vania-janet/multiturn-rag-retrieval-data huggingface dataset:
Reading stuff like this makes me want to go into the debt collection business. Just send letters to random people demanding money. Sounds like an easy way to make a living. What's your name and address? Just kidding. If they are sending stuff to a Virginia PO Box, close the box with no forwarding address and consider it case closed. If they are targetting you personally in New Hampshire, the best thing to do is to sue proactively before it goes to collection. New Hampshire has strict anti-debt-collection laws. Basically, what you do is go to small claims court and fill out a one-page form. Sue them for $2000, $3000 or whatever is convenient. Do not hire a lawyer. You can do this in 2 hours of your own time. Your grounds are: (1) Violation of the creditor of NH FDCA laws. According to the laws the creditor has to put all kinds of specific stuff in their threat letters. Since they are not doing this, they have violated NH FDCA. Read the FDCA so you know which specific items they are violating. (2) Extortion. Since you do not owe them any money, demanding money from you is extortion which is both criminally and civilly actionable. You sue them for mental anguish due to extortion. The validity of your claims is irrelevant. You just need to get them in court. There are two possibilities: (A) They fail to show up. In this case you win and they owe you $3000 or whatever. Not only that if they later try to collect from you send a copy of the judgement to the credit bureau or collector or whatever and that is proof you owe them no money. (B) They hire some stooge local lawyer who appears. Accept the court's offer for arbitration. When you go into arbitration with the lawyer tell him you will drop the lawsuit if they send you a check for $500 and a hand-written guarantee from him that you will never hear from his client again. Either way, you come out ahead.
You should do it. It really can't hurt. But you really need someone young-ish (35-45) that is already successful and knows what the hell they're doing to read thru and critique it.   Anyone can write a business plan, but that doesn't make it good. That said, if you can just DO, then just DO. Most entrepreneurs I know never wrote a business plan, they just focused on making the best thing and working hard at it. And providing good customer/client service.  Try networking, too. If you are passionate and can present your idea in a good way, someone with 10k should stake you (like an angel investor).
Assuming you're residential and light commercial (maintenance, etc), pedal your wares to local businesses, landlords, churches, etc, but come with information ready to go (rates, services, contact information, payment options). Businesses need people that they can rely on just as much as individuals, and those businesses are made up of individuals that can use you when they need something (I used my office's plumber/HVAC tech when I needed a new main - I knew that they had a good rep because we'd been using them for so long). Also, those businesses can provide you with regular business since they may need regular, scheduled maintenance. You'll need to find the office or building manager. Make sure that your good clients have some extra copies of your card so that they can do some marketing for you. When it comes to plumbing, a lot of people are worried about 1) price, 2) experience &amp; abiltiy, 3) professionalism, 4) warranty. It's not only hard to get this from a phone book or a website, it's hard to trust it. But, when you get the information from one of your friends, it carries weight. So, following that, treat your clients well. Be fair, be clean, be honest. When you've got a problem, take care of it quickly and thoroughly. These will pay you back if you're playing the long game. Keep your guys, your truck, and your work-space clean. Uniforms, or at least shirts, make you look like you've got it together. Also, it provides your clients with a sense of security because they can recognize who you are. Whether you're working on a house or a business, it is likely not *your* house or business, so remember that you a guest. Be courteous, not familial but professional, protect their property by not tracking mud or leaving pipe dope smears on the doors. Look for ways to build your bottom line and help your client at the same time. If you've got to hack up a front yard, offer to include grading and reseeding in your price.
A company as large as Home Depot will have a fairly robust Human Resources department and would probably be able to steer you in the right direction: odds are they know the name of the brokerage and other particulars. I did some googling around, their # is  (1-866-698-4347). Different states have different rules about how long an institution can have assets abandoned before turning them over to the state. California, as an example, has an abandoned property search site that you can use.  That being said, I had some penny stocks sitting in a brokerage account I never touched for about 20 years and when I finally logged back in there they were, still sitting there.
"You know how when people called in on the Car Talk radio show (Click and Clack, I miss those guys), and while the caller asked a question about his car, really he needed marital advice? And the hosts would pounce on the part about the disagreement with family member and provide an unexpected answer (""Yeah, the trick to a using a clutch is [...], but really, if you want to learn to drive a stick shift, get your dad out of the car!"") So I'm pouncing on the part about the spouse. It sounds like you and your spouse don't always agree on saving and spending, and you want to find a way to agree on saving and spending. If you can find a coach or planner or counselor that you both like and both trust, then go for it. You're looking more for the right personality than a precise job description. Start with exploring what you do agree on: we agree we need to save money, we agree we need to have a spending plan and budget, etc. The right coach will help you get to more agreement -- the job title is less important."
