Archive for March, 2009
Free TaxACT Deluxe Giveaway
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Uncategorized on March 31st, 2009
April 15th is right around the corner. Many of you have probably already filed your taxes. I know it’s late in the game, but TaxACT’s marketing department has given me access to 5 free copies of TaxACT Deluxe. TaxACT’s standard online filing is already free to you. Deluxe offers you access to additional information, free support if you have problems, and allows you to save your return directly onto TaxACT. TaxACT will provide email support to any type of user, but Deluxe users are provided with email support and/or phone support. They’ll archive it and next year, if you decide to use TaxACT again, you’ll have your return right there at your disposal. Also, having Deluxe allows you to file a state return for just $7, instead of the normal $13+. As a reader noted in the comments on the original tax post, you don’t have to pay for the state return until the end. If you’d like to, you can use TaxACT to derive your numbers, then fill in the numbers in your state return by hand and just send it in. This will save you money, in this case $7. I personally paid the $13 to have my return filed by TaxACT – it was worth that to me from a perspective of convenience. Do whatever you think is best based on your own time restrictions.
To be honest, I’ve never used the Deluxe upgrade. I have used TaxAct Standard for the last 3 years. I know you have a lot of options available to you when it comes to filing. I discussed some of those options previously in this post. Check it out. Since I’ve never used it, I can’t tell you to what degree it makes doing your taxes easier or more efficient. It would be great if I could get some feedback from someone that does use the TaxAct upgrade – or any of the upgrades really.
Anyway, if you haven’t done your taxes yet, and you’d like to be considered for the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post. If you’d like to leave a comment, but don’t care to be considered for the giveaway, just note that in your comment. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you’d help me out promoting this giveaway. Please email this to anyone you know that might not have done their taxes yet…and tell them to comment.
I’ll allow comments until midnight on Friday, April 3rd. I’ll draw for the winners on Saturday, and contact you via email sometime on Saturday or, at the latest, Sunday. If there are 5 or fewer submissions, obviously I’ll pick those commentors will automatically get the copy of Deluxe. Hopefully we’ll get these in the hands of some people that need them and they get this return thing knocked out. Thanks for your help and thanks for reading.
Pimp This Bum
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Uncategorized on March 30th, 2009
A few weeks ago, I posted a piece that questioned whether we should give money to homeless people. It was titled, Self-Reliance vs. Social Responsibility, and I essentially concluded that if you’re going to give money to the homeless, there are more efficient ways to do so than direct giving. You can seek out organizations that will use that money in an attempt to help get people the help they need, whether it be drugs, alcohol or mental illness. I was combing through some headlines at CNN.com the other day and I came across an article about one such program, known as Pimp This Bum.
A father-son team came up with the idea to ask homeless people to trade their signs that said things like “Homeless, hungry, anything helps” for ones that simply adorned the web address, www.pimpthisbum.com. Watch the video on the site if you have a few minutes. I was especially struck by the question, “do you want to get off the streets?” The man responded – part of me does, but part of me wants to lay out here and drink myself to death on the concrete. About 6 minutes in, the man (I think this guys name is John) makes an interesting comment, saying – the handouts don’t really help, because they don’t change anything. I don’t know.
The site raised around $50,000 to help this fellow – through donations directly on the site. They used the money to put him into drug and alcohol rehabilitation and are working to permanently get him off the streets. I’m going to use that word again, sustainability. They’re trying to find a sustainable solution. This shows, up close and personal, how much power the internet has to connect people. How well people can rally behind a cause. I really admire the people who founded and maintain this site, because they’re actually doing something to make the world better. They aren’t making a dime off of this project. They’re simply changing the world and making it better. People helping people.
Obviously, the name is offensive. I think that’s one of the strengths of the campaign, though, from a marketing perspective. It might offend you, or make you uncomfortable, or make you laugh – but it isn’t some high and mighty approach to make you feel guilty. It takes a concept that’s already commercial – the idea of “pimping” something – and cleverly applying it to a universal problem. Personally, I like it. I’m not offended by it. I’m too impressed to be offended.
