2020 - Post Grimlinghauser Strasse Process
What is the future event that you want to work on?
I want to work on what will happen when Grimlinghauserstrasse is sold.
When I put my attention on Grimlinghauser Strasse being sold, what are my emotions?
I am feeling a mixture of relief, elation and nervousness.
The relief is because the whole process of her fathers's death, her mothers dementia has bee a huge source of stress in our lives. Too much attention has been consumed by it and fixed on it. Having the house sold will release some of that fixed attention.
The nervousness is because the responsibility of advising Sylvia how to manage the money without it simply running through her hands creates enormous pressure for me.
I know if I do not succeed in to a large extent controlling what she does with that money, she will simply spend it all within 2-3 years on promoting her business and doing more self develop course, probably without success, and neither succeed in creating income from her business, and then waste the opportunity to grow our family wealth through smart investment.
But I also fear that my own investing skills are not sufficient to grow it either.
When I put my attention on Grimlinghauser Strasse being sold, what are my beliefs?
I have a belief that money just disappears when invested. Investment fees, losses and spending mean money saved only ever gets smaller, never bigger. This is disappointing, depressing, and makes me feel hopeless and powerless. This belief persists despite the fact that I successfully grew our net worth 600% in the last decade. My observation of Sylvia over the years strengthens this belief because she has never saved a single dollar long term in the entire time we are married. She has absolutely no concept of either saving or investing, despite having a shelf full of books on money.
I have a fear that Sylvia would make money she received from her mother disappear. Sylvia can be very persuasive and will come up with many ideas about how to 'invest' despite the reality that she has absolutely no skills at evaluating any type of investment. Resisting her ideas consumes a lot of time and attention, as it plays into my owns desires just to have miraculous financial success appear as if by magic.
What ideas and emotions do you want to place in your space of possibility, instead of these fears and beliefs.
I want to feel that Sylvia and I are able to together research and execute a wealth strategy that will ensure that the money from her parents house grows in the future securely and continuously, and this process will be successful, exciting and joyous.
Do I currently have a belief that Sylvia can change her financial habits enough to allow this to occur.
No, I see very little so far that indicates she is acting differently. It makes me doubt the future of our marriage, when something as big as this is overwhelming for me, and takes the joy out of her receiving this unbelievable financial gift.
I want to work on what will happen when Grimlinghauserstrasse is sold.
When I put my attention on Grimlinghauser Strasse being sold, what are my emotions?
I am feeling a mixture of relief, elation and nervousness.
The relief is because the whole process of her fathers's death, her mothers dementia has bee a huge source of stress in our lives. Too much attention has been consumed by it and fixed on it. Having the house sold will release some of that fixed attention.
The nervousness is because the responsibility of advising Sylvia how to manage the money without it simply running through her hands creates enormous pressure for me.
I know if I do not succeed in to a large extent controlling what she does with that money, she will simply spend it all within 2-3 years on promoting her business and doing more self develop course, probably without success, and neither succeed in creating income from her business, and then waste the opportunity to grow our family wealth through smart investment.
But I also fear that my own investing skills are not sufficient to grow it either.
When I put my attention on Grimlinghauser Strasse being sold, what are my beliefs?
I have a belief that money just disappears when invested. Investment fees, losses and spending mean money saved only ever gets smaller, never bigger. This is disappointing, depressing, and makes me feel hopeless and powerless. This belief persists despite the fact that I successfully grew our net worth 600% in the last decade. My observation of Sylvia over the years strengthens this belief because she has never saved a single dollar long term in the entire time we are married. She has absolutely no concept of either saving or investing, despite having a shelf full of books on money.
I have a fear that Sylvia would make money she received from her mother disappear. Sylvia can be very persuasive and will come up with many ideas about how to 'invest' despite the reality that she has absolutely no skills at evaluating any type of investment. Resisting her ideas consumes a lot of time and attention, as it plays into my owns desires just to have miraculous financial success appear as if by magic.
