I met with our CPA today to do our taxes. They aren't actually done. He and his crew need to actually do the work and then get back to us with the results. That will take a week or so, but my end is done. He has all of the data he needs.

I'm super organized when I go there, which he greatly appreciates, so we zip through the actual tax part of the meeting pretty quickly. We then move on to the discussion portion: How much do we have saved for retirement? Do I have a retirement age in mind? Have I thought about when to claim Social Security? What's our daughter's situation and to what extent will we need to continue to subsidize her? Do we plan to stay in our current house?

I brought up the inheritance issue I posted about on the forums and we talked about how that will play into everything. For those who don't read the forums, I have a terminally ill relative from whom I am in line to inherit somewhere in the 700K-$1 million range, possibly within the next year or two unfortunately. We talked about what that could mean as far as when I retire.

We talked about selling taxable investments and buying tax-exempt ones. We talked about converting traditional IRAs to Roths.

I love the free form flow of ideas I have with him each year, and he loves it too because most of his clients don't have the financial knowledge that I have and he has to explain every concept to them in great detail. With me, he can just think out loud and throw out ideas and we can discuss them.

As for our taxes, I expect that we'll get a small refund, a few hundred dollars, from the state and that we'll owe under $2,000 on Federal. So net cost of around $1,500 is what I'm guessing. We'll see when they're done preparing our return.

Text I just got from my daughter (she's 24). She is at the bank waiting to have a form notarized.

Her: Lady in the waiting area on her phone, "I always check my account balance on the app and it said $168". It was normal for me to have more money than other college kids but this lady is 50 or 60. I mean she could have more money in other places but still.

Me: Surveys show that most people can't cover an unexpected $400 expense.

Her: People need to get their stuff together because that's crazy.

Me: Just keep being abnormal and you'll be fine.

Her: Sometimes it's good to be different.

They came out today and replaced our electric meter. My wife said the tech told her that the meter did appear to be worn out internally so he thinks I may be right that it wasn't recording properly. He said it takes about 2 weeks for them to do the analysis and he gave us a number to call to get a report.

So now we just have to wait a couple of weeks and then see what they say. Hopefully, they'll confirm a discrepancy and we'll get some money back. I'll update when I know.

The moral of the story is that if something just doesn't seem right, don't be afraid to question it. And the other moral is to pay attention. Review bills. Look for discrepancies or unfamiliar charges and look into them when they occur.

Every month, I put money in our Ally account and money in our taxable Vanguard account. Last month I bumped up the amounts from $1,500 each to $1,600 each. I made the February deposits yesterday.

That's rarely all we put in but we always put in at least those amounts. Last month I actually put $5,000 into Ally.