Mercari and Temu

Posted on April 13, 2023 by Aunty

Everyone has heard of eBay and Amazon. Those two are the internet giants of online shopping (or maybe just Amazon is the giant). Free shipping, great deals, and finding items to fill our needs and wants.

However, my daughter’s mother-in-law gave me a real nifty pair of bling rubber slippers – but they were one size too small. Fortunately, it still had the info tag, which I searched on Amazon and eBay. No luck. A google search turned up a site called Mercari.com.

Hmmm. This was uncharted territory but it looked like eBay without the traffic. The bling slippers were listed at $3 with $6 shipping from a seller named Mixit. I took the chance, signed up with a user name, password, etc. and ordered it. Lo and behold, it came in brand new, tags on, perfect condition, and fast!

Temu

And then, while sitting in the dentist chair getting my teeth cleaned, my dental hygienist, the loquacious and beautiful Liane told me about Temu.com. She said that it is just like Amazon, but cheaper. And shipping is free for the first 3 orders so take time filling up the cart before finalizing and paying for an order. Temu.com took over Alibaba, the Chinese version of Amazon and thus it sells discounted items with more discounts.

Granted, this was a one-way conversation because my mouth was open and Liane’s fingers and probes were restricting my speaking, but I did manage to ask “what kind of stuff they sell?” And she said “Everything”.

So, I went home and checked it out.

At first, it looked like cheap stuff – like what we used to find at the Dollar Store (when we had that one in Hawaii Kai). But then, they had stuff like solar lights (which is my favorite) and flexible garden hoses (which I like), and Dremel blade and sanding attachments, skin tag remover stickers, sewing clips, gardening stuff, and after awhile, I was so tired of looking, I stopped adding things to my cart, took out some stuff, and hit the pay button. I had 10 items which totaled $36 with free shipping. I wasn’t expecting much, and it did take awhile to get to me, (10 days) but the other day I had a big package delivered with all of them in good condition and felt like I did a big score!

I was VERY happy with this order – but I did notice that some of the prices went up (if I wanted to re-order) but I actually don’t need to re-order anything. Temu also likes to send me emails and today, I had a “gift” email which was a choose it game, so I played it and chose window #1. This opened up another window of choose a box and I won a 25% discount on one item of my choice, which they immediately doubled to 50%! So of course I scrolled until I found an “expensive” item which was a human sensing solar wall light that was already discounted 46% ($17) and with my 50% discount, I paid $8.74! I might be hooked. And I hope free shipping is NOT just only for the first 3 orders.

It has been fun. But I need to take a break from online shopping. My garden needs weeding and house needs cleaning. And I know, as I go about my daily tasks, I will find that I need this or that. And if Amazon or eBay doesn’t have it, I can also look at Mercari.com and Temu.com. If they don’t have it, then it is not meant to be. Or I have to pay full price – B@(%?*&#!

A shout out to Liane, my favorite dental hygienist at the awesome Dr. Hideki Kurokawa’s office.

Who are you?

Posted on August 25, 2021 by Aunty

Several posts ago I wrote about a statement I came across by Shelly Wilson. “I am a spiritual being having a human life experience.”

It is a really really hard concept to get because it feels like I am a human being that has spiritual insights, rather than vice versa. And being human really limits what I can do. It also boggles my mind and would take the biggest leap of faith to live as if I were a spiritual being and observe my human behavior and quirks as an experience rather than reality.

However, my friends and family know that I am weird and I subscribe to all kinds of financial, self improvement, health and well being sites. Some very conventional and useful, i.e. cooking with Nagi from recipetineats.com, some controversial, many blog sites of friends and friends of friends. Some are naturopathic, some are strange.

Today, I got an email from Nick Polizzi of Sacred Science about a video series called Inner Alchemy. As a teaser, we get 3 parts for free. The 1st part was the question, “Who Am I?” It is a short 7 minute video with Nick talking about that query. The assignment is to take a few minutes and write down our own answers.

I liked the exercise. Maybe you will too. And that’s my post for today.

Do you have a mortgage?

Posted on April 25, 2020 by Aunty

Many people of Aunty’s age have paid off their home mortgage. Those are the smart and sensible ones. I, on the other hand, have kept on refinancing and will be 90 years old by the time my mortgages are paid off.

Aunty’s real estate investment in the Ala Moana Hotel isn’t doing so hot because tourism has dried up to a trickle and may drop to even less than that if our State’s newest thinking of putting ankle bracelets on all incoming visitors to monitor their movements comes to pass. Meanwhile, tenants can’t pay their rents if their livelihood is based on tourism.

Dismal

Ahhhhh. For sure.

Financial gurus are screaming about safe havens and putting your money in gold IF you were smart enough to pull your money out of the stock market in time. Aunty almost always makes the wrong decisions in the stock market and is a forever optimist who gets smashed.

