This year my property tax refund will cover almost 80% of my 2026 property tax bill. This is bigger than last year’s refund because my co-occupant had no income to report. Qualifying for this state refund is one of the primary reasons that I have been able to afford early
Continue readingAuthor: budgethomepage
April Come Back +$25K
It may be too early to celebrate April’s gains because there is still no peace deal with Iran. But my retirement account has gained back $25K of the $26K that it lost in March. The stock market is acting like the war is over and ignoring the fact that gas
Continue readingFirst Xbox Controller Sale
I sold my first Xbox controller of 2026 after taking a long winter break from Ebay selling. It only took about 30 minutes to find a buyer after listing a robot white model 1914. This is the second controller that had a broken trace under the right stick. Other than
Continue readingMy Only 3 Stocks
As I was looking at my brokerage account, I noticed that I only have stock in 3 companies. The remainder of my holdings are in either mutual funds or ETFs. One is a US based oil company, one is a financial services company, and the other is a radio frequency
Continue readingIran War Investment Loss
Today marks 26 days since the start of the war with Iran. So far, my investments have lost around $30k in value. That is a big number. You could buy a new car with that or make a down payment on a house. It doesn’t sound as bad if I
Continue readingZero Refund Zero Tax
Since I had no earned income in 2025, my tax refund is zero dollars. My investment income was less than the standard deduction, so I didn’t have to pay any tax. This is the 5th year in a row with zero refund and zero tax. In 2025 I did not
Continue reading