Just a little (link) love: literary AITA edition
January 9, 2020
How are you awesome?
Even though I’m personally opposed to buying Tesla because I can’t stand Elon Musk and I think he’s terrible on labor, I really appreciated the lessons here on driving long distances in a Tesla and for electric cars generally.
A New York times feature on Lupita Nyong’o. I’d like to see her on-screen a whole lot more.
Rich and Regular reflect on 2019.
Emma Pattee’s flash fiction. I was musing on whether I’ve developed the writing chops to write our family’s story yet and every time I read a beautiful piece like this, I think, no. Not yet.
Speaking of beauty, I love Penny’s reflection on her nana and her blog.
The SECURE act is being called the biggest retirement bill since 2006 but I’m mostly annoyed that the last point, that’s most important to me, is mostly just removing a couple barriers and not actively making 401ks possible for small businesses, or even just letting those of us who don’t have 401ks have some other means of tax deductible savings. I’m saving no matter what but it’s frustrating that I’m missing out on a huge opportunity for tax savings just because my employer doesn’t offer this benefit. Shouldn’t health insurance and retirement options be employer-agnostic? It makes no sense to tie them together, to me.
Ask A Manager’s top posts this decade.
This literary twist on the AITA subreddit Twitter account is hilarious:
![I [32W*] bit off this guy’s leg because he wouldn’t leave me alone. He’s been following me ever since, I think I’m a kind of metaphor to him. Here’s where I might be the asshole: I’ve sort of been leading him into dangerous situations for my own amusement. AITA? *whale](http://agaishanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Screenshot_20200104-194800.png)
![I [111H] found an abandoned piece of jewellery a few years ago while being dragged along on a road trip more or less against my will. I brought it home with me and now my world is in peril. WIBTA if I left my nephew to deal with this while I retire to a cushy elf community?](http://agaishanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Screenshot_20200104-200812.png)
Thanks for the link!
nicoleandmaggie recently posted…Grumpy Rumblings 2019 year in Blogging
You’re welcome!
I didn’t know about “stretch IRAs” until the SECURE act came along. This update seems like a sensible loophole to close, though I could imagine it would be something T & I would have left behind for LO at some point in the distant future. I also read somewhere that grad students fellowship income is now officially earned income for purposes of IRA contributions, which is another good change. I do agree that it didn’t go far enough in fixing the patchwork retirement system we have. I can’t even see a clear path from where we are to a more equitable system. They need to find the money by re-instating a more reasonable estate tax, etc. (I am also thinking about pensions, and how that is essentially a tax deferred benefit to employees that is usually pretty invisible. How should those be handled?)
DoneBy40 had a nice post on this last summer: https://www.donebyforty.com/2019/08/even-out-tax-benefits-for-all-workers.html
I knew about it but I didn’t really think about whether we’d have used it. I did really like DbF’s post! Thanks for adding the link here, I should have remembered to add it.