However, because of the current virus pandemic and disruption to all things financial, unprecedented opportunities are being offered to offset the worse case scenario of defaults, bankruptcies, and homelessness. Small business can apply for loans that may be forgiven if funds are used to pay payroll, rent, etc. The government is sending out free money to individuals and married couples. Unemployment benefits will get a boost of $600 per week – which means you might even get more being unemployed rather than while you were employed.

Silver lining for Aunty

My mortgage lender is Provident Funding. It is a a no-frills lender with easy log in. I can view my loans all in one place and get as much info on them that I need. Recently, they added COVID-19 financial assistance relief applications to their website. I read their FAQs, and then clicked on the application link. It was a super simple form asking if I wanted temporary (6 months) or permanent relief, and the reason for any hardship. Click and submit. That was last night, and this morning, I got a notice to check the status online.

I got a “Forebearance Plan Offer – Suspended payment for 6 months” for my loans! This can be rescinded at anytime by me. The only negatives are that it will hit my credit score and that I will be 90 and a half years old when it is all paid off. A small price to pay for a current 6 months of freedom from the biggest bill each month.

Everyone is helping

I have 2 friends who are totally in the stay-at-home mode. I call them the Rapunzels. They have adjusted to this well because their sons do all their grocery shopping and errands for them and maintain the 6 feet rule and stay out of their house.

There seems to be more kindness going around nowadays. At first, young people seemed angry and big trucks would swoosh by Aunty’s car as if they were pissed at me, a little old lady who caused their lives to change.

Recently though, people are more patient and considerate, and I think they are smiling but hard to say because we all have masks on.

It is such a strange and defining moment in our lives the way 9-11 was. Maybe we will all be better for it after it is over and learn to value the simpler and slower way of living. I needed this in my previously hectic helter skelter life of incomplete projects and too many things to do. I wake up without looking at a clock and read the newspaper from cover to cover daily. When the all clear is given I hope to continue this peaceful stressless lifestyle.

And, for 6 months, I can pretend that I was wise enough to pay off my mortgage already.

Bitcoin in your Retirement Account

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Aunty

Aunty might be considered weird because I do things differently. I think I was different from birth, much to the chagrin of my poor oriental traditional mother who struggled with the stigma of being a divorcee (at a time when no one was divorced) and worked hard to support her family of 4. She was strong, independent, and strict. I was spoiled, lackadaisical, and lazy.

She never chased a hot stock tip, would only play Keno in casinos, voted Republican, and believed in being debt free while keeping her money safe and sound in bank accounts and solid stocks. I, on the other hand, spent like there was no tomorrow, got into a mountain of debt in my 20’s, jump from investing guru to guru, went all in on options (just before the 1987 crash), love the craps table, vote for Independents, and occasionally bounce checks without feeling too terrible.

I am NOT a person to follow. However, if you have the belief that money is just a tool and not some special commodity that has to be protected, then use it to invest depending on your risk tolerance. Cash flowing real estate is for conservatives that want to grow a solid class of asset that can be passed down, exchanged, and give peace of mind. The problem with real estate is that it takes a substantial amount of money to get started.

A gift from our government

Aunty’s number one advice to anyone – young or old – is to have a Roth IRA. It is a gift from our government, allowing us to put money away for our golden years with unlimited growth and ZERO taxes throughout. If you have enough in your Roth IRA to purchase cash flowing real estate, you could set yourself up for monthly rental income that can be drawn out without penalties or taxes after age 59 1/2. There are rules that must be followed to maintain the sanctity of the IRA but it is well worth the effort, imo. If you don’t have enough to do that, then please consider investing some of it in crypto currencies, i.e. Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.

The reason I suggest using a Roth IRA (or regular IRA) for bitcoin investing is because you don’t have to file a tax return or pay taxes on the investment. The IRS rules for reporting gains and losses on cryptocurrencies are evolving because it is so new. In an IRA, you can buy, sell, make a profit, take a loss, exchange between currencies and build up a war chest for your future, without reporting it. Perfect for a cruiser like Aunty.

Aunty used to use BitcoinIRA.com for that purpose. However, they required at least $50,000 to open an account. I couldn’t open my kids accounts with them because of that [they may have lowered the minimum opening amount]. Their trading fees of 10% per transaction were super high, though they were very professional. They had a break up with their custodian, Kingdom Trust. It was rather nasty and I just rode along and by default ended up with Kingdom Trust.

Thus, I now use Kingdom Trust for bitcoin investing in my Roth IRA. It turned out to be a good default. $500 is the minimum opening! This is great because the kids can now have IRA accounts there. Transaction fees are a flat $150 – big savings on large buy/sell orders but steep for small orders. Instead of having fees taken from IRA account balances, you can set up an outside bank account or credit card, which is much better because IRA funds are precious. IRS rules on IRAs allow this – another gift from our government!

If you do open an account with Kingdom Trust, use it to buy crypto currency rather than letting it sit. Monthly fees are charged so just using it to park your IRA funds is not a good idea. It will take some getting used to filling out docusign forms to deposit, withdraw, buy, sell, etc. but the folks at Kingdom Trust are very nice – and many times I get the same person helping me on the phone, which is also nice.