What ideas and emotions do you want to place in your space of possibility, instead of these fears and beliefs.
I want to feel that Sylvia and I are able to together research and execute a wealth strategy that will ensure that the money from her parents house grows in the future securely and continuously, and this process will be successful, exciting and joyous.
Do I currently have a belief that Sylvia can change her financial habits enough to allow this to occur.
No, I see very little so far that indicates she is acting differently. It makes me doubt the future of our marriage, when something as big as this is overwhelming for me, and takes the joy out of her receiving this unbelievable financial gift.
529 Plans for Orlando and Sebastian
Annual contribution limit for 529 plans
In 2019, many families are trying to make the most of their tax-advantaged savings accounts. Those saving for retirement may deposit up to $6,000 to an IRA or Roth IRA ($7,000 if you're over age 50) and up to $19,000 to an employer-sponsored 401(k). But what about college funds? That's where it can get tricky, since the IRS doesn't specify an annual contribution limit for 529 plans and many 529 plans offer high total contribution limits.Most families won’t have to worry about hitting their 529 plan’s contribution limit this year, but there are some rules to be aware of if you're considering making a large deposit.
Annual gift tax exclusion
One of the many benefits of saving for a child's future college education with a 529 plan is that contributions are considered gifts for tax purposes. In 2019, gifts totaling up to $15,000 per individual will qualify for the annual gift tax exclusion, the same as in 2018 and up from $14,000 in 2017. This means if you and your spouse have three grandchildren (or children) you can jointly give $90,000 without gift-tax consequences, since each child can receive $15,000 in gifts from you and $15,000 in gifts from your spouse. Remember, the annual gift tax exclusion amount also includes non-529 gifts so be sure to include any cash or property gifts in your total.If your total gifts to an individual will be more than $15,000 this year, the excess amount will count against your lifetime estate and gift tax exemption and will have to be reported on Form 709 when you file your taxes. In 2019 individuals can gift up to $11.4 million without having to pay federal estate or gift tax. There is no joint gift-tax return, so you and your spouse will each have to file separately.
The 5-year election
Individuals may contribute as much as $75,000 to a 529 plan in 2019 if they treat the contribution as if it were spread over a 5-year period. The 5-year election must be reported on Form 709 for each of the 5 years. For example, a $50,000 529 plan deposit in 2019 can be applied as $10,000 per year, leaving $5,000 in unused annual exclusion per year.This is often called 5-year gift tax averaging or superfunding.
This is often a great estate-tax planning strategy for parents and grandparents. They're able to shelter a large amount of assets from estate taxes, while retaining control of the funds in the 529 account. However, if you do end up changing your mind down the road and revoking the funds in the account they will be added back to your taxable estate.
Lifetime gift tax exemption amount
Does this mean if you contribute more than $15,000 in one year or $75,000 over 5 years you'll have to pay gift tax? Not necessarily. As mentioned above, any gifts above the annual exclusion amounts will have to be reported on the federal tax Form 709, and these will be counted against the $11.4 million lifetime gift tax exclusion. Any amounts that exceed the exclusion could trigger gift taxes of up to 40%, but individuals within the $11.4 million limit will not be subject to gift taxes.
Cannabis Stocks
There Are Only 9 Billion-Dollar Pot Stocks Left
Marijuana stock market caps continue to shrink.
As recently as the end of March, cannabis stocks were chugging along and handily outpacing the returns of the broader market. At one point, there were more than one dozen marijuana stocks sporting a market cap of at least $1 billion. But times have definitely changed.
