Welcome to “Science and Money.”

I’ve been writing about personal finance at my company website, Affine Financial, for almost a year, but I wanted a space where I could write a bit more freely.   Here at “Science and Money,” I can write about some of my other interests, too — like, uh … science.

By “Science and Money,” I mean that I plan to write about anything that relates to either science or money (or anything else I think might be interesting).

Happy reading!  Please let me know what you think of the new plan.  Thanks for traveling the web along with me.

Tags: new website, science and money, welcome

If Barack Obama was gay, he would have just signed a presidential memorandum giving himself, a federal employee, some additional benefits.  Let’s see how that might change the lives of Barack and, well, Michael.

The new benefits include:

• Barack can now sign up Michael for long-term care insurance.
• Barack can now use his sick leave to care for Michael and Michael’s dependents.  (I’m not sure how many sick days a President is allowed — I imagine it’s as many as he needs.)
• If Barack is assigned to move overseas,* Michael can be included when determining family size for the housing allocation, and he will be able to use the overseas medical facilities.  In the event of an emergency, Michael will eligible to be evacuated.

That’s it.  Nothing more.

Michael will still not be able to:

• Have health insurance provided through Barack’s employer,
• Benefit from his pension should Barack pre-decease him,
• Visit his partner or his partner’s children if hospitalized when traveling to any of the more than forty states that do not recognize his marriage to Barack,
• Travel safely with Barack when visiting Saudi Arabia or Iran or any other county in which homosexuality is punishable by death, or
• Have any of the other 1,138 US federal benefits identified by our General Accounting Office (GAO) which are contingent upon his marital status.

One more thing is wrong with this scenario: if Barack Obama was gay, he would never have been elected president.  I’m very proud that my nation elected an African-American to be president, and honestly, I think he’s doing a terrific job with the mess that he was left by the previous administration.  But I cannot suspend my disbelief long enough to imagine that blue-and-red America could vote a gay man into the White House.  We had a hard enough time envisioning Bill Clinton as First Gentleman, let alone Michael.  Perhaps that day will come, someday.

For today, I believe that Mr. Obama, with a stroke of his pen, gave as many rights as he was legally empowered to grant to federal employees.  I hope that the next few years bring many more days of equality for all citizens

*Granted, not likely for a president.

Tags: Barack Obama, federal employees, same-sex partner benefits

You might love her or not, but there’s no denying that Suze Orman has had a significant hand in shaping the current state of personal financial planning.  Personally, I think she’s mostly a force for good.  Join me in wishing her a happy 59th* birthday, and many happy returns (tax and otherwise).

*Reference: Wikipedia

Tags: birthday, Suze Orman

Welcome!

I am now a regular contributing columnist to Queercents, the nation’s leading personal finance blog for the LGBTQ community. Look for my posts there every other Tuesday. Have a look around my personal site, Affine Financial. I hope you’ll find additional tips on financial planning and tax reduction that are useful and perhaps even entertaining. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: columnist, queercents

As you probably know, the US television broadcasting system will switch from analog to digital transmission on February 17th.  If you have cable TV service, then you don’t need to do anything, as the cable company will take care of it.  If you’re still using an antenna 1) kudos to you (for not paying for cable service) but 2) you’re going to need a converter box to convert the incoming digital signal to one your analog TV can interpret.  You can buy a converter at Best Buy or other electronics store.

To ease the transition, the US Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is offering coupons to help defray the cost.  Each household may request up to two coupons, and each is worth a $40 refund on the purchase of a converter box.  However,  the funds Congress allocated for the program are running out.   The NTIA is requesting additional funds from Congress.  In the meantime, the NTIA is limiting the number of coupons they are mailing out.

So if you think you’ll need a converter box, send in for your coupon(s) now.

US DoC NTIA

Tags: tv converter box

Oprah Winfrey is offering a free download of Suze Orman’s new book 2009 Action Plan.  We could all use a plan for the new year.  Download it now, as the offer ends January 15th.

Tags: 2009 Action Plan, free book, Oprah Winfrey, Suze Orman

While this is not a tax tip, I thought this news item might be of interest to folks in the local area.  The IRS will stop processing tax returns at the Andover facility in September 2009, due to the increase in e-filing, eliminating over 700 full-time and part-time jobs.  In addition, the IRS hired only 400 seasonal employees this year, compared to 1,000 in 2008.

Eagle-Tribune, Jan 03, 2009

Tags: Andover, e-filing, news