What is Bitcoin? Truth is, Aunty doesn’t really know

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are difficult to define and many people think they are a sham. There is nothing that backs them up in value, so they are considered fiat currencies. Did you know that all “real” currencies such as the US dollar, Euros, yen, etc are also fiat currencies? Their value is based on nothing but faith in a government.

Aunty doesn’t really understand blockchain technology and the basis for bitcoin but does believe in using it as a tool for potential explosive growth. Proponents liken it to when the internet first appeared back in the 90’s with the World Wide Web. This was before Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. No one understood it in the beginning and now it is part of our daily lives.

Safe or sorry?

My mom (also known as Granny) would probably not have invested in bitcoin if she were still alive today. It isn’t for most people because of the great unknown associated with it, but I would strongly recommend it to everyone, in a Roth IRA, with Kingdom Trust using just 10% of available assets. Because the possible potential is gnormous. The downside would be a 10% loss in your portfolio.

I have an extreme fear of heights and avoid crossing bridges over freeways or hiking and climbing cliffs. I also have a fear of missing out on winning big. With cryptocurrency, the greatest fear that I have is choosing the wrong cryptocurrency so I stick with the more traditional ones such as Bitcoin BTC, Ethereum ETH, Ripple XRP, and now Ethereum Classic ETC. To follow the prices and keep up with the news, I use Coindesk.com. I also use the Blockfolio app on my phone to get a picture of the holdings that I currently have.

The biggest mistake I have made in this venture is getting too greedy. Set a “sell” target and stick to it. Two years ago, Ripple (XRP) went from 17¢ to $3.30. It has since returned to a range near 20¢. If only I had sold the 200,000 coins that cost a bit over $3,000 and sold at its peak, I would be sitting pretty today. Ah well. I did eventually sell as the price of Ripple slid down much too quickly and made enough profit on the trade to cash out and withdraw the initial investment, but the “if only” continues to haunt as a good lesson about when to sell.

Aunty is also afraid of riding roller coasters and bitcoin investing is like being on a roller coaster with feet on the ground and a computer screen in front. I also tend to buy at the wrong time but the prices move up and down so much, it works out well enough.

Ready, Fire, Aim

That is the name of a book by Michael Masterson, a guru that Aunty admires. Perhaps I need to learn to aim before I fire. I am working on it but not with much priority. I do believe, whatever order we do things, or the choices we make, we need to fire – sooner, rather than too late.

Cash or mortgage explained

Posted on September 20, 2019 by Aunty

A friend of our has a small remaining mortgage (~$65,000) at 2.75% interest. Monthly payment is almost $1000/mo for 7 more years.

Aunty thought that paying this off with available funds would be a smart move because then he won’t be paying $1000/month anymore. However, a visit to a trusted financial advisor (Jason Wong of Shiraishi Financial) changed that strategy because Jason said that the interest cost was so low, it would not be a good use of funds to pay it off and would result in lost opportunity to grow money. This sounded a bit confusing and it was bothering Aunty because she didn’t understand what that meant.

Until… a recent email post from Paul Tamashiro. Aunty doesn’t really know who Paul Tamashiro is. She just subscribes to his almost daily email updates because he used to have current mortgage rates at the end of each post. Well, he doesn’t have that anymore, but his articles are pretty good, and this one was excellent. It was titled “The Opportunity Cost of Paying Cash”. Aunty’s comment about this follows the article.

Here it is:

THE OPPORTUNITY COST OF PAYING CASH

When you pay cash for a property, you are missing out on the opportunity to earn a rate of return on that cash. In the illustration below, Option 1 is to pay cash for a $200,000 house. Option 2 is to use $100,000 of cash, and a $100,000 mortgage. If you go with Option 1, you’d be losing money by giving up the ability to earn a rate of return in an outside investment (such as stocks, bonds or another real estate property). If you go with Option 2, you’d be losing money by paying interest. You’d lose money either way.

These are the two questions you could ask yourself in order to find out which option would cause you to lose the least amount of money:

Question #1: What would be my after-tax interest rate if I used a mortgage? Mortgage interest may be tax deductible. For example, a 4.5% tax-deductible mortgage for someone in a 24% income tax bracket may only cost 3.42% after-tax (4.5% minus 24% tax benefit = 3.42% after-tax cost). For more details, please see my article called, When is Mortgage Interest Tax Deductible?
Question #2: What would be my after-tax rate of return if I keep my cash invested? Please see a financial advisor for more details on this.

If your rate of return on investments is greater than the after-tax cost of a mortgage, it may make more sense for you to use a mortgage and keep your funds invested.

Please contact me for more details, or if you’d like for me to run a cash vs. mortgage analysis for your situation.

Source: CMPS Institute

A better way to hold money in the bank

Posted on June 4, 2018 by Aunty

If you are a saver and have a little nest egg put away, or a person who believes in having cash in the bank just in case a great deal comes along, then you know how piddly the returns that banks give on your money. Something like one-tenth of 1%.