I suggest looking for those who prominently advertise themselves as specializing in your area (whatever your type of business is), and representation in front of the FTB. Specialists, especially experienced, cost much more. Keep in mind - you'll be getting what you paid for. Also, when you hire a ""big shot"" EA/CPA - check who's actually going to do the work, and how much oversight the ""big shot"" is going to provide. Anything else that I potentially missed? Any specific questions that I should ask EA or CPA on initial interview? For example, if my EA/CPA could also talk with auditor in case FTB would want to talk directly with taxpayer, if possible? Well, that's the point of representation - to represent. They should be talking to the FTB in your name. You should verify credentials (IRS for EAs, CA CBA for CPAs), make sure their license is current. You can ask them about their continued education and how much of it is dedicated to the CA State law and FTB regulations. Ask them about their experience with similar cases. Overall, a decently qualified tax professional should be able to handle a mail audit without an issue, in-person representation may be harder since it does not only require being competent in the tax law, but also have some people skills."
"It's going to be quite a challenge to give a definitive answer to any ""Why"" question about law, and especially so for a question about tax law. One would need to try to dig up statements made by the legislators (and/or their aides) crafting and debating the law. As it is, tax law is already inconsistent in many ways. (Why are there people who can't contribute to a Roth IRA directly but can contribute to a Traditional and then immediately convert it to Roth? Why are maximum limits for 401(k) plans and IRAs separate rather than being one combined ""retirement"" savings maximum?) In the absence of some specific legislative statements saying that it was set up this way for some specific purpose, one must assume that it was written with the some goals as all tax law: As a compromise between various ideas, trying to accomplish some specific purpose. Feel free to add in some level of inefficiency and it being hard to completely understand the entirely of the tax law, which leads to things perhaps not being as ""tidy"" as one might hope for. But there's no reason to think that the people crafting the tax advantages for HSA plans had any reason to use 401(k) plans as a template, or wanted them to accomplish the same goals."
You need to find a fiduciary advisor pronto. Yes, you are getting a large amount of money, but you'll probably have to deal with higher than average health expenses and lower earning potential for years to come. You need to make sure the $1.2 million lasts you, and for that you need professional advice, not something you read on the Internet. Finding a knowledgeable advisor who has your interests at heart at a reasonable rate is the key here.  These articles are a good start on what to look for: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financialcareers/08/fiduciary-planner.asp https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2013/09/20/6-pointed-questions-to-ask-before-hiring-a-financial-advisor/#2e2b91c489fe http://www.investopedia.com/articles/professionaleducation/11/suitability-fiduciary-standards.asp You should also consider what your earning potential is. You rule out college but at 26, you can have a long productive career and earn way more money than the $1.2 million you are going to get.
In your proposed world, each business would have it's own laws when people stepped on their property. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. How would everyone keep track of the millions of different laws? What's to stop a business from taking advantage of this and duping customers who haven't researched their unfair laws?  And how would two parties in a dispute agree on which private court system to use?
"It's pretty easy for foreign scammers to get a US phone number or email.   A domestic bank account is a little harder.  Very likely the direct contact  is a US citizen or a legal immigrant.  The Nigerian may be completely made-up to throw you off the scent.  And that person can be found, dunned, or deported, and there's even a small chance of reversing the bank transfers. It's also hard for foreign scammers to sound American on the phone, again suggesting a domestic scam or one with domestic agents.  If you or your son is willing to do a serious amount of skill-building and legwork, you can uncover evidence by filing a lawsuit.  Once you have done so, you can use the legal processes of discovery to force banks etc. to give you information they would never give willingly.  There are countless details.  Lawyers get paid to get the details right.   Suing actual people can backfire, they can countersue.  But since you do not know their real name, you would probably be filing a ""John Doe"" lawsuit.  ""John Doe"" is a placeholder: the idea being that you will later, through discovery, uncover the defendants' real names.  For a novice exploring the legal system for the first time, there's a big advantage - John Doe never countersues or quashes, he never gets in your way or wastes your time... heck, he never even shows up in court! And when you collect evidence via discovery, you can take that to law enforcement or immigration.   It goes without sayi-- well, there's no need to go into that.  Just realize you did goof, and make sure you learn the lessons."
