This
book was okay, it had its good and bad points – once again it would
have been better if this book was a movie or part of an ongoing TV
series. It was a light read and still entertaining. In my opinion,
even though this book was good – just served as filler since “Rise
of the Isle of the Lost” actually sets the stage nicely for
Descendants 2 – to be discussed in the next post. Even though I
consider the book to be filler, it was still good in the way that
expanded on both character development and the world in which they
live.
One of the major highlights is it
actually expanded upon the “Descendants world” as it took place
in both mainland Auradon and the Isle of the Lost. As well, it even
allowed the reader to explore the other states that make up the USA
(United States of Auradon) such as Camelot, Neverland, and
Charmington Cove (where Cinderella lives) along with providing a
deeper understanding of the make up of the Isle of the Lost.
I
believe that Del la Cruz did an excellent job with the development of
the villain kids (VK’s), making them feel genuine and well rounded.
The raw emotions of the VK’s are very well illustrated throughout the
book as it shows in the first few chapters that they actually like
being in Auradon better than the Isle thus strenghthening their
internal struggles such as conflicted feelings about their former
home along with their parents.
I also like the fact that it
touched on another important issue – just because people live in
the same place does not mean they are all the same. For example, the
formation of the Anti – Heroes club on the Isle shows that not all
of the residents want to be villainous all of the time or the fact
that despite the fact that Prince Chad lives in Auradon and was
raised in Auradon, he is still a jerk at times (Being a jerk once in
a while doesn’t necessarily make you evil) but being a jerk doesn’t
make you good either. Chad was a jerk when he planted Jay’s face into
the ground. I must admit that the whole anti-heroes club was a good
twist when the VK’s learned that some villains wanted to learn how
to be good, it came as a surprise.
One
thing I must say about this book as it actually shows the growth of
Prince Ben to King Ben – you get to discover the beginning of Ben’s
roots as a leader. He actually has to use his brain and consider
issues such as should magic be used in Auradon to solve problems even
though it has been banned except for special occasions. Even in the
so called good world – this illustrates that one as a leader cannot
look at things as black or white since there are many gray areas. One
of the things I like about Descendants thus far is it does show the
conflicts when examining issues.
Despite that being said – the journey for each VK’s unique talisman seemed to be filler although it taught us more about their histories. The most unique thing about the journey is that the reader finally got to see Carlos stand up to his mother – in person – sort of, or that Mal needed to realize that she needed to depend on her friends. This is obvious.
The book was good, but definitely not the best in the series. In my next post, I’ll examine “Rise of the Isle of the Lost” and how it is an excellent lead into Descendants 2.
I believe that the first book left off in the perfect place for the first movie as it ended with Prince Ben saying that he had an idea. The first movie starts of with the introduction being held on the Isle of the Lost and then focuses on Prince Ben’s idea – the proclamation. The book “Isle of the Lost” did an excellent job for shadowing the relationship that Mal and Prince Ben were ultimately going to have without mentioning how, exactly, it was going to happen. I think Del la Cruz covered both people perfectly when she wrote about Mal having dreams about some guy in Auradon and Prince Ben having dreams about some purple haired girl.
The movie is also able to tie into the Isle of the Lost as all four of the parents are still upset about about the disappointment from the last assignment. Maleficent is still disappointed in Mal but gives her a chance to redeem herself by acquiring Fairy God Mother’s Magic Wand. The movie does a great job of showing the relationships between the villain kids (VK’s) and their respective parents – the Isle of the Lost was able to describe each parent to a T but the movie actually does a good job of bringing the descriptions to life – and goes further to show the relationships of the parents with each other.
The Parents – Now who wants to be like those people?
One of the things that could probably been explained better in the movie or in the book is how Maleficent and Evil Queen got over their differences and how they got so chummy all of a sudden and why Cruella De Vil is not mad at Jafar anymore – he did sell her a faulty product from the junk shop after all. Other than that still a funny scene. I feel that there should have been more of the parent scenes as well. Although to be fair, it is hard to fit everything into one movie.
