Note: I was technically supposed to post this earlier this week, but noticed that no one was signed up for today (plus I was super busy earlier), so I'm posting a bit late, under a throwaway account! Fair warning: I'm VERY verbose, so this will be long!
Section One: Assets and Debt
As I mentioned above, I make $56k per year as an administrator in higher education. My husband (K) just got a raise to making $155k per year. He works as a lawyer, has been in the workforce for about 12 years. I won't get into too many details but he works for a small boutique firm, not Biglaw. He also sometimes gets a yearly bonus of around $10k-20k but it's not guaranteed or anything like that. K and I have totally combined finances, so the below numbers are for both of us. I have a humanities PhD but I decided to leave academia and find an alt-ac job. My current position has good work-life balance (I never work past 5 pm), but pays terribly and my university is very badly run. I'm hoping to leave higher education all together in the future and am currently enrolled in a certificate program to try to make a career transition to instructional design.
The big elephant in the room is that my husband, K, makes a lot more money than me. When we first met, he was paying off massive amounts of student loans and making much less, and I was debt free with a lot of savings, so we both spent about the same amount. Now he makes 3x what I make and we are both debt-free, so the difference is much more noticeable. We do argue about money sometimes (more in the past), but the reality is that I have a humanities PhD and will likely never out earn him, and he knew that when I married him, lol. Because of all the labor I do around the house and in our lives to support him as he works a much more intense job, I was very clear that I believed we should split our finances equally as soon as we got married. We don't have separate accounts and we generally check in with one another whenever we are planning to spend more than $100. This system works for us for now.
I also want to address the question about parental or family support. Although I technically paid all of my own bills since I got my Bachelor's degree, my parents supported me a lot by paying for my flights home to visit at Christmas or in the summer as Xmas presents/birthday presents. My parents also paid for my undergraduate degree (and K's parents paid for his undergraduate degree as well). They also gave us about $15k to pay for our wedding.
Finally, my parents recently gave me $20k as an "early inheritance." They told me they plan to do this every year (depending on the stock market). We put this money into a brokerage. I don't consider my parents rich, as they both worked hourly jobs in health care my entire life (as a nurse and respiratory therapist - both with only associate's degrees). We never owned a new car, when we went on vacation we stayed in hostels , and shopped almost exclusively at Goodwill. But they scrimped and saved and now they have over $1 million in a retirement account. So I want to acknowledge my financial privilege in that I came from this kind of background. K's parents are similar.
Retirement Balance: $186k (combination of 401k, 403b, 457, 2 Roth IRAs, and taxable brokerage account).
Equity: None, we rent.
Savings account balance: Approximately $45k.
Checking account balance: Right now, around 8k.
Credit card debt: Right now, around $3k. But we pay it off each month with our checking account balance.
Student loan debt: $0. We finally paid off my husband’s law school loans (around $130k), last year. I didn’t have any student loans from undergrad (parents paid) and my MA & PhD were fully funded.
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: I’ve been working in my current field for 3 years. I started off making about $53k and got tiny 2% “merit increases” twice. Then in July my payroll title was changed, which triggered a required raise of about $2k. (I am dramatically underpaid).
Before my current position, I was in academia. I worked as a visiting assistant professor for one year at my alma mater (made $50k for 9 months of work) and before that I was a graduate student for 7 years. I was paid $18k-21k in stipends each year and my tuition & benefits were covered. Luckily, I lived in a very low cost of living area and this was enough for me to live on without going into debt. I got my PhD in 2017. Before I was a graduate student, I taught English in Japan for three years and made around $36k per year. In high school and college, I had random jobs that provided grocery/spending money, but I was lucky enough to have parents that paid my tuition and my rent in college.
I’m currently trying to make a career change (as you will see in my diary) and enrolled in a certificate program which runs from Autumn 2020 to Spring 2021 in order to help with that.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $7,634. This probably seems low relative to our joint income, but we max out our 401k (K) and 403b (me). I work for the state government, which means I’m also eligible for something called a Deferred Compensation Plan (457b). This is basically the same as a 401k but you can withdraw contributions and gains from the account at any age without penalty (of course, you still have to pay taxes). I also max this out, and the limit is the same as a 401k/403b - $19.5k. Also this number is before K’s raise is accounted for. It won’t increase until his end of February paycheck.
Other deductions - I have health insurance taken out (about $80 a month for me, K’s firm covers his premiums) and taxes. WA has no state taxes, so it’s only federal taxes. I used to have to pay $50 / month for a bus pass (K's was free), but I don’t pay any longer because I’m working from home during COVID.
Final note - the sum I mentioned in the headline includes a variable bonus my husband gets. My base pay is $56k and his is $155k (as of February 1). This year he also got a bonus of $20k, which is set up a bit strangely. About $4k of this was structured as a 3% matching contribution to his 401k and the rest was taxable income. In small law firms, it’s unusual to get any 401k match so this was nice.
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: None.
Any Other Monthly Income Here: We get some interest from our savings account… like $25 a month.
Section Three: Expenses
Rent: Rent comes to approximately $2,050 total for a one-bedroom apartment. Rent itself is $1886, then we have pet rent ($25 per month), bicycle parking ($15 a month) and water / sewage / gas, which is usually $120-150 (variable cost).
Renters insurance: $157.76, paid annually. $13 a month.
Retirement contribution: In addition to the 401k, 403b, and 457, which all come out before taxes, we max out our Roth IRAs. That means $500 each per month per person (for a yearly total of $6k each). As I noted up top, we match out our 401k and 403b (19,500 each) and our 457. My employee also offers a 7.5% match. K's employee offers a 3% match but it is included in his yearly bonus so it's not guaranteed (confusing).
Savings contribution: We put $500 per month into our emergency fund. We also put about $860 a month into our “sinking fund,” which covers large and small annual or sporadic purchases such as vacations, gifts, Amazon Prime renewal, car insurance and renters insurance, etc.
Investment contribution: $875 per month into a taxable brokerage at Vanguard.
In total, we save about 47% of our gross income. We can do this because we keep our housing cost low relative to our high income, we don’t have any debt remaining, we don’t have any kids or parents who need financial support, and we’re very privileged in a lot of ways. We are hoping to FIRE within 10 years.
Debt payments: None.
Donations: We budget $100 per month for donations, which includes one-time donations as well as some reoccurring donations. My husband does pro bono work as well. I would like to increase this by quite a bit, but I still have a hard time budgeting for donations because I spent 7 years living on approximately $20k a year. To go from that to making more than 10x that amount within 3-4 years is obviously something that I am very privileged for, but it is still hard for me emotionally to comprehend at times.
Electric: ~$50-100 (billed every other month)
Wifi/Cable/Landline: An extortionate $87.12 for slow internet that only works for Zoom calls about half the time. Do I really live in one of the tech cities of the future?
Cellphone: $170 (This includes both service and paying off two new iPhones. We could have paid them off up front, but it was actually cheaper by like $50 to go on a payment plan.)
Subscriptions: BritBox ($7.70), Spotify ($16.50), HBOMax ($16.50), We Hate Movies Patreon (my favorite podcast - $8.81). My parents pay for Netflix and my sister pays for Hulu, and we all share.
Gym membership: None. K and I both run and do yoga with YouTube videos. Before the pandemic, we went to yoga classes pretty frequently in person. I’d like to do some online synchronous yoga classes but find it hard to make time.
Pet expenses: Varies, but I budget $50 per month and also include an emergency fund for my cat’s vet bills in our sinking fund. She’s 11 years old and probably asthmatic, so I know her vet bills are going to increase over time.
Car payment / insurance: We own our car outright. Insurance billed yearly is $2,097, about $174 per month.
Regular therapy: $0
Paid hobbies: Nothing regular, sporadic language classes and art supplies.
Other expenses: Right now I’m doing a certificate to hopefully help with a career change. The total cost for tuition is about $5k and we already saved it up (included in our 'sinking fund') basically through spending less during the pandemic. I’ve paid two quarters so far, and the last quarter (due in March) will be a bit more - about $2.3k.
__________
Day 1
Morning: I wake up at 5:30 am. Ever since the pandemic, my sleep schedule has been shot. At first, I was so happy not to have to leave the house at 7:15 for my 45 minute bus commute and I slept in a lot. But the stress (and maybe getting old?) has made me an early riser, no matter how much I try to sleep in. I do value my early mornings with just me, my cat, and my coffee, though.
I start work at 8 am and begin by triaging my emails. I have a bunch of deadlines this week, so it’s busier than usual. My job tends to be very seasonal, and sometimes I have a ton of work and sometimes I have none and can work on other longer-term projects. I have a piece of toast for breakfast and place a Whole Foods delivery order for the following day at 10:30 am. We made a meal plan and put everything in the cart the day before ($117.36, including tip).
Afternoon: I have my lunch break from noon to 1 pm. It doesn’t really matter when I take my lunch break, since I’m salaried, but the others in my office are hourly so in the before times we used to always close our office during the same time. I have a piece of leftover delivery pizza and some spinach risotto that I made a few days earlier. I also have half a brownie – the last one from a batch I made a few days ago (K gets the other half). He also has leftovers for lunch.
I should say at this point that both K and I are lucky enough to have been working almost entirely from home since early March. An area near Seattle was one of the first places to get hit by COVID-19, and my state and both of our employers have been taking it very seriously ever since. Working from home hasn’t always been easy since we live in a 600-square foot apartment. Also, there is a three-story townhouse being built directly next door to us and I can hear the pounding in my dreams at this point.
Around 2 pm, I go for a 2-mile run. I feel like some money diarists tend to toss off things like “oh, I went for an easy 7 mile run,” at the drop of a hat, so I want to be clear – running for 2 miles isn’t easy for me; it’s exhausting, annoying, sweaty, and generally gross. Also I am very slow. But it has kept me sane during quarantine.
Meanwhile, my husband goes to our local pet store to get an enzymatic cleaner (our cat peed in one of our suitcases… I think it’s probably a lost cause, but it was basically brand new, so worth a try) and special weight-loss cat food. Our cat is an 11-year-old rescue from the Humane Society and she is a chonky girl. We had to sign a waiver when we adopted her, saying that we understood that she was very overweight, lol. Our vet recommended a special diet food, rather than just restricting her intake as we have been doing, so we will give it a try ($78). My husband also stops buy our local wine store and picks up two bottles. We’ve been doing a dry January, so this will be our first drink for a while ($27.53).
I have a phone interview scheduled for 4 pm – just a preliminary interview with an internal recruiter. It’s the first ‘corporate’ job interview I’ve ever had, since I’ve been in academia my entire life. I’m trying to make a pivot into instructional design / training and development. I’m just excited to get an interview. It seems to go pretty well, but who knows. They tell me they will probably get back to me by the end of this week.
Evening: My husband whips up a random meal of fridge remnants – pesto pasta with sausage and a fridge salad with feta and bell peppers. It’s pretty tasty with a little Sauvignon Blanc. During dinner, we play a card game we call gin rummy, although it bears no resemblance to the actual game. After dinner, I make a chocolate cake with orange buttercream frosting and we watch Cobra Kai.
Daily total: $222.89
Day 2
Morning: Up early again, a piece of toast for breakfast (very exciting). We’re out of eggs until our Whole Foods order arrives. I’m working on creating some tedious but necessary spreadsheets this morning.
Noon: Our Whole Foods order arrives around noon. Excitement! They’ve given us a half-rotten bag of romaine lettuce and substituted pecans for hazelnuts. I should probably just double mask and go to Trader Joe’s myself (our regular spot, only a 5-minute walk from my apartment). I’m just getting anxious about these new variants.
I have leftover meatloaf and spinach risotto again for lunch. Lots of meetings and more organizing spreadsheets in the afternoon. Around 3 pm, I go for my daily ritual - a 20-minute walk around my neighborhood. It’s still raining slightly but I need to get out. Halfway through the walk, I get an email from my apartment manager telling me the apartment will no longer accept debit card payments, direct deposit, or credit card payments for paying rent. In other words, only checks or money orders (?!). Ugh. Our lease is up in 4 months and we will not be renewing our lease. Our last apartment manager was a gambling addict who may have been stealing people’s identities, but by God, he kept things working. Ever since they fired him, this place has been going downhill.
Evening: I check my bank statements to update my budget spreadsheet and realize that I have been billed the wrong amount of rent. They actually charged me less than they should have. I don’t trust my apartment manager not to start charging me a late fee or something for this, so I call them up. They are baffled by how to fix this, which you would think would be the one thing you would want to get right, if you’re renting out apartments.
K cooks dinner – steak with a Roquefort sauce and glazed brussels sprouts. It’s from a French cookbook we recently bought and it is delicious. I work on classwork for my certificate program while he cooks. After dinner, I do the dishes and buy the 13th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I watch the first episode – lots of shocking twists and turns! I’m planning to watch the rest of the episodes together with my younger sister, M ($22.01).
