CPI

You can get the American consumer price index (CPI) for every month since January 1913 online at the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt

The numbers tell you how many cents it would take in each month to equal the value of a dollar in 1983.

It is updated about the 15th of every month.

 

The bill from WM

Some notes on my Waste Management (WM) bill since it is a bit strange:

1. WM bills me on the first of January, April, July and October.
2. The amount due varies due to changes in the cost of Diesel fuel and environmental testing.
3. You can pay at their website: wm.com. There is no convenience fee but if your bill is late, then get the reference number and call it in to customer service: 610 863 6057 – otherwise they will stop your service.
   
4. A good quarterly amount to pay them is $110; if monthly, then $36.67.

 

interest rates

The Bank of England will probably cut rates twice next year. Jim Cramer thinks the Fed will cut it by 1% in the coming 12 months. Alan Greenspan says we will have double digit interest rates in the coming years.

 

local taxes

In my town most taxes are raised through property taxes. That gets sucked out of your mortgage payment behind the scenes.

But in my town there is another local tax that is easy to forget: the earned income tax. It is 1% of your gross income. Half of it goes to the schools, half to the town.

The tax form comes from Berkheimer.

Every two years the state sends them tax information. They use this to find out who did not pay. So you could go without paying for a year or two and hear nothing about it.

But they are nice about it: if you write to them when you send in your W-2 forms, you can say how much a month you can pay to pay it off.

Where to get the numbers for the form, line by line:

1. From W-2 forms
2. From PA Sched UE, at the bottom of the first page.
6. Net profits from Schedule C, at the bottom of the first page.
12. Subtract taxes paid to New York state (see IT-203, at the bottom of page 3 probably) from taxes you paid to Pennsylvania (PA Sched 40, line 12 or thereabouts). This will be your credit.

If you have questions, go to Berkheimer’s website:

• www.hab-inc.com

 

refinancing your mortgage

Some advice I got on this:

1. If you have one of those adjusted rate mortgages, you might be able to refinance it at a fixed rate.
2. If housing prices drop too far you might not be able to.
3. Best to do it now: rates might drop further but already they are at a 45-year low. If you wait you risk getting locked in at a higher rate.
4. To refinance check the rates of different lenders. Check with your lender first: they might be able to swing you a good deal.

 

credit counsellors

Some advice I got on this:

1. Spend some time on DaveRamsey.com. There is a link there to find counsellors in the area. They are for profit but usually reasonable and they do not have a product they will try to sell them.
2. For non-profit credit counselling call 1 800 388 2227 or go to http://www.nfcc.org. But be careful: in most coases working with them will be very damaging to your credit.
3. Check with your church. Many churches have non-profit organizations that contact them with information.
4. All credit counsellors charge you a fee, either for a month or for a year.
5. Some of what they do for pay you could do yourself for free, like call your credit card company and work out a better deal.