According to this site:   If you think the plan trustees or others responsible for investing your pension money have been violating the rules, you should call or write the nearest field office of the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA (formerly PWBA)). Looking at EBSA's FAQ for abandoned plans finds:   EBSA has developed an Abandoned Plan searchable database to help participants and beneficiaries find out if a particular plan is in the process of being, or has been, terminated. The site is searchable by plan name or employer name and will provide the name and contact information for the QTA, if one exists.  If you do not have access to a computer to conduct the search, you may contact one of EBSA’s Benefits Advisors to assist you by calling toll-free, 1.866.444.EBSA (3272). So I would try searching the database for your plan.  If that doesn't help, you can call EBSA and ask for more specific assistance.  Or use the contact us page to find an alternative contact method.
You need an accountant who will be on your side. Not someone who will help you just fill in forms correctly . Too many play it by the book. Expense as much as you can. Your balance sheet should be a list of what you have (assets), who owes you money and who you owe, and how much cash you have. Good luck!
"TLDR:  There are no to few monetary downsides. The process of settling an estate is called probate.  Creditors can make claims against the estate, and assets should stand to pay any debts.  If more debts are owed then assets, the beneficiaries are not held liable.  Final expenses are usually the first amount paid out in full.  So if the estate only contains enough assets to pay final expenses, then the creditors receive nothing.  Usually creditors are paid pro-rated if there is not enough to cover debts. For the record, the probate process is greatly simplified if one has a will.  Get a will if you don't have one. Life insurance is a bit different though.  It passes directly to the beneficiaries and depending on the state could be untouchable by creditors. The same thing could also happen with retirements accounts.   With 401K accounts, you could take some of it out, and pay tax on that.  You could also roll it into your own account. Property receives a really good benefit.  While it does pass through probate the cost basis of real estate is reestablished at the time of death.  So if grandpa bought a house for 30K in the 40's, and it is now worth 120K.  You inherit a 120K piece of property and when you sell you use 120K as your cost basis not 30K.   Any estate taxes are typically paid by the state, not technically the heirs.  If there is a 5% estate tax and they are to inherit 100K, they will only receive 95K.  They will not receive 100K then be expected to be paid 5K.  ""Electrically"" the same, but a large difference in responsibility. The biggest downside is if you have a will fight on your hands.  If someone disputes the validity of the will that can incur a lot of legal fees.  For small estates, it may not be worth the fight.   The next is if any assets do go through probate.  The process is lengthy and depending on the executor, they could reduce the size of the estate for charging for their time."
"I'll chime in here with the ""don't do it crowd."" I think it's fraught with ugly possibilities. However, you may, for various reasons, decide to say, ""to hell with it, we'll make it work."" If that is the case, treat it like a business transaction and not an emotional transaction. Work up a binding contract with your attorney for how the two of you will handle issues such as: Of absolutely critical importance is the bail-out clause: how will you handle it when one person says, ""Sayonara.""  None of this ensures a smooth road - god knows I wouldn't do it - but it could help protect your sanity and some of your investment down the road. Good luck."
Are there particular, established businesses that provide these   services? Yes! There are many fee-based financial advisors that provide such services. These might help:  http://www.ricedelman.com/galleries/default-file/how-to-choose-financial-advisor.pdf http://www.ricedelman.com/cs/education/article?articleId=990#.Us7cyPRDt1Y
A lawyer might need to put it in a trust or something to make that work (if the estate has to be closed in a certain time period). Pay the mortgage out of the rent. If there's extra left over, you can either pay down the mortgage faster or distribute it. Note that the rent may not support the mortgage. If not, then option four is not practical. However, in that case, the house is unlikely to be worth much net of the mortgage anyway. Let the bank have it (option two). If the aunt needs to move into the house, then you can give up the rental income. She can either pay the mortgage (possibly by renting rooms) or allow foreclosure. A reverse mortgage might also help in that situation. It's worth noting that three of the options involve a lawyer. Consulting one to help choose among the options might be constructive. You may be able to find a law firm with offices in both Florida and Pennsylvania. It's currently winter. Someone should check on the house to make sure that the heat is running and the pipes aren't freezing. If you can't do anything with it now, consider winterizing by turning off the water and draining the pipes. Turn the heat down to something reasonable and unplug the refrigerator (throw out the food first). Note that the kind of heat matters. You may need to buy oil or pay a gas bill in addition to electricity."