Daily total: $22.01
Day 3
Morning: K has an 8 am dentist appointment, so he takes off early. He already paid for the work last month, so there’s no charge. I have a piece of toast for breakfast and get to work checking my emails. It’s 8:20 am and the construction crew building a townhouse next door is blasting mariachi music. I’m glad someone is having fun. At least the sun is coming out.
Someone at work has made a critical error, but it wasn’t me, thank God. I was the one who found out about it, but it’s still going to cause a big old headache for me. I’m ready to be done with this job. K and I go for a run so that I can exhaust myself enough to no longer be furious about said careless error.
Noon: I have leftover spinach risotto and meatloaf again – exciting. I’m busy at work but frankly, not a lot going on other than that. Still no word about fixing my rent payments. I’m not really willing to pursue this any further at this point.
Evening: I start making chili (Turkey Chili from the NY Times) and cornbread (from my new cookbook, Jubilee). K is doing some work on our investments when he announces that, somehow, a transfer was scheduled from our checking account to our savings account of $55k (?!) We obviously don’t have $55k in our checking account, so we start frantically trying to figure out what’s going on. Numerous phone calls later, we still don’t know if that was a hack, if my husband somehow mistakenly scheduled the transfer himself, or if the bank messed it up. Either way, it doesn’t seem like any harm was done since the bank with our checking account just declined the transaction. But it seems really strange and worrisome. We get to work changing the passwords on all of our accounts, just in case it was some kind of hack.
After dinner (and chocolate cake), I have a Zoom happy hour with a local friend. We occasionally see each other outside but it’s nice to have a longer chat from the comfort of our living rooms. We both love murder mysteries, so we signed up for a service where a company sends us letters with clues and we try to solve the mystery together. It’s a fun way to stay connected and look forward to something during the pandemic. The service costs about $15 per month, but I paid for it in lump sum for 3 months, so it’s not included in my budget above. I drink some wine and we vent about work (we work at the same place) before getting started on the puzzle.
Daily total: $0
Day 4
Morning: I sleep in a bit, which is nice. Get up around 7 am. My parents are both getting their 2nd vaccine today – they’re both in their 70s and I am so relieved. I send my mom a “congratulations on being vaccinated!” text and we chat for a bit. I have leftover cornbread with honey and butter for breakfast – soooo good.
Work is not particularly exciting today, but someone sends me a last-minute request for something that does not need to be so urgent. I feel annoyed. Still no word from the interviewers on Monday, and I’m beginning to suspect I wasn’t selected to move forward. Too bad. K pays for a Wordpress website for the year (it’s a work-related website, but sadly his work doesn’t reimburse him). It costs $92.48.
Noon: The mariachi music is particularly loud today. I stand out on my balcony in the sun for a while and watch the workers. It’s been interesting seeing a house go up next door in real time, especially since I’m at home all the time. The workers are balancing on the top of the third story wall without, as far as I can see, anything like a safety line. It seems unsafe, but I presume they know what they’re doing.
We booked a cabin for the upcoming weekend in the Hood Canal region of Washington to do some hiking and birdwatching. I want to be as safe as possible and not go to any grocery stores or risk spreading COVID in any way while I’m there, so I place another grocery order with Whole Foods just for some special treats for the weekend. The cabin has a small kitchen and a grill, so we’re planning to make a fancy steak salad on Saturday. I order chips and hummus, some fancy cheese and meats, Tate’s cookies (I’ve heard a lot of good things about these), a baguette, and the ingredients for the steak salad. I also order a few staples I forgot in our last order, like sweet potatoes, more coffee, and half and half. It comes to $87.41, including tip, but that does include like $30 worth of steak. For some reason, I can’t order a small amount of steak online, so I’m planning to freeze half of it for later. (I include this purchase in our vacation fund budget, rather than under our regular grocery budget).
Around 2 pm, K makes a quick trip to our local wine store to buy an Oregon pinot noir and some port to enjoy at the cabin ($59.45). This store has an outdoor walk-up counter where you can tell the owner what you’re looking for, and he brings you some options (the store is way too small to allow customers to enter during Covid). It’s fun to chat with another human being, even briefly.
Evening: After work, we spend a little time rebalancing our investing and retirement accounts. We decide to put more money into bonds and a little bit into REIT’s as a hedge against a potential crash or recession in the future. Then I start making dinner – Broken Eggs (Huevas Rotas) from the NY Times cooking site. You basically cook the potatoes in a skillet in water, spices, and olive oil, and then sauté them to crisp them up once the water evaporates. Then you add onion, lots of garlic, and finally some eggs. It is delicious. I eat it with leftover cornbread while watching RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 with my sister – we watch the first two episodes. It’s full of twists and turns. A note about this – we have an elaborate procedure for watching shows together developed during quarantine whereby we start the show at the same with an earbud in one ear, while FaceTiming. I also have chocolate cake, of course.
Later, I get an email that I’ve signed up for HBO on Amazon Prime. I definitely have not. I text my mom, who shares my account, and she tells me she signed up by mistake. I cancel right away and luckily they won’t charge us for it.
Meanwhile, K is doing an online Japanese language class over Zoom. He’s been interested in learning ever since we went to Japan last January. I lived in Japan for 3 years so I was able to take us around to a lot of more obscure places and he really enjoyed the trip – it was a blast.
K starts a YouTube yoga class (from Do Yoga With Me – my favorite channel) and I join him for part of it before bed around 10 pm.
Daily total: $239.34
Day 5
Morning: I get up around 7 am and we go for a run first thing. I prefer running early in the morning because there are fewer people to avoid during COVID. We do a different route today – it’s longer (3 miles) but has fewer hills. It’s a slog, as always, but I feel good when I get back right around 8 am. I jump straight onto my computer to start checking work emails and my husband makes us avocado and egg toast for breakfast - it is absolutely delicious.
We talk about how our bathroom smells distinctly mildewy (yay for being a grown-up because I guess this is what we talk about now) and we buy two big buckets of DampRid on Amazon ($26.60). I’ve found this to be a necessity in Seattle. Mid-morning, I take a break from work and start packing for our trip to the cabin.
Noon: I have leftover potatoes and cornbread for lunch, and my husband has the leftover chili. We finish getting ready to leave and head out right after lunch, taking a half day. The only problem is that I have attend a meeting at 3:30 pm, so we head out hoping to get there in time. Our cabin is near Quilcene in the Hood Canal region of Washington, about a 2 hour drive or a 2 hour ferry ride + drive. We are initially planning to take the ferry both ways, but realize that we mistimed the ferry departure, so we drive the whole way instead. Luckily, there’s little traffic mid-day, and we arrive at our Airbnb around 3:00 pm.
The Airbnb is beautiful! It’s a small cabin handmade by the owner, whose house is next door. It’s very rural, with a beautiful view. It’s tiny, but has a little kitchen and a waterfall-style shower with river rocks on the floor. It’s a great place to get away for a short time. Luckily, it also has good reception and I’m able to sit in on my meeting with no problems. My husband also does a little work, and then at 5 pm we’re free!
In our planning, we decided to get takeout on Friday night, since the little kitchen isn’t designed for any serious cooking. We call ahead to a local restaurant to order burgers (one of only 2 restaurants in the whole town). It’s around 5:30 pm and the place is deserted. It’s a microbrewery, but they tell us they haven’t been making beer since COVID-19 hit. None of the workers are wearing masks when I walk in, but they put them on when they see I’m wearing one. I pick up our order - a few bottled beers and burgers and fries ($49.52 including tip).
Back at our Airbnb, we watch Big Trouble in Little China and enjoy our very messy, but delicious, burgers (it costs $4.39 to rent). The movie is very campy but fun. I love silly action movies, as you will see with my other viewing choices. We wrap up the night in a very exciting fashion, eating chocolate cake and watching old episodes of the original Star Trek.
Daily total: $80.51
Day 6
Morning & noon: When we wake up around 8 am, the weather is looking thankfully clear and even sunny! We were expecting rain, so we’re really glad. We decide to go hiking today, and we head out before even having breakfast, with snacks and lunches packed. Our first destination is a hike called Mt. Zion, but unfortunately, we run into enough snow 2 miles before the trailhead that we decide to turn back. We don’t have any traction for our Subaru and don’t want to risk getting stuck on a very narrow mountain road. Instead, we drive another hour or so to the Lena Lake trailhead, a very popular and less strenuous trail. It’s about 7.5 miles roundtrip with 1200 feet of elevation gain.
By this time, it’s around 11:30, but luckily there is still parking. It’s a great hike up, and we run into relatively few people. We always mask up whenever we pass anyone, as does about 50% of the people we meet. The others… not so much. Around a mile from the lake, we start to run into snow. It’s turned into a beautiful sunny day, and I’m loving seeing all this snow! It’s a bit slippery, but not too bad. We make it to the lake mid-day, and it’s super jammed – there’s only a small viewpoint accessible, so everyone is crowded in there. I feel a bit uneasy with all the unmasked people, but we manage to find a spot away from the crowd and sit down to eat our lunch of apples, chips, and energy bars. There are a ton of robber jays there (Canada Jays) which try to eat our chips. It is fun watching them, but I’m annoyed to see some kids feeding them – it’ll just make them that much more aggressive. Bad trail manners.
On our way back down, we get stuck behind a group of 5 unmasked adults, who refuse to cede the narrow trail to faster hikers. I’m a slow hiker myself, so, to be clear, I’m not angry at slower walkers being on the trail but have some self-awareness and let people pass! especially if you’re going to go hiking in a big group during a pandemic! We finally get back down and head back to our Airbnb.
Evening: Back home, we explore some of the trails our Airbnb host has set up around his extensive property, and then relax on the deck. The sun is breaking through the clouds and it feels wonderful to sit out in nature and feel the sun on my back. We open up a bottle of wine and have a few pre-dinner snacks (more chips and hummus). For this night, we brought ingredients to make a steak salad. Our Airbnb host has kindly set up a charcoal grill for us, so we grilled the steak and toast some bread on the side.
We eat dinner while watching the truly terrible Jean Claude Van Damme movie Bloodsport and finish up the very last of my chocolate cake. It’s amazing that anyone ever let Van Damme act… or should I say ‘act.’ I also have a Tate’s chocolate chip cookie or two, accompanied by a little port. My husband and I are truly very old people at heart, so we finish up the night watching a few episodes of Columbo.
Daily total: $0
Day 7
Morning: Unfortunately, K had insomnia last night, so he sleeps in pretty late. I drink coffee in bed and enjoy looking at the view out our big windows. Once he’s up, we get packed up and write a thank you note for our host. It was a great stay.
One of my big hobbies is birding and K enjoys wildlife photography, so we go out to look for some lifers! (The first time you see a new species of bird). Did I mention we are very old people in (relatively) young bodies? We first go to Dosewallips State Park and see some bald eagles, great blue herons, lots of various ducks, and a flock of Canada Geese, which, strangely, includes a domesticated gray goose. He’s much larger than the Canada Geese and seems to be watching over them. It’s kind of cute. Unfortunately, a lot of the birds are too far from shore to be seen clearly.
Our next stop is Point No Point (I love all the sad & disappointed names that early Westerner explorers gave places in the Washington/Oregon coast), a popular birding spot. We see a ton of birds here, and I can understand why it’s so well-known - Red-Breasted Mergansers, Western Grebes, Common Goldeneyes, Pacific Loons, and a few others I can’t identify yet. Most excitingly though, we see a whole pile of otters! They’re lounging around together on a rock just offshore and a ton of people are watching. We watch as they all slip off the rock and go hunting in the shore. It’s my first otter sighting in the wild, and it’s so cool! We also see some seals and possibly a sea lion. It’s a great spot for wildlife. We eat some snacks (hummus, chips, some sliced meat & cheese) before we head out.
I really want to come back to this area another time and explore further, but K has decided that we need to get back home in time for the Big Game. We take the 3:00 pm ferry back to Seattle ($16.40) and get home around 3:45 pm. I veg out at home while my husband watches football. He’s a Patriots fan but he still loves Tom Brady (??) so he’s happy to see Florida win. I don’t understand sports team loyalties at all, but whatever, I’m glad he’s happy. We order from a new Indian place called Spice Box and get vindaloo, roganjosh, and vegetables pakora – so tasty ($53.96). Happily, there’s enough left over for lunch the next day, since I have no plans for what we will eat yet!
I’m really dreading work the next day, as I know that it will be obnoxious. I want to get out of my job so badly, but it doesn’t look like I’m going on to the next interview stage for the job I interviewed no back on Monday. I’m feeling kind of down about it. I try to stay positive and promise that I’ll apply for at least 2-3 new jobs next week. I bake up some frozen cookie dough I had in the freezer and feel sorry for myself. We end the night by watching another episode of Columbo.
Daily total: 70.36
Food + Drink: $395.23
Fun / Entertainment: $26.40
Home + Health: $26.60
Clothes + Beauty: $0
Transport: $16.40
Other: $170.48
Grand Total: $635.11
I think this week was pretty normal for us. Obviously we spent a bit more than usual due to the weekend cabin trip, but nothing outrageous. Our largest consumer spending category is definitely food and drink – we live in a very busy area of Seattle with tons of restaurants and bars so believe it or not, we actually used to spend even more on eating out. We still try to support our local places by getting takeout or delivery during the pandemic and even occasionally getting a few drinks outside. I spent more than usual on groceries due to stocking up for the weekend away.

