Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

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Do you remember the game show originally hosted by Regis Philbin called Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The show consisted of contestants being asked multiple-choice questions that got more and more challenging as potential prize money increased, but contestants were also given a series of “lifelines” to help aid them with difficult questions. Well today I thought we’d have a little fun. I have a unique trivia question for every single one of you and I would like to serve as one of your lifelines and offer six tips that can help you reach your financial accumulation goal, whatever it is.

1. Save first, spend second. Live a lifestyle that is below your means and make sure you are steadily saving your money in cash accounts, retirement accounts, and taxable accounts. As Dave Ramsey says, “If you live like no one else now, later you can live like no one else!”
2. Make sure you are saving money in your employer’s retirement plan (401(k), 403(b), 457, etc.). This is a great way to reduce your current taxes and really grow your retirement nest egg over time. Put in as much as you can, but make sure you are at least contributing what is necessary to receive the full value of your employer’s matching contributions if they offer them. For employees under age 50, $18,000 is usually the most you can contribute each year. For employees over age 50, $24,000 is usually the most you can contribute each year.
3. Make sure you are contributing money into an IRA. Whether you are eligible or better off contributing to a Roth IRA or a Traditional IRA may be worth using a lifeline on to ask your financial advisor or CPA, but the important thing is that you are saving and investing money. For people with earned income under age 50, $5,500 is usually the most you can contribute each year. For people with earned income over age 50, $6,500 is usually the most you can contribute each year.
4. Make sure you are saving money in a taxable account. Saving money in your employer’s retirement plan and in an IRA is great, but you aren’t really supposed to access that money until your mid to late 50s. If you do, you may be subject to ordinary income taxes and a 10% penalty, so you want to make sure you invest some savings along the way into a taxable account that you can access anytime you want to or need to. Withdrawals from a taxable account don’t come with tax penalties, and if you withdraw from assets you’ve had invested for over a year, you could receive the usually more favorable capital gains tax treatment.
5. Avoid debt and attack what debt you can’t avoid. Pay off all your credit cards every month. Pay off your student loans as fast as you can. Pay off your car loans as fast as you can or maybe even save up enough cash for your next car. See if you can get your debt down to monthly credit cards and your mortgage, and then put a little extra towards your mortgage whenever you can. It will save you interest expense and help you get debt-free sooner.
6. Protect what you have. Some people try to save money on insurance. That’s very wise to an extent, but you, your family, and your stuff needs to be adequately covered. Having sufficient health insurance, disability insurance, homeowners insurance, and auto insurance is critical. On top of that, having an extra layer of liability insurance (an umbrella policy) equal to the value of your assets is a very wise and surprisingly inexpensive idea. (Sufficient life insurance is important, too, but today we’re focused on making you a millionaire, not your loved ones should you get hit by a bread truck…)

As promised, here is a link to your trivia question. How much money would you have today if you invested $1 in the S&P 500 every day since you were born? I think it’s an interesting thing to know, and I think it helps an investor keep things in perspective as to where we’ve been and where we are now even though all we’ve been through and all that undoubtedly lies ahead.

That’s my final answer.

-Tom

How Saving Money Can Cost You

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I bet you thought I’d lost my marbles when you read this post’s title, but the title is as I intended. Saving money is wonderful, and I often preach the value of saving until I am blue in the face, but not always. Sometimes (hard swallow) saving money may not be so good for you. Saving money can be bad if…

• You buy something with a coupon that you would have otherwise not purchased. You didn’t save money; you got a good deal on an unnecessary expense.
• You buy something that is incrementally or insignificantly cheaper than a higher quality or longer lasting product. I’m talking canned soup, car batteries, air filters, toilet paper, Oreo’s, and other products like these.
• You already have an adequate rainy day fund yet you keep adding to your cash account that is earning you little interest while you have credit card debt, student loans, car loans, and home loans that are costing you lots of interest.
• You already have an adequate rainy day fund, and you are not contributing to your employer’s 401(k) or retirement plan (or you are not contributing enough to get your employer’s match if they offer one).
• You already have an adequate rainy day fund, and you are not investing anything in the stock market. Whether through annual IRA contributions or deposits to a taxable brokerage account, you need to be investing sooner rather than later so you will have a longer time frame to reap the rewards of long-term growth.
• You already have an adequate rainy day fund, but you do not have or adequately have life, disability, property and casualty, and/or excess liability insurance. Having no premiums or low premiums is nice until you need your insurance!

