The Open Gazette

Reporting for people about to spend real money.

Collected stories

Money & Finance

9 stories filed under Money & Finance, newest first.

  1. A 1099-K That Didn't Match the Books, and the Four Records That Closed the Gap in an Afternoon

    Third-party reporting has expanded, and the records worth keeping are now the ones that let you reconcile someone else's number to your own.

    Ansel Hargrove4 min read

  2. One Claim and a Renewal You Do Not Recognize? Four Things Moved That Number

    A renewal increase after a claim is rarely one thing. Your claim, your area, the age of your roof, and your insurer’s own year all push in the same direction.

    Rosa Petrossian4 min read

  3. Photograph the Inside of Every Closet Before You Have Any Reason to Need It

    A contents claim is settled from a list. Households without one recover what they can remember under stress, which is consistently less than what they lost.

    Delphine Nakamura4 min read

  4. Your Preparer Signs the Return Too, Which Is Why They Keep Telling You No

    A paid preparer signs your return under their own credential and carries penalty exposure for positions taken on it. The refusals are about that, not about you.

    Rosa Petrossian4 min read

  5. Covered for Storm but Not for Flood? Why the Line Exists and Where Coverage Went

    Flood sits outside standard homeowners policies for a structural reason, and the separate market that replaced it runs on different rules and different timing.

    Ansel Hargrove4 min read

  6. Is the Repair Worth a Claim? The Arithmetic That Settles It Before You Call

    A claim near or below the deductible is almost never worth filing. Between that line and roughly twice the deductible, the calculation is genuinely close.

    Rosa Petrossian5 min read

  7. Insured for What the House Would Sell For? Rebuild Cost Is the Only Number That Counts

    Rebuild cost has almost nothing to do with market value, and the gap between the two is exactly where under-insurance hides on an ordinary policy.

    Delphine Nakamura4 min read

  8. Software, an Enrolled Agent, or a CPA: What Each One Is Actually Allowed to Do

    Most straightforward returns are a software job. The useful question is which events push a return past that point, and what the alternatives can do that software cannot.

    Delphine Nakamura6 min read

  9. Your Policy Covers Water Damage Until Three Ordinary Exclusions Quietly Decide That It Does Not

    The clause naming water as a covered peril sits near the front. The three clauses that decide any particular leak sit a long way behind it.

    Rosa Petrossian5 min read