Prince Chad making his scene
When looking at themes in Descendants, it is evident that bullying is also a theme in the movie – it is ironic to say that the Villain kids are evil but the Auradon students are not, when it comes to bullying as both Prince Chad and Princess Audrey seem to bully the villain kids somewhat as well. I will make reference to three events in the movie though some might disagree. The first – when Evie meets Prince Ben and announces that she is a Princess and Audrey pipes in stating that since Evie is from the Isle of the Lost she has no royal status in Auradon (these are not the exact words, but it is implied). The second, when Prince Chad takes advantage of Evie by getting her to do his homework and turning the magic mirror into the teacher. A third example would be at Auradon Family Day when Prince Chad causes a scene by stating the faults of the Villain Kids and expressing it in front of everyone. These three examples show how anyone can be considered a bully regardless of were they come from. What I like most about these scenes is that they are ironic – the villain kids are the ones who are supposed to be doing the bullying but they are just trying to fit into Auradon Society. While trying to fit in each villain kid learns something about him or herself.
Mal – She learns that she
actually does not want to take over the world through evil means but
to live in Auradon and be with Ben – as well that she has a love
for fresh strawberries as opposed to the moldy ones that she ate on
the Isle.
Evie – She does not need a
prince charming to provide for her because she is smart and
independent and in Disney irony (Prince – Chad – Charming) is not
so charming, he is actually an arrogant, pompous jerk. She does not
have to depend solely on beauty to win a prince and actually comes to
the conclusion that Doug may be just fine.
Carlos – Dogs are not bad,
evil, or scary and despite what Cruella taught him, they will not
randomly tear out your throat if you are bad. He learns that once he
actually experienced a dog (Dude) – that everything he had heard
about the animal was false.
Jay – He learns about
teamwork and that he can get things without stealing them even though
he goes against the family mantra “There is no team in I”.
One of the scenes that shocked me – only because it is a surprise is the scene where Prince Ben admitted to Mal that he knew she had spelled him (in non-Disney terms – drugged him) when he decided to eat the brownie right away. I’m amazed that there was not any outrage at this scene since Mal had actually gotten away with drugging Ben when Ben said something along the lines of “it’s okay … you thought it wouldn’t happen on your own, am I right?” Mal’s response “Yes, so right”. I can definitely see why Disney in my opinion chose to make Ben the Prince of Goodness and Mal, the evil, wicked fairy because if it were the other way around (Ben was female and a princess and Mal were a male) it would be like validating the use of date rape drugs and that would not be acceptable. The scene could be considered by some as its ok to use the drug on a guy but it is totally unacceptable to use it on a girl – which of course is wrong either way but some things are deemed more wrong than others. In Disney terms Mal wanted to dupe Ben so that she could gain easy access to the Dragon’s Eye so that the villains could overtake Auradon – translated in real life, girl drugs guy to take advantage of him. I am actually very impressed with Disney for making this type of move to teach lessons as not everything is a perfect fairy tale world. They have been watering down the concept of “evil” in some of their programming over the years compared to some of the evil demonstrated in earlier works such as Jafar scheming and attempting to have Aladdin executed (Aladdin 1992) or when Scar murdered Mufasa by throwing him of of that cliff (Lion King 1994).
When looking at the
development of Jay’s character in Descendants it is ironic that Jay
acts more like Aladdin than Jafar. Jay, himself does not have any
magical powers and only steals like Aladdin did before Aladdin
married Princess Jasmine.
One of the biggest takeaways from the first Descendants film is that regardless of what background you come from and what your family is like, you do not have to grow up to be like them. Everyone wants approval from their family (deep down) regardless of how they have to get it. Throughout the movie the viewer is able to see this tension where the VK’s want to fit in to Auradon society and at the same time not disappoint their parents. These can be illustrated when Mal gives Evie the speech about why she wants to create the “Anti-Love Potion” or when Evie is looking at her Chemistry test or even when Jay thinks about his MVP trophy. It is hard to disappoint one’s parents but sometimes it is the right thing to do and this is ultimately illustrated when Mal and company turn Maleficent into a tiny lizard and saves Auradon – for the time being.
I believe that the first Descendants movie was effective in touching on some real life themes while making them fun – I also think that the movie continued the journey from the Isle of the Lost in a very meaningful way addressing issues that are universal – I also believe that the movie ended in a good place to create suspense about what would happen next. Mal’s eyes turning green with a glare “you didn’t think this was the end of the story, did you?” leaves the movie and overall story on a cliffhanger creating excitement and intrigue.