Edited to ask: Is each session counted as a separate taxable event, as a win or a loss? Or do we take the end of year aggregate total to count as a "win" or "loss"?
I tried Googling this, but it is really unclear. I do not intend to file as a professional gambler, I have a job. I also don't plan on playing high stakes, maybe just make around $10-20k a year. As far as I can tell, "winnings" must be reported, and losses aren't reported unless you ITEMIZE deductions, which I don't plan on doing. Does Pokerstars provide an annual tax form?
Additionally, poker "winnings" get added your Modified Adjusted Gross Income, but "losses" to not get deducted from your MAGI. In my case, I qualify for an Obamacare subsidy for having a MAGI under a certain number. It looks like I could lose this, even I have a net loss for the year.
So let's say I start the year winning 10 sessions in a row, and am up $10k, but I play 10 more sessions and lose $15k. Am I now forced to pay taxes on $10k for the year?
Also, are gambling winnings taxed at a different rate? Will they change my tax bracket?

Long time listener, first time poster with a new account.
Does anyone consider the need to pay capital gains taxes a debt on their net worth calculations? Do you adjust your RE date using a smaller stash due to taxes? Or do you just increase how much you need each year assuming you also still need to pay taxes?
My situation:
46M - married DINK - live in USA - want to RE this year but am afraid to pull the trigger (but that is a different post)
NW: ~7.3M with 1.4M in property, ~1.8M in 401k/IRA, ~4.5M taxable (I have about 1 years expenses in cash in case I actually RE this year), 400k debt/mortgages
The thing is that ~$3 million of the taxable is in company RSU that I've gotten over the years . The past couple of years has been really good in the stock market but even better for my company. Just 2 years ago it was less than half a million, and I was totally ok with holding onto company stock, as I just saw it as extra. But now that it is approaching half of my net worth, I know I need to diversify and I started selling some off in the past 2 years. But if I sell all my RSU off, I would have a big tax bill, about $500,000. So should I be thinking my networth is really $6.8M? My current plan is to sell off about 10% of RSU per year to balance taxes and diversification.
Tax optimization strategies:

• I know that LTCG is only 15% (or even lower) when income is below ~$496k, but our combined income with bonuses is approching $400k. I can maybe sell about $100k in gains this year to stay in that bracket.
• I can donate stock to charity and not have to pay taxes on the capital gains.
• I can offset with losses.
• I can wait until after I retire and stop getting income, so I can sell more stock and be taxed in the 15% bracket.

Any other tax optimization I'm forgetting?
Is getting diversified more important than worrying about taxes? Should I sell off faster?
Thanks!
Edit - Thanks for the advice. I've decided to sell off ~15-20% RSU this year to diversify. I'm willing to gamble a bit. I've also decided to not include taxes as debt part of my networth calculation. I've decided to count it as an expense. I am adding taxes into my calculations of how much I need each year. Amount of taxes you pay on selling stock varies depending on what your other income levels are, and can be partially controlled by which lots are sold, so it just seems inaccurate to modify networth.

Hi,
Throwaway account so not linked to my main account.
I've been making a full time living from sports betting for the past 4 years.
I'm aware I won't be able to get a mortgage as I don't have a taxable income (you don't pay tax on gambling winnings even if you do it full time).
I'm looking at purchasing my first house with my partner this year and am wondering what my options are.
I have enough for a 50% house deposit - would it be possible to put 50% in and my partner gets the other 50% mortgage based on her income?
If so, will 50% of the house legally be mine, or will it all be hers because she is getting the full mortgage.
If I can go down this route, would both me and my partner both still be eligible to use a Lifetime ISA? We've been maxing this for the past couple of years.
I do plan on contacting a solicitomortgage advisor soon but wanted to see what my options might be first.
Thanks

Hi! I'm at a bit of a career crossroads and in need of some advice from people who aren't directly affected by my choices :) Basically, the situation is this—I'm a 33-year-old communications manager at a nonprofit in a medium-cost-of-living part of the Midwest, making about 75k/year. Prior to this role, I've held other nonprofit comms roles and did some work in publishing. I've been freelancing on the side in various capacities since I was in college, mainly in somewhat low-paying editing gigs.
I finished a master's last year, and since then have been leaning much harder into freelancing. For the last two months, I've brought in 4-5k, though the income is coming in from a very random assortment of writing, editing, and social media gigs.
Here's the problem—I am totally burning the candle at both ends, and my work and mental health are suffering because I am so fried. I'm also coming up on a big crossroads with an upcoming move to an as-yet-to-be-determined place for my partner's career. He's early in it still, so his salary will be under 50k (academia!).
My current job is remote, so that move wouldn't impact it. However, we are seriously considering moving out of the US, which would mean leaving the job. I've long thought I could freelance in that situation. Either way, I'm becoming more and more fed up with office politics and drama and am seriously considering diving into full-time freelance.
We have a large emergency fund (7 months), plus another 8 months worth of living expenses in a taxable brokerage account, an HSA that covers my medical deductible, and we're doing pretty well with retirement savings, so I definitely would have a bit of a runway to build up my work.
My question is, how do I know when/if I should quit? I'd love any advice or stories from others who have gone freelance/small business. Obviously, I haven't marketed myself as much as I would if I was full time, so I'm thinking I could increase my income between that and having more hours available...but it seems like a gamble.
I think I'm also struggling with whether that's the "right" thing to do. (Overachiever with a living up to expectations complex here....). Office life bums me out, but I can't shake the sense that I "should" be focusing on climbing the corporate ladder or that I'll be giving up income growth by going solo. I also totally have imposter syndrome and worry that I don't have enough experience under my belt for people to take me seriously.
Anyone have any thoughts or experiences here? Clearly, I am spinning in circles inside my own head :)

The International Monetary Fund is an international money system administered by the United Nations. Article IX of the Articles of Agreement make it immune from all laws.
​
On 7/22/1944, the IMF was created artificially under the Bretton Woods Agreement. Harry Dexter White, IMF director and CFR member was a Russian spy.
​
The Department of Treasury can be interchangeable with the IMF as seen in Presidential Documents, Volume 29, #4, pg. 113. The Treasury is under IMF authority.
​
The United States has not had a Treasury since 1921: 41 Stat. Ch. 214, pg. 654.
​
The Secretary of Treasury is not paid by the United States government. He is a US Governor of and paid by the IMF. He is a trustee whose Settler and Beneficiaries are unknown.
Public Law 94-564, supra, pg. 5942
U.S. Government Manual, 1990/1991, pgs. 480-481
​
Secretaries of Treasuries that are U.S. Governors of and paid by the IMF, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, are unregistered agents of foreign powers, and thus guilty of treason.
​
The official names of the Internal Revenue Service are spelled and capitalized as follows:
Internal Revenue
Bureau of Internal Revenue
Bureau of Internal Revenue Service
internal revenue
internal revenue service
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
Office Revenue Service
Federal Alcohol Administration
Director of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
US Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue
US Internal Revenue Service in Puerto Rico
​
On 7/9/1953, G.M. Humphrey changed the name of the Bureau of Internal Revenue to the Internal Revenue Service through Treasury Order 150-06.
​
The IRS reduces public allotment of credit.
In 1992, 82% of what the government borrowed went to the interest on the debt.
​
48 USC Section 1421l(i) defines income tax laws.
​
In 1884, it was accepted that the property which every man has is his own labor (and) as it is the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable. Therefore, since wages are received as compensation for labor, it can not be legally taxed. Income, however, is the process of profiting from a business (someone else's labor) or investments, and is taxable, as in a Corporation, which is an artificial entity which is given the right to exist by the State. The Constitution only allows the Congress to collect taxes, and that is limited to a uniform excise tax on gasoline, alcohol, tobacco, telephone bills, firearms, and tires, things revolving in one way or another around interstate commerce.
​
26-US Code 3402(p) defines voluntary withholding agreements.
Labor is not profit.
In the case U.S. vs Ballard, it was determined income is not defined in the Internal Revenue Code.
In Eisner vs. Macklemore, it was determined that income is the gain come to fruition from capital or labor. It is indistinguishable of income.
In Lucas vs. Alexander, it was determined that the 1913 Tax Act refers to income only as profit or gain.
​
Under the Victory Tax Act, income tax for the years 1943 and 1944 were to be paid in the years 1944 and 1945. It expired at the end of 1944. Employees of the Federal Government, residents of D.C., naval bases, forts, US citizens of Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, territories and insular possessions were lawfully required to pay Victory Tax.
​
In 31 USC Chapter 3, Subchapter 1, IRS, BATF or secret service are not listed as agencies of the Department of Treasury. The IRS is referenced to be audited by Controller General in Title 31 USC section 713.
​
Under Delegation Order 115 revision 5 of 5/12/1986, the only delegation of authority to conduct audit, enables the IRS and ATF to only audit themselves and for amounts of $750 or less. Any amount above $750 must be audited by the Controller General according to 31 USC. No other authority to audit exists. Order 191 states they can levy on property but only if in the hands of 3rd parties.
​
26-CFR 1.6091, explains the Director of International Operations and filing requirements. Nothing is filed with the IRS. There is no regulation pertaining to failure to file. There are no filing requirements.
​
Al Capone was jailed for tax due on alcohol illegally imported from Canada. He did not pay duties and excises on this alcohol. His partner was Edgar Brothman, the owner of Seagrams, who made a deal with the U.S. Government to get off.
​
IRS money spends at least a year in a "Quad Zero" account under an Individual Master File. The Director of the IRS can do whatever he wants with the money. It usually proceeds to the Director of the Service Center. Under Treasury Order 91, IRS money is dispersed to the Agency for International Development, the military arm of the United Nations, which provides for district directors, directors of service centers and assistant commissioners to become members of board of directors of the corporation that doles out money.
​
William Casey, CIA director, and head of AID, funneled millions to the Soviet Union to be spent building the Kama River Truck Factory.
​
Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution forbids unapportioned direct taxes upon citizens of the 50 states. The Constitution forbids withholding tax.
​
In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co., it was concluded that direct taxes must be apportioned.
​
According to Clause 17 of Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, the Federal Government is limited to governing its own property.
​
The federal government can only tax on Federal Government Internal Revenue. The government has no duty to citizens / individuals.
​
The Federal Government's taxation is limited to 5 activities:

• domestic corporations charted by the US government
• net profits derived within the US by alien or foreign firms
• net profits from foreign entities
• net profits derived from Federal contracts for government upkeep, excise tax and privileges
• net profits derived from wages and salaries of Federal employees