Since the first quarter ended, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, the first-ever cannabis-focused exchange-traded fund, has lost about 56% of its value, inclusive of dividends paid, and aggregate market value losses for the entire industry look to be well in excess of $40 billion. As of the end of November, just nine pot stocks remain as billion-dollar companies, and this figure may continue to decline.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
1. Canopy Growth: $6.48 billion
Although Canopy Growth (NYSE:CGC) easily remains the largest marijuana stock by a mile, the company has shed more than $10 billion in market cap in just a seven-month time frame. Over that span, we've witnessed Canopy Growth's share-based compensation and goodwill soar, leading to bigger losses and an ugly balance sheet. To top things off, Canopy's board fired its visionary co-CEO Bruce Linton in early July and has still yet to name a permanent successor, which sort of puts the company's long-term plans into flux. Suffice it to say that there's very real downside possibility still left in the world's largest pot stock.
2. GW Pharmaceuticals: $3.19 billion
Even though management prefers that it not be lumped in with "marijuana stocks," GW Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:GWPH) now finds itself as the second-largest pot stock. GW Pharmaceuticals, which has benefited from the rapid uptake of Epidiolex and the company's ability to secure insurance coverage for its lead drug, is liable to be profitable much earlier than Wall Street had initially anticipated. Although this hasn't saved the company's share price from being beaten up in recent months, a possible label expansion for Epidiolex, or positive clinical data for any of the other cannabinoid-based drugs in GW Pharma's pipeline, should do the trick.
3. Curaleaf Holdings: $2.8 billion
The largest U.S. pot stock in the world is Curaleaf (OTC:CURLF), which chimes in with a valuation of $2.8 billion after leading all cannabis stocks to the upside in November. Curaleaf currently has more open locations (50) than any other multistate operator, and on a pro forma basis is pushing for the lead in total retail licenses held. The company has also benefited of late from the passage of the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act by the House Judiciary Committee, which could signal that the tide is turning on Capitol Hill when it comes to cannabis reform.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
4. Aurora Cannabis: $2.64 billion
Maybe the biggest surprise on the entire list is how far Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) has fallen. Once a nearly $10 billion company that was pushing Canopy Growth for the top spot, Aurora has face-planted since mid-March, losing about three-quarters of its value. Over the past five years, Aurora has drowned its shareholders by issuing over 1 billion shares of its common stock, and it's currently lugging around an unsightly $2.4 billion in goodwill on its balance sheet. After overpaying for more than a dozen acquisitions, and with losses mounting, the most popular pot stock among millennials is finding little love of late.
5. Cronos Group: $2.36 billion
Having a lot of cash on hand isn't necessarily saving pot stocks anymore, as evidenced by Cronos Group's (NASDAQ:CRON) fall from grace. Despite sporting close to $1.5 billion in cash and short-term investments -- pretty much all of which came from a $1.8 billion equity investment from Altria Group that was completed in March -- Cronos Group continues to lose money on an operating basis, once one-time benefits are stripped from the equation. This is also a company whose outlook has taken a hit due to the vaping health scare in the United States. Cronos is no longer a sure thing to "kick bud" when derivatives hit Canadian dispensary shelves in about two weeks.
6. Tilray: $1.99 billion
Speaking of how the mighty have fallen, need I remind everyone that Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) moon-shot to a valuation of $26 billion just two months following its initial public offering, only to give up most of that market cap over the past year. Tilray's management team has looked lost at times, with the company de-emphasizing investments in Canada in favor of Europe and the U.S., and continuing to lose quite a bit of money on an operating basis. Tilray's purchase of hemp foods company Manitoba Harvest has added some predictability to its bottom line, but it's also been a drag on margins.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
7. Green Thumb Industries: $1.92 billion
Other than Curaleaf, the only other billion-dollar pot stocks in the U.S. are vertically integrated multistate operator Green Thumb Industries (OTC:GTBIF) and the next company on this list. Green Thumb has been making acquisitions to move into potentially lucrative marijuana markets, such as Nevada, and is nearing 100 retail licenses owned. Further, the company has received a bit of a boost of late from discussion on the MORE Act. Even with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) unlikely to bring the MORE Act to the Senate floor for vote, assuming it's passed by the House, momentum continues to push cannabis into the political spectrum.