In the next posts – I will touch upon the adventures of the VK’s and how the next two books serve as a successful prequal to Descendants 2.
This post is going to be the first of a multi part series based on the Descendants Franchise highlighting the books by Melissa Del La Cruz and the three films. I believe that book one “Isle of the Lost” is a great lead in to the first movie. I also believe that the full adventure would have made a good TV series as opposed to just using the “Wicked World” shorts. Some people might disagree with me, but I think that the Descendants Franchise touches upon a lot of issues when analyzed from an adult perspective even though the viewership that it was created for may not be able to pick up some of them – plus, like most Disney material it is supposed to be bubble gum.
One of the themes that may not be picked up on right away is the comparison of a third world country (The Isle of the Lost) compared to a first world country (the USA – United States of Auradon). The first few chapters highlight some of the living conditions of the Isle of the Lost such as the run down buildings and the poor living conditions of its citizens – food on the Isle consists of moldy and spoiled fruits and vegetables, the environment is damp, dark and basically undesirable. All of the worlds villains were exiled to this island to keep the world safe. An interesting side note – this is actually how the Island nation of Australia was formed (not villains of course, but a penal colony for criminals). As we all know, Australia is not a third world country. I believe that the Isle of the Lost is also compared to a third world country as there is no diplomacy, the Isle is said to be ruled by the most evil villain of them all, Maleficent through fear, while on the other hand despite the fact that King Beast had made himself the leader of the United States of Auradon there are still diplomatic elements such as as the council meeting with Prince Ben based upon love and goodness (although he does have a fit during the first meeting and he corrects his behavior later).
Through the eyes of the four villain kids VK’s, the reader gets a better glimpse of what life is like in a less developed location. Through the remainder of the book we see that the struggles are real such as the development of the famous friendships that will eventually make Descendants famous and how the VK’s formed their friendship despite all odds. We also see the formation of the chain of command such as Mal the leader, Jay – her loyal enforcer, though he would never admit it, Evie – the outcast, and Carlos – the nerd. Along with the form of the chain of command – the theme of wanting to be accepted by or pleasing their parents is also a recurring theme throughout the “Isle of the Lost” and the first movie, more about that later.
Melissa Del la Cruz does an
excellent job of setting up “Isle of the Lost” to address these
main themes from the creation of the conflict between Evil Queen and
Maleficent (which ultimately leads to the tension between Mal and
Evie) to the development of the love-hate relationship between Mal
and Jay or developing the relationship between Carlos and Evie.
Hell Hall as depicted in the movie 101 dalmatians (1961)
I must admit, Del la Cruz also did a stand up job when highlighting the relationship between each Villain Kid and his or her parent and the effect it had on each VK’s personality.
Mal who is supposed to be a natural leader – though fear of course, like her mother. This is illustrated when Mal gets Carlos to hold the Hell Raiser (a party) in his home, (Hell Hall). Mal’s leadership through fear can even be demonstrated when Carlos is inviting people (if you don’t show up Mal will do such and such – a threat more than an invitation really). Mal’s reasoning for the party illustrates her leading ability as well as her wanting to please her mother – Mal leads Carlos and wants to take revenge upon Evie to teach Evie a lesson and show her mother that she can be wicked.
Evie, she is an outcast who wants to fit in since she has never had any real relationships due to being home schooled (read Castle Schooled) since the fallout between Evil Queen and Maleficent – she wants to please her mother by being popular, the fairest of them all. Evie shows that she cares for Carlos when she offers to give him a pillow -she does not want to show weakness (caring) and states that she is only going to give it to him since it is going into the trash anyways.
We also have Jay, the son of Jafar, who wants to please his father and strives to please him by stealing “the big score” – rather than stealing other people’s junk just to stock Jafar’s Junk Shop. Jay is known to be quick, athletic and “able to steal anything but his father’s heart”. Jay can be seen as the enforcer of Mal’s schemes even though he does not like to admit it.