I feel like I can tell that the site’s founders are thinking big. They’re making their splash by helping one or two local homeless people. They’re acting locally, at home where they can see it and feel it, but there’s a global feel to the project. This is the sort of thing that has the potential to grow if enough people get behind it. It’s a logical, sustainable approach, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that people can get behind, because it works. For myself, and for all of you, I hope we can attack something we believe in as intelligently as this site attacks some of the world’s oldest problems – hunger, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, etc. in one fell swoop. Check out the site, and let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading.
P.S. - Josh’s post on the Home Gym was included in a fitness blog carnival over at Weight Master. Check it out.
New Ideas from Dead Economists, Pt. 9 – Economics and the Law
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Economics, Reviews on March 27th, 2009
This is part 9 of my review of New Ideas from Dead Economists by Todd Buchholz. Here are parts 1 (Adam Smith), 2 (Thomas Malthus), 3 (David Ricardo), 4 (John Stuart Mill), 5 (Karl Marx), 6 (Alfred Marshall), 7 (Thorstein Veblen) and 8 (John Kenneth Galbraith) if you’d like to look back. Any of the entries can stand alone, of course.
At the law school I went to, every student is required to write what we commonly referred to as the R&W (for research and writing), which is basically the equivalent of what most people would call a thesis. We could write in on pretty much anything we wanted, as long as the professor we were working with signed off on it. There really weren’t many requirements, just that it be of publishable quality. Inspired by several of my professors who viewed the law through an economic lense and especially inspired by having been forced to read many, many legal opinions by Judge Posner during my time as a law student, I wrote mine about economics and the law.
Todd Buccholz briefly touches on just a few of the major areas where economics and the law have collided over the years. He begins his section with a quote from former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, saying that any:
“lawyer who has not studied economics…is very apt to become a public enemy.”
Buchholz focuses on four specific areas: the laws of tort, property, crime and corporate finance. I’ll start where he starts, with tort law, and specifically, negligence (I’m going to skip the others for now – possibly coming back to crime at a later date). Torts is a class that every first year law student is required to take, and I specifically remember studying this case, and reading Hand’s opinion, and the notes in the textbook afterward, because to me, his analysis makes so much sense. Buchholz gives us another great example that I’ll try to recreate in part here.
If someone slips on a banana peel and injures themselves, a lawyer will argue that the supermarket was negligent for leaving the banana peel on the floor and will probably win. I won’t bore you with the elements of negligent (yes I will – duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause, and damages). The question arises, though, should any person or business be held liable for any accident that arises on their premises? Buccholz’s example: A storm shipwrecks Gilligan and the Skipper on an otherwise deserted island. 200 monkeys also inhabit the island. The monkeys run a banana liqueur export business. While they’re peeling and squeezing the bananas, they leave peels out on the beach. Suppose Gilligan wanders around on the island and slips on a banana peel – should a court hold the banana business negligent? Probably not.
The key difference between the supermarket and the deserted island are based on probability and cost. The probability of someone walking in the supermarket is high, but on the island the probability is low. The cost works the same way. A supermarket can cheaply prevent having banana peels on the floor, but the cost of keeping a bunch of banana peels off of the island is pretty high. Judge Learned Hand used these factors to establish a formula for the economic analysis of negligence. He identified 3 key factors: (1) the probability of the injury (P), (2) the extent of injury or loss (L) and (3) the cost of preventing the accident (C). A person is negligent if the probable injury to the victim exceeds the cost of avoiding the accident. In algebraic terms, a person is negligent if, P x L > C.
Let’s say the probability that an accident will occur is 30%, and the loss will be $60,000, then if the cost of preventing the accident is less than $18,000, the person is negligent according to Hand’s formula. Based on Hand’s analysis, we shouldn’t waste money trying to prevent accidents that are unlikely to occur. Hand’s formula is basically Marshall’s (see part 6) cost/benefit analysis. It’s not exactly the approach that’s used today, but it provides the basic framework. Isn’t it cool that the guy’s name was Learned Hand? Let me know what you think of the approach by email or in the comments. Thanks for reading.
Selling Real Estate – Listing vs. FSBO
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Real Estate on March 26th, 2009
My wife and I are contemplating putting our condo up for sale in preparation for our upcoming move across the state. We met with a realtor and heard her pitch last night. She seems like she would do a good job. No offense to any realtors out there, but I’ve always felt they were somewhat interchangeable. As long as you have someone that’s willing to hustle and be available to show the house when they get called, they shouldn’t hurt or help the house sell all that much. Ideally the buyer will just find a place that they really like and buy based on the place, not the salesmanship of the realtor.
