoopers via the SSL encryption built into HTTPS access.
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| 3017. |
Thomas
Bronxville, NY
Age: 49
Nov 2, 2007
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BLOGGER.COM: Anonymous webmasters??
After reading the wonderful piece in last Friday's USA Today about senior citizens and other making big money off Google ads by creating their own free websites via Blogger.com, I wondered if you can set one up without revealing your actual identity.
Asking this as I am exploring the creation of a consumer review type site and would want to reamin 100% anonymous. Is that at all possible with Blogger.com???
...
Yes, if you use a nominee.
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| 3016. |
Elliott
New Orleans, LA
Age: 20
Nov 1, 2007
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Instant Messaging Response
Things like that are why I always recommend open source software. Your Linux installation isn't spying on you. Your Pidgin Instant Messenger isn't spying on you. That's because there are lots of people looking at the code every day. I've said it before and I'll say it again: you can't trust closed source with your privacy. Also, the protocol itself isn't bad: just the proprietary implementations that the corporations use.
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| 3015. |
Scott
Mission, KS
Age: 38
Nov 1, 2007
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Instant Messengers
With the possible exception of Hush Messenger I wouldn't trust any IM software... and I'm not sure you should trust Hush Messenger either. I'm a software engineer and I've worked in and around the guts of Windows for years now. Instant Messenger programs use what I consider to be an alarming number of system resources in order to perform the fairly simple task of posting messages to a central server. It would be very easy for these service to spy on you and your computer. What good is encryption if every keystroke you typed was forwarded along with the message? I don't mean to be paranoid, but if Yahoo and MSN are willing to spy on traffic it's a very quick jump to spy on keystrokes as well.
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| 3014. |
Don
Conyers, GA
Age: 41
Nov 1, 2007
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Buying a house with out a mortgage
JJ,
My wife is not up for living in an appartment or a trailer.
Do you have any ideas for buying a house with out a mortgage in my name?
Paying CASH is not yet an option.
Don
...
Why buy? You get the same thing by renting, and without the headaches.
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| 3013. |
Elliott
New Orleans, LA
Age: 20
Oct 31, 2007
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Instant Messaging
As the resident proponent of encryption, I feel the urge to speak up regarding the subject of instant messenger software. The first thing to know about it: all of your communications pass through a central server (very much like email). Unless you take specific precautions, all of your communications are sent cleartext, or unencrypted (also very much like email). However, IM is worse in one regard: the server does always know when you're online, and what IP is connecting to it. The thing to remember, though, is that IM has options for encryption as well as email. There is an open source IM client that works on all the major protocols called Pidgin (formerly Gaim) that runs at least Windows and Linux, and probably Mac too. It has an encryption plugin, enabling you to encrypt conversations with people who also use the plugin. Also, as a side note, planning for your security and privacy is easier if you assume that all service providers are out to compromise your privacy. IM protocols aren't any worse than email except in one regard: they know when you're online. Other than that, they're still just servers you can't control that can be assumed to be logging your traffic. Encrypt, Misdirect, and Obfuscate as usual and you're fine.
Submitted Link #1: http://www.pidgin.im...
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| 3012. |
Richard
Albuquerque, NM
Age: 40
Oct 31, 2007
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re: mortgage=American dream
"It's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe in it" - George Carlin
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| 3011. |
Jon
Everett, WA
Age: 28
Oct 31, 2007
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Re:3005 - Security of IM
IM is completely unsecure, even the clients from the big providers. I've used a sniffer before to see what people on my network were IM'ing about.
MSN Messenger, while I use it, has horribly vague terms and conditions that go so far as to say they can monitor and act upon any content sent through IM, including disclosing your IM conversation.
If you had a great idea for a new product and told your friend about it over IM, Microsoft could read it and run with it. My employers have always used IM, though only one actually setup their own secure IM server and client. The words "secret" and the "internet" are mutually exclusive in my book.
...
I totally agree with Jon, who happens to be an expert in the field.
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| 3010. |
Theresa
Franklin, TN
Age: 43
Oct 31, 2007
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mortgages/Tina (#3005)- messenger
First- I want to amen the wisdom of not buying real estate until you can pay for it. Our "dream", while not quite a nightmare, has severely limited out options for privacy.
Tina- You are not being paranoid; I think you answered your own question. You're leaving the front door wide open.
I struck up what I thought was a very innocuous friendship with a gal over the internet on a very benign website.
I've never activated messenger but whenever I logged into the site, there SHE was. She would send private messages. I think she has no life outside of sitting in front of her computer.
I realized she had some mental instability and backed off and if I visit that forum, I never log in.
Under NO circumstance would I ever active a feature on my computer that volunteers when I'm online. Too many freaky people out there.
Trust your gut, Tina...you're spot on.
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| 3009. |
Steve
Summerville, GA
Age: 43
Oct 31, 2007
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Privacy with mortgaged property?
I, like most people these days, would unfortunately have to get a mortgage in order to buy any real estate. If I go the customary route and get a mortgage in my name, is there any way that I can later hide the true ownership of the property, short of paying off the mortgage? Like through a quit claim deed or some other means of titling the property to a nominee or someone else? Or is there some way to give ownership of the property to someone else on public records, while still paying your mortgage?
I have an LLC now, but from what I understand, that will not help me if I am having to finance an asset.Thanks.
...
I have never, ever, recommended buying real estate when you cannot afford to pay for it. Not only is renting often cheaper and less stressful, it gives you the option of moving to another state or country on short notice. Buying a home you cannot pay for may sound like the American dream, but for some, it is more like the American nightmare. (The same applies to financing a vehicle. Don't do it.)
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| 3008. |
Jennifer
Saint Cloud, MN
Age: 31
Oct 30, 2007
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Thank you for my new Life!
JJ, I want to thank you for such a great site. All of the posts have been helpful in getting to a better point in my life. I want to thank you for recommending Kitty McMenemy for the LLC service. Her suggestions and encouragement in my own troubling situation of an abusive spouse have been instrumental in keeping by my children and myself safe. She proven on several occasions to be reliable and trustworthy - something that was hard to grant to another person due to the previous situation that I was in. We have been 'invisible' for about two years now and look forward to another 40 years of peace and quiet. Although the journey to privacy has been bumpy and difficult at times, it has been worth the journey.
...
Note: To those of you who already have at least one LLC, check this site on November 1st. I have asked Kitty to make a temporary special price for previous LLC owners and I think she's gonna do it ...
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| 3005. |
Tina
Saint Augustine, FL
Age: 43
Oct 30, 2007
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Instant Messaging
I should probably know the answer to this question but does instant messaging compromise privacy in a specific way? If so, how? A friend of mine wants to send me an invitation to Yahoo! Messenger but, frankly, IMing wigs me out because it's like your computer is open to the world even more so than "always on" broadband. It seems like it's like keeping the front door to your house wide open. Am I just paranoid?
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| 3004. |
Dean
Austin, TX
Age: 52
Oct 30, 2007
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Steve #3001:
Another option is to get a truck with a camper on the back. In Texas, you only need to register the truck, no the camper, so only one registration to deal with.
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