Carlos De Vil
Last but not least we have Carlos, very intelligent yet lacks confidence as he is used by his mother as a servant when he fluff’s her furs and does the laundry or house cleaning or even the cleaning of the car. He aims to please his mother by being the servant since she feels that this is all Carlos will ever amount to. He fears Mal but is also shown to have some courage and compassion when he safely gets Evie out of his mother’s fur closet after Mal put her in there. Evie shows that she cares for Carlos when she offers to give him a pillow -she does not want to show weakness and states that she is only going to give it to him since it is going into the trash anyways.
The reader gets to see the growth and development of the friendships throughout a journey – the retrieval of the Dragon’s Eye (Maleficent’s scepter). Mal wants Jay to go originally so she is not the first person to touch it but eventually invites Evie to tag along because her original wicked scheme was a disappointment. Jay wants to go because he wants to steal it since Jafar thinks it could be the “biggest score”. Evie goes because she wants companionship and a sense of adventure and Carlos goes because he was drug along, plus he wants to take care of his machine.
Throughout the journey to recover Maleficent’s scepter on the Isle of the Doomed – we see how the villain kids band together in the name of survival and ultimately friendship by the end. Mal ultimately does not put Evie to sleep and as a result is a disappointment to Maleficent when she has to recover the scepter, herself. Jay is seen as a disappointment since he did not steal “the big score”. Evie is seen as a disappointment since she comes home a mess. Finally, Carlos is a disappointment since he did not stay home to do his chores.In all, I believe “Isle of the Lost” is a very good lead in to the first movie as it makes sense, it allows the reader to get a better glimpse into the main characters and their history. The Isle of the Lost should have actually been a movie in my opinion, the first movie serving as a prequel as the first movie makes more sense after reading it.
In the next post – I will discuss the first movie and why in my opinion it fit in perfectly after the first book.
There are many people who do
not agree with the current set up of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
as they have no control over how it grows or how much they get in the
end. It isn’t only that though, if you pass away for any reason
before the age of 60 (the minimum age you have to be to draw your
CPP), you currently only get a one-time $2500.00 death benefit,
regardless of how long you contribute to the system. As well, if you
die earlier, you will never see your full benefit and neither will
your family. In other words, you will have contributed 4.95% of your
over all earnings for pretty much nothing – if you are self
employed you would have contributed 9.9% for nothing. These
contributions are on top of taxes which add insult to injury and this
is before Justin Trudeau raised the CPP premiums. Justin Trudeau’s
new CPP reforms will not help people who are currently working, nor
will they help the people who are currently drawing CPP and working
as the people who see the full benefit are in their early 20’s.
The CPP system allocates the pool to many things – the CPP, the CPP Death Benefit, the CPP Survivor’s benefit, the CPP Child benefit, and so forth. These things while important do not necessarily benefit the people who have paid into it. For example, say that I am single and I have no children and I were to die. All that I would see at most is the $2500.00 death benefit and nothing more. One year of premiums pays for that, and where does the rest of the money go – to someone else’s family or the general slush fund – this is not fair. Some people would say that this position is one of a greedy person yet I don’t think it is. The main reason that I believe this is because other people could provide for their own families as well using their own CPP. All CPP is at it’s very root is a glorified government locked in retirement account (LIRA), based on the government’s rules and the government’s payout rate. In it’s simplest terms for those who know the financial lingo is that the CPP is a life annuity with a cost of living adjustment rider (COLA) – in simpler terms it is a fixed payment to you adjusted for inflation. When looking at the big picture, the government is probably making more money than you are.I somewhat agree with those who say something should be saved for retirement or that the government should force some people to save for their retirement as there are some who either cannot or will not save for themselves. I would take the position that CPP should be a mandatory LIRA that you can set up yourself thus choosing all investments and giving you full control of the money and giving your beneficiaries control of the money after you pass (in most cases, you or your heirs would get more than a measly $2500.00) after January 1, 2019 all recipients will get the measly $2500.00. As well, in simple terms if you are able to control your own CPP investments, this would please people who currently wish that they could opt out of the CPP program (and this should be a right). I would propose that the CPP be a special LIRA that could not be drawn until age 60 unless there were special circumstances such as early death or disability. For those who have no desire to control their own retirement – the government could set up a LIRA for them using government sources where the government would choose their investments yet it would be built up for the individual citizen and his or her family. The CPP in its current state can be considered a laughable joke as the funds simply go into the general pool and the payout is low, even if you maxed out your premiums for 40 years. Some might say that this type of program would be more expensive to administer – which it may very well be, but we know that the government is very irresponsible with our money and that the individual would know what to do with the money better than our government. A special CPP LIRA (and when set up it could be called this) would hold you accountable to the government in terms of paying into your retirement – but here’s a shocker – the government would also be accountable to you, especially if you let them do your investing for you. If the government is unreliable in terms of your investments, you should have the right to move it to an institution of your choice. There would also be more benefit to higher tax payers if CPP premiums could be used as a deduction rather than a non-refundable tax credit.