What having a realtor will do, of course, is streamline the process. They handle all the marketing of your place. They’re locked in to the multi-list service, which only realtors have access to. The multi-list isn’t as big of a deal as it used to be, as you can view just about any home out there on the internet. I think the internet is the place that people most commonly start their search. Besides that, realtors have the lock box system that allows realtors to show the house. Unless you work from home, you probably don’t have the time to show your home as often as the army of realtors in your area.
The realtor could help you through the rest of the process as well. They’ll set up the closing, and make sure there’s someone there who understands what needs to be done. I had an active real estate license in college, and we had a special fellow with a broker’s license and 30 some odd years of experience that would help us run a closing properly. That’s another thing about going with a realtor – it’s the division of labor at its finest. Why should you spend your time selling your house when you make more money at your job than you’re saving? Plus, you’re allowing the people who do this on a day to day basis to do what they do, rather than trying to specialize in a type of transaction that most people will only have a hand in a few times over the course of their lives.
On the other hand, the transaction itself really isn’t that complicated. Most real estate transactions use a basic form contract (from the National Board of Realtors), and the realtor fills in the blanks. Realtors do tend to know the housing market well, because they’re constantly shopping it. It’s the kind of thing you can certainly learn yourself. You’ll need to know a few things about the real estate law in your jurisdiction, but typically it’s information that’s fairly accessible.
As far as marketing goes, if you’re trying to sell your house as a FSBO (for sale by owner), it is possible to market your house (without a realtor) beyond putting one of those red signs in your yard. More and more home searches now start on the internet. If you have a FSBO, one popular website is FSBO.com. This site, and others like it, aim to allow you to sidestep the process of signing with a realtor and attempt to market the property on your own. Of course, you may have to do other things. You’ll need to make some type of literature, perhaps host open houses and show the house to potential buyers.
Why go to the trouble? Because when you sell your house through a realtor, you have to fork over 6% of the purchase price. Of course, the realtor won’t get all of that. The commission is typically split 4 ways. The four parties involved are two brokers and two agents. The commission is split equally between two sides, the listing side and the selling side (3% and 3%). Those commissions are then split again, between the agent and the broker. It ends up like this: listing broker gets 1.5%, listing agent gets 1.5%, selling broker gets 1.5% and selling agent gets 1.5%. Of course, it could be split as little as one way if the listing agent is also the broker and the seller of the property.
If you look around, you can probably find an agent that’s willing to cut the commission to 5%. If you ask an agent that’s not willing to cut the rate about this, they’ll probably tell you that you get what you pay for. I don’t know. In theory, having the lesser commission will give them less of an incentive to try to sell your house. If they have two similar properties and one has a 5% and the other a 6% commission, the realtor would obviously have a greater incentive to push the higher commission property.
My take
We’re probably going to end up listing our place with a realtor. Not because of the complexity of the transaction or the special knowledge of the market the realtor has, but simply because they’ll have more time and energy to show and sell our house. The division of labor makes sense. Ricardo’s Law of Comparative Advantage makes sense. I think we’ll end up leaving it up to them. The fact that we have a condo instead of a single family just contributes to the case for getting a realtor. My wife and I may still try to rent our condo, too. If you have any thoughts or insight please share them in the comments. Thanks for reading.
Update: Somehow I forgot to mention Zillow.com for people who’d like to sell on their own. Lots of realtors use zillow too, but it’s a place that more and more people are looking at real estate. Check it out.
Freelancing Thoughts and Resources
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Entrepreneurship on March 25th, 2009
I have a friend who lives in New York City and survives completely off of freelancing. He does a little of this and that. He’s primarily an actor, but also dabbles in teaching, dog walking, and recently started a personal training business. In order to live like this, you have to be something of a natural entrepreneur. Why live like this? Why forsake having a stable income? For him, it’s because he’s chasing the dream of making a living as an actor. He’s had his share of early success, but obviously he works in a wildly competitive market and likes to supplement his income however possible. With the unemployment rate on the rise and the economy in the tank, I’m sure many of us could pick up some extra cash on the side.
The question then becomes – how do I generate business for freelancing jobs? The obvious answer is networking. Put yourself out there in the particular area you’re pursuing side jobs in. Ask yourself what skills you have that may add value to others. What things are you willing to do that other people don’t have time to or would prefer not to do.