8. Trulieve Cannabis: $1.42 billion
That "next company" is none other than Florida's Trulieve Cannabis (OTC:TCNNF). Trulieve is among the few pot stocks that's actually having a good year. The company's laser focus on the Florida market has led to the opening of 40 stores in the Sunshine State, while at the same time allowing Trulieve to keep its costs down and effectively build its brand. No pot stock is more profitable at the moment.
That "next company" is none other than Florida's Trulieve Cannabis (OTC:TCNNF). Trulieve is among the few pot stocks that's actually having a good year. The company's laser focus on the Florida market has led to the opening of 40 stores in the Sunshine State, while at the same time allowing Trulieve to keep its costs down and effectively build its brand. No pot stock is more profitable at the moment.
9. Aphria: $1.2 billion
Last, but not least, Aphria (NYSE:APHA) continues to cling to its billion-dollar market cap, despite losing it very briefly in November. Aphria has benefited in recent quarters from steady results in its pharmaceutical distribution business, as well as positive fair-value adjustments from its cannabis operations. But when looking strictly at its pot business, Aphria is still losing money on an operating basis. Further, it's yet to fully regain the trust of investors following two notable transactions. It would not be a surprise if Aphria loses its billion-dollar valuation.
2019 Financial Review
Hardest Ever Year Financially
Overall, this was the hardest year in my life financially. Unexpected expenses from a maxed out health care deductible, more special levies required to complete Eden2, then selling Eden2, getting laid off after twenty years in the corporate world, Sylvia needing to go multiple times to Germany to care for her parents, then her father dying, fighting through bureaucracy to get the old NQ retirement money paid out. Finally, the stress of Sylvia moving her mother into a rest home, and selling the family home to insure her mother could continue to get the good care there without more financial stress.Health Insurance Nightmare
After breaking my arm during a hard paragliding landing at a SoCal XC League race at the end of April, I ended up with a health insurance nightmare just at the moment my cashflow was the worst it has ever been in my life. With our high deductible plan, I was $6000 out of pocket. Then after getting laid off, our family health care bill jumped to $1300 a month.
The situation made it more clear that in the USA health insurance is not really insurance against for healthcare. It's insurance against a predatory industry that will bankrupt anyone that isn't insured against it's out of control overcharging and blatent price gouging of consumers.
Eden 2 Pushing over the Finish Line
The first six months of 2019 had been a nightmare, with additional special levies forcing me to max out two credit cards and take out a third another personal loans on top of the two loans and overdraft in New Zealand. Finally, I started simply ignoring the balance on my Fidelity Credit card in order to pay for the additional special levies.After nearly two years of rebuilding process and not receiving any rent, Eden2 was finally finished in July. I flew to New Zealand to meet with the real estate agent, inspect the property and admire the beautiful staging arranged by the real estate agent.
It did look stunning. I fell in love with it all over again, and was reminded how closely the elegant, simple interior represented my ideal living space as the young professional I was at the time.
The plan was to sell it at auction, and after some last minute negotiations to get the right clauses for particular bidders, the auction went off without a hitch. The selling price was $620,000, but with a little extra thrown in as the winning bidder was willing to rent it until the code compliance was issued. Along with the rent I received a refund of over $3000 on all the levies, hopefully which will indicate that there will not be further levies in the coming months.
Getting Laid off as DXC Lurches from Crisis to Crisis
Getting laid off from DXC after twenty years of employment that spanned the globe was a surreal experience. My boss got laid off in June, and kindly told me that my notice would come on August 16. In that intermediate time, more or less the entire US cloud computing team was laid off. Each week if I didn't see people's name in the directory, I'd assume they were gone. Most didn't even send off emails to say goodbye.DXC stock price tanked 50%, and the lawsuits started rolling in. Layoffs had been timed to boost earnings in order for executives to reap larger bonuses. Unethical business at it's worst. Not only that, the layoffs were basically just a shell game - DXC spent 2 billion buying a Russian consulting company with 14,000 staff. Lay them off in the USA, buy them back in Russia.