Other features that could be
built into this type of program is the feature that if a CPP
contributor dies with young children – the contributions could be
rolled over to an Registered Education Savings Plan with no tax
consequences until the money is used – unless of course the
contributor had a spouse. This particular pension should have a
maximum per year.
While a different type of proposition, I feel very strongly that this type of Canada Pension Plan would be more beneficial to the populous as a whole for many reasons. For example, you would potentially get a bigger death benefit, disability benefit, survivors benefit, or child benefit. As well, the money would be locked-in until the need to use it for its purpose – thus holding you accountable -the money would also be locked-in on the government side meaning that they cannot use it in their general pool – thus holding them accountable. I believe that the Employment Insurance (EI) Program could be set up the same way as there are many people who do not get to use regular EI benefits and there are people who do not need to go on EI each year – this would also get rid of the need for that useless EI clawback as people would choose when they need the funds.
I am not against the government forcing people to pay into CPP although I do disagree with the current CPP structure and I do believe that it should be overhauled.
One of the greatest investments of all
time has appeared to be real estate development and other activities
in real estate. It can be argued, however that real estate is just
like any other investment such as stocks and mutual funds. When
looking at the idea of investing in real estate – people often like
to do it as they collect passive income and it requires very little
work – or it does on the surface anyways.
For a passive investment – real
estate does not appear to be so passive as one must find renters,
maintain the property or find people to maintain the property and
collect the rent or have a management company do it. Yes someone else
is paying for your investment so the gain is on the value of the
property itself once it’s disposed of. It does have a tax advantage
when you go to sell the property as it falls under capital gains
(assuming that you are not in the business of buying, fixing, and
than selling properties). The rent collected over the long term is
treated the same as interest or employment income and is taxed at
your marginal tax rate – the one exception is you do not have to
pay CPP on it. Rental properties are also good as they are considered
income for RRSP purposes.
I have heard from may sources that real
estate can be a massive headache, especially when it comes to the
apartment style condo. In the current economy, people are holding on
to them as they cannot get their money out and are forced to pay for
special assessments where they often have to come up with extra money
out of the blue – on top of the condo fees which may or may not be
covered by the tenant. Yes, the special assessments can be deducted
but is it really worth it to pay for example $3 000.00 to get $750.00
back assuming a 25% tax bracket or would you have been better of to
let the $2250.00 grow in a tax free savings account or let the full
$3000.00 grow in an RRSP since RRSP’s are bought with whole
dollars, not after tax dollars. I guess that it depends on how much
the property value is going to grow versus the additional money that
may have to be put into it.
One of the tales that I often hear
about is what I refer to as the “Devil Tenant”, the tenant that
does not take good care of your investment and at times even destroys
it. For example, I know of a poor soul who bought an apartment style
condo for around $70 000.00 and it was good in the beginning as real
estate was booming at the time and the value grew to around $140
000.00 – this can be considered a good investment as it looks like
the gentleman doubled his money -who wouldn’t like that. Enter the
“Devil Tenant”, he took a hammer to the sink and toilet and
flooded the entire unit and the unit underneath it. The individual
had to pay around $40 000.00 to make the unit available for rent or
saleable once again. Now, this is an extreme case but it is just one
example of why real estate isn’t risk free either. Yes, this
individual got to expense $40 000.00 on his tax return as it was
accepted by the CRA that there was no betterment since a flooded
property is rendered uninhabitable and as a result could not be
rented – or sold in that state.
While real estate can look like a
promising investment, I believe it is like everything else – you
must do your due diligence and research to see if there is an
opportunity for long term growth. I believe, ultimately there could
be good growth if you are able to get a tenant to pay your mortgage
without having to put too much personal money in as you get your
money out of it once the property is sold plus the growth – the
more money you have to put in, the less growth.