Of course, certain things lend themselves to freelancing better than others. Web design is something that springs to mind. Freelance writing would be another. Dog walking is actually a pretty good one, if you live in a city and have a different schedule than most working people. Lots of things will work. It’s something you can be creative with. Like any other business, identify an area of need and determine how your skillset can help meet that need. Freelancing is a way to be a sort of entrepreneur while also keeping the safety and stability of your job (unless you’re like my buddy who went full out freelancer). To amplify your chances of success, make use of the resources out there that are available to you.
One obvious resource is Craigslist. Craigslist is a great place to post for jobs. People that use Craigslist use it for a lot of different things. I found the car I drive on Craigslist and got a phenomenal deal. I’ve searched guitar lessons and foreign language lessons (if you have something to teach, post it!) on Craigslist. Consider starting here. It’s free, easy and it’s something that lots of people already know about. What it isn’t, is something you can use once and then sit back and watch the business roll in. A small percentage of your side business will likely come from Craigslist, or any site.
A couple other helpful sites you might use as a freelancer are sologig.com and guru.com. These sites are a great place to post your ad or to shop for freelance services. Freelancers should stick together. Check out both of these sites next time you’re looking for someone to do your taxes, need limited legal advice, or pretty much any type of consulting. You should also check out this very comprehensive list of freelancing resources. The list has things that will help you with billing, proposal writing, job posting, legal issues and more – check it out.
I’m sure there are other great sites out there for posting for freelancing jobs. I still think the best possible way to generate freelance business is shameless self-promotion. Don’t be afraid to talk about the fact that you do something you’re good at on the side. Tell your friends, they’ll tell their friends (hopefully), and hopefully your business will grow, one client at a time. It’s people helping people. If you already have a freelancing business or plan on starting one, you might check out this post regarding tax deductions for freelancers. If you have any thoughts or insights as to how to get started freelancing please leave them in the comments. Thanks for reading.
Bad Bank Assets
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Economics on March 24th, 2009
I believe in the free market. I believe that the government should allow markets to work as much as possible. Obviously, some regulation is necessary. More than anything, I think transparency is necessary. As an advocate of the free market, there are some things floating around that I don’t know how I feel about. For instance, limiting a companies debt to equity ratio. Risk increases as leverage increases, but this can also lead to higher returns. I believe that when businesses recover from the recession, they’ll be more risk averse and less willing to take on high amounts of leverage. The companies that keep leveraging, assuming they’re successful, might be rewarded and have the opportunity to grow or take market share from the safer companies. I think this is just the sort of area where we have to let markets work.
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new plan to get the banks lending again. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrote an excellent piece explaining that plan that was published in the Wall Street Journal today. I have no idea whether the plan will work, but the stock market soared today on the news. I have a couple of thoughts about the plan.
First, the plan is that private investors will help set prices. Government spending tends to be quite inefficient. Competition in the private market place tends to be the best way to set prices. Geithner understands this. Of course, private investors could already be buying these assets and they aren’t, so what will change? First, the government will equally match the investment of private investors – the public at large will bear risk equivalent to that of the investors. Second, the government will finance a large part of the transaction on favorable terms. This will essentially (hopefully) do two things (1) Add an incentive for private investors to risk their money and (2) Get banks to loosen the grip on their money and start lending to the public at large.
Getting the banks to lend is essential to our financial system. Businesses rely on lines of credit to operate. People rely on credit to buy homes, education and consumer goods (although they shouldn’t). The banks refusal to lend is restricting the money supply and creating a potential deflationary situation. Deflation, of course, would further slow spending because of the consumer’s incentive to wait to buy things until the price falls. I have no idea whether this plan will work, but it seems like it’s about the first thing that has made the markets happy in awhile.
Of course, markets were happy prior to the mortgage meltdown, too, and it meant nothing as to the overall health of the financial system. I try not to get too excited when markets have big days (like today – +497.48!!! WOO-HOO!!!), or too down on the bad days. I largely try to ignore what the markets are doing. If you have a sound investing plan and an allocation that properly fits your risk profile, you should be fine. Markets generally recover before the actual economy does. Hopefully today was a good sign. Don’t read too much into those day to day movements though.
