Andrew Camarata

buckeyefarmer · Dec 23, 2022

Liked the latest blasting video.

MinnesotaEric · Dec 23, 2022

Snobdds said:
I once thought about how much wealth he has tied up in equipment. It's actually not too bad to park some money in equipment. You don't have to pay reoccurring taxes or registration fees, meaning there is no ongoing maintenance fees to maintain wealth. I bet he can sell just about every piece of equipment for more than he paid for them. The only real investment to go bad for him was the rock trucks. He probably lost some money there, but not as much as people think. He makes money using them and doesn't have to hire out services for his own needs. Plus he gets Youtube money.

Knock his style on equipment, but he's laughing all the way to the bank.

If it is on YouTube or part of Andrew's maintenance company, it is a legitimate 179 write-off. Andrew has got a huge channel with an estimated annual income between $500K and $1.1M. When your income blows up like that, you're most likely taking the total cost of acquiring, owning, and operating your equipment as a write-off in one year. For example, the Cat off-road truck was what, $20ishK, the Volvo something like $35K, and the Bell truck is likely north of $90K, the rock crusher is likely $150K, and so on, take all those expenses, sum them and write them directly off of his YouTube income for taxes and this even as he is using all of this stuff, for what appears to be improvements on his personal property (that can also be expensed).

I do this with my YouTube stuff except my income from YouTube is negligible, so I deduct the 179 expenses I accrue over multiple years, and I haven't even started deducting some items. Regardless, YouTube makes it possible to write off everything in front of, as well as behind the camera, providing creators effectively mark-to-market expenses in real-time against their incomes.

Snobdds · Dec 23, 2022

MinnesotaEric said:
If it is on YouTube or part of Andrew's maintenance company, it is a legitimate 179 write-off. Andrew has got a huge channel with an estimated annual income between $500K and $1.1M. When your income blows up like that, you're most likely taking the total cost of acquiring, owning, and operating your equipment as a write-off in one year. For example, the Cat off-road truck was what, $20ishK, the Volvo something like $35K, and the Bell truck is likely north of $90K, the rock crusher is likely $150K, and so on, take all those expenses, sum them and write them directly off of his YouTube income for taxes and this even as he is using all of this stuff, for what appears to be improvements on his personal property (that can also be expensed).

I do this with my YouTube stuff except my income from YouTube is negligible, so I deduct the 179 expenses I accrue over multiple years, and I haven't even started deducting some items. Regardless, YouTube makes it possible to write off everything in front of, as well as behind the camera, providing creators effectively mark-to-market expenses in real-time against their incomes.

For some reason, I can't see Andrew going to an accountant often. I know he should and probably does with the amount of equipment he buys.

I wouldn't be shocked if he takes the standard deduction, and pays full tax on all his income. I am constantly shocked how bad some people are about doing the business end of their business. They are good at what they do, but feel overwhelmed in the paperwork and tax department.

I only say this because he never has any workers employed under him. It's a clue he just dosen't like to deal with all extra time and burden that brings.

MinnesotaEric · Dec 24, 2022

Snobdds said:
For some reason, I can't see Andrew going to an accountant often. I know he should and probably does with the amount of equipment he buys.

I wouldn't be shocked if he takes the standard deduction, and pays full tax on all his income. I am constantly shocked how bad some people are about doing the business end of their business. They are good at what they do, but feel overwhelmed in the paperwork and tax department.

I only say this because he never has any workers employed under him. It's a clue he just dosen't like to deal with all extra time and burden that brings.

Unless Andrew was running his maintenance company on cash basis only, he has been using accountants or something like Turbo Tax for tax prep. Moreover, once your YouTube income hits a certain point, people and companies will approach you about managing your taxes.

The ability to write stuff off mark-to-market against income not only lowers Andrew's tax bracket but also keeps him from paying income taxes on the sum he is writing off for any given tax year. This provides a huge incentive to run off and buy stuff, which is what we've seen Andrew increasingly do and especially so over the last three years. Andrew's purchases, lower his income taxes, and expand his potential for making content. The Mountain top RE is likely also getting written off, or at least expensed, as that is creating the playground for content.

Andrew's genius content creation wise:

1) He buys older, used equipment leading to content drama as a natural unplanned result.

