Wise Finish

You have data you cannot afford to lose

If you are like the average computer user, you probably have gigabytes of: tax returns, digital photos, videos, e-mails, letters, documents, scanned files, saved web pages, family photos, home videos, etc.  Basically, you have “stuff” on your computer that you really do not want to lose.

Most people have inadequate backups

I would guess that maybe 50% of computer users back up their data.  And of that 50%, only maybe 20% of those (or 1 out of 10 users) have a backup system that is adequate.  What do I mean by adequate?  Keep reading.

What makes a good backup

Keep reading to find out what makes a good backup…
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So, you live in the United States and you have filed your federal, state and possibly even municipal income tax.  When will you get your federal tax refund?

A variety of things can effect when you receive your refund including:

• E-file (faster) vs. Mail (slower)
• Direct Deposit of refund (faster) vs. Paper Check (slower)
• Regular Tax Return 1040, 1040A, and 1040EZ (faster) vs. Amended Tax Return 1040X (slower)

When will I get my refund?

Read the rest of this entry »

So, you live in the United States and you have filed your state income tax.  When will you get your state tax refund?

A variety of things can effect when you receive your refund including:

• E-file (faster) vs. Mail (slower)
• Direct Deposit of refund (faster) vs. Paper Check (slower)
• Regular Tax Return (faster) vs. Amended/Business Tax Return (slower)

State Taxes

Below are links for several states that offer online or telephone status on the status of your income tax refund check: Read the rest of this entry »

I have used eBay for years to save a great deal of money on products.  I continue to do so because for many products, especially computer/cell phone parts and accessories, eBay often saves me a great deal of money.

I recently discovered a way to save even more money when shopping on eBay.  No coupon codes are required, and you can get anywhere from 3% – 41% cash back on products you purchase on eBay.

How does this work?  What you do is “stack” rebates to get substantial cash back from every eBay purchase you make.

Here’s where the rebates come from: Read the rest of this entry »

The Super Bowl is finished, the W-2′s and 1099′s have come in the mail.  Time to file my federal taxes for 2009.  Since my experience using Turbo Tax for the last several years has been a good one, I again chose it for 2009.  This year I chose TurboTax Deluxe Federal + State 2009 + efile to prepare my federal & state taxes.

Here’s my experiences and observations this year, broken down by the Federal and State returns (thankfully I did not have to file any city returns this year) Read the rest of this entry »