Life

By Thomas Morrone CFP®, CPA

I have written about my father’s gas station business and how I got started in accounting as a result. Before I was involved with the books, the accountant my father used was very involved with the business and seemed to be a fixture in the office. He would occasionally come to the house to review things with my parents and the entire family knew the accountant, let’s call him Doyle. He was a jolly guy with a big belly and bald head. We all liked him, especially my father, and he was trusted explicitly. Maybe you can see where this is headed, and I may have shared this story with some you. It gets juicy.

By Thomas Morrone CFP®, CPA

I have lived in four different towns in Connecticut during my lifetime. Each of those municipalities provided curbside trash pickup on a weekly basis. No big deal or is it? Because I always had this service available I probably have taken this for granted. Frankly I know I have. Growing up in East Haven as a kid, in addition to trash pickup, my dad had built a small incinerator in the back yard out of cinderblocks and would burn some of the trash on a regular basis. Looking back on that now, I wish I could ask my dad why he went through that effort because he still would schlep the trash cans to the curb that had the garbage. Maybe this was his attempt to reduce trash at the landfill and help our planet be a little less trashy. I think he just liked to burn things. Maybe he had a little pyromaniac in him that he inevitably passed to me. That is another story all together.

By Thomas Morrone CFP®, CPA

Many of you may have read Paul’s announcement “we’re having a baby”. If you missed his writing, it is worth going to our website and look for prior newsletters to read his exciting news. Of course, he and Jill having a baby also means Cathy and I are having a grandchild. I do not know who is more excited, Paul and Jill or Cathy and me. Their soon to be born son will start a new chapter in their lives as well as start a new chapter for us. Many of our friends and family have already been blessed with grandchildren. We see the happiness that being grandparents has brought to their lives. We are so looking forward to many new and exciting moments as our family dynamics change. I just can’t wait to hold that little bundle of joy and kiss him on the forehead. Cathy and Kelly have already been buying outfits. Kelly is going to be such a wonderful aunt to her new baby nephew. She is so excited to begin her new role as well.

By Paul Morrone CFP®, CPA, MSA

I know it’s a little late to be writing about Christmas, but bear with me, as we had our own little Christmas miracle in our house. In the midst of the holiday chaos, on Christmas eve no less, we found out that Jill was pregnant. It was an amazing moment and we were thrilled to find out during such a special time of year. However, being the holidays, this posed a monumental set of challenges. As we knew it was very premature to tell anyone, even our immediate family members, we had to figure out how to keep it quiet until we could confirm everything with the doctor. I don’t like keeping secrets, and hate lying even more, but sometimes, on very rare occasions, it is entirely justified. This was one of those instances.

By Thomas Morrone CFP®, CPA

One of my Florida golfing buddies told me the most bizarre story about his golf clubs. He is one of those diehard golfers that gets up at the crack of dawn, or even before, to be on the first tee as early as possible. I agree with his logic but driving to the golf course when it is still dark is not appealing to me. Anyway, it was still dark out and he was waiting at the curb for his ride. He noticed that the newspaper was in his mail box. He left his clubs at the curb and grabbed the paper and brought it back to his house. When he was walking back to the curb, he saw a pickup truck driving away with his golf clubs in the back of the truck. He ran after the truck but to no avail. Bummer! Luckily though, the night before he put his wallet and money clip in his golf bag but took them out in the morning when he first got to the curb. That would have added another layer of complications.

By Paul Morrone CFP®, CPA, MSA

When I was younger I was fascinated with how things work. My nursery school teacher was convinced I’d grow up to be an engineer because while the other children were reading the Bernstein Bears books, I was focused on how jet engines worked and what makes a plane fly. To this day, I often get lost in Discovery channel specials about mega machines, extreme engineering or the industrial revolution, stuff that will put most people to sleep within minutes.  Growing up, this led to a collection of die-cast model cars (some of which you can find in my office even today) and boxes of model cars, trucks and planes many of which that I assembled myself.

By Paul Morrone CFP®, CPA, MSA

We are now in the worst part of winter here, and it doesn’t all have to do with the weather. I feel like February is the month most people just want to get through, and luckily it is the shortest month of the year. There’s a lull in the sports world, with really only basketball or hockey on for the mass markets. Football is over and March Madness doesn’t start until, well, March. To make the time go by and try to make some productive use of these few weekends in the depths of winter, we have started to get through all of the stuff that we’ve put off while the weather was nice.

By Thomas Morrone CFP®, CPA

As many of us age with dignity, birthdays seem to just come and go. Each birthday is special and each and every year can be viewed as obtaining one more mile stone in life. My most recent birthday was a bit different, not just because I was now another year older but I reached the ripe old age of 60. Many of you have already reached this age and flew by it with a blink of an eye. Others are dreading the day when it is your 60^th. Some may look at me and think of me as a puppy and yet again others may think I am an old fart.

By Paul Morrone CFP®, CPA, MSA

It’s no secret that one of my favorite foods in the world is pizza; you’ve seen me write about it before. In the past, I’ve professed my love for Sally’s on Wooster street (which recently sold to a new owner!) and am lucky enough to be able to get a great pie from any one of about 10 places within only miles of my house. It’s easy to see why people who move away always come home craving a New Haven pizza because there really isn’t anywhere else in the world that can live up to its reputation. Every town has its staple take-out places, but I find the best experiences are sometimes off the beaten path.

By Thomas Morrone CFP®, CPA

I hate to admit but I am guilty of binge watching some television shows or made for TV series. In my younger days you were lucky if you had rabbit ears to get better reception. I remember one time we had two TV’s in the same room and they were stacked on top of each other. The reason for this was one TV only had the picture working with no audio. The other did not have any picture and only had the audio. You had to synchronize the two sets. Of course we had fun watching one station while listening to another. It seems so silly now but we were so thrilled to be connected. Then the real big deal was the motorized control to change the direction of the antenna on the roof to get better reception. Then came color television and finally the remote control. We could change channels and adjust volume without ever leaving the couch. Wow that was cool.