I am always amazed by the people who
tell me that real estate is good for your taxes and that you can get
excellent money out of it with very little risk. I’m sure it’s
true sometimes but there are so many factors that must be considered
when getting involved such as the economy, market conditions,
liquidity, mortgage rates just to name a few – along with an
ultimate factor that can be somewhat controlled, whether or not you
get the “devil tenant”, in my opinion the number one obstacle to
the creation of wealth using real estate.
What are your thoughts? is real estate
still the be all and end all of investments or is it just like
investing in everything else.
In my next post, I’ll talk about
another investment – starting the small business.
There is a great misconception when it comes to tax deductions versus tax credits and I find this to be true whether one is dealing with a Canadian taxpayer or an American taxpayer. Every year, without fail, I will meet someone who expects to get money back because they donated for example or the person who thinks that his or her donations will reduce taxable income altogether.
In general, a deduction is
used to lower income before it is taxed (deductions are applied
before arriving at taxable income). A credit is applied to the
taxable income. Often, a credit gets applied at the lowest tax rate.
The credit that gets applied at the highest tax rate regardless of
income is the donation. In Canada, donations worth more than $200.00
will earn a higher tax credit – generally the second highest tax
bracket – unless you are in Trudeau’s 33% bracket.
Politicians of all stripes
like to excite Canadians by announcing the dollar value of the
starting point of a particular credit, not the real dollar value of
the credit. For example, I will use the “Home Buyer’s Amount”
that was announced as $5000.00 for the purchase of your first home.
The way it truly works is $5000.00 x15% = $750.00 – please note
that 15% is the lowest federal tax bracket.
If the Home Buyer’s Amount
were a deduction instead of a credit (which it is not), an example
could be this. If you are in the 26% bracket federally than you would
save $5000x 26% = $1300 – please note that this would be the exact
same result if the credit percentage were tied to the taxpayer’s
bracket given in the example. In this case it would not matter if it
were a deduction or a credit. It is important to emphasize here,
however that most credits are based on the Lowest tax
bracket which is currently 15%.
When politicians talk, they
like to announce credits that they call often call tax breaks – but
remember you have to spend the money first and than you get rebated a
percentage back, as stated before, and this cannot be emphasized
enough – at the lowest bracket, regardless of which bracket, you
actually fall in, with a few exceptions. They have gotten away with
this for a very long time. They take advantage of the situation, and
sadly the situation is that most people do not understand the
difference between a deduction and a credit, and they like it like
that.
To add to it all – most
credits are non-refundable which basically means that you do not get
a credit out of the tax system unless you actually put into the tax
system. We do have a few refundable credits where one can get a
refund, even without putting into the system in the first place –
these are few and far between such as the “Refundable Medical
Supplement”. I will speak about these two types of credits in a
different post using the classic tale of a welfare recipient who
believes that donations do more than provide a warm feeling that you
are contributing to society – the recipient who thinks he gets
money back as a result of the donations.
If you are in the lowest tax
bracket, this does not make a difference to you, but, if you are in
any other tax bracket it should.
So Esmeralda came barging into the office the other day stating that she had wanted her money back and that she was expecting to get it all back. “Why did they keep my money, I’m not an American and I want my money back – you know how much $30 000 USD is to a Canadian right now?” “Yes, Esmeralda, I know – I also know that if you had it all for the next big Lotto 649 you would stand a better chance of winning. Anyhow, it sounds like you want to file the 1040NR.”
In order to get your money back – there is a process that you must follow. First you need to apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). You can actually apply for it and do the tax return at the same time. It has actually been my experience that most people actually apply for the ITIN first as they often want their money back before the next filing season begins. For you to get your ITIN you must fill out a form called the W-7 and provide “certified true copies” of the requested documentation. It is crucial that the copies provided with your W-7 are “certified true copies” as documents that have been certified by someone other than the issuing agency will not be accepted – this will most likely cause your application to be delayed or rejected altogether. For those of you who like to do it yourself – the form and instructions can be found on the official IRS website. Once the number has been provided by the IRS you can go ahead and file your tax return – there is even a special place for Canadians (Section 10 on page 4 of the 1040NR) as they pay taxes on their “net winnings” – it is like you expense the money that was lost in order to achieve the winnings. In the end, you will only pay a little bit of tax unless you didn’t lose anything. However, the IRS may want to see documented proof of your losings. “Document your losses, how the heck do you do that?”Esmeralda was furious when she was told that. There will be a list below of what could be considered documentation for poker games as well as other types of gambling. Many people are surprised that the IRS would ask for documentation of losses, but according to the IRS as a source once stated “If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen”.
