Final Post – This Blog is Now an Archiv

Dear readers,
After many years on Blogger I have finally moved my new writing to a more stable platform.
This blog will remain online as a complete archive of all my old posts, but from now on all new articles will be published here: https://mrsdewlar.wordpress.com
Thank you so much for following me here over the years. Your support has meant a lot to me.
I hope to see you on the new site!
Best regards,
Mrs Dewlar

The Eternal Battle: Deductions vs Benefits

Let me be clear from the start: Sweden has the 8th highest tax burden in the world according to the OECD 2024. Yet some on the left consider it morally questionable that taxpayers are allowed to reduce their tax burden through ROT and RUT deductions.

To me, that view is completely absurd.

ROT and RUT are not benefits. They are deductions. To use them, you must first have paid tax in Sweden. It is simply a reduction of your taxable income — not free money. If you have no tax to deduct against, you get nothing.

Personally, I have never used either ROT or RUT, but I fully understand those who do. They already pay an enormous amount of tax and are simply getting a small portion back.

The Left, however, loves to call these deductions “benefits” or “subsidies”. That is a deliberate distortion. A benefit is something you receive without any contribution. A deduction is something you receive because you have already contributed and paid tax.

If the Left wants to play that game, I have no problem renaming everything:

Either we call all benefits deductions — and require that you must first pay tax to qualify.

Or we call all deductions benefits — and simply hand out the equivalent amount to ROT and RUT users with no requirement to have paid any tax at all.

The latter option would mean that far more people could suddenly take full advantage of the “benefit” — since they would no longer need any actual contribution to offset it against.

Then we might finally see who is really living off other people’s money.

AI-generated image with Grok

Why I’m Against “Everyone Else Should Pay” Mentality

I want to be clear from the start: I am against socialism and communism. I believe people should, as a general rule, bear their own costs — with a few reasonable exceptions.

In recent years I’ve noticed a new and rather ugly phenomenon.

Normal-weight passengers posting videos where they openly express frustration about having to pay for excess baggage, while filming overweight passengers who fly with carry-on luggage that is within the weight limit. Their argument is that their own body weight plus carry-on combined is still less than the overweight passenger’s total — yet only they have to pay extra.

This kind of thinking would have been unthinkable twenty years ago.

But since Millennials and Gen Z entered adulthood, the rules of the game seem to have changed. A generation that grew up illegally downloading music, movies and TV series appears to have developed a very different view of what “paying your own way” means. They are simply not used to paying for products or services — they have mostly just taken what they wanted for free.

I’m not defending the airline policy. I’m simply pointing out the entitlement behind the outrage: the idea that someone else should subsidise your choices.

And that exact mindset — “Why should I have to pay when someone else gets away with more?” — is precisely why collectivism will always fail. When you grow up believing the world owes you something for free, you naturally expect others to foot the bill for your lifestyle. That is not fairness. That is socialism in practice.

AI-generated image with Grok

The Transition to Growth Stocks is Driving My Competitive Side Crazy

The shift from being a pure dividend investor to also holding growth stocks has not been easy for me. I hate change. I really, really hate change.

My husband, the world’s most perfect husband, is thriving in this new setup. Of course he is.

What surprises me the most is that it’s not primarily my conservative side that is struggling — it’s my extremely competitive side.

For me, our portfolio isn’t really about money right now. It’s about charts and bars. Pretty colored bars that are supposed to compete with last year’s performance. And right now… we are clearly losing.

I even created a new chart comparing the total value of our holdings. But since I only have the starting point from January 1, 2026, there isn’t much of a race going on yet. Just a slow, painful start where I’m already behind.

I’m still convinced that this new strategy will pay off in the long run. We will catch up, and eventually we’ll get both better dividends and stronger total returns.

All I can hope for is that my hyper-competitive self survives the journey…

because right now it feels like I’m losing a race I didn’t even want to enter — and losing is simply not acceptable.

Some people get a participation trophy.

I get a husband who keeps winning without even trying.

AI-generated image with Grok

There Is No Professional Pride Left – And Somehow I Always End Up Doing Everything Myself

My uncle on my father’s side passed away on January 2, 2025.

For the past seven years, I have helped him with his income tax returns. So when he died, I made sure to complete and submit the final return for 2025. Three weeks ago I sent it in and thought, with a sigh of relief, that the estate was finally closed.

Oh, how naive I was.

Today my father (who is the executor of the estate) came with two new documents. One was an invoice for the bank account fee for 2025, and another for 2026 — even though the accounts have zero balance and should have been closed long ago.

My uncle had a will leaving everything to my father. To avoid any disputes with my cousins, my father hired a professional estate administrator and paid a proper fee for the service. The assignment was clear: handle everything and close the estate completely.

Yet here we are.

Despite the hired professional, it is once again my father — and by extension, me — who has to sort this out. Calling the bank, gathering information, explaining the situation, and making sure the accounts are finally closed.

No matter how many professionals we hire, how many documents we sign, or how clearly we define the assignment… I always end up doing it myself.

If you want something done right, do it yourself.

AI-generated image with Grok