Somehow we have been conditioned to believe that money in the bank is safe, and maybe it is, but what if you could do better? Also, why is it, with the recent increase in mortgage rates, our savings rates have remained the same?

A recent post from E.B. Tucker of the Strategic Investor spoke of how interest rates are on the way up, and how to take advantage of it using government money.

The US Treasury is in debt for $21 trillion and is willing to pay anyone willing to “loan” them money, at interest rates that beat the banks. For example, $20,000 sitting in a bank savings account at .01% will yield $20 annually. Lending that $20,000 to the US Government for 4 weeks at their current rate of 1.59% will yield $259 annually (if you keep rolling it over every 4 weeks). How safe is it? As safe as you believe our government can pay.

For this reason, E.B. Tucker invests in the shortest term of 4 weeks. At the end of each term, the principal and interest are deposited back into your bank account, ready to use or deposit again. 3 month yields are 1.80%, and 6 month yields are 2%. The longer the time frame, the higher the interest BUT interest rates seem to be rising, so shorter terms are a better play on this strategy.

How to do it

The first step is opening an account with the US Treasury. Here is the link: Treasury Direct website. Complete the forms which will then link to your bank accounts. Here is a link to a guided tour of the account. It is rather easy to do. Choose either individual or entity accounts. A personal trust account defaults to an entity account, rather than to an individual account.

There will be a layer of security checks such as choosing a picture and captioning it as well as being emailed an account number (write it down). You then log in with the account number that was emailed to you. A one time passcode will be emailed to you for the first time. After that, your own password is the valid one.

You are now ready to participate in US Treasury auctions! After you are logged in, choose “BuyDirect” from the tabs at the top of your account page. Choose “Bills”. This will take you to a purchase information page with all the available short term bills in chronological order. Choose the one with the term (Aunty chose 4 weeks) and the date that you want (Aunty chose this week).

Enter the dollar amount that you wish to invest and designate if you want it to automatically re-invest after the 4 weeks. For this first time, Aunty has decided not to do this, but will probably have it enrolled in scheduled reinvestment in the future when it feels more comfortable.

After you have chosen your term and week, click submit. This will take you to a page that asks you to confirm this transaction (as in, are you sure you’re sure?)

Congratulations!

Confirm submit, and it is done! After each auction, Treasury bills will show up in your account with the corresponding interest rate and maturity date. Four weeks later, it redeems the bills and your principal plus interest is deposited back into your bank account. Cool!

You can participate in as many auctions as you want, though you must submit each one separately. Do NOT back out of a page or you will have to go to the home page and log in again.

To see a Tentative Auction Schedule of U.S. Treasury Securities, go to Announcements, Data and Results – though this is a spreadsheet of tiny letters and numbers that Aunty could barely read.

The process will seem daunting, but it just takes a bit of time to learn. It also feels good – lending money to our government, and getting paid for doing so.

Update, August 11, 2018

Aunty linked her bank checking account and invested $5,000 in a 4 week treasury bill. Rather surprisingly, only $4993.08 was swept out of the account. Just before the 4 weeks was up (time flies so 4 weeks is a great term), Aunty opted for the automatic renewal for one term. At the beginning of that 2nd term, $7.23 was deposited into the account by US Treasury. Hmmm.

Then, after the 2nd term expired, and Aunty did not opt in for a renewal, $5,000 was deposited back into the checking account, and all was good! It was perfect timing because Aunty really needed the funds.

This is an excellent strategy to park money short term and earn more than the banks’ piddly interest on savings.

On Financial Advisors, CFP

Posted on March 26, 2018 by Aunty

Because of the original nature of this website, Aunty has been asked if she is a financial planner or advisor. Nyet, no, negative. No license, and no desire to take control of other people’s money. We have been propositioned by a few bonafide financial planners to control our money, but so far none of them has been in alignment with our goals, needs or plans.

Naks with smarts

Aunty has a good friend Naks (pronounced knocks, short for Nakayama) who is one of the smartest people I know because whenever we get together to talk and we differ, he always says, “You right!”

LOL, it’s not that Aunty is right. It is that Naks has the ability to avoid useless conflict whether he agrees with the speaker, or not, and that is what makes him wisely smart.

Last week, Naks called to say hello and we began talking about his new retired lifestyle. He is actually in pretty good shape financially, with more than enough to live on, and retirement funds that he was thinking of juggling around. Enter into the picture – a financial advisor, CFP.

Group participation, please

Please comment below if you have a financial advisor and what you think of them, how they have done, etc. because this is a relatively uncharted area for Aunty.

The following comments are only Aunty’s opinion of CFPs.

A few years ago, a couple of CFPs came to Uncle and Aunty representing an annuity firm. Annuities sound wonderful. You give them your thousands of dollars forever, and you get paid a decent return, forever. Usually it is 5%, sometimes 6%, sometimes even 8%. Some have set rates, some have fluctuating rates – anywhere from 0-13% depending on the market.

