Great Aunt Died: A lesson in financial management

Last week, my great-aunt, Margie, died. She was 64 years old. She left behind two daughters; one granddaughter; one grand son; and one great-grand daughter. Not to mention, 6 living brothers and sisters, and a host of other relatives. We have a big family. Yet, death can bring problems: Financial problems

I been taking financial management classes at church for the past year. My aunt had no life insurance and no burial insurance. She may have some money hidden, provided they can find it. Her children and some of her siblings are in debate about the funeral plans, but the family simply does not have enough money to pay for funeral expenses.

One daughter, who was staying with her, and now us, wants cremation because it is cheaper. Another relative wants a burial. One daughter wants to buy her mother new clothes and a wig for the burial, but does not want to contribute to the funeral costs.

My aunt has money in the bank, but did not add anyone as a beneficiary, so the money is untouchable until the death certificate is provided. The funeral people said it will take a week for the certificate to process.

Since one of her daughters is now living here and my uncle, was my aunt's unofficial power of attorney, my house has been the hub spot for relatives and planning.

The family has saved some money by allowing me to do the programs. I have done church programs before, so a funeral program would be easy.

My biggest issue was trying to figure out the names of all 10 great-aunts and nephews. My great grandmother had 10 kids. 6 are living. 4 are dead. (My grandma, great-aunt, and two great-uncles). I thought about doing a small family tree with the greats and my great aunt's kids, but I am having trouble squeezing in 10 names on Word, Powerpoint, and Canva.

Of course, the death brings up another issue: I have to take my kids to a funeral. Two special needs kids to sit still over an hour. I been hunting down social stories, but I noticed not too many are online.

Please pray for my cousins and the family during this time.

Stacie

I don't want to do your dang taxes, no matter how much you ask

I hate dealing with money, except my own. I don't like working in finance jobs. I don't want to be a cashier.

In the past year, I have worked to be more financially secure. I took a class at church, in addition to recently enrolled in an online course, to get out of debt. Even won a House Party for Alexa Tobel and Financially Fearless.

When I stayed in Atlanta, I enrolled in the Jackson Hewitt Tax Course in 2006, but did not get a job because I couldn't make it to graduation due to lack of transportation.

The class was held in Cobb County. I lived in Fulton County. I rode the bus for almost two hours to attend class, to obtain a job in my county. The problem was the final class and graduation was on a Sunday. Busses ran in Fulton, but not in Cobb on Sundays. I offered someone cash for a ride to and from Cobb Parkway, but he did not show up.

I chose Jackson Hewitt because when I had a job, I always filed my taxes with them. Might as well get paid something then.

When I was enrolled for my bachelors, people assumed I had this math and accounting down because I made perfect A's. Yet, No one saw I hard I studied and practiced at home, to make sure I did not have to take a math or financial class again. I knew my weaknesses and worked to improve them.

Last year, both my daddy and sister asked me to do their taxes--not in paper form, but on Turbo Tax. I hated every minute of it. Even though, they paid me, I had no interest in their finances. I went line by line on their W-2s and unemployment forms, entering the information online. I even had to call Turbo Tax to figure out how to do an amendment because both of them forgot, they had more than one w-2.

When I was done, I printed off their paperwork, using my ink, a little over 40 pages for each of them. At the top of the first document, I wrote down their user names and passwords, so the Wyatt's can check on refund status later. I did not read the documents. No interest in them. I told both of them, to mail off some of the forms and keep the rest for records.

All year, I got pestered and bothered about potential refund checks. Once again, I didn't read their paperwork. I got pestered about their user names and passwords. Once again, I did not save them to my computer or e-mail. I thought they would leave me alone--I was way wrong.

I am still being bothered. It's freaking tax season again.

Even though I told these idiots, I don't want to deal with their W-2's or Turbo Tax again, they are still asking. Even raised the amount, they wanted to pay me. My daddy has been bugging me since December to file his paperwork. My sister, Rachel, started bugging me a few days ago.

I asked Rachel, a simple question, De donde esta la paperwork from 2013?, in other words, Where is your freaking paperwork? My Spanish sucks. She mailed ALL the paperwork back off, including the forms for her records. The cover sheet, I wrote her user name and password on. She also told me Turbo Tax never heard of her, when she entered her social security number.

Well, they got until April to figure it out. Maybe they are the reason, America is a billion dollars in the hole, when it comes to filing your own taxes LMAO.