​
That includes
windfall profits like offshore oil wells,
war profits such as income from states and trusts maintained by the Federal Government for people in the military like Marine Killed In Duty trust fund,
customs taxes,
and the State Department.
​
The power of the Federal Government is limited to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several state and Indian tribes, according to Clause 3 of Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. In 18 USC Section 921, the term interstate or foreign commerce includes commerce between any place in a state, and any place outside of that state, or within any possession of the United States, not including the Canal Zone or D.C. but such terms does not include commerce between places within the same state but through any place outside of that state.
​
28 USC Rule 54(c), Application of Terms: "As used in these rules the following terms have the designated meanings. 'Act of Congress' includes any act of Congress locally applicable to and in force in the District of Columbia, in Puerto Rico, in a territory or in an insular possession."
​
In the IRS manual of 4/21/1989, 1132.72, Collection Division, says: "Executes the full range of collection activities on delinquent accounts, which includes securing delinquent returns involving taxpayers outside the United States and those in United States territories, possessions and in Puerto Rico."
​
page 1100-40.1 Director, Office of Taxpayer Service and Compliance: "Responsible for operation of a comprehensive enforcement and assistance program for all taxpayers under the immediate jurisdiction of the Assistant Commissioner (International) .... Directs the full range of collection activity on delinquent accounts and delinquent returns for taxpayers overseas, in Puerto Rico, and in United States possessions and territories."
​
page 1100-40.2 "the Criminal Investigation Division enforces the criminal statutes applicable to income, estate, gift, employment, and excise tax laws ... involving United States citizens residing in foreign countries and nonresident aliens subject to Federal income tax filing requirements by developing information concerning alleged criminal violations thereof, evaluating allegations and indications of such violations to determine investigations to be undertaken, investigating suspected criminal violations of such laws, recommending prosecution when warranted, and measuring effectiveness of the investigation processes"
​
The United States Attorney's Manual of 10/1/1988, Title 6 Tax Division, Chapter 4, page 16, , 6-4.270, Criminal Division Responsibility, states: "The Criminal Division has limited responsibility for the prosecution of offenses investigated by the IRS. Those offenses are: excise violations involving liquor tax, narcotics, stamp tax, firearms, wagering, and coin-operated gambling and amusement machines; malfeasance offenses committed by IRS personnel; forcible rescue of seized property; corrupt or forcible interference with an officer or employee acting under the internal revenue laws; and unauthorized mutilation, removal or misuse of stamps." See 28 C.F.R. Sec. 0.70.
​
If you volunteer that you are a U.S. citizen you have become a U.S. citizen. If you write your name on a line labeled taxpayer you have become a taxpayer.
​
A return is prepared by a taxpayer to submit to Federal Government taxes he/she collected.
​
A 1040 is an income tax return for non-resident alien citizen of the U.S. Virgin Islands residing in one of 50 states or agent thereof. It's a non-taxable return and the money derived from it doesn't go to the government.
​
A taxpayer is a tax collector who submits taxes as a return to the Federal Government.
​
A revenue agent is any duly authorized Commonwealth Internal Revenue Agent of the Department of the Treasury of Puerto Rico.
​
A revenue officer collects taxes and returns then files the returns with the District Director who files the return with the service center showing the taxes he collected in his district. This goes to the super center which files the return with Washington D.C. or with the Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico who is the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. He takes deductions for the cost to collect taxes.
​
An employee is employed by the Federal Government.
​
An employer is the Federal Government.
​
An individual is a citizen of Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands.
​
A business is a government, bank or insurance company.
​
A domestic corporation is a corporation residing within D.C., Guam, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Northern Mariana Trust Territory, territories, and insular possessions.
​
A resident is an alien citizen of Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico who resides within one of the 50 states of the Union or other island possessions.
​
The Federal Government must trick its citizens into voluntarily paying taxes as U.S. Citizens of Guam or Puerto Rico. Guam and the U.S. are mutually interchangeable.
In the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, which is the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, the U.S. and Guam are to coordinate individual income tax.
​
26 CFR 301.7654-1 explains coordination of U.S. and Guam individual income taxes. Section (e) explains military personnel in Guam.
​
pg. 65 of 26 CFR, created 6/1/1938, pertains to the China Trade Act, administered in the Philippines by the Bureau of internal revenue.
​
31 USC 1321 is the Philippines Customs Administrative Act passed by the Philippine Commission between 9/1/1900 and 8/31/1902. It merged customs and internal revenue in the Philippines. It is administered under general supervision and control of Secretary of Finance and Justice.
​
Trust Fund #1 is the Philippine Special Fund (Customs Duties).
​
Trust Fund #2 is the Philippines Special Fund (internal revenue) enacted by Internal Revenue Law of 1904 pertaining to alcohol taxes in the Philippines.
​
Article 1, Section 2 created the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the Department of Finance and Justice. The Collector of Internal Revenue is the Chief Officer appointed by the Civil Governor with advice and consent of the Philippines Commission. He is paid 8000 pesos per annum salary.
​
Article 1, Section 3: Collector of Internal Revenue under direction of Secretary of Finance and Justice shall have general superintendence of assessment and collection of all taxes and excises imposed by this act or any act amendatory thereof.
​
Trust Fund #62 is the Puerto Rico Special Fund (Internal Revenue).
​
27 CFR Chapter 1, section 2050.11 of 4/1/1994 defines:
Revenue Agent as any internal revenue agent of Treasury of Puerto Rico,
Secretary as Secretary of Treasury of Puerto Rico, and
US ATF Office as Puerto Rico operating under compliance with the North Atlantic region.
​
Tax Class 6 are violations of alcohol, tobacco or firearms in Puerto Rico.
​
In IRS publication 6209, IRS computer code "TC 150" is for Virgin Islands Returns. Codes 300 - 398 are listed as U.S. and UK Tax Treaty claims involving taxes on narcotics financed in the Cayman Islands and imported into the Virgin Islands.
​
Form 8288 is a backup withholding form for when you import narcotics into the Virgin Islands. Withhold 20% and pay to the Commissioner of Narcotics.
​
The Internal Revenue Manual, Handbook of Delegation Orders of January 17, 1983, page 1229-91 outlines the alleged Internal Revenue Service's system of monetary awards "of up to and including $5,000 for any one individual employee or group of employees in his/her immediate office, including field employees engaged in National Office projects; and contributions of employees of other Government agencies and armed forces members" with the approval of the Deputy Commissioner, "of $5,001 to $10,000 for any one individual or group" with approval of the Deputy Commissioner, "of $10,001 - $25,000 for any one individual or group" with the Commissioner's concurrence, "an additional monetary award of $10,000 (total $35,000) to the President through Treasury and OPM" with the Commissioner's concurrence.
​
The Federal Alcohol Administration Act, 27 USC 201, was created under the National Industrial Reconstruction Act, creating the Federal Alcohol Administration which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the 1930s. Under 1940 Reorganization Plan #3, 5 USC 903 Subsection 8 and 9, its office abolished and functions directed to be administered under supervision of Secretary of Treasury through Bureau of Internal Revenue. It was transferred to the Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue.
​
Reorganization Plan 26 of 1950 transferred the duties of the IRS related to alcohol, tobacco and firearms.
See 26 USC Chapters 51 - 53,
Chapters 61 - 80,
Section 7652, and 7653 in relation to tax and
27 USC Chapter 8.
​
On 6/6/1972, Charles E. Walker issued Treasury Order 120-01 to establish the ATF without legislation or knowledge of the people. It created the Director, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms division.
​
The ATF is an international police organization made up of the Philosophers of Fire exempt from the laws of the USA.
​
Their jurisdiction is Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Regional Director of Compliance is the Puerto Rico BATF. The only illegal arms are ones imported from Puerto Rico and taxes not paid on them.
​
In 1975 it was named the Internal Revenue Service.
​
In the 12/15/1976 edition of the Federal Register, Director, ATF replaced by IRS.
​
Title 26-USC Chapters 61 to 80 doesn't pertain to the public. Regulations apply to officers and employees and the ATF / IRS. It explains procedures that include: keeping records, examination of records, determination of district director whether required to file return, internal audit, IRS can audit if under $750, if over $750, it must be conducted by the Inspector General, filing requirements, record keeping, examination assessment, how to pay, tax court, criminal investigation and prosecution. These are delegated to the BATF in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican and the Virgin Islands tax agency. They are only relevant to Puerto Rican product. Not permitted to obtain records pertaining to Chapters 61 and 80.
​
Reference: https://www.nationallibertyalliance.org/files/docs/DocumentsEssays/Cooper%20File.pdf

I apologize for multiple posts on this topic, but after scouring Reddit and other boards for an answer, I'm seeing a ton of people with questions and very few answers. I'm hopeful that this post and the helpful folks here at tax can provide some insight to all of us searching for answers.
This year, many states (including my state of IL) lowered the threshold for 1099-K reporting. For that reason, sites like PayPal have begun issuing 1099-K's to more people, including people without businesses. Anything that came through as a "payment" was included in the gross amount, even if the item is not taxable.
As an example, my 1099-K contains:Total Gross Income: $3,250

1. eBay Sales of Personal Property Sold at a Loss ("Online Yard Sale"): $1,500 [Nontaxable]
2. Withdrawal of Funds Deposited to Gambling Sites: $1,000 [Nontaxable]
3. Withdrawal of Net Gambling Winnings: $500 [Taxable, but I am reporting along with the rest of my gross Gambling Winnings elsewhere on my return]
4. Ratuken Cashback: $250 [Nontaxable]

(For clarity on items 2 and 3: I deposited $1,000 to a Sportsbook app, won some bets, and withdrew my $1,000 deposit + $500 of the winnings to PayPal. PayPal is showing the full $1,500 as gross income)
Do I...

• File a Schedule C so that I can include offsetting amounts as Cost of Goods Sold, even though this is not a business?
• Or, put the full 1099-K amount under Miscellaneous Income on Schedule 1, and then include the negative offsetting amounts there [ex: $3,250 1099-K, -$1500 nontaxable eBay Sale of Personal Items, -$1,000 nontaxable withdrawal of deposited funds, -$500 reported in full under "Gambling Winnings", -$250 nontaxable rebates]. Am I even allowed to put negative items here?
• Or, is there another way to handle this?

I started off a few months back with an ISA trading account and for some reason moved that to a regular, taxable account because I could access more shares.
I know the threshold is the 12K for it to be tax free, I have made more than that overall after losses ( let’s say 30K) , through buying and selling shares almost daily, mostly selling them in the morning after if they have gone up. You could say it is speculative/gambling.
I’ve been looking everywhere and will probably need to speak to a professional but I was just curious if anyone has been in the same position... would this be CGT or income tax? I currently work part time and don’t pay tax due to the hours worked.
TIA!

Draftkings Casino/Sportsbook's Transaction Log/Statement is showing a significant amount of gambling winnings and stakes wagered. However, a big bulk of these numbers was generated from wagers that ended up pushing (ie placing 5 dollars on both red/black in roulette). It would show in the transaction history as
Wager: 10
Winnings: 10
I understand that on a whole, gross winnings are taxable income and losses are an itemized deduction. However, on an individual bet basis, is the cost of the wager subtracted from the payout to get the gross winnings? So in this case (pretend this is the only bet), would the winnings put as taxable income be 0 or would I have generated 10 dollars of winnings and 10 dollars of losses? Another example: say I wager 100 dollars and the payout is 1 dollar. Would the numbers for this individual bet be a 99 dollar loss, or a 1 dollar win and a 100 dollar loss. Important distinction for me, as it currently doesn't make sense for me to itemize. I don't know whether I should trust the Bet Winnings/Stakes Wagered numbers in the DK Sportsbook Statement Summary.

What’s up gamers? After another busy day of moving the rest of my junk into my apartment and getting ready for classes, I’m back on my bullshit! Find our sub’s nation here!
Issue: Popular mobile game “Super Epic Mega Tap-Tap Fantasy” reported profits in excess of one billion Karmas in the last financial year. While some of your advisors are delighted at the stream of taxable income, others consider spending in mobile games to have reached excessive levels.
Option 1: “This kind of marketing scheme should be illegal,” declares activist Britney Foster, pausing a game of open-source Pong. “Emphasizing spending for virtual items with no real-world purpose serves only to trick people who cannot help themselves and to fatten the developers’ wallets! Children who don’t know how hard their mommies and daddies work for their Karmas are learning that paying everything for nothing is okay! Do you want to have to explain why the next generation is full of gamblers?”
Option 2: “Illegal? A generation of gamblers? What exaggerations,” scoffs Norta Scamm, CEO of Extreme Colossal Fantasy Inc. “Supporting these ‘activists’ would itself be preposterous! We have the right to cater to our fans, and if some people don’t like our game, they can just not play it and keep their mouths shut around those who do! I worked hard to get my managers to make our developers make this game, and I, er, my company deserves to be able to earn money for its work!”
Option 3: “Have you ever asked any of us what we think?” challenges self-confessed “completionist” Genghis McClaine, scanning your office for the best signal. “We have spent thousands, some of us millions, on these games. It’s not a matter of gambling, but an actual mental health disorder! We need to raise awareness for these addictions, and companies that condone this ‘whaling’ can pay for our rehabilitation!”
Option 4: “Y’all see, this is why we don’t need no fancy app-lik-ay-shuns,” rails Malon Sosa, occupying your lawn and shooing passersby off it. “Back’n my day, we worked sun up til sun down on our pa’s farms, an’ if we had any time to spare it was playin’ cards with friends at the pub! No fancy veer-chew-al items an’ games, just good old paper cards and shiny, round Karmas! What y’all need ta do is get rid o’ these fancy-shmancy eye-phones and get back to what our country was founded on!”
Results:
Public Healthcare Theresa-Nightingale Rating +10.5%
Health Bananas Ingested Per Day +5.8%
Lifespan Years +0.89%
Weather Meters Of Sunlight +0.81%
Human Development Index Human Development Index +0.43%
Taxation Effective Tax Rate +0.16%
Employment Workforce Participation Rate +0.11%
Sector: Manufacturing Gooback-Jerbs Productivity Index +0.11%
Average Income Karmas -0.11%
Economic Output Karmas -0.11%
Average Disposable Income Karmas -0.29%
Obesity Obesity Rate -0.52%
Business Subsidization Gilded Widget Scale -42.8%
View Poll

Hi.
Just want to start and say I've already looked in the stickied crypto wiki and did not find my answer(https://www.reddit.com/PersonalFinanceCanada/wiki/cryptocurrencyandtaxes?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf).
This is my situation/question in a nutshell.
Let's assume I bought 5 BTC when they were $10,000 CAD for simplicity's sake. This cost me $50,000.
I moved this BTC to a crypto gambling site.
I gambled with them on this site. I bet 1BTC, lost the bet. I did this three more times and am now left with 1BTC.
I gamble this last 1BTC and turn it into 20BTC out of sheer luck. I move these 20BTC off of the gambling site. Let's assume you then sold them and the price had moved to $11,000 in that time.
Gambling winnings, so long as they're not your primary source of income, are not taxable in Canada.
How does it work when crypto is what you're gambling?
I see a few weird situations, but none of them make total sense:
You bought 5BTC at $10,000 each for $50,000 total. You sold 20 at $11,000 each for $220,000 total.