While I think the plan can help, the level of government intervention into private markets scares me. How will the government know when to exit? How long will this go on? Recessions are part of a cyclical economy. I don’t think its possible to immediately stimulate an economy at all times. Plus, struggle forces people to innovate and find ways to survive. This is the strength of capitalism, and capitalism is the strength of America. I know the people making these decisions are smarter than I am. I hope they know what they’re doing. Let me know how you feel by email or in the comments. Thanks for reading.
On a personal note…Banking a Raise, etc.
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Uncategorized on March 23rd, 2009
I’m completely exhausted. My wife’s family was in town all weekend to attend (and subsequently celebrate) her residency match. We had a great time, but of course we stayed up late and got up early every day, leaving me spent (hence the short post). If you’re curious, my wife got her first choice for residency, Washington University in St. Louis aka Barnes-Jewish Hospital. It’s one of the top residency programs in the country and I’m really proud of her. I have mixed emotions about moving (I actually don’t do that well with change in general), but I think it should be a positive thing going forward. I have lots of family in the St. Louis area and she has some as well, so that’ll be nice. It will also be nice to be closer to the Cardinals;)
As far as the blog goes, we’ll have a variety of (hopefully) interesting personal finance issues to grapple with in the near future. We’ll either be selling or renting our condo in Kansas City, I’ll be transferring to a new office, Rachel will be starting a brand new job, we’ll be trying to move cheaply and easily, deciding whether to rent or buy in our new city, etc. We’re wrestling with whether this will be the place we settle and put down roots (my wife would really like to eventually move to Florida to be near her immediate family), or if it’s just another stop on the way somewhere else.
We’ll also be dealing with the challenge that comes with making more money. Going from one income to two will obviously leave us with more income at our disposal. We’ve gotten pretty good at living beneath our means on my salary, and the financially sound thing to do would be to “bank our raise,” that is, save the entire amount of her income. I can already see that’s not going to be easy to do, as we sometimes think about what we’ll do with the extra money. We’re no different from anyone else in that knowing we’ll have the extra income soon could psychologically alter our behavior. We’re trying to make good decisions in a bad economy, but it won’t always be easy. What to do with a little extra income is a good problem to have, of course.
I also think I made the decision this weekend to go from 6 to 5 posts a week. I’ll plan on posting every day M-F, but I’m going to drop posting on Saturday. I’m not sure yet if I’ll do the “This Week in Review” post on Friday or whether I’ll drop it altogether. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions in this regard. I love having the blog, watching it grow, sharing helpful information and learning about a variety of issues, but I’m not sure I can keep up the 6 posts a week pace forever. You know the word we like to use here – sustainability. I’d like to set a precedent that I can sustain over a long term. Hopefully I can try to deliver quality content here for as long as people are reading the site. I do feel like I have a lot of good ideas for the direction I’d like the blog to go in the future. Anyway, sorry this post doesn’t have more useful personal finance, investing and self-improvement information. Like I said before, I’m exhausted. As always, thanks for reading.
The Home Gym?
Posted by: Josh in Uncategorized on March 19th, 2009
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Josh, founder of Foundations Training in New York. Josh has been reading Consumer Reports and comparison shopping since he was about 13. He first entered the business world in junior high school when he began buying candy in bulk and trading it for people’s lunch money to finance his obsession with gadgets. He’s been a personal trainer in New York for about the last five years and recently went into business for himself. Hopefully he’ll be stopping by from time to time to give us a New York spin on fitness and/or frugality. Check out his site and stop by his new fitness blog.
So we all know that the economy is in the toilet. People are tightening their budgets and at some point they might ask, “Is my gym membership worth having or could I workout at home?” A few factors go into this, your workout tendencies, the current cost of your gym, and your available space (you need less than you think for a home gym).
As a personal trainer, my advice is to choose a setup that will encourage you to work out the most. With medical advances, we will be living longer and longer so it is imperative we take care of our bodies. So ask yourself, “What are my workout tendencies?” And be honest. If the daunting trek to the gym keeps you from working out, you might use a home gym more. If you are the type of person who needs to leave the house and its distractions to be productive, keeping a gym membership might be the better option.
I live in New York and have a 20 minute subway commute to the gym with a 15 minute walk to top it off. An hour workout is actually over a 2 hour commitment with commute. Even though I am a personal trainer, you can probably imagine that any time or weather-based excuse I can conjure keeps me from the gym.