 

Finally, there are two currencies in life: money and time. Saving money is really important, but so is utilizing time. I once had a meeting with an elderly client whose health was beginning to fail, and he asked me what he was supposed to do now that he had all this money and no time to enjoy it. His degree of saving and holding onto his money was self-imposed, so I didn’t feel guilty, but I did feel sad for him. I’ll probably never recommend that you risk your financial security to make a memory, but it is important to be careful how many times you say, “No” or “Next time.”

 

Anything in enough excess can be bad for you. This includes fanaticism for a sports team, chocolate, and saving money. Keep saving, but not too much.

 

-Tom

One Size Does Not Fit All!

I love Halloween. Sure, it’s partially because of the Snickers and the Whoppers, and definitely because of the Reese’s, but it’s also because I love dressing up. Ever since I was old enough to trick-or-treat with my trusty, plastic jack-o-lantern in hand, I’ve always enjoyed pretending I’m someone or something I’m not one night a year. You can only imagine my disappointment when I tried on my “one size fits all” Batman outfit a couple of hours before it got dark on an All Hallows’ Eve only to find that one size did not fit Tom!

Sort of like a Batman costume that might look super cool on one person, but look like some sort of oversized armadillo costume on another, one investment strategy does not fit all. One investment strategy may not even fit one individual with multiple accounts!

I get to work with clients of all ages with all sorts of needs from and expectations of their investment portfolios. I get to work with clients who are frighteningly conservative with their investments, and I get to work with clients who are frighteningly willing to roll the investment dice. One of my jobs as a financial planner is to help someone have enough prudently diversified investment assets to sustain their desired standard of living, and I can tell you unequivocally that one size does not fit all! Your age and stage in life can somewhat dictate an appropriate investment strategy that might fit most, but it takes an understanding of your entire financial position, tax situation, tolerance for market volatility, and life goals to make an investment strategy a custom fit.

Suppose you have a taxable brokerage account and a 401(k). Let's say you’re going to need a car in the next year or two, and your taxable brokerage account is going to need to supply the funds. Do you think your taxable brokerage account, which you are going to be taking a significant withdrawal from in the short term, and your 401(k), which you are not going to need to touch for many years, should be invested in the same manner? Maybe, but probably not. You should probably have a little more cash or bonds in your taxable account than you do in your 401(k), so that you can buy that car even if there is a stock market downturn, but you should probably also have a few more stocks in your 401(k), so that you can have a real shot at growing and increasing your 401(k) balance in the long run.

If you’re in one of the higher tax brackets, you might want municipal bonds for your taxable brokerage account. These bonds are tax-free for federal income tax purposes, so even though they pay a slightly lower yield, they may offer a higher net (after-tax) yield. That being said, there is rarely any reason you would want municipal bonds in a retirement account such as a 401(k) or IRA because you don’t have to worry about income taxes until you actually take withdrawals from them. If you don’t have to worry about income generated inside a 401(k) or IRA, you might as well go with a normal, taxable bond that will pay a slightly higher yield than municipal bonds. Just keep in mind that one type of bond might not be optimal for your different types of investment accounts.

What if you find yourself watching the markets too closely and checking your portfolios every day? You may still be making money, but you’re losing sleep. It might not be the ideal investment strategy, but finding a strategy that is a little less volatile and a little more conservative might be the antidote if it helps you sleep at night. Of course there are also people who have set enough prudently diversified investment assets aside to support their lifestyle and really enjoy the idea of trying to “play the stock market.” Setting aside a little extra cash in a “sandbox account” to play with can be just what the doctor ordered for those people. They can give their speculative and undiversified strategy a go without having to worry about sinking their overall financial position.

There are also a lot of age-based or retirement date-based investment strategies out there, and they’re usually pretty good, but they are kind of one size fits all. Maybe you’re “normal” and one of these strategies fits just fine, but you may want to look at it closely and try it on before it gets too late, unlike me and the Batman costume.