Some potential documentation that is kept by gamblers is the following:
Poker and other table games: You must record the name of the Casino, the number of the table that you played at – the casino credit card data, and if it applies, you must indicate if the credit was issued at the cashier’s cage or in the pit.
Slot machines: Record along with the location of the casino, the slot machine number and the times and dates that you won.
Lotteries: You must record the name, date, all tickets – including the losing ones, how much was paid and what was the result of each ticket (win or lose).
Dog or Horse Racing: It is important to record the times and dates of the actual races and the numbers of the animals bid on along with the details and the results of each bet, and payment records provided by the racetrack.
Please keep in mind that the IRS will not always ask for the proof but it should be kept in case they would like to see it. As a result of this compliance, it is highly recommended that if you plan on gambling often, to join the casino’s frequent gambler club using the card to track your winnings and losses. At the end of your stay, you can request a printout of your gambling activities. Yes, you can actually track your gambling winnings.
Esmeralda was amazed and upset at the same time – “who knew that gambling would be so much … work?” This is what you have to do to keep your gambling compliant, along with having fun of course. “Well, maybe if gambling is this tedious, I’ll just buy revenue property instead”.
Next time, we will explain to Esmeralda, what will occur if she decides to buy a property in Nevada to rent out when she is not there to gamble.
I usually don’t comment on actors but I do believe that Cameron Boyce has done a lot of good things in his short 20 years. As well, being critical of most things, I actually can’t write one bad thing about him. I first came across Boyce’s acting when watching Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2 – when he was playing the role of Keithie Feder. Though he didn’t have many lines, he was able to make you laugh in the lines that he did have. I also remember his very small role in Mirrors which even as an older individual scares me somewhat “I’m not scared, but he is”.
In “Used Karma” (2011)
Even as an adult, I believe that Boyce could make anyone laugh whether it was the antics of Luke Ross (Jessie) or Conor (Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Anything). The antics of Luke could be deemed incredibly funny and I will highlight some of my favorite Luke Ross moments here like when Jessie made Luke act like a dog in the “The Kid Whisperer” or when he kept driving the BAT in G.I. Jesse or my all time favorite Jessie episode “Used Karma” which to me highlighted the friendship between Luke and Ravi (Karan Brar), practical jokes and a whole lot of fun.
I used to like watching Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything. It has been said that the show was lame and wasn’t very funny. I tend to disagree although I would agree with somewhat goofy – it was created to touch on two important themes “Friendship and Goal Setting” while adding some childish humor. The episodes that I found most humorous had to have been the pilot and “The Driver’s Test”, the interaction between Conor and Mr Spanks was priceless. With what little I know about Cameron Boyce, it would appear that these two things were important to him in real life. For example, it is public knowledge that he had moved in with his friends Sophie Reynolds (Ashley – Gamer’s Guide) and Karan Brar. An example to goal setting in his life would have to be his first fund raiser for the Thirst Project. My thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time.
As Carlos De vil -Descendants 2 (2017)
Being a Descendants fan, I also feel that Boyce played the VK Carlos very well and that he was an excellent fit for the role. I am a Carlos fan – he is the villain that you cheer for like when he finally succeeded in asking Jane out. My biggest disappointment is that Carlos does not have as big of a role in the movies as he does in the book series and that rather than just 3 feature films in between the books would have made a good TV series to lead up to the movies – which I did find good by the way and they led into the books perfectly and vise versa. I will post more about Descendants later.
