Success has two ‘C’s

Tie Dye Senior FI is a reasonably bright guy, maybe not a SPITR*, in a world with lots of smart people.  In undergraduate college I only got two ‘C’s.  Turns out these classes were ones that helped me earn my living.  Sometimes it is the hard stuff that helps the most.

The first ‘C’ was in Income Tax Accounting.  This was a class designed to teach how to prepare an income tax return.  I did reasonably well on the tests, ‘A’s as I recall.

The problem was the final.  This was a full income tax return.  This inch thick package was given to us as a take home assignment, due in one week, with permission to work with others in the class.  Unfortunately, I had not made friends with others in the class.

The package was complex.  I could not figure out where to begin.  I would pick and poke at it but never really got off the ground.  I turned in a poor excuse of a return.  Then we watched the teacher do the return.

That is when my schooling began.  He solved this like the elephant eating problem, one bite at a time, working from the outermost layer.  When all the outer forms were done, only then did he take up the 1040.  I learned a lot watching this approach.

I got a 19 on the final and a ‘C’ in the class.

My first side hustle (we called them part time jobs back then) after college was doing income tax returns!  I did this for a number of years.  Today I use Turbo Tax for my own return but my understanding of how this is supposed to work helps me to optimize.

Getting your taxes right and structuring your income streams to make effective use of the tax code is very helpful in accomplishing FI.

The second ‘C’ was in a computer class that dealt with peripherals – tape drives, disk drives, etc.  How they worked, uses, advantages and disadvantages, etc.

At this point I should note that I was a liberal arts major, not a tech major.  This was the late ’70s.  I had intended to go to law school.  I majored in Poly Sci (they called it Government) but I really tried for a well rounded education that involved a few computer courses.

I should also note that I am a night owl, not a worm eater.  If I recall this class was at 8 AM.  I overslept it a lot and probably slept through it while I was attending.

Years later I am working in the technology world.  On one assignment I am designing a unix workstation solution for my customer, receiving the solution at the dock, assembling the components, loading the OS and the applications, etc.

On another assignment many years after this, I was put in charge of a data center and the backup systems.  We had inherited some old tape backup systems that were slow and expensive.  I had to design a new solution.

The point is to file away all knowledge as you never know where it will come in handy for making money, and just because you got a ‘C’, doesn’t mean you didn’t learn anything and cannot use the information.

*SPITR – Smartest Person In The Room – I get very uncomfortable when I see people trying to outdo each other.  A lot of useless spittle is spent.