I finally received my W-2 form this past Wednesday so as soon as I can I am going to pay my tax preparer a visit. First thing I did with my W-2, I always do this, was to go to MSN Money and use their Tax Estimator. I was surprised to see how much I will be getting back, I have to wait for my preparer to do his thing to be 100% sure after all the calculator is just that, a calculator. I also was very surprised to see just how little I would get for my stock losses, about $300 dollars more. I then went to bed sad and kicking myself for being such an idiot but then I had an epiphany. Instead of claiming the $2,217.80 I had in losses on this year taxes why don’t I wait for the year when I have actual gains.

Here is an example, lets say that I have $2000 dollars capital gains this year 2009, I then can use $2,000 from my 2008 losses to offset my gains, I am not really sure if I can then carry over the remaining $217.80 into the next year.

The limit you can claim is $3,000 dollars, if you had $4,000 dollars in total losses then you can carry the rest into the next year because you were over the limit but what if you were under the way I am. I am assuming that I won’t be able to carry over the $217.80 from my example because it’s under the limit but that is just an assumption on my part, so then my question becomes, do I have to claim the loss this year because it is under the $3,000 dollar limit?, nothing that I’ve read has answered that question. If there are any tax experts reading this post and I am wrong please feel free to let me and everybody else know. Only one way to really be sure and that is to ask my tax preparer when I go see him. This issue just became a bit more complicated than I thought it would be, stay tuned.

It’ that time of the year when I reveal how much I saved for the last six months of 2008. I am not a rich guy by all means so I have to save, save, save as much as I can. I save $50 dollars from each paycheck I get doing that I managed to save $1,100. Here is the breakdown, $650 from my paychecks, $250 from my last paycheck when I was on my 9 day week and didn’t spend that much, and $200 from all those coins in my Coin Counting Jar. This time around I know exactly what I am going to do with it. Things being the way they are at the moment I am going to put it in the bank and maybe transfer some of that into my ING account. The $1,100 I saved for the last six months of 2008 is less than the $1,400 I saved the last six months of 2007 but I will take it anyway.

The beginning of a brand new investing week, hopefully things will be better than last week for me. My account was down $291.25  for the week. Things could have been worst, I could have lost $300 dollars. I can believe sometimes  how good I am at picking winners.

I had no trades last week.

My investments, 15 Bidu Inc (BIDU) shares, 50 Dow Chemical Co (DOW) shares and 100 Allied Irish Banks PLC (AIB) shares.

The first 403-B/DCP report of the year was good and because of that I thought that things might be looking up but I was wrong. Things quickly went south and that is where we stand at the moment. I don’t know about you but I have this sense of Deja vu for some strange reason, anyway here is the report.

I thought this was the new year that we all were waiting for. What happened?, it is beginning to feel like it’s 2008 all over again. Today is a holiday so the market is closed, I think, but it will reopen tomorrow. To make a long story short, my account was down $249.10 for the week and I am not happy about that one bit but I do know that there is nothing I can do but take it one week at a time.

I had no trades last week.

My investments, 15 Bidu Inc (BIDU) shares, 50 Dow Chemical Co (DOW) shares and 100 Allied Irish Banks PLC (AIB) shares.