2) He is a hack, leading to repair drama that is, if nothing else, amusing to watch without any need for interpersonal personality drama most other content creators need to make drama (Andrew doesn't rely on sidekicks).

3) He has remained relatively humble and displays his missteps and the winding paths he takes to solving the problems that need to be overcome to accomplish his goals. The overarching goals also provide the context for all of his various videos even when they are published out of order which keeps the audience informed, even if they are ahead of behind whatever video they are watching.

4) And this is mostly just this late summer onward, but Andrew has brought in at least one other YouTuber to also run his equipment in order to accelerate getting things done. Those YouTubers are creating more content driving more eyeballs toward the Andrew Cameria brand.

Anyway, reading ahead of the script, so to speak, Andrew needs to finish making a good enough road so he can build a better castle atop his mountain is where I think I see his channel going.
If I'm right, Andrew will be deducting all the materials and equipment right off his income in order to build some kind of fun, castle-shop, version 2.

swines · Dec 24, 2022

MinnesotaEric said:
If it is on YouTube or part of Andrew's maintenance company, it is a legitimate 179 write-off. Andrew has got a huge channel with an estimated annual income between $500K and $1.1M. When your income blows up like that, you're most likely taking the total cost of acquiring, owning, and operating your equipment as a write-off in one year. For example, the Cat off-road truck was what, $20ishK, the Volvo something like $35K, and the Bell truck is likely north of $90K, the rock crusher is likely $150K, and so on, take all those expenses, sum them and write them directly off of his YouTube income for taxes and this even as he is using all of this stuff, for what appears to be improvements on his personal property (that can also be expensed).

I do this with my YouTube stuff except my income from YouTube is negligible, so I deduct the 179 expenses I accrue over multiple years, and I haven't even started deducting some items. Regardless, YouTube makes it possible to write off everything in front of, as well as behind the camera, providing creators effectively mark-to-market expenses in real-time against their incomes.

I have no idea what New York State and his local tax obligations are, but where I live, the write-offs would be one time, and then you'd be paying tax to the county on the equipment as assets. You would pay the county tax every year, and the depreciation would never reach zero, so there is a local tax burden until the equipment is sold or transferred out of the business. This is why so many local businesses (like machine shops) lease their equipment. The lease is a cost and deductible and the equipment is never an asset of the business. As an example, I had a computer listed as a piece of business equipment. Five years later, I was still paying the county $40 a year for an out-of-date computer that was a "business asset."

daugen · Dec 25, 2022

just bought third articulated dump truck after admitting he bought cheapest auction dumps last time, and now he has one where everything
works.

lman · Dec 25, 2022

daugen said:
just bought third articulated dump truck after admitting he bought cheapest auction dumps last time, and now he has one where everything
works.

That looks like a nice Christmas toy.

MinnesotaEric · Dec 25, 2022

swines said:
I have no idea what New York State and his local tax obligations are, but where I live, the write-offs would be one time, and then you'd be paying tax to the county on the equipment as assets. You would pay the county tax every year, and the depreciation would never reach zero, so there is a local tax burden until the equipment is sold or transferred out of the business. This is why so many local businesses (like machine shops) lease their equipment. The lease is a cost and deductible and the equipment is never an asset of the business. As an example, I had a computer listed as a piece of business equipment. Five years later, I was still paying the county $40 a year for an out-of-date computer that was a "business asset."

179 write-offs are a one-time thing (what I'm suggesting Andrew is doing because of his higher estimated YouTube income) or equipment is expensed differently as a depreciating asset across a number of years according to lookup tables. Once expensed, there are no other tax beaks or tax costs associated with the things that were written off and they can be held and used free and clear, or sold.

Investopedia has a really good summary of 179 write-offs. Section 179: Definition, How It Works, and Example

Merry Christmas!

4570Man · Dec 25, 2022

Snobdds said:
For some reason, I can't see Andrew going to an accountant often. I know he should and probably does with the amount of equipment he buys.

I wouldn't be shocked if he takes the standard deduction, and pays full tax on all his income. I am constantly shocked how bad some people are about doing the business end of their business. They are good at what they do, but feel overwhelmed in the paperwork and tax department.

I only say this because he never has any workers employed under him. It's a clue he just dosen't like to deal with all extra time and burden that brings.

He has millions of dollars in equipment. Even the container castle and mountain top property are probably tax deductible since he’s using it for YouTube views. The standard deduction is only like $12,500. He probably spent more than that in fuel. I guarantee he’s writing off those expenses.