At least I got the maximum, measly severance of 8 weeks pay, and had the EDS NQ retirement fund to fall back on. As I never contributed to that fund from my paycheck, there was less sting in using it to give myself from breathing room rather than just diving back onto the job market.
Juggling Loans through the worse cash flow crisis
After being laid off, Eden2 was sold, yet the settlement had to wait for the city council to provide the Code of Compliance Certificate. This created even more of cash flow crisis for me as I had taken short term loans while thinking it would close in July and settle quickly. The final loan was more or less dedicated to paying off the other loans. A downwards debt ladder. What all the loans forced me to do however, was cash flow management down to the cent in a way that I have never done before. Meticulous and tedious, but it did create some sort of comfort to know exactly what I owed at all times.
Selling Sylvia's Family Home
After the years long nightmare of selling Eden2, selling Sylvia's family home was a miracle in comparison. The first miracle was that Sylvia was able to get her mother to agree to sell in the first place relatively easily. Then her strategy of not publicly advertising it, rather offering it confidentially to the neighbors first, worked perfectly. It wasn't the Daumen family that offered to buy it who were our first choice, but the Pressler family, who had been Heinz and Marielies's tax consultant for many years. The fact that the buyer had been inside the house multiple times worked to our advantage, as they knew the neighborhood, and the house. It turns out that their is a lot less negotiation with house sales in Germany as here in the USA - there were no conditions or clauses.
The turnaround
As 2019 draws to a close, the tightness is still there, but easing. My old EDS severance bonus got paid exactly on my 50th birthday. Somehow very symbolic. But taxed at 40% it was a lot less than expected It means I have to start diving into my IRA savings with associated tax penalties until I get the Eden2 money. The Eden2 CCC was finally received on December 17th, so settlement will be in mid January will allow me to pay off all outstanding credit cards and debts. It will be a great relief not to be paying the $800 in interest and $1200 in principal that I've been paying for the for the last three years, which was essentially financed by stacking up loans on top of each other, with the last ones being primary to pay the payments on the other loans. A debt trap if ever I saw one.
Sylvia is gradually comprehending that after her mother's house sells, she is suddenly a 'wealth manager' of a $500,000 estate, with all the mindset changes and responsibilities that go with that.
After I get the full Eden2 proceeds, I'll have about $200,000 cash in the bank, a further $200,000 in retirement investments, and $400,000 in home equity.
After a year of financial stresses and strains, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel....
2019 Financial Goals
1. Sell Eden2 for $725,000 NZD COMPLETE - Sold for $620,000
2. Payoff loans in New Zealand and close ASB account - IN PROGRESS - CCC received on 12/18, settlement will be 1/15/2020
3. Bring proceeds of Eden2 to USA - January 2020
4. Pay off all loans and credit cards in USA - January 2020
5. Setup 529 college funds for Orlando and Sebastian with $10,000 each to maximize tax deduction for 2019
6. Retirement Accounts to 200K COMPLETE $230,000 as at 12/31/2019
8. Reward for selling Eden 2 - YT Jefsey, new Swing Connect Harness, and Artik 5 or Agera RS
- Artik 5 - COMPLETE
- YT Jefsey 2019 Carbon - SOLD OUT
- Swing Connect Harness - POSTPONED
10. Redo Online Trading Academy pro-trader course - POSTPONED
11. Start day-trading stocks again with TD Ameritrade account of $25,000 - POSTPONED
12. Start a new real estate project - POSTPONED
13. Develop investing strategy for remaining Eden2 funds (consider Betterment)
13. Warmlands Ave Projects - POSTPONED
- House painting
- Palm trees pruned
- New table in kitchen
- New 65" TV
- Relocate LAN cabling
- Fmaily room fireplace upgrade
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