The Election Fund Checkbox on your Tax Return

Something everyone should know about, but doesn't.  This checkbox on your tax return does not cost you a dime to check.  If you check "you" or "spouse" at the checkbox, it takes $3 (or $6, if you check both) and redirects those dollars to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund.  It does not change your actual tax due or any refund.  You are just directing where you want your tax dollars to go.


If you, like me, think that our government is already flooded with corporate money, you would be wise to check this box.  Again, it does not cost you a cent.  You are merely controlling how you want your tax dollars spent.

Life Changes and Plans

Wow, it has been quite some time since I posted.  Life hasn't really changed all that much for me, although I have been making plans.  With a little effort, I can retire in about 10 years.  Now that seems like a long time, but I have been working a career for 20 years now.  I'm tired.  Really, really tired.

I heard George Carlin (God rest his soul) on YouTube, and he quoted that old line... something about "Inside every pessimist is an old optimist scratching the surface."  I think there may be some in that.  I was once so positive.  I have been told I always had a smile on my face.  But I feel so negative now about our country and where it's going.  We voted Obama in for 2008, but not much has changed.  We are still losing our liberties.  Sure, I'd rather have him than McCain, or any of the crazy people running this year on the other side (Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum), but c'mon... let's face it:  this country is owned lock and key by big money.

So I'm done.  I've been planning an escape upon retirement for years now.

My 2001 Isuzu Rodeo Sport

In 2011, I bought a cool little 4x4.  I have been fixing it up, making it a vehicle I would enjoy traveling in.  I'm selling my Volvo this year.  I have been ebaying stuff I need rid of.  I am finishing up the improvements on my home.  This is all preparation for my move.  I'm not sure which place I'll go, but right now Uruguay and Ecuador are frontrunners for my new home.  I'll be visiting Belize, Panama, Argentina, Venezuela, maybe Brazil, and definitely a few others.  The cost of living is low there, and my retirement should be sufficient to live.

I assume I will be making about $70,000 when I retire, and if so, my retirement should come out to about $37k a year.  Not a ton of money, but after the same of my house (maybe around $170) I should have some options about travel and where I plan to live.  It's going to be near the beach, some warm but not scorching.  I don't need a lot--just Internet, a few movie theaters to choose from, some good places to eat and explore.  Maybe some places I can exercise my little truck.

This will probably be my longest post in a long time.  I don't generally get this wordy, but I figured a decision that I made so long ago should be at least somewhat documented.

I want to be living in a modern home with modern luxuries, but surrounded by regular people who are not fooled by a plutocracy into supporting that elite group.  Give me regular working people any day.  Ecuador put into law a few years ago a very impressive bill of rights, and I know several of those nations down there are pretty liberal.  I want to walk out of my house, smell the ocean air, have a brief phone call with friends, get into the truck with my wife and go have an exotic meal on the cheap.  Then maybe explore some mountainous regions, see some old ruins, maybe even stay the night in a small village somewhere.  What a great retirement it could be!

I am getting on in years.  I am not as healthy as I'd like to be.  I hope planning so far in advance isn't in vain, but I've got to try.  This is what I need.