MinnesotaEric · Dec 25, 2022

daugen said:
just bought third articulated dump truck after admitting he bought cheapest auction dumps last time, and now he has one where everything
works.

"Everything works in this truck, like when you roll down hills it's not terrifying"

I belly laughed at the remark thinking about my own Payloader in which the brakes work great, but down a hill it'll coast in any gear faster and faster and at some point, it starts to also wander side to side and becomes terrifying!

buckeyefarmer · Dec 25, 2022

Was afraid he would slide it off the mountain on that ice.

Yander · Dec 25, 2022

I'm not nearly as talented as he is but I do see a lot of my own work habits in how he approaches things. Got that from my dad. When he welded that nipple in I'm thinking, my dad would do that. LOL.

It is a plow truck not a show truck, have to keep telling myself that as I watch that video. First one I've ever watched of him. Was kind of cool. Made me feel like I'm not the only one who improvises with what I have.

I may watch more of his videos.

Yander · Dec 25, 2022

Snobdds said:
For some reason, I can't see Andrew going to an accountant often. I know he should and probably does with the amount of equipment he buys.

I wouldn't be shocked if he takes the standard deduction, and pays full tax on all his income. I am constantly shocked how bad some people are about doing the business end of their business. They are good at what they do, but feel overwhelmed in the paperwork and tax department.

I only say this because he never has any workers employed under him. It's a clue he just dosen't like to deal with all extra time and burden that brings.

Great points. I found out my late FIL was as good on the business end as he was on the farming end after he passed away. Though it wasn't him that had the mind for taxes and business, it was his accountant. He was smart enough to know what he didn't know and found a good one who was well versed in farming and business.

He followed the advice of his accountant and did pretty well for what he started out with. Wish he would have been more open with what he learned while he was alive and I would have learned more from him.

hayden · Dec 25, 2022

MinnesotaEric said:
...write stuff off mark-to-market against income

Mark-to-market? I haven't heard that expression before. Can you expand?

hayden · Dec 25, 2022

swines said:
I have no idea what New York State and his local tax obligations are, but where I live, the write-offs would be one time, and then you'd be paying tax to the county on the equipment as assets. You would pay the county tax every year, and the depreciation would never reach zero, so there is a local tax burden until the equipment is sold or transferred out of the business. This is why so many local businesses (like machine shops) lease their equipment. The lease is a cost and deductible and the equipment is never an asset of the business. As an example, I had a computer listed as a piece of business equipment. Five years later, I was still paying the county $40 a year for an out-of-date computer that was a "business asset."

This must be some sort of property or business asset tax that's specific to your state? What state are you in?

caver · Dec 25, 2022

I tend to skim a big chunk of his videos but that part where his buddy is trying to help him get his rock truck up that slick patch...he was lucky. Starts at around 1 hour mark.

aczlan · Dec 26, 2022

swines said:
I have no idea what New York State and his local tax obligations are, but where I live, the write-offs would be one time, and then you'd be paying tax to the county on the equipment as assets. You would pay the county tax every year, and the depreciation would never reach zero, so there is a local tax burden until the equipment is sold or transferred out of the business. This is why so many local businesses (like machine shops) lease their equipment. The lease is a cost and deductible and the equipment is never an asset of the business. As an example, I had a computer listed as a piece of business equipment. Five years later, I was still paying the county $40 a year for an out-of-date computer that was a "business asset."

In New York you'd have property tax on permanent buildings (buildings with a foundation), but nothing on rolling stock such as his equipment unless it has a license plate to be on the road (like his army truck), those go by curb weight and registered weight.

Aaron Z

buckeyefarmer · Dec 26, 2022

He delivers firewood logs to the firewood guy with his rock truck, which means driving on the highway.

4570Man · Dec 26, 2022

buckeyefarmer said:
He delivers firewood logs to the firewood guy with his rock truck, which means driving on the highway.

I don’t think those articulated trucks are road legal.

MinnesotaEric · Dec 26, 2022

hayden said:
Mark-to-market? I haven't heard that expression before. Can you expand?

By mark-to-market I mean that the write-offs more accurately measure your tax liability as you go through the year. The reason being is at Andrew's estimated income level, the IRS requires that he send in estimated taxes every quarter throughout the year.