1. Your 5BTC realised $5,000 total capital gains. Your other 15 BTC you won when they were worth $10,000. Since they gained value of $1,000 each since you attained them, even though the crypto winnings themselves aren't taxable, you realised $15,000 taxable. All in all you pay tax on a $20,000 gain and the rest is yours.
   
2. You lost 4BTC. You now have a theoretical loss of $40,000. You win 19BTC. You sell similarly to above. You pay tax on $19,000 for the $1,000 value increase since you won the coins. You... claim a loss of $39,000 for the rest? You claim a gain of $1,000 instead of the $39,000 loss?
   
3. Gambling winning and loss exemption doesn't count for crypto. You straight up have a gain of $170,000 and need to claim it.
   

Other possibilities?
I'm so confused about this situation.
Help? :)

Previous editions:
(All strawpoll results counted as of the next post made)
Part 1, Adams v Jefferson in 1796 - Adams wins with 68% of the vote
Part 2, Adams v Jefferson in 1800 - Jefferson wins with 58% of the vote
Part 3, Jefferson v Pinckney in 1804 - Jefferson wins with 57% of the vote
Part 4, Madison v Pinckney (with George Clinton protest) in 1808 - Pinckney wins with 45% of the vote
Part 5, Madison v (DeWitt) Clinton in 1812 - Clinton wins with 80% of the vote
Part 6, Monroe v King in 1816 - Monroe wins with 51% of the vote
Part 7, Monroe and an Era of Meta Feelings in 1820 - Monroe wins with 100% of the vote
Part 8, Democratic-Republican Thunderdome in 1824 - Adams wins with 55% of the vote
Part 9, Adams v Jackson in 1828 - Adams wins with 94% of the vote
Part 10, Jackson v Clay (v Wirt) in 1832 - Clay wins with 53% of the vote
Part 11, Van Buren v The Whigs in 1836 - Whigs win with 87% of the vote, Webster elected
Part 12, Van Buren v Harrison in 1840 - Harrison wins with 90% of the vote
Part 13, Polk v Clay in 1844 - Polk wins with 59% of the vote
Part 14, Taylor v Cass in 1848 - Taylor wins with 44% of the vote (see special rules)
Part 15, Pierce v Scott in 1852 - Scott wins with 78% of the vote
Part 16, Buchanan v Frémont v Fillmore in 1856 - Frémont wins with 95% of the vote
Part 17, Peculiar Thunderdome in 1860 - Lincoln wins with 90% of the vote.
Part 18, Lincoln v McClellan in 1864 - Lincoln wins with 97% of the vote.
Part 19, Grant v Seymour in 1868 - Grant wins with 97% of the vote.
Part 20, Grant v Greeley in 1872 - Grant wins with 96% of the vote.
Part 21, Hayes v Tilden in 1876 - Hayes wins with 87% of the vote.
Part 22, Garfield v Hancock in 1880 - Garfield wins with 67% of the vote.
Part 23, Cleveland v Blaine in 1884 - Cleveland wins with 53% of the vote.
Part 24, Cleveland v Harrison in 1888 - Harrison wins with 64% of the vote.
Part 25, Cleveland v Harrison v Weaver in 1892 - Harrison wins with 57% of the vote
Part 26, McKinley v Bryan in 1896 - McKinley wins with 71% of the vote
Part 27, McKinley v Bryan in 1900 - Bryan wins with 55% of the vote
Part 28, Roosevelt v Parker in 1904 - Roosevelt wins with 71% of the vote
Part 29, Taft v Bryan in 1908 - Taft wins with 64% of the vote
Part 30, Taft v Wilson v Roosevelt in 1912 - Roosevelt wins with 81% of the vote
Part 31, Wilson v Hughes in 1916 - Hughes wins with 62% of the vote
Part 32, Harding v Cox in 1920 - Cox wins with 68% of the vote
Part 33, Coolidge v Davis v La Follette in 1924 - Davis wins with 47% of the vote
Part 34, Hoover v Smith in 1928 - Hoover wins with 50.2% of the vote
Part 35, Hoover v Roosevelt in 1932 - Roosevelt wins with 85% of the vote
Part 36, Landon v Roosevelt in 1936 - Roosevelt wins with 75% of the vote
Part 37, Willkie v Roosevelt in 1940 - Roosevelt wins with 56% of the vote
Part 38, Dewey v Roosevelt in 1944 - Dewey wins with 50.2% of the vote
Part 39, Dewey v Truman in 1948 - Truman wins with 65% of the vote
Part 40, Eisenhower v Stevenson in 1952 - Eisenhower wins with 69% of the vote
Part 41, Eisenhower v Stevenson in 1956 - Eisenhower wins with 60% of the vote
Part 42, Kennedy v Nixon in 1960 - Kennedy wins with 63% of the vote
Part 43, Johnson v Goldwater in 1964 - Johnson wins with 87% of the vote
Part 44, Nixon v Humphrey in 1968 - Humphrey wins with 60% of the vote
Part 45, Nixon v McGovern in 1972 - Nixon wins with 56% of the vote
Part 46, Carter v Ford in 1976 - Carter wins with 71% of the vote
Part 47 - Carter v Reagan v Anderson in 1980 - Carter wins with 44% of the vote
Welcome back to the forty-eighth edition of /neoliberal elects the American presidents!
This will be a fairly consistent weekly thing - every week, a new election, until we run out.
I highly encourage you - at least in terms of the vote you cast - to try to think from the perspective of the year the election was held, without knowing the future or how the next administration would go. I'm not going to be trying to enforce that, but feel free to remind fellow commenters of this distinction.
If you're really feeling hardcore, feel free to even speak in the present tense as if the election is truly upcoming!
Whether third and fourth candidates are considered "major" enough to include in the strawpoll will be largely at my discretion and depend on things like whether they were actually intending to run for President, and whether they wound up actually pulling in a meaningful amount of the popular vote and even electoral votes. I may also invoke special rules in how the results will be interpreted in certain elections to better approximate historical reality.
While I will always give some brief background info to spur the discussion, please don't hesitate to bring your own research and knowledge into the mix! There's no way I'll cover everything!
Ronald Reagan v Walter Mondale, 1984
Profiles

• Ronald Reagan is the 73-year-old Republican candidate and the current President. His running mate is current Vice President George Bush.
  
• Walter Mondale is the 56-year-old Democratic candidate and the previous Vice President. His running mate is US Representative from New York Geraldine Ferraro.
  

Issues and Background

• Within a year of taking office, President Reagan signed comprehensive tax reform legislation that exemplified his economic philosophy. The top marginal income rate was cut from 70% to 50%, and the rate on the lowest taxable bracket was reduced from 14% to 11%. The capital gains tax was reduced from 28% of 20%. Legislation in 1982, prompted by increases in the deficit, prevented the full tax cut aspirations of the 1981 legislation from going into effect. Reagan and his supporters credit his economic policies with the strong economic recovery since the beginning of 1983.
  
• The last couple years have seen very large federal budget deficits, with the 1983 peak at a level unseen since immediately following World War II, even relative to GDP. Mondale has chosen to make this arguably his biggest domestic campaign issue. Mondale has argued that the "question of the deficit and getting interest rates down is the most important domestic problem of our time - nothing else compares with it." He has spoken in stark terms about the alleged stakes, saying:
  

  The President's point that growth will cure the deficit is obviously not the case. The deficit will get worse even with growth. Thus it is a very severe problem that threatens our future, saddles our kids with a with a trillion dollars worth of debt, is making us into a debtor nation, is destroying our position in international commerce, driving up interest rates, and is making the budget increasingly unmanageable.
  

  Further, Mondale has gone further in his gambit on making the deficit an election issue by pledging to raise taxes. In his nomination acceptance speech, Mondale said:
  

  Whoever is inaugurated in January, the American people will have to pay Mr. Reagan's bills. The budget will be squeezed. Taxes will go up. And anyone who says they won't is not telling the truth to the American people.
  I mean business. By the end of my first term, I will reduce the Reagan budget deficit by two-thirds.
  Let's tell the truth. That must be done - it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did.
  

  • Specifically, the Mondale deficit reduction plan calls for $85 billion in new tax revenues and $105 billion in cuts in projected spending. The entirety of the new tax revenue is to be earmarked for a special fund to reduce the deficit. Any further new spending will be "pay as you go," requiring new revenue to cover the spending. The planned spending cuts are mostly decreases in the planned growth of spending, including for the military and Medicare, rather than outright cuts.
  • According to Mondale campaign advisers, a typical family of four with a gross annual income of $25,000 (OOC: ~$62,000 in 2020 dollars, same format for further parentheticals) will not see their taxes go up. However, by 1989, families making $25,000 to $35,000 (~$62,000 to $86,000) will see a tax increase of about $95 (~$200) families making up to $45,000 (~$111,000) will pay roughly $200 (~$500) more and families making $100,000 (~$250,000) will pay about $2,600 (~$6,400) more.
  • Republicans have of course criticized the Mondale plan sharply. Vice President Bush called it a "program for failure" that would stall the recovery. Reagan insists that deficit reduction must come through economic growth and reductions in wasteful government spending. Reagan describes a tax increase as a "last resort."
• Religion and issues of morality have come up several times during this campaign. President Reagan favors a Constitutional amendment that would permit organized prayers in public schools that students can opt-out of. Mondale opposes the amendment. President Reagan also supports a Constitutional amendment banning abortions except when the life of the mother is at risk. Mondale is personally opposed to abortion but believes it should be a woman's individual choice. Mondale's running mate Geraldine Ferraro has received pushback for her statement that, "the President goes around calling himself a good Christian; I don't for a minute believe it," criticizing Reagan's policies as "unfair" and "discriminatory."
  
• In fall 1983, following an internal power struggle in the country and pleas from other Caribbean nations, the United States invaded Grenada alongside several Caribbean nations. The invasion was successful, resulting in the establishment of a new interim government. Elections are intended to take place in the coming months. The Reagan Administration justified the intervention on the basis of protecting US medical students on the island. The UN General Assembly voted 108 to 9 to call the intervention a "flagrant violation of international law." Mondale raised questions about the invasion early on, but in the past couple months has spoken favorably of it.
  
• The United States along with three European nations introduced a peacekeeping force into Lebanon in 1982, in the broader context of the Lebanese Civil War. US diplomatic and military forces have been the victim of a number of suicide bombings, in particular the 1983 bombings of Beirut barracks, killing 241 US military personnel. Mondale has been sharply critical of Reagan with respect to these bombings, arguing that there was plenty of warning to prevent them. Mondale has further argued that overall US policy in Lebanon has been marked by "unbelievable disorganization." In January, Mondale called for the withdrawal of US marines from Lebanon. Reagan argues that the US presence in Lebanon helped facilitate the withdrawal of Palestinian guerrilla fighters.
  
• At no point in his first term thus far has President Reagan met with his Soviet counterpart, Konstantin Chernenko. Mondale has frequently criticized Reagan for this, and has promised he would hold annual summit meetings with Soviet leaders. Reagan has said that he would like a summit, but needs to feel sure it will produce results before it happens. More broadly, Reagan has described the necessary policy towards the Soviet Union as one of "credible deterrence and peaceful competition," though he has also not held back in his criticism of the Soviet Union, calling it just last year an "evil empire."
  