The next consideration is the current cost of your gym. Some people have incredible deals through work or a college rec center and pay sometimes less than $20 a month. That is a great deal…if you are using it. If it isn’t convenient and you never go, it doesn’t matter if you are paying $5 a month, it is wasted money. My girlfriend was paying $40 at the YMCA which she never used. I know others who pay $150 for a swanky New York gym that they use once a week. Not a great move.
So the cost of your current gym needs to be considered against the cost of setting up a home gym. In my opinion, you need adjustable dumbbells (up to 50 lbs for most men or 25 for most women), an adjustable pullup bar (this one allows you to “work up” to a pullup if these are difficult for you), and a bench or stability ball. Be sure to check craig’s list, ebay, overstock, and amazon, all of which frequently have sales or free shipping offers that will enable you to cut costs. In my opinion, anything you need to do can be done with this equipment. I also got a series of workout videos called P90X (yes, the ones from TV, don’t judge me until you’ve tried them). It includes 12 workouts that combine core work, kickboxing, yoga, weight training, and cardio on a rotating basis. Warning: these videos are not for the faint of heart; they will kick your butt. There are several exercises that I can barely do, yet alone make it through with grace and ease. I highly recommend them, and I was able to get them for half their retail value by buying them on ebay. If the videos aren’t your style, I still recommend researching working out with dumbbells. There are countless exercises you can do with a set of adjustable dumbbells, and a book or online resource will expand your current possibilities and keep your workouts challenging and engaging.
I was able to find dumbbells and a bench on craig’s list for $100, bought the videos for $55 on ebay, and got the pullup bar with ab straps for $75, making my grand total spent $230. I have had this setup for over a month now and without having to make the commute to the gym, I have increased my workouts from 2 per week to 6 per week. My neighbor also works out with me and my girlfriend uses the system as well, so the total cost per person is just over $75, which is only 1.5 months of our normal gym membership costs. And we use it a heck of a lot more.
The last issue to consider is space, which many people list as the reason a home gym won’t work for them. My pullup bar can disconnect form the doorway and go under the bed. I have the dumbbells in the bottom of my closet, and the bench stands up in our coat closet while not in use. When I want to workout, I move the coffee table over and workout in my living room. My point is you don’t need a special workout room in your house. You can easily store and unstore these items as needed.
I sure you have deduced that I am a fan of the home gym. Gyms make their money off of convincing people they need a lot of bells and whistles to get a good workout (I should know, I’ve worked in a few). But the truth is your body only moves in so many ways. With a little creativity, you can get a full body, balanced, butt-kicking workout in your home for a fraction of the cost.
Live well.
Free and Cheap Legal Advice
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Frugal Living, Managing Finances on March 18th, 2009
Any attorney will tell you that from the moment you step on the grounds of your law school, your phone will start ringing with people asking you for legal advice on specific issues. Over the course of my brief career I’ve fielded questions regarding products liability, business formation, immigration, estate planning, family law (unfortunately), criminal matters (of course), various property and real estate issues, international issues, etc. You can pretty much name it and I’ve been asked about it. They do a good job of demonstrating this in the movie Rounders, with a conversation between Mike (the main character and a law student) and a store clerk on his delivery route that basically goes like this:
Store clerk: Does Steinbrenner have the legal authority to just move the Yankees? Can he just up and move them?
Mike: How the (heck) should I know?
Store Clerk: What, you didn’t learn that yet?
Mike: Nah, you get to Steinbrenner in the 3d year of law school.
Store Clerk: (nods affirmatively)
The truth is, I often don’t know the answers to the questions people ask me. It’s a great way to learn something, though. I honestly enjoy being one of those people that other people come to for advice. Maybe that sounds narcissistic. I like to help people, though. I like helping my friends, and I like learning new things – although I don’t necessarily like having to go digging for info if they happen to catch me when I’m busy. The law is very specialized, and there are lots of areas that I’ll likely never delve into, so it can be fun to take a look at different things/problems that people may have.