Being critical, I must argue against the position that some critics had taken stating that Cameron didn’t know how to speak unless his speeches were scripted for him. Yes, he did us the the word um a great deal in his interviews but that is perfectly okay as that was just him thinking out loud and actually saying intelligent things rather than shooting off his mouth just because. I believe that it showed the growth of what appeared to me to be an intelligent, insightful, and genuine person who did not speak just for the sake of speaking unlike other actors who do such as Justin Bieber, who in my opinion really can’t act and has made society laugh but in a different way.
One was looking forward to see what this rising star could have done – he was set to join the great ones such as Justin Timberlake – it is devastating to see the loss of Boyce before he could live up to his full potential.
I must admit a few things, one, I was a Cameron Boyce fan and two, that I have wanted to watch some of Cameron Boyce’s adult material or more mature themes as he was working on other projects upon leaving Disney. I will hopefully be watching Runt and Mrs Fletcher sometime soon and will post when I have.
In honor of Cameron Boyce and the work he has done in his very few years, please make a donation to the Thirst Project in his memory. Thank you for making this fossil laugh. Rest in Peace Cameron Boyce.
Do you have a current Green Card or even an expired Green Card? If the answer is yes to either one of these questions. Surprise! you are an American for tax purposes – this little surprise includes filing a 1040 (US tax return) and any other foreign reporting requirements such as an FBAR, Foreign Trust Return 3520 and 3520 A, the PFIC (8621) etc. This must be done yearly until you officially surrender your Green Card – it does not matter where in the world you reside. Please refer to paragraph three for the USCIS’s official position on this. American citizens in Canada find these requirements burdensome and sometimes annoying, as some Americans have told me – why do it to yourself?
The Green Card allows for permanent residency in the US and that includes the honor of all tax requirements and carries basically the same requirements and rights as the American Citizen. The United States is only one of two countries in the world that taxes on both Citizenship and Residency – the other being Eritrea. Holding a Green Card, expired or not is basically saying “look at me, I’m an American resident.”
“Еven if the USCIS no longer considers a Green Card to be valid (for immigration purposes), the tax-related obligations that come with it will continue to apply – until an official written statement from the USCIS confirms that the Green Card has been revoked or relinquished.”
In my next post – I will address the topic of relinquishing that Green Card.
Our friend Esmeralda is a Canadian citizen who loves to gamble – she considers it her “retirement planning” and cannot live without it. “I love to play poker, I have some element of control, you know, it’s kind of like investing in mutual funds (MF’s) or real estate. I love the thrill, plus it is 100% tax exempt”. Esmeralda, is correct that her poker gambling is exempt, along with her other gambling such as her purchases of the weekly Lotto 649 or the night at her favorite slot machine – this is true IN CANADA, for Canadians. As you may or may not know, it is different for our American friends living in and gambling in Canada (more in a different post).
I remember talking to Esmeralda about her “strategic tax planning” and how she hasn’t had a trip in over 25 years. She had mentioned going to Vegas to kill two birds with one stone. “I want to travel and build wealth and this can all be accomplished by going to Vegas”.
She had enjoyed her trip except one minor detail – she was taxed on her poker winnings – she had a very good winning streak, the best in her life. Boy, she was mad as could be. “I win $100 000.00 and I only get to come back with $70 000.00, what the heck”, she was screaming at this point. “They take my money, they give me this stupid form (1042-S), and they expect me to be happy! How can I be happy?”
She did not like my explanation in the least – things are different in Vegas or anywhere else in the United States when people like to plan their retirement “Esmeralda style”. It is a fact that US sourced income from gambling and lotteries is fully taxable – with the exception of a few “exempt games”. “What are those games? I lost $30 000.00 and don’t like it”. For information and planning purposes the exempt games are: craps, blackjack, big-6 wheel, roulette, or baccarat. The general rule was a surprise to Esmeralda, as it is to many other gamblers from around the world. Non US persons (nonresident aliens) are generally subjected to a 30% tax with holdings on gross gambling winnings. Canadian citizens and residents are able to get some or all of this money back due to a special provision in the tax treaty – U.S. –Canada Tax Treaty Article XXII (3) – under the condition that they file a US return, the 1040NR. Canada’s relationship with the US is so special that there is a special place on the 1040NR just for us.
In my next post “Esmeralda Want’s Her Money Back”, I will explain to Esmeralda, how to go about recovering some or all of the money and what she should do if she gambles in the future – and knowing her – it is going to be sometime soon.