• In 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front in Nicaragua overthrew the Somoza dictatorship and established a new government. Since then, counterrevolutionary forces including former pro-Somoza forces as well as disillusioned former Sandinistas, have engaged in armed conflict against the Sandinista government. Reagan cancelled economic aid to Nicaragua upon taking office, but has since said that there have been attempts to get along with the new government. However, Reagan has been sharply critical of Nicaragua's accused military buildup and "meddling" in El Salvador.
  
  • Mondale has criticized Reagan's "failed policies" in Central America and has promised that if elected, he would end all US military exercises in Central America, withdraw combat forces from Honduras, and "end the covert activities directed toward Nicaragua."
  • A CIA booklet became public this October which has raised questions about the nature of US covert activities in Nicaragua. As reported by the New York Times:
    

    A Central Intelligence Agency document that became public this week tells Nicaraguan rebels how to win popular support and gives advice on political assassination, blackmail and mob violence.
    The 44-page booklet, titled ''Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare,'' is a primer on insurgency. Most activity of this sort in Nicaragua has been paid for by the United States through the C.I.A.
    The primer explains how to kidnap and kill officials, blow up public buildings and blackmail ordinary citizens.
    

• Ferraro and her husband have come under intense media scrutiny over their financial history, with accusations ranging from tax avoidance to connections to organized crime, pornography, and gambling. In response, the couple has relented in releasing several years of tax returns, and Ferraro has allowed the media hours of her time to ask questions related to her and her husband's finances. Most accusations against them have proven to be exaggerated, though there are still lingering questions regarding certain accounting errors that were made. For more technical details, see coverage by the New York Times or Washington Post.
  
• Particularly following what some considered to be a sub-par first debate performance, some Democrats are openly raising the question of whether Reagan, 73, is too old to continue serving as President. Asked at a White House event whether age should be considered a legitimate issue, Reagan said jokingly of Mondale, "I'll challenge him to an arm-wrestle any time." Reagan's more vigorous second debate performance has led to a diminishing of the age discussion.
  
• In June 1981, the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times reported on a rare lung infection in 5 young previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles. Since then, over 6,000 cases of "acquired immune deficiency syndrome" (AIDS) have been reported to public health officials. In April of this year, the cause of the disease was discovered, a retrovirus known as HTLV-III. According to the CDC, "most cases have been reported among homosexual men with multiple sexual partners, abusers of intravenous drugs, and Haitians, especially those who have entered the country within the past few years." The case fatality rate is extremely high. Scientists say the virus is mainly spread through sexual contact. There were two major developments just recently in October. First, the New York Times reported that saliva may be a possible source of transmission, though it remains unlikely that it is a "key mode of spread." Second, under pressure from Mayor Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco public health officials ordered a number of bathhouses and sex clubs geared towards homosexual men closed. Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services argue that this disease has become a top research priority for them, and that they expect to spend many millions of dollars on research grants and other efforts. However, some groups like the National Gay Task Force have criticized the government sharply and say that not nearly enough is being done. Many criticisms of the government and other institutions and groups of people are covered in the essay from last year famous in the gay community, "1,112 and Counting" by Larry Kramer, published in the New York Native. Neither Reagan nor Mondale have spoken of this disease on the campaign trail.
  OOC Note: There is no indication that AIDS was an issue in the presidential election. Even gay newspapers from this time did not relate the crisis much if at all to the presidential election. To the extent that government policy was discussed, it was often local policy. Why mention it then? Well, it's a similar situation to Japanese internment and the 1944 election. I know some of you will bring this up no matter what, understandably, and so I'd like to at the very least calibrate the discussion to the year of the election with proper context and background.
  

Platforms (Important note if this is influencing your vote: These are just excerpts, not everything is included and inclusion of a point in one set of excerpts does NOT mean the other party took the opposing stance or didn't mention it; also, especially in the modern era, a Presidential candidate may disagree with the party platform)
Read the full 1984 Republican platform here. 10 Excerpts:

1. "We reaffirm our conviction that State and local governments closest to the people are the best and most efficient"
   
2. "The Republican Party pledges to continue our efforts to lower tax rates, change and modernize the tax system, and eliminate the incentive-destroying effects of graduated tax rates ... We therefore support tax reform that will lead to a fair and simple tax system and believe a modified flat tax—with specific exemptions for such items as mortgage interest—is a most promising approach"
   
3. "The President is denied proper control over the federal budget ... To remedy this, we support enhanced authority to prevent wasteful spending, including a line-item veto"
   
4. "We need coordination between fiscal and monetary policy, timely information about Fed decisions, and an end to the uncertainties people face in obtaining money and credit ... The Gold Standard may be a useful mechanism for realizing the Federal Reserve's determination to adopt monetary policies needed to sustain price stability"
   
5. "The greatest danger today to our international trade is a growing protectionist sentiment"
   
6. "The Republican Party has deep concern about gratuitous sex and violence in the entertainment media, both of which contribute to the problem of crime against children and women"
   
7. "We Republicans emphasize that there is a profound moral difference between the actions and ideals of Marxist-Leninist regimes and those of democratic governments, and we reject the notions of guilt and apology which animate so much of the foreign policy of the Democratic Party"
   
8. "Stable and peaceful relations with the Soviet Union are possible and desirable, but they depend upon the credibility of American strength and determination"
   
9. "We ... reaffirm our support for a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children"
   
10. "We affirm our country's absolute fight to control its borders ... Those desiring to enter must comply with our immigration laws ... Failure to do so not only is an offense to the American people but is fundamentally unjust to those in foreign lands patiently waiting for legal entry ... We will preserve the principle of family reunification"
    

Read the full 1984 Democratic platform here. 10 Excerpts:

1. "Instead of runaway deficits, a Democratic Administration will pursue overall economic policies that sharply reduce deficits, down interest rates, free savings for private investment, prevent another explosion of inflation and put the dollar on a competitive footing"
   
2. "We will pursue international negotiations to open markets and eliminate trade restrictions, recognizing that the growth and stability of the Third World depends on its ability to sell its products in international markets"
   
3. "The Environmental Protection Agency should receive a budget that exceeds in real dollars the agency's purchasing power when President Reagan took office, since the agency's workload has almost doubled in recent years"
   
4. "After four years in which the roll of dishonor in the Administration has grown weekly and monthly—from Richard Allen to Rita Lavelle, from Thomas Reed to James Watt—it is time for an end to the embarrassment of Republican cronyism and malfeasance"
   
5. "Violent acts of bigotry, hatred and extremism aimed at women, racial, ethnic and religious minorities, and gay men and lesbians have become an alarmingly common phenomenon ... A Democratic Administration will work vigorously to address, document, and end all such violence"
   
6. "In the year made famous by George Orwell, we can see the realization of many of his grimmest prophecies in the totalitarian Soviet state, which has amassed an arsenal of weapons far beyond its defensive needs"
   
7. "Sadly, Mr. Reagan has opted for the all too frequent American response to the unrest that has characterized Central America-military assistance ... Over the past 100 years, Panama. Nicaragua, and Honduras have all been occupied by U.S. forces in an effort to suppress indigenous revolutionary movements"
   
8. "A Democratic President will pursue a foreign policy that advances basic civil and political rights—freedom of speech, association, thought and religion, the right to leave, freedom of the integrity of the person, and the prohibition of torture, arbitrary detention and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment—and that seeks as well to attain basic, economic, social, and cultural rights"
   
9. "We support tough restraints on the manufacture, transportation, and sale of snub-nosed handguns, which have no legitimate sporting use and are used in a high proportion of violent crimes"
   
10. "...the Reagan Administration has acted as if deficits do not count ... The deficits are huge and are expected to get larger—and they are a major negative factor in everything from high interest rates to the third world debt crisis"
    

Video Clips
Debates
First Presidential Debate

• Candidates discuss federal budget deficits
  
• Candidates are asked about their religious beliefs and the separation of church and state
  
• Candidates discuss abortion
  
• Candidates discuss middle class taxes
  
• Candidates discuss income inequality
  

Vice Presidential Debate

• Candidates discuss civil rights
  
• Candidates discuss abortion and the separation of church and state
  
• Candidates are asked about their personal tax situations
  
• Candidates are asked about Nicaragua
  
• Ferraro is asked whether the Soviet Union will take advantage of her because she's a woman
  

Second Presidential Debate

• Candidates discuss Central America
  
• Candidates discuss the Soviet Union
  
• Candidates discuss when to use military force
  
• Reagan is asked about the age issue
  
• Candidates discuss immigration
  
• Reagan is asked about overpopulation
  
• Reagan is asked about Biblical Armageddon and nuclear war
  

Speeches
Mondale nomination acceptance speech
Reagan nomination acceptance speech
Advertisements
Reagan "Morning in America" ad
Reagan White House ad
Reagan peace ad
Reagan train ad
Mondale nuclear devastation ad
Mondale "in real America" ad
Mondale trade ad
Mondale "killer weapons" in space ad
Strawpoll
>>>VOTE HERE<<<

Hi everyone.
I am in full-blown panic mode. I am getting ready to separate from the military (medical retirement in a few months). I was filling out some financial paperwork and the weight of my crippling debt is hitting me in the face full force right now.
I completely accept that this is my fault and that I need to work on self-control issues. I am actively seeking out counselors/therapy. I will probably also find someone to talk to about addiction/gambling. No substance abuse, but I messed up for a while with loot boxes in mobile games. I know. I'm an idiot. I don't play mobile games anymore.
I have no idea how I am going to manage this post-military. Any guidance/direction would be greatly appreciated. I am open to anything and everything.

Item	Percentage	Monthly	Total Debt
Holiday Inn Vacation Club	Unsure	$302.07	$15,735.00
Student Loan 1 (Stafford Subsidized)	4.45%	$51.77	$4,735.67
Student Loan 2 (Stafford Subsidized)	4.45%	$56.76	$5,191.58
Student Loan 3 (Stafford Unsubsidized)	4.45%	$75.88	$6,941.41
Auto Loan	7.94%	$461.13	$20,859.70
Bill Consolidation	17.99%	$549.20	$22,268.13
Credit Card 1 (USAA)	16.9%	Varies	$10,671.73
Credit Card 2 (USAA)	12.9%	Varies	$11,289.86
Credit Card 3 (Citi)	15.99%	Varies	$11,302.53

Thank you for your time.
EDIT
Some additional info:
I conservatively guesstimated that I'll get between 70% ($1,426.17/month) and 80% ($1,657.80/month) from the VA. This is not taxable.
My current net income is about $4,900. I have about $1500 in other expenses (Rent, utilities, phone bill, car insurance).

11/11/2020 Total investment portfolio per my Personal Capital iOS app where M1 is about 7.5% of total portfolio
I'm up 15.5% YTD as of 11/11/2020 in my total portfolio. Mostly in broad funds and about 4% in 2 stock gambles (TSLA and PLTR).
M1 taxable pie up 10% since June 2020
M1's Holdings Tab shows me the most useful number, my "Rate of Return," or my unrealized gains since June 2020.
M1 taxable pie link
I track 3 major benchmarks which blend growth and value across large, mid, and small-caps. Low div yield is great for taxable accounts.
Like for many, M1 Finance allowed me to tweak my strategy and customize/create all sorts of pies. Learned more about my own appetite for risk through this process of experimenting with M1.
Since starting my M1 taxable in April 2019, I realized about $1400 in total losses (able to reduce taxable income for 2019 and 2020). As a result, my money weighted return shown on main screen isn't relevant to me as it includes realized losses from 2019 and 2020.
Though I've considered it, there's no need for me to ask M1 to reset all money weighted return data before June 2020 even though I'm done experimenting and content with my current portfolio.
Some things I've learned along the way:
Stock returns outpace inflation and supplement your nest egg, but increasing savings rate is key.
Budget. After cash savings, invest the rest (max out retirement accounts) with tax efficiency in mind.
Heavy cash deposits and Total Return matter much more than chasing DiViDeNdZ. Don't lose sight of the forest for the trees.