I got an interesting question earlier today, not necessarily about a specific legal question, but about good resources for taking care of legal issues you may have on your own, with little to no cost. I think there are a lot of issues that you can handle on your own. When possible, I think it’s a good idea to get an attorney, just so you can rest a little easier. I feel the same way about handling lots of things. If anything requires you to potentially appear in court, other than small claims court, you absolutely should hire an attorney. Many transactions and other things that require filing specific forms are best done with an attorney as well. This will also give you someone to blame if something gets messed up – like an insurance policy. If you mess up and lose yourself money on your own, there’s no one to blame but you.
I should say, first of all, that if your income is pretty low, you might check and see if you qualify for legal aid. Do a google search for legal aid and the name of your state. If you live in Kansas City, for instance, you could use this link to find out more about whether you qualify. Legal aid handles a variety of legal matters and will do a good job of handling whatever problem you might take to them.
A few of the sites that offer free legal forms are Nolo, Legalzoom and Free Legal Advice. Like anything else, use these sites with caution. There are some great resources here, but some of the forms may not meet the legal requirements of your jurisdiction. I have not personally used any of these sites. I have read (in Kiplinger’s) that Nolo is pretty good about telling you when you should hire a lawyer for your particular legal problem. I think a good rule of thumb might be this – if you’re sophisticated enough to assess how complex your problem is, and you’ve decided your problem isn’t too complex, and you’re familiar with the proper forms that will enable you to do what you need to do, then you might be able to handle a legal matter on your own. If you think it’s too complex for you to handle, it probably is. If you don’t think you can even assess the complexity of your problem, the answer is obvious – hire an attorney.
If you do reach the point where you feel you need to hire an attorney, make sure you get a copy of the fee agreement that outlines exactly what you’re paying for. When they bill you, request that they itemize your bill. If you challenge a particular charge, there’s a good chance you can get it reduced or taken off. The attorneys are going to want to get paid. Good luck. I hope this helps and thank you for reading.
Get the Scoop on Your Doctor
Posted by: Todd Metheny in Reviews on March 17th, 2009
When I was in law school I heard a couple of sayings quite a bit – no one is going to care where you went to school or what your grades were once you’re practicing. I’m not sure that’s true for doctors anymore, based on some of the new information that’s becoming available. I was flipping through the new issue of Money magazine and I came across the mention of the site Vitals.com.
Vitals is a site that compiles data on almost every licensed practicing medical doctor practicing in the United States. You can search by your location, the specialty you’re looking for, or even by your ailment. You can also look up a specific doctor by name and check out how long they’ve been practicing, where they went to med school or residency, how often they perform particular procedures and any incident of malpractice. The site also has the option of rating the doctors. Of the doctors we looked up, only one had ratings at this point. I assume this might change as the site becomes older and more established (although according to the site it’s been around since 2006).
This site isn’t without competition. There are several other similar sites, such as Rate MDs, Find a Doc, etc. As far as I know this is the only site where you can see where your doctor went to residency and where he/she has been published. This is a fun feature. That’s not to say that someone who went to school in the Caribbean is a lesser doctor than someone who went to school at Johns Hopkins, but it’s just another tidbit you can use to make your decisions. Always go with a doctor you feel comfortable with, regardless of where they went to school. It might be nice to know if your surgeon is always being sued for malpractice.
As a med student, my wife really liked this site because she could check out the doctors she knows, admires or dislikes. For one, she found out that one of her favorite doctors recently won an award for being one of the top doctors in a particular field, has been published 28 times in the last 15 years or so, and did her residency at Stanford. Another doctor that she works with always drops comments about Harvard as though he went there (but has avoided coming out and saying so). If the site’s information is accurate, he didn’t. Things like that are fun to check up on.
Another feature that we thought was pretty cool was the ability to request email updates from the site when something significant changes in your doctor’s profile. This will keep you in the know about what’s going on with your doctor. If you’re a lawyer, like me, and you see your doctor’s been sued for malpractice recently, you can avoid mentioning that you’re a lawyer – because deep down your doc will hate you once he possesses this knowledge;) If you’re particularly interested in whether your doctor is party to a lawsuit, there may be a site that takes care of that, too. In Missouri, this is tracked by a site called Case.net. Just type in a parties name and have the info at your fingertips. Anyway, please email me with other resources or leave them in the comments, and, as always, thanks for reading.
PS – The PFP was also included in the All Things Eco Blog Carnival over at Focus Organic. We were also included in The Carnival of Personal Finance over at Green Panda Treehouse. Check them out.