If the house is titled to the estate, neither of you own the house and it cannot be mortgaged. Executor of the will is supposed to provide to you and to the probate court periodic reports as to what is going on. Check them up and talk to your probate lawyer.
You also might check if there are any other family members that might be interested. E.g. cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. If not, you can probably sell it to a professional company that handles estate sales. Make sure that they clear out any junk along with the valuable stuff. Consider keeping furniture for now. Sometimes it can help sell a property. You might check if you want to drive either of them. If not, the same applies, check family first. Otherwise, someone will buy them, perhaps on consignment (they sell for a commission rather than buying and reselling). There's no hurry to sell these. Think over whether you might want them. Consider if they hold any sentimental value to you or someone else. If not, sell them. If there's any difficulty finding a buyer, consider renting them out. You can also rent them out if you want time to make a decision. Don't leave them empty too long. There's maintenance that may need done, e.g. heat to keep water from freezing in the pipes. That's easy, just invest that. I wouldn't get in too much of a hurry to donate to charity. You can always do that later. And try to donate anonymously if you can. Donating often leads to spam, where they try to get you to donate more.
Something you may want to consider if you are still choosing a bill-paying service is the contingency policies of the service.   I just suffered an extended stay in a hospital and my officially (in writing) designated Power of Attorney was NOT granted access to my PAYTRUST account.  Thus they could NOT take care of my finances easily.  After my discharge, I contacted PAYTRUST and they had canceled my account and would not reactivate it.  This is after over fifteen years of loyalty.  Needless to say there was much financial chaos in my life due to their negligence.  They were staunch in their policy and said officially that if they need to acknowledge a Power of Attorney, the ONLY thing they will allow the POA to do is close the PAYTRUST account.  How's that for customer service?!  Caveat Emptor. I am now seeking another service and will be asking about their POA policies.
Another option to a human advisor is FutureAdvisor, a web service that (if it supports your 401k plan) gives personalized algorithmic advice on what you should hold in your 401(k) and other retirement accounts.  If it doesn't support your 401(k) plan just yet you can sign up to be emailed when your plan is added.  [Disclosure: I work here, but I believe in the product and it's designed to solve this exact problem so I'm mentioning it here]  Note from JoeTaxpayer - bolu's disclosure is much appreciated. The fee is $39/yr, with a free trial. Consider that a commissions based advisor won't even take on a $10K level account, and at $100K, you'd be hard pressed to gain by more than his 1% fee. So while I've not dug deeper into this site, a rules-based methodology is likely to be worth the cost if over time it gains you even a fraction of a percent compared to what you'd have done blindly.
Do not, EVER, skip going to court if they send you a summons to appear. They count on people doing this. They can get a default judgement if you don't show up. Then you're well and truly screwed. What do you want? You want the $4K fee removed. If you want something else, figure out what it is. Here's what to do: Write them a polite letter explaining what you said here. Recount the conversation you had with their telephone agent where they said they would remove the $4K fee if you made payments. Recount the later conversation. If possible give the dates of both conversations and the names of the both agents. Explain the situation completely. Don't assume the recipient of your letter knows anything about your case. Include evidence that you made payments as agreed during the six months. If you were late or something, don't withhold that. Ask them to remove the extra $4K from your account, and ask for whatever else you want. Send the letter to them with a return receipt requested, or even registered mail. That will prevent them from claiming they didn't get it. And it will show them you're serious. Write a cover letter admitting your default, saying you relied on their negotiation to set things straight, and saying you're dismayed they aren't sticking to their word. The cover letter should ask for help sorting this out. Send copies of the letter with the cover letter to: Be sure to mark your letter to OSCEOLA ""cc"" all these folks, so they know you are asking for help. It can't hurt to call your congressional representative's office and ask to whom you should send the letter, and then address it by name. This is called Constituent Service, and they take pride in it. If you send this letter with copies you're letting them know you intend to fight. The collection agency may decide it's not worth the fight to get the $4K and decide to let it go. Again, if they call to pressure you, say you'd rather communicate in writing, and that they are not to call you by telephone. Then hang up.