Hey guys I wanted to get feedback from people who are smarter than me. I'd like to have the option to retire by 55 however I doubt I will because I'm a doer. Here are my details and then I'll go into my plan:
Stats:
I'm 38. Married. 2 kids. Aged 5 and 2.
I have a full time job that last year did just shy of 6 figures and this year will be roughly 122k. Prior to this I was employed by a not so great human who under paid and overworked everyone. My situation has changed and I'm now focused on the future of myself and my family. I expect to maintain a low 6 figure income as long as I remain in this industry/with this employer.
My wife is a teacher and does roughly 50k and we get all of our health insurance through her employer since its a better deal than mine.
My employer does provide disability insurance for free so that's great. I believe the plan pays 75% for up to 2 years in the case of an incident. Seems like a solid safety net.
I also have a side thing that should net me roughly 60k this year and hopefully closer to 90k next year. This doesn't eat up a ton of time so I'm thankful I have been able to create this opportunity. It also allows for some good tax advantages such as writing off some of my expenses.
I also am a 30% partner in a start up that so far hasn't made any money but if done well could do great or might end up being a short term expense.
I have roughly 40k in emergency savings liquid. The idea there is to be able to make it 6+ months if everything went wrong.
Two years ago we upgraded homes and kept our previous home as a rental. We cash flow about $750 a month on that and have roughly 275k in equity in it. I did a cash out refi to get what I originally put as a down payment out so it feels like a zero risk investment. I was also able to get my rate at about 3% too so it was a win win.
My primary has a pretty high balance at just under 450k but the payment is totally manageable. We plan to be here forever. We have done most of the work ourselves to make it even better and the only large upcoming expense is a possible detected garage but I'm willing to wait until I have the cash to do that without sacrificing savings or other parts of the plan.
Just this year is the first time I've had access to a 401k as my employer just added this as a benefit. I will max it this year along with a modest company match. We also just recently got my wife set up to max her 401k too. We plan to do that as long as possible. My 401k balance is roughly 26k and my wifes is about 18k.
I have a TD account with roughly 100k in it with a focus on ETFs and a small amount I "gamble" on individual stocks.
We also contribute about 4k a year to each of our kids 529 plans for college. We'd also like to keep that up until the baby birds leave the nest. I expect to have about 100k for each kid when its time to pony up for college. There are also some modest tax benefits for this contribution in my state.
We have no debt aside from the two properties we own.
The plan:
We plan to continue to max our 401Ks until we are no longer able to. For my wife that could be as long as she is working. For me that's as long as I have a day job. If possible I will continue to contribute with with self employment but I don't know what that looks like at this point. Ideally I will be totally self employed within the next two years but who knows where life will go.
I also plan to add 1k a week minimum to my TD account to DCA mostly in ETFs with a lofty goal of 2k+ a week when/if possible. My rough math says that if I can do that for the next 17 years I would have roughly 1.2m to 2.7 depending on how well I'm able to max that and how good the returns are.
Once our rental apricates to the point I could sell it and pay off my primary after capital gains I would like to do that. My thought here is living mortgage free would allow me to take a little more professional risk without the stress. Sure the money could do more working for me but I think I could do more without the debt. I expect this to take 5 to 10 years. Hopefully closer to 5.
We are very aware of lifestyle creep and do not plan to spend more. We are waiting till we drop our daycare expenses to upgrade my wife's car. We'll get something reasonable like a Rav4 for well under a 3rd of the monthly cost of daycare. I plan to drive my car for the next 8+ years. Hopefully more. At some point I would like to pick up a weekend car but it will most certainly be used and I would sacrifice spending in other areas to do so.
If I did commit to stopping working at 55 (unlikely as I like to be busy) I would live off the gains from my taxable investment accounts until I hit maturity on my 401k then spend that as needed. If I am able to max my 401k until retirement I would expect to have roughly 1.5m there. My wife is a few years younger than I and she loves teaching so she said she wants to go the distance to max her pension. Her 401k would like be a bit healthier than mine simply due to time and she's 6 years younger than I.
What am I missing?
Life insurance? Other things I'm not thinking of? Assuming my goals are attainable are my numbers good? We are not spenders but we are travelers, mostly by car as we love the outdoors and live in a part of the western US that is just amazing. I know life is good right now but things could change at any time as it does from time to time. That said I am confident in my skill set and ability to provide.
I will also likely be asking for a raise this year for the small company I work for. I have had a large part in nearly doubling our book of business in the last two year so I plan to be a bit aggressive in my compensation requests. Would it be reasonable to request a 10k base pay bump along with a 2m life insurance policy and moving the 401k match from 4% to 10%?
Long read but I value feedback from others who are more experienced and smarter than I. Pardon the spelling and other errors, I'm just not that smart.

hello!
RE/TW: marriage / divorce / abuse / suicide
​

[ disclaimer: I in no way intend to offend any active or retired service members or the US Navy as a whole. this is my experience with one individual enlisted, I know a lot of the people serving are incredible individuals, and I honor and respect you guys. ]

​
background (can skip if you want, question & TL;DR is at the bottom, this is for context):
I married my husband in December 2017. He was home for the first time since joining the US Navy in June 2017. We were absolutely in love and had been close friends for several years before our relationship began in 2016 and I supported his decision to enlist. I was meant to move state to live with him in early February 2018.
My mother's father (and the closest person to both her and I in the world) passed away suddenly and without warning in late January 2018. My move was still on, but as the weeks went on my mother became very ill with grief. abusing alcohol and extremely depressed. I did everything I could to help her. a couple of nights while very intoxicated, she told me that if I left she'd kill herself. She'd just stop getting out of bed until she slowly died. she explained it in great detail, and always the same. She really only had her father and myself in her life. of course that was a horrible and manipulative thing to say, but I was like 20 years old, and even if it wasn't true, I couldn't risk that. I stewed on it for weeks asking friends for advice... and it boiled down to, she needs care from me as I have received from her all of my life, and if I leave there is a risk I won't be able to see her again. and honestly nothing was worse risking her wellbeing and survival for, in my opinion.
I was fully packed and had the truck and movers all scheduled, hotels booked (it was going to be a couple day road trip). three days before I was meant to move I cancelled temporarily. My husband knew it was a possibility, as my mother's health declined. this year in 2020 I told my mother that she was the reason I stayed, and she said she knew, and then thanked me, and said I just may have saved her life with that decision. I do stand by that decision at the time.
things quickly deteriorated between my husband and i. he began to show his true colors. he was drinking an obscene amount every single night, chain smoking and chewing, and gambling all of his earnings away every night. he was doing illicit drugs that don't stay in one's system long enough to matter in the military, and otherwise just functioning, kind of like an addict. which he was actually not so long before he left. I thought he was getting better, but it turned out he was just getting ready for boot camp and that. at some point he got upset that I didn't have a relationship status set at all (not single, not nothing) on Facebook. I hadn't been on my Facebook account for at least a year. I hardly ever use social media and completely forget about it, honestly. so he set his relationship status from married to single. which obviously was immature and really upset me.
things just kind of got worse.
eventually we kind of took a break, while remaining loyal of course. well, I did. he said he did.
a few months later he came home and everything was beautiful again, in fact I got to see him twice in one month. our relationship was great. although the distance made it difficult. eventually I felt secure in moving to him, but he said that I couldn't even though he wanted me to. after asking why enough times he told me that he had kept all of the moving money the military gave him for moving rather than give it back like he was meant to. so he couldn't ask again for them to fund the move because he pocketed the several several thousands of dollars they gave him for me to move. which, obviously is illegal. I asked if we could just use that money, but he had drank, smoked, and gambled it away. so I was unable to move out there.
things got really hard for me. I lost my place to live, and called asking him for some of the BAH (housing assistance) he receives to house us but doesn't use because he lives on base for free, and he told me I couldn't have it. I was homeless, and he still did not send me a dime. He was receiving, I don't even know what, all these benefits, and would not allow me any help. I was working hard, but life threw me a lot of curveballs.
I was working to have enough money to move out to him again.
I finally found housing, I was working full time at two jobs, part time at one job, and attending full time college. I was dragging. the housing I could afford was deplorable. the room mate I had to have was sexually and physically violent toward me. my husband still would not help me.
my home burned down. my car was stolen. I was homeless again, my husband still would not help me.
I found new housing, and started to get on my feet again, and even began to plan a few weeks of the following month I could afford (at my own cost, of course,) to go see him on base.
a couple of days later, I was diagnosed with cancer. I was going to lose everything since I was in the hospital for two months and could not work. my husband still would not help me, even just by sending half of the BAH he gets for being married to me. And I really don't even know what other benefits or income he gets.
He can't do his own taxes, it's too hard for him, so I've been doing them every year. and he always says, "see, look, I hardly make enough to get by." and I always thought, "wow that's so terrible for how much you have to work and you hardly get paid." ... I recently found out the bulk of his income is non-taxable and he's just been lying to me.
he stopped talking to me while I was in cancer treatment for 7 months.
we started e-mailing while he was deployed, and everything was going really well. we really felt like, "us," we were talking about the future, children, everything.
then he e-mailed out of the blue to tell me he had a girlfriend. He's 25. she's 18.
he replaced me because I got sick.
he was using our money for being married to house her with him.
they had a whole life together.
they'd been together for a year and a half.
through about ten or more leave trips home that extended for weeks at a time that we spent day and night together... in love, acting as married people would. little did I know when I dropped him off at the airport to return to his base with a kiss, another woman would pick him up at the airport on the other side with a kiss, too.
he told me he didn't want the girlfriend to affect him and i.
eventually he was able to get me to like, somehow be okay with it? even though I was furious for being lied to. but he urged me to ask all the questions and tell me all of the things and really be close and open about it, which I thought was stand-up and also amazing. after about a day he ended things with her. he got back from deployment and we went back to spending all day on the phone every day.
then the girlfriend reached out to me.
in every possible way.
e-mail, text message, instagram, Facebook, etc.
she told me a very different story. while he did leave her, and told her it was because he wanted to focus on his wife (that she previously had no idea existed), the story all before was very different. he didn't tell me we overlapped, the whole time, or that they lived together, or that he was financially supporting her, or anything. he told her terrible untrue things about his, "ex-wife," and eventually she found out he'd been cheating on her with several prostitutes over the year (with proof, and he admitted to it, she showed me the proof and screenshots of admittance). he'd been using illicit drugs while on leave- a lot of them. I have proof of that, too. just overall not being awesome.
upon hearing about what he'd been up to, stealing money from the government, lying to them about benefits he needed for "me," and then not actually giving those to me, partaking in so many illegal activities, and openly committing adultery in the public (she had them plastered on her Facebook and on instagram, with "I love you's" and "I can't wait to marry you"'s etc. I decided I wanted a divorce. I didn't want to be wrapped up into any of his illegal activity, and it was honestly sad that I was being used for his financial gain. he'd never wanted a divorce before and vehemently spoke against it. eventually he told the teenager that had been planning her life with him for the last year and a half that he was only using her for boredom and company and did not actually care for her or want anything to do with her. that woman and I are now friends, and she really is a great person that also deserved better.
in trying to pursue a divorce, I found a lawyer. the cost was $2,000. I told my husband that he was meant to pay for it, as I was disabled at the time (and still am) from chemotherapy treatments and unable to work, and as the primary income (even though I never saw any of it,) that it was his responsibility to pay for the attorney. he said he would. he agreed to do whatever was necessary because he'd "hurt me so badly." so I met with a few lawyers before choosing one, spent a lot of time speaking to each of them and finding out all kinds of details he had never told me about just how much he's been making off me monetarily. my husband had also told me a few times in the past that if I were to die he would get $400,000. this really terrified me. he's always been weird like this with money, always cut corners, always loopholed income, and always been addicted to gambling and a innumerable amount of illicit substances. I did believe it was possible he'd have me killed for this money. I've been frantic to find a way to sever this marriage since then. One of the lawyers told me he did not believe that was accurate, but either way, I need out.
I also found out my husband has been forging my signature for years on many many documents over the years, even saying that I lived with him when I did not (but the other girl did,) to receive more money. he forged my signature hundreds of times without my knowledge. and I don't even know what all he signed. I know he did get over a month of paid leave to care for me when I had first been diagnosed with cancer. but he didn't care for me. he went on a bender. cocaine, benzodiazepines like klonipin and Xanax, opioids like oxycontin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, Percocet, morphine, and others. ketamine, crack, LSD, and cannabis oil. he told me about all this personally. (I'm a med-school student (on deferment for recovery from cancer, but I'll be going back as soon as I can), I remember precisely what he said).
Eventually when it came down to it, he refused to pay the lawyer for all kinds of made-up reasons and after months of work, it didn't come through. I tried everything I could to earn the money for the lawyer but ultimately struggled to survive. due to my cancer treatment I am currently facing homelessness and starvation. I eat a piece of bread and half a banana every day. ever since he refused to pay the lawyer, he's disappeared.
he's set to leave the navy this coming June.
I called the JAG (legal aid for military members), and he did everything he could to try to help me but ultimately could not until I acquired a military ID. I did everything I could to try to get one, and ultimately found out that the original one I was meant to have, my husband declined, and that I could now not get one unless he was present with me and authorized me to have one. he refuses to help me with that.
so I'm stuck. waiting to be served papers at this point, I guess? scared for my life, my credit, whatever else he has control over. and really upset that I'm barely surviving while he's drinking, snorting, screwing, and gambling all of what is legally, my money. when this all began I told every lawyer and everyone that I didn't want a dime from him. I changed my mind. It's not even because I want / need the money. it's because he should not have been given it in the first place. and I want him to pay the government back the $16,000 they gave him to move me out and get a house. it's fraudulent and I hate that.
TL;DR / QUESTIONS:

• what sort of benefits are navy spouses (not enlisted themselves) entitled to? (specifics, please).
• how can I get a divorce from my navy husband without a military ID?
• how can I report his theft and illicit activity to someone that can do something about it?
• how could I receive the benefits I've been entitled to all this time from him that he's withheld and stolen from me?
• is the above situation defined as some kind of marital spousal abuse through power? what can I do?
• I'm going to lose my home very soon, and I won't survive on the streets. please, what can I do?