Aunty was not interested. The reason was that these bright good looking young men acted like they knew everything and were on top of the world with their very nice cars and homes in the best areas along the California shoreline. They were making and spending a lot of money on doodads.

Proof is in their own spin

They brought along charts that showed what the return could compound to and how wealthy we would be in 10, 20, 30 years from now. More charts that showed how much could be drawn out and still have the assets multiply. Their commissions, they said, were reasonable and up front. Results were guaranteed. Nothing was as safe as annuities. What they didn’t say, but they did flash was that other people’s annuities bought them their BMWs and ocean front houses.

A hidden plan for a sale

At another financial seminar that hyped about taking care of retirement needs, we filled out a questionnaire about our current financial picture and listened to an interesting presentation of what retirement life might be based on social security, income, needs, choices. Most people were in good shape, and all would be hunky dory, until our health begins to fail.

Thus, the second half of the presentation focused on insurance. Do you have enough for this, or that, and what if you get sick, disabled, or need help? Insurance is something you need to have in place BEFORE you need it, so the push was on to buy it today, or else….

The biggest pitch was for Long Term Care Disability Insurance, and Uncle and I bought into it. It was rather expensive and set to go up as we got older, but it irked me. It felt like reverse gambling – insuring that you would have your bets covered if you hit craps, but you weren’t even throwing any dice yet. And, if you never needed it, you “lost” all of those premiums to the insurance company and agent. After 2 years of paying thousands of dollars, with potential increases as we got older, we terminated our plan and saved money.

*Update: Aunty has recently purchased a hybrid type long term care insurance with a death benefit from Jason Wong of Shiraishi Financial Services. It took a LONG time to decide after several meetings and potential policies, and different schedules, costs, etc. The one that Aunty decided on had HIGH monthly premiums for 10 years, without increases, and then after 10 years, NO premiums are due. This policy will cost $150,000 in total but will payout $300,000 worth of long term care. If Aunty passes without using any of the long term care benefits, $300,000 will be paid out to beneficiaries, so double the payout of what was paid in. Aunty feels a great financial burden has been lifted from her family’s shoulders if she should become incapacitated in the future. Using a C Corporation has made it even sweeter because premiums are an expense that can be deducted. (C Corp post coming – one of these days.)

Everything has a spin

Years ago, we had put our retirement funds in mutual funds through our bank of choice. We chose our own funds based on past performance. Of course Aunty picked the most aggressive, Uncle chose a bit more conservatively. 20 years later, Aunty’s and Uncle’s portfolios were in sad shape, yet those mutual funds still had good looking historical yields!

The stock market crash of 2008 had not yet occurred, and luckily, we closed out the funds and transferred our sad retirement accounts into self directed vehicles before the crash.

Who is making money?

The answer to that question should be YOU.

A certified financial planner has to be licensed to take care of your money. To receive their license, they must go through courses, college, apprenticeship. They become the experts, the specialists, the qualified salespersons. Many of them are good (Aunty plays poker with one of them), some are not so good.

Sometimes they make good returns for you, sometimes they do not. Sometimes you might even be losing money. In any case, good or not so good, they are making money.

Hidden fees

Whenever something is bought or sold, a commission is collected from the client. Mutual funds, load or no-load, seem to be one of the favorite investment choices for financial advisors. That, or a basket of this and a basket of that. Quite a lot of choices, all with layers of unseen fees and many hands that get paid. The breakdown of those payments is not easily determined, and most people don’t even bother to ask about them.

Real estate is not in their vocabulary

Actually, one of the biggest reasons that we do not use a financial planner is because they do not have cash flowing real estate properties in their arsenal. It is out of their scope, and there are no commissions or fees for them to generate from your acquiring real estate, unless they are also real estate professionals that are agents or property managers.

You make their world go round

In a perfect world, when you trust someone (a financial planner) with your life savings or retirement accounts, you should get exactly what you were told that you would get. They make money because YOU made money. If they lose your money, then they should be paying you back.

The problem is, we do not live in a perfect world. There are no guarantees. Past performance does not necessarily predict future performance. Most people are looking out for themselves, and not for you.

Who loves ya, Baby?

Remember that line, spoken often by Telly Savalas as Kojak?

If you feel inclined to go the route of having a financial planner and buying into whatever they have to offer, then please make sure that they care about you. You want someone who loves ya, baby. Or at least someone who is ready to sit down and listen to what you have to say, understand exactly what you want, and then design an individual plan to get you there.

If you get the slightest inkling that they are looking at plans for you that will benefit them the most, then get yourself out of their office and find someone else.

To each, their own

Naks, in his capacity to trust and believe, is vulnerable to vultures, but so far has been safe. He has hired a financial planner to manage his portfolio made up of stocks and funds. He seems to be doing okay.

Perhaps Aunty’s previous encounters and dealings with financial planners were not the norm, and Aunty is too jaded. Aunty really hopes that Naks has found someone who is caring and capable of managing his retirement funds well so that he can have an even better retirement for as long as he chooses.

