Black Wednesday

No Workout Yesterday or Today
My body seems ready to go, although I’m feeling a large muscle forming at the back of my right leg. It shouldn’t be an issue heading into tomorrow’s Max Cardio Conditioning.


Wow. I mean... wow. Sometimes I have to step back, then look at the absurdities of life and laugh. I did my taxes yesterday and handed them in. The tax company unfortunately closed early but one of their associates was there so I had to file a day later (today). I’ll most likely pay a penalty for filing late, but this is just the beginning of my bad news.

My new tax guy, Ross, called me about an hour ago and said he needed to talk to me about some discrepancies in the papers I gave him. I thought he was gonna point out that I missed some deductions or something. I went up to his office and from the moment I saw the nervous smile on his face I knew something was wrong. He told me that the guy I did my taxes with for my 2010 tax return screwed me over. He showed me deductions that were completely false! According to my 2010 tax return, I still go to school, I pay union dues, I’ve paid almost 3k to charities, and I own one property with no tenants. Ross then said that if I wanted to do the taxes correctly this year, I would have to end up PAYING over 6k and get nothing back for taxes! He also said that I may also have to amend my 2010 tax return which would mean I have to pay back even more money once corrected.

He told me that I should take a break if I needed it. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was staring at him without saying anything, and it was making him nervous. All that was going on in my head was one question: “Why is it that every time I’m about to get what I want, something has to get in the way?” I told him I didn’t need a break and to go ahead. The more bad news, the more I kept saying “go ahead”. As he talked I started writing things down, doing re-calculations. Taking a $6,000 hit right now is gonna hurt. I’ll end the month at MAYBE 12k in my account, 17k overall. Instead of applying for my first commercial property in two months, I’ll have to wait all the way until October at BEST! For a few minutes I was devastated. I went through my sequence of emotions. I looked at my W-2s and thought of how hard I worked last year, all the long hours, lost sleep, and the bullshit that comes with working two full-time jobs while doing property management. All for nothing. The higher up I try to go, the more bullshit I have to deal with. That lasted about five minutes.

Next, I wanted to kill that Nigerian bastard for screwing me over so royally with my tax return. I mean, what’s the point of getting a 4k return when I’m gonna have to pay that back PLUS penalties later on?! That’s the problem with small minded people. They get that little money without seeing the big picture. Is it better to get that quick money and have to look over one’s shoulder, or is it better to do business the right way and make more money overall? By making fake deductions and showing that I have no tenants in my property, it lowered my overall income and showed banks that I know nothing about managing tenants and rents. To go on a quick tangent, that’s also the problem with Nigeria in general. All those resources and opportunity, and the people in power just rape the land of profits, keeping it for themselves and hurting the overall progress of that country. Every government steals a little, but to steal to the extent that it hurts the overall growth of the nation makes NO sense at all.

Finally, I started doing my calculations and, as long as I can purchase a commercial property by the end of this year, I will still be alright. I haven’t actually done detailed estimates, but buying that first commercial property this year should keep me on schedule to retire from paycheck jobs at the end of 2013. It would mean, however, that the second commercial property will have to make me at least 3k a month. I’d have to save up at LEAST 50k-60k next year with no help from taxes. Life just got a little harder and I’m really gonna need good luck for the rest of this year. I thanked Ross, told him to file the taxes and keep me updated. It’s two hours later and I’m back to normal. I’m not really fazed by this disaster, which means that my overall mindset is good. After work today, I’m gonna go home, watch old episodes of the Simpsons, Daria, and Married with Children on my laptop, sleep off the pain, then wake up to start another day as if Black Wednesday never happened. The saying that goes: It’s not how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get back up—can be applied here. I plan to get up from this, throw a few punches of my own, and stand with my arms raised at the end of the fight.