(please do not suggest anything like social security, food stamps, utility aid, etc. I'm working on all of that and more with a social worker. I JUST need help with this military part.)
thanks, guys.

I know that BTC is considered taxable if you sell it, or receive it as gambling profit. I'm curious if sending BTC to ignition is considered "selling" and therefore needs to be reported as income?
​
Say I bought 1btc a while back for $1000. Now I send 1btc to ignition and get credited $15,000. I would assume that it is considered taxable?

Renting with my gf, splitting costs in a HCOL US city. We are very lucky to not have had any interruptions in employment or pay during this pandemic. Aggressively saving/investing and have increased savings rate over past few years while increasing my income. Set forth short and mid term money goals with gf, aware that starting a family is on the horizon. Budgeting is essential. Besides Mint and Personal Capital, I use Excel.
11/11/2020 Total investment portfolio per my Personal Capital IOS app
I'm up 15.5% YTD as of 11/11/2020 in my total portfolio.
Aware Fed liquidity/stimulus is supporting asset appreciation. 2020 has been a crazy year so far.
401k tracks the S&P 500 (FXAIX). Roth IRA is VWELX. Taxable accounts track Nasdaq-100 (QQQ), VDIGX, VXUS, VXF.
4% of total portfolio is in 2 stock gambles (TSLA and PLTR).
Focused on building my VXUS and VXF positions since I'm far less exposed to international and mid/small-caps.
I use M1 Finance to auto-invest in ETFs every Monday. My taxable pie is up 10% since June 2020
M1 taxable pie link
Some things I've learned along the way:
Stock returns outpace inflation and supplement your nest egg, but increasing savings rate is key. Mine is currently over 65% and it may drop as expenses rise due to life events, so I'm taking advantage of my situation while I can.
Budget. After cash savings, invest the rest (max out retirement accounts) with tax efficiency in mind:
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-efficient_fund_placement
Heavy cash deposits and Total Return matter much more than chasing DiViDeNdZ. Don't lose sight of the forest for the trees.
Choose an asset allocation and stay the course.
The entire Bogleheads wiki is a goldmine:
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page

hello!
RE/TW: marriage / divorce / abuse / suicide
​

[ disclaimer: I in no way intend to offend any active or retired service members or the US Navy as a whole. this is my experience with one individual enlisted, I know a lot of the people serving are incredible individuals, and I honor and respect you guys. ]

​
background (can skip if you want, question & TL;DR is at the bottom, this is for context):
I married my husband in December 2017. He was home for the first time since joining the US Navy in June 2017. We were absolutely in love and had been close friends for several years before our relationship began in 2016 and I supported his decision to enlist. I was meant to move state to live with him in early February 2018.
My mother's father (and the closest person to both her and I in the world) passed away suddenly and without warning in late January 2018. My move was still on, but as the weeks went on my mother became very ill with grief. abusing alcohol and extremely depressed. I did everything I could to help her. a couple of nights while very intoxicated, she told me that if I left she'd kill herself. She'd just stop getting out of bed until she slowly died. she explained it in great detail, and always the same. She really only had her father and myself in her life. of course that was a horrible and manipulative thing to say, but I was like 20 years old, and even if it wasn't true, I couldn't risk that. I stewed on it for weeks asking friends for advice... and it boiled down to, she needs care from me as I have received from her all of my life, and if I leave there is a risk I won't be able to see her again. and honestly nothing was worse risking her wellbeing and survival for, in my opinion.
I was fully packed and had the truck and movers all scheduled, hotels booked (it was going to be a couple day road trip). three days before I was meant to move I cancelled temporarily. My husband knew it was a possibility, as my mother's health declined. this year in 2020 I told my mother that she was the reason I stayed, and she said she knew, and then thanked me, and said I just may have saved her life with that decision. I do stand by that decision at the time.
things quickly deteriorated between my husband and i. he began to show his true colors. he was drinking an obscene amount every single night, chain smoking and chewing, and gambling all of his earnings away every night. he was doing illicit drugs that don't stay in one's system long enough to matter in the military, and otherwise just functioning, kind of like an addict. which he was actually not so long before he left. I thought he was getting better, but it turned out he was just getting ready for boot camp and that. at some point he got upset that I didn't have a relationship status set at all (not single, not nothing) on Facebook. I hadn't been on my Facebook account for at least a year. I hardly ever use social media and completely forget about it, honestly. so he set his relationship status from married to single. which obviously was immature and really upset me.
things just kind of got worse.
eventually we kind of took a break, while remaining loyal of course. well, I did. he said he did.
a few months later he came home and everything was beautiful again, in fact I got to see him twice in one month. our relationship was great. although the distance made it difficult. eventually I felt secure in moving to him, but he said that I couldn't even though he wanted me to. after asking why enough times he told me that he had kept all of the moving money the military gave him for moving rather than give it back like he was meant to. so he couldn't ask again for them to fund the move because he pocketed the several several thousands of dollars they gave him for me to move. which, obviously is illegal. I asked if we could just use that money, but he had drank, smoked, and gambled it away. so I was unable to move out there.
things got really hard for me. I lost my place to live, and called asking him for some of the BAH (housing assistance) he receives to house us but doesn't use because he lives on base for free, and he told me I couldn't have it. I was homeless, and he still did not send me a dime. He was receiving, I don't even know what, all these benefits, and would not allow me any help. I was working hard, but life threw me a lot of curveballs.
I was working to have enough money to move out to him again.
I finally found housing, I was working full time at two jobs, part time at one job, and attending full time college. I was dragging. the housing I could afford was deplorable. the room mate I had to have was sexually and physically violent toward me. my husband still would not help me.
my home burned down. my car was stolen. I was homeless again, my husband still would not help me.
I found new housing, and started to get on my feet again, and even began to plan a few weeks of the following month I could afford (at my own cost, of course,) to go see him on base.
a couple of days later, I was diagnosed with cancer. I was going to lose everything since I was in the hospital for two months and could not work. my husband still would not help me, even just by sending half of the BAH he gets for being married to me. And I really don't even know what other benefits or income he gets.
He can't do his own taxes, it's too hard for him, so I've been doing them every year. and he always says, "see, look, I hardly make enough to get by." and I always thought, "wow that's so terrible for how much you have to work and you hardly get paid." ... I recently found out the bulk of his income is non-taxable and he's just been lying to me.
he stopped talking to me while I was in cancer treatment for 7 months.
we started e-mailing while he was deployed, and everything was going really well. we really felt like, "us," we were talking about the future, children, everything.
then he e-mailed out of the blue to tell me he had a girlfriend. He's 25. she's 18.
he replaced me because I got sick.
he was using our money for being married to house her with him.
they had a whole life together.
they'd been together for a year and a half.
through about ten or more leave trips home that extended for weeks at a time that we spent day and night together... in love, acting as married people would. little did I know when I dropped him off at the airport to return to his base with a kiss, another woman would pick him up at the airport on the other side with a kiss, too.
he told me he didn't want the girlfriend to affect him and i.
eventually he was able to get me to like, somehow be okay with it? even though I was furious for being lied to. but he urged me to ask all the questions and tell me all of the things and really be close and open about it, which I thought was stand-up and also amazing. after about a day he ended things with her. he got back from deployment and we went back to spending all day on the phone every day.
then the girlfriend reached out to me.
in every possible way.
e-mail, text message, instagram, Facebook, etc.
she told me a very different story. while he did leave her, and told her it was because he wanted to focus on his wife (that she previously had no idea existed), the story all before was very different. he didn't tell me we overlapped, the whole time, or that they lived together, or that he was financially supporting her, or anything. he told her terrible untrue things about his, "ex-wife," and eventually she found out he'd been cheating on her with several prostitutes over the year (with proof, and he admitted to it, she showed me the proof and screenshots of admittance). he'd been using illicit drugs while on leave- a lot of them. I have proof of that, too. just overall not being awesome.
upon hearing about what he'd been up to, stealing money from the government, lying to them about benefits he needed for "me," and then not actually giving those to me, partaking in so many illegal activities, and openly committing adultery in the public (she had them plastered on her Facebook and on instagram, with "I love you's" and "I can't wait to marry you"'s etc. I decided I wanted a divorce. I didn't want to be wrapped up into any of his illegal activity, and it was honestly sad that I was being used for his financial gain. he'd never wanted a divorce before and vehemently spoke against it. eventually he told the teenager that had been planning her life with him for the last year and a half that he was only using her for boredom and company and did not actually care for her or want anything to do with her. that woman and I are now friends, and she really is a great person that also deserved better.
in trying to pursue a divorce, I found a lawyer. the cost was $2,000. I told my husband that he was meant to pay for it, as I was disabled at the time (and still am) from chemotherapy treatments and unable to work, and as the primary income (even though I never saw any of it,) that it was his responsibility to pay for the attorney. he said he would. he agreed to do whatever was necessary because he'd "hurt me so badly." so I met with a few lawyers before choosing one, spent a lot of time speaking to each of them and finding out all kinds of details he had never told me about just how much he's been making off me monetarily. my husband had also told me a few times in the past that if I were to die he would get $400,000. this really terrified me. he's always been weird like this with money, always cut corners, always loopholed income, and always been addicted to gambling and a innumerable amount of illicit substances. I did believe it was possible he'd have me killed for this money. I've been frantic to find a way to sever this marriage since then. One of the lawyers told me he did not believe that was accurate, but either way, I need out.
I also found out my husband has been forging my signature for years on many many documents over the years, even saying that I lived with him when I did not (but the other girl did,) to receive more money. he forged my signature hundreds of times without my knowledge. and I don't even know what all he signed. I know he did get over a month of paid leave to care for me when I had first been diagnosed with cancer. but he didn't care for me. he went on a bender. cocaine, benzodiazepines like klonipin and Xanax, opioids like oxycontin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, Percocet, morphine, and others. ketamine, crack, LSD, and cannabis oil. he told me about all this personally. (I'm a med-school student (on deferment for recovery from cancer, but I'll be going back as soon as I can), I remember precisely what he said).
Eventually when it came down to it, he refused to pay the lawyer for all kinds of made-up reasons and after months of work, it didn't come through. I tried everything I could to earn the money for the lawyer but ultimately struggled to survive. due to my cancer treatment I am currently facing homelessness and starvation. I eat a piece of bread and half a banana every day. ever since he refused to pay the lawyer, he's disappeared.
he's set to leave the navy this coming June.
I called the JAG (legal aid for military members), and he did everything he could to try to help me but ultimately could not until I acquired a military ID. I did everything I could to try to get one, and ultimately found out that the original one I was meant to have, my husband declined, and that I could now not get one unless he was present with me and authorized me to have one. he refuses to help me with that.
so I'm stuck. waiting to be served papers at this point, I guess? scared for my life, my credit, whatever else he has control over. and really upset that I'm barely surviving while he's drinking, snorting, screwing, and gambling all of what is legally, my money. when this all began I told every lawyer and everyone that I didn't want a dime from him. I changed my mind. It's not even because I want / need the money. it's because he should not have been given it in the first place. and I want him to pay the government back the $16,000 they gave him to move me out and get a house. it's fraudulent and I hate that.
TL;DR / QUESTIONS:

• what sort of benefits are navy spouses (not enlisted themselves) entitled to? (specifics, please).
• how can I get a divorce from my navy husband without a military ID?
• how can I report his theft and illicit activity to someone that can do something about it?
• how could I receive the benefits I've been entitled to all this time from him that he's withheld and stolen from me?
• is the above situation defined as some kind of marital spousal abuse through power? what can I do?
• I'm going to lose my home very soon, and I won't survive on the streets. please, what can I do?

(please do not suggest anything like social security, food stamps, utility aid, etc. I'm working on all of that and more with a social worker. I JUST need help with this military part.)
thanks, guys.