Aunty’s favorite investment vehicle is rental real estate. Naks’ choice is for something on autopilot and no stress. The main thing is that everybody is able to live happily ever after, right?

“You right!”

Thank you, Mr. Nakayama.

How to buy Bitcoin in Hawaii

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Aunty

Bitcoin is something else. When Aunty first heard about it, it was not for real. Some made up internet money that was generated by computer power that took up a lot of electricity and buying it involved a lot of steps and verification in places that were new and unproven. And how could a regular person like Aunty with very little techno skills buy it?

Well, the easiest way was to open an account with Coinbase, but they pulled out of Hawaii in a hurry after our State regulators got too strict. After that, it became very difficult to buy bitcoin in Hawaii, and the tax bite on profits were quite high since it was considered to be “property”.

Using IRA money

Aunty used existing Roth IRA funds, transferring monies into an account with BitCoinIRA.com. VERY high initial fees, long processing times, limited trading times, and delays in orders being taken and recorded. It takes patience and is a bit complicated for things to get rolling, but it has been the best thing that Aunty has done last year because of the price movement of Bitcoin, and the zero tax status of using Roth IRA money in a Roth IRA account.

Matthew@BitcoinIRA.com was super helpful and had to answer Aunty’s many questions. It is almost like there are 3 layers of transactions – Kingdom Trust being the custodian of the account, BitcoinIRA being the sales/mediator, and Bitgo being the wallet that changes dollars to digital currencies and back again.

Once the money is deposited into the Kingdom Trust custodial account, the fun begins. Purchasing choices are the digital currencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, or Ripple. A call to BitcoinIRA starts the buying (or selling) process, then a confirmation call from Bitgo, and then in a few days, the transaction shows up on the Kingdom Trust account. This can take over a week. However, profit potential is huge because of the way these digital currencies move swiftly and spectacularly. Some people like to just hold on for the ride. Aunty likes to sell and buy, sell and buy. Sometimes it works out, sometimes Aunty sells too soon. But such is life and Aunty’s results have been pretty good.

Using a familiar broker, like Ameritrade

The easiest way to invest in Bitcoin is in a “stock” symbol GBTC. Anyone with a trading account (Ameritrade, ETrade, Schwab, etc.) can buy GBTC at its market price, which had a tremendous ride last year, going from $100 to over $3,000 in a matter of months. One share in GBTC represents .09 BTC, just under one tenth of a Bitcoin, held in trust. It is something like an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund), but not really.

The market price of GBTC is quite a bit higher than the actual value of .09 BTC, which is why Aunty hadn’t bought into it BUT a 91 t0 1 split will soon be taking place, for those that have GBTC in their portfolio on January 22, 2018.

When this happens, each share of GBTC will be worth about 1/1000 BTC, so the price will be less per share and much more affordable for the average investor. Instead of $2,000 per share, the split will shatter the old GBTC into 91 smaller pieces of .001 BTC that cost $20 per share if the market value of actual Bitcoin is at today’s pricing.

It will be an interesting split, that Aunty will want to be a part of. To do this today will cost about $2,000 each – maybe more, maybe less, depending on what the market is for the day. If that is too steep for you, wait for the split, and the cost per share will go down to ~$20 or so.

Opening a wallet of digital currency

Bitcoin now has more of a legitimate status nowadays. Some businesses accept payment in Bitcoin (Aunty saw a sign in the Aloha Crepes window in Kaimuki “bitcoin accepted here!”) You will be able to pay for your new Tesla car with Bitcoin. Because it is a digital currency with no ties to a bank, a digital currency wallet is necessary to transfer Bitcoin in or out as well as convert to or from US dollars.

Opening and funding a wallet is very difficult, especially in Hawaii, but it is doable. There are several wallet companies, but only a few that will accept us Hawaii people. Aunty was finally successful with Abra, an online app on Aunty’s iPhone that can convert dollars and store Bitcoin, as well as send out fractions of Bitcoin to other wallets for products or services. A small problem with Abra is that NONE of the Hawaii banks are acceptable for funds transfers, so you must have and get verification in a mainland bank account such as Wells Fargo, Citi Bank, Bank of America, etc. You can only fund a limited number of dollars at a time, so it will take awhile to have a substantial wallet account, but a fraction of a Bitcoin today is better than none, in Aunty’s opinion.

You can also fund Abra with your American Express card but that comes with very very high fees, so your best option is to open a mainland bank account so you can use it with your Abra account.

If you are willing and have the patience to open an Abra account, congratulations! It will be worth the effort. Just be sure to write down your security “phrase”, word by word, in order, and complete each step. Keep that in a safe place that only you have access to. Your Abra “address” is a very long account number of upper and lower case letters with numbers. This must be entered exactly as it reads, or one can use the QR code associated with the account.

Since this will NOT be an IRA or retirement account, your gains on crypto currencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc.) are subject to taxation, so every transaction must be recorded for your account. Especially your cost basis – what you initially buy Bitcoin for, and all subsequent buy/sell activities.

