Under specific conditions can I write off Spotify or other streaming audio services?
Nice try. No. If you were in the music industry, you might have a case. Depending on the exact job, certain things related to music would be a business expense. I don't see how this would pass an audit as it really is unrelated to the work you do.
mhoran answered the headline question, but you asked - Could someone shed some light on and differentiate between a retirement account and alternative savings plans? Retirement accounts can contain nearly anything that one would consider an investment. (yes, there are exception, not the topic for today). So when one says they have an S&P fund or ETF, and some company issued Bonds, etc, these may or may not be held in a retirement account.  In the US, when we say 'retirement account,' it means a bit more than just an account earmarked for that goal. It's an account, 401(k), 403(b), IRA, etc, that has a special tax status. Money can go in pre-tax, and be withdrawn at retirement when you are in a lower tax bracket. The Roth flavor of 401(k) or IRA lets you deposit post-tax money, and 'never' pay tax on it again, if withdrawn under specific conditions.  In 2013, a single earner pays 25% federal tax on taxable earnings over $36K. But a retiree with exactly $46K in gross income (who then has $10K in standard deduction plus exemption) has a tax of $4950, less than 11% average rate on that withdrawal. This is the effect of the deductions, 10% and 15% brackets.  As with your other question, there's a lot to be said about this topic, no one can answer in one post. That said, the second benefit of the retirement account is the mental partitioning. I have retirement money, not to be touched, emergency money used for the broken down car or appliance replacement, and other funds it doesn't feel bad to tap for spending, vacations, etc. Nothing a good spreadsheet can't handle, but a good way to keep things physically separate as well.   (I answered as if you are in US, but the answer works if you rename the retirement accounts, eg, Canada has similar tax structure to the US.) I love Netflix, but mostly for the documentaries.  I miss the old History Channel and then later H2 when they were full of documentaries and actually educational and interesting programming.  Now they're just reality television like the rest of the crap on cable.  While I don't mind the occasional Disney film or other movie on Netflix, I usually still like to own physical copies of movies(like Star Wars) and if I don't care enough to own it, I usually don't care enough to watch it.  This doesn't really affect my streaming decisions at all.  I still have Amazon Prime(which I've had for over 10 years now because of the 2 day shipping, don't watch much on their streaming service but I have it on my Roku).  TBH I can see where Disney may lose money, because I for one have to really want to see something to buy a copy, and I don't care enough about most of their stuff to pay for a streaming sub specifically for their content.    In closing, this wont make me pay for their stuff or pirate it, I simply wont watch it(besides seeing Star Wars films in the theater and/or buying the Blu-ray).  I suppose I should catch up on what I'd like to see of theirs on Netflix before they remove it all in a year or two. While Apple is undoubtedly tougher at negotiating, the premise is of the question is false. Apple pays more money per stream than Spotify, whose user base is primarily on their free tier, which has almost no revenue at all and gets to pay out lower royalty rates. Apple Music doesn't have a free tier. Apple Music also apparently runs at a profit, while paying out more per stream. Free tiers are awful for pretty much everybody involved. "I am not sure how anyone is answering this unless they know what the loan was for.  For instance if it is for a house you can put a lien on the house.  If it is for the car in most states you can take over ownership of it.   Point being is that you need to go after the asset.   If there is no asset you need to go after you ""friend"".  Again we need more specifics to determine the best course of action which could range from you suing and garnishing wages from your friend to going to small claims court.  Part of this process is also getting a hold of the lending institution.  By letting them know what is going on they may be able to help you - they are good at tracking people down for free. Also the lender may be able to give you options.  For example if it is for a car a bank may help you clear this out if you get the car back plus penalty.  If a car is not in the red on the loan and it is in good condition the bank turns a profit on the default.  If they can recover it for free they will be willing to work with you.  I worked in repo when younger and on more than a few occasions we had the cosigner helping.  It went down like this... Co-signer gets pissed like you and calls bank, bank works out a plan and tells cosigner to default, cosigner defaults, banks gives cosigner rights to repo vehicle, cosigner helps or actually repos vehicle, bank gets car back, bank inspects car, bank asks cosigner for X amount (sometimes nothing but not usually), cosigner pays X, bank does not hit cosigners credit, bank releases loan and sells car.  I am writing this like it is easy but it really requires that asset is still in good condition, that cosigner can get to the asset, and that the ""friend"" still is around and trusts cosigner.  I have seen more than a few cosigners promise to deliver and come up short and couple conspiring with the ""friend"".   I basically think most of the advice you have gotten so far is crap and you haven't provided enough info to give perfect advice.  Seeking a lawyer is a joke.  Going after a fleeing party could eat up 40-50 billable hours.  It isn't like you are suing a business or something.  The lawyer could cost as much as repaying the loan - and most lawyers will act like it is a snap of their fingers until they have bled you dry - just really unsound advice. For the most part I would suggest talking to the bank and defaulting but again need 100% of the details.   The other part is cosigning the loan.  Why the hell would you cosign a loan for a friend?  Most parents won't cosign a loan for their own kids.  And if you are cosigning a loan, you write up a simple contract and make the non-payment penalties extremely costly for your friend.  I have seen simple contracts that include 30% interests rates that were upheld by courts." I know nothing about this, but found this link which suggests for H&R Block specifically: I kept searching and I found the section. It's at the end in the Credits section under 'other backup withholding'. Hopefully this helps someone else in the future. It's the same result either way.  Say the bills are $600, and you are reimbursed $400. You'd be able to write off $400 as part of the utilities that are common expenses, but then claim the $400 as income.  I'd stick with that, and have contemporaneous records supporting all cash flow. You also can take 2/3 of any other maintenance costs that most homeowners can't. Like snow removal, lawn care, etc. Almost every company I know of charges something like 2% per month on past due accounts.  They are not financial institutions, so it's probably quite legal. DRM is not to blame. The publishers should have come together and built their own store (with or without DRM). Hulu is a good example of content creators/publishers working together to publish their content online. I admit that the only shows I download now are House (since it is release a week later) and NCIS (because CBS' video player sucks). Everything else I watch on Hulu.  As a customer I applaud Amazon (and iTunes, in the case of music) for making the decision easier for me and others. Yes, I may be giving up the freedom to switch to another vendor; but, I have yet to find another vendor worth buying from so this really is a non-issue.  Amazon, Apple, and Hulu do one thing very well: focus on the customer experience. The print publishers would be wise to learn from them and build their own store if they are so worried about profits. However, they too will use DRM.