Spending Bitcoin transactions such as buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks must also be recorded, because spending Bitcoin is the same as doing a withdrawal or sale.

Using a wallet

Aunty used her Abra wallet to purchase USI-tech BTC packages. This was an investment with daily payouts based on number of packages purchased. However, USI-tech has recently halted its business side – the multilevel marketing side of signing up new people, and the purchase of more BTC packages. What will happen to Aunty’s existing account is still up in the air, but, like any other investment, the risk was limited to what Aunty could afford to lose without losing sleep.

If and when the dust settles at USI-tech, the Abra wallet will be utilized to withdraw Bitcoin from USI-tech, converted into US dollars, then transferred to a bank account.

Phew!

It IS a huge learning curve, and this is just a small view from Aunty’s perspective and experience. However, once you get used to it, you will love it because of the roller coaster ride into uncharted territories.

Aunty likes checking on her Bitcoin accounts with a free online app called Blockfolio. This is an app that you add the digital currencies that you are interested in, or it can act like your own personal portfolio tracker by entering the number and price of your Bitcoin/Ethereum/etc. purchases.

Another way to follow the digital currency movements is with CoinGecko. This website shows the most active digital currencies with links to price charts and info on each. There are over 1000 different digital currencies that CoinGecko tracks with very up to the date prices.

CoinDesk is where the latest news, buzz, and opinions from various digital currency writers abound. This site also has tutorials on what is Bitcoin, how it works, etc.

Aunty first decided to test the waters because of Teeka Tiwari of the Palm Beach Research Group. His passion and belief in digital currencies is contagious, so kudos to him for his lessons and recommendations. His advice is, even if you don’t subscribe to his service (quite expensive), buy a little bitcoin, even if only $100.

Aunty also says Buy Buy Buy!

But only invest what you can afford to lose.

For the average person, the hoops, verifications and requirements of establishing a digital currency wallet and custodian are overwhelming, and so, the simplest and most familiar way would be to buy GBTC with one’s stock account (i.e. Ameritrade). Today’s price is around $2,000, but it will drop substantially after the 91 to 1 stock split on January 22.

Buying with Roth IRA money in BitCoinIRA is having the best of all possibilities because of the no tax on profits, with no reporting necessary. The drawbacks are that it is a slow process to get going and the need to call in trades and wait for transactions to clear. So far, BitcoinIRA it is the only game in town that handles IRA funds in ways that will comply with IRS regulations, so it IS the one.

The beauty and wisdom of a Roth IRA and growing up

Aunty once did a post on opening a Checkbook IRA. That post is the cornerstone of Aunty’s legacy, and hopefully taken to heart by Aunty’s readers, young and old.

The Roth IRA is a gift from the government, but only if it is opened, funded, and used for growth. Aunty never thought she would be old – until she was called “Aunty” by some young kid on the bus. From that point, there was no turning back.

Other than having a younger body, Aunty wouldn’t want to turn back. She would lose her Ross Stores senior discount on Tuesdays and the long awaited Zippy’s Senior Discount card! Life is shorter, but better now.

Aunty is now old enough for Zippy’s!

Posted on September 2, 2017 by Aunty

card2 Aunty has been waiting forever to be eligible for Zippy’s Senior Discount Card. Last week, on her 65th birthday, Aunty got her card!!! Woohoo!

With photo ID and an annual fee of $20, Aunty gets 10% off all food and drinks – dine in, take out, bakery, and free parking! (Actually, parking is free but it was a good way to end the sentence.)

Happy Birthday to Aunty

To tell the truth, Aunty really doesn’t like birthdays – going to them or having them. Bah, humbug!

And spending a lot of money on a little bit of food is really not Aunty’s style, so when the kids asked “where do you want to go?”, the answer was easy. Her favorite, Zippy’s Sushi in Kahala (there’s another one in Pearl City).

We sat at the counter (which got much smaller after the renovation) and Aunty ordered her favorite sushi – hamachi nigiri ($11.55). The very nice waiter said he liked the salmon skin, so Aunty ordered the salmon skin salad ($7.05), which came on a bed of iceberg lettuce. Both were very very good, and perfect for a semi-light dinner, with a little room for dessert. (Jalna, you would LOVE the salmon skin. It reminded me of bacon, yum yum yum.)

Daughter on the left got the 2 choice teishoku ($19.50) with sashimi and salmon.

Kids on the right ordered the monthly special dragon maki sushi ($10.95) and the Chef’s special ($21.60) which came with assorted nigiri sushi, udon, and tempura (sorry, no pictures).

As we waited for the food to arrive, the sushi chef gave each of us a wonderful dish of deep fried battered salmon cubes in a cold vinegar ponzu sauce (SOOOO yummm!) and double bonus of some fish sticks that were cooked to crispy crunchy perfection.

Rosie’s John picked up the tab, saving money with Aunty’s NEW senior discount card, and Rosie treated Aunty to her favorite dessert – glazed donuts. With Aunty’s discount card, she saved 14¢ per donut – which doesn’t sound like much, but it was still – Wooohooo!

The best is yet to be

Becoming 65 is quite wonderful. Zippy’s senior discount, getting Medicare qualified (easy to do on the ssa.gov website), and also being eligible for a senior bus pass.

After a year, Aunty will be 66, and eligible for FRA – full retirement age social security benefits, regardless if Aunty has wages or income from other sources, WOOWOOHOOO!

It is great to grow older. It really is.

From “junk” to cash, with eBay or Amazon

Posted on April 9, 2017 by Aunty

stuff Aunty did a post about selling on eBay a couple of years ago. Aunty also took (paid some bucks) an eBay course from an eBay guru who was a power seller. Truth to tell, Aunty did not use much of the information since a lot of it was for true rookies and some were for power sellers that are willing to devote all of their time loading, selling, packing, and shipping.

Aunty is more of a “hobby” eBayer, selling rarely and buying more often than she should.

However, since reading Marie Kondo’s book on the magical aspects of tidying up, piles of things that have value but no appeal or use are growing like mushrooms on Aunty’s floor. These are things that are someone else’s potential source of joy and in new or great condition, so eBay or Amazon are great venues that act like stores for Aunty.

Amazon

The easiest store is Amazon.com. One of the requirements is that you have the UPC or ISBN or manufacturing code from the packaging (best if you still have the box). If you have that, it is as easy a matter of entering the condition, number of items available, choosing a few options, setting your price, and SHAZAAM!, your listing is live. Amazon’s process will fill in the details, pictures, specifications, and your store is on the web. Listings remain on the site forever, until they sell.

Aunty uses Amazon mainly for books. Fulfillment by Amazon is a service that actually stores and ships out your items – one day Aunty actually shipped out an entire bookcase worth of books that were not being looked at – fees are higher but it was like a wall of freedom with blessed space!

Customer service at Amazon is fantastic. If you opt for a phone call from customer service, you WILL receive a phone call within minutes! The only downside as a seller on Amazon is that selling price points are very low, and if you don’t set your selling price low or lower, your inventory does not move. That being said, it is a great place to find bargains!

eBay

It used to be painfully difficult to sell on eBay. All of the descriptions were the responsibility of the seller, and photo editing, sizing, and uploading were time consuming and laborious.

Now, with the advent of eBay’s mobile app (eBay), it is super duper easy to begin a listing with the app, take all the photos with your smart phone, save the listing as a draft, and then use your computer to complete the listing. If you are a 100% mobile user, you could complete everything with your phone but the screen is much too small for Aunty’s aging eyes and scrolling is a pain. A computer screen allows Aunty to see the whole picture and more wonderful options reveal themselves, iAo (in Aunty’s opinion).

One of the new options is to enter the ISBN or whatever they call the numbers that manufacturers use to identify their items. Entering this will fill in a lot of the vitals of your items for sale, almost like Amazon!

The advantage of eBay being an auction site rather than a set price “store” like Amazon is that you could potentially get big bucks even if you don’t realize that your item is super desirable. Listings are usually on for just 7 days, but can easily be relisted if it does not sell, all for free. Fees are based on sales price, so if it sells, you pay. If it doesn’t sell, you don’t pay.

eBay also started a service that is almost like Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon program. eBay Valet will provide a shipping code and easy form to simply list the items that you want to sell (only certain items qualify), put them in a box and take it to a FedEx store, where it ships for free(!) to a “valet” who will do all the work and list your item(s) for sale on eBay. If it sells, you get a percentage and they take a percentage. Fees are rather high this way, but the convenience is wonderful. They are very picky about what they accept and will return the items that they reject. Aunty can attest to that – the valet returned most of the things that were sent and only listed a couple of the items. The good thing is that it didn’t cost Aunty a single cent to ship out or receive back the rejected items.

Shipping ease

Another great improvement is the ability to print shipping labels that have all the shipment info on it from your computer to your printer. The shipping costs (Aunty only uses USPS) are slightly lower than going to the post office and charged against your PayPal account. After the shipping label is printed, just trim, tape on the package, and pop it in the drive through mail box! They look super professional, with all the correct info, tracking number, and addresses printed in crisp black font. SUPER easy!

Danger

The greatest danger in using eBay and/or Amazon is the potential to shop and spend. Using their services to get cash for things that need to go out of the house is really terrific. Aunty loves seeing her Paypal account (acts as a bank to collect and pay eBay transactions) grow a little and grow a little more with each successful sale.

It is better not to look or search for items of interest on either site because you WILL find tantalizing treasures that will whet your appetite and draw your finger to the BUY button. Aunty’s weakness is Issey Miyake.

Buy, if you must, especially if not buying will become a regret. If you later decide that it no longer gives you joy, add it to the pile of “mushrooms” and sell it on eBay.

by Aunty

a lot of stuff about almost everything

Category Archives: Wealth