I can’t sew a lick. I almost bled to death in Home Economics sewing a pillow, so unfortunately, I can’t help you with a costume. However, I can help with investment strategy and allocations, and make sure they're a good fit.

-Tom

The Lightning Round: Take 3

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Thanks to all of you for the many questions I received. Some of you even submitted more than one! You asked the questions, and now it’s time for me to share my answers to five of them...

1. I recently sold my house and have the profits sitting in a money market account. I'm relatively young,  have no more debt to pay off, already contribute to my work retirement account, have my rainy day fund, and would still like to put this profit toward my future as well. Is having this money sitting in a money market account the best “bang for my buck" or is there a better way to invest it?

- Anonymous                   

First of all, congratulations on selling your house for a profit! Real estate is not always a profitable investment, but it is certainly nice when it works out. Let me get this straight - you’re debt-free, you’re contributing to your 401(k), and you have set aside enough cash to form an adequate rainy day fund? Well done! You are certainly on a path towards financial success!

There are a lot of things you could do with the excess cash you have in your money market account that would provide you a bigger “bang for your buck.” Unfortunately, given current interest rates, the difference between burying your excess cash in your backyard and leaving it in your money market account earning interest is just not that much. I don’t know the ins and outs of your financial situation, but for someone in your shoes I’d usually suggest you redeploy some of that excess cash and put it to work for you. I’d suggest you consider increasing contributions to your 401(k) plan, opening and contributing to a Roth IRA, or opening and funding a diversified brokerage account. For simplicity’s sake, I’d probably lean towards increasing your 401(k) contributions. For 2014, you can contribute up to $17,500 per year (and if you’re age 50 or older, you can contribute up to $23,000 per year), and any additional contributions you make could be a nice boost to your long-term retirement savings. If you’re contributing to a Traditional 401(k) (not a Roth 401(k)), these additional contributions could also lower your 2014 tax bill, which makes increasing your contribution amount kind of a win-win. Two other things to consider, though: 1) Your 401(k) investment returns could provide you a much bigger “bang for your buck” than you would get in a cash account, but you could also see the value of your money go down in the short-term or during market downturns. 2) My guess is that your money market account balance will go down over time to help you sustain your current lifestyle if you decide to contribute more to your 401(k) going forward because your take-home pay will decrease to facilitate that change. I say that because I don’t want you to be surprised or concerned. By contributing more to your 401(k) going forward, you are essentially slowly and surely reducing your cash on hand and putting your excess cash to work. Just remember, if your money market account gets lower than you would like, you can adjust your 401(k) contributions back down to a level that will allow you to normally sustain your desired cash balance.  

Please let me know if you would like to discuss further.

2. Can you explain, in layman's terms, what supplemental income needs to be reported come tax season and how to do so? For example, I sell Thirty-One on the side and it's not a lot of money, so I'm curious if I even need to report it, and if so, how?

- Amanda                         

When it comes to miscellaneous supplemental income tax law implications in layman’s terms you’re asking a lot (just kidding), but I’m happy to try to translate. Your question is a great one and addresses a common misconception held by many taxpayers. Per the IRS, taxpayers “must also report other income such as: cash earned from side jobs, barter exchange for goods and services, awards, prizes, contest winning, and gambling proceeds…. It is a common misconception that if a taxpayer does not receive a form 1099-MISC or if the income is under $600 per payer, the income is not taxable. There is no minimum amount that a taxpayer may exclude from gross income.”

If you have income outside of basic things like your wages, salary, interest, and dividends, it really is best to talk with your CPA, and if you don’t have one, find one. That’s because supplemental income is tricky. I think you’ll agree that based on the IRS wording above, it’s pretty clear that supplemental income must be reported, but what is not always clear and most of the time cannot be put in layman’s terms is where to actually report the income. In some cases it might belong on Form 1040 itself, in some cases it might belong on Schedule C, in some cases in might belong on Schedule E, and in some cases, it might also need a Schedule SE (Self-Employment Tax) filled out, too. There could also be an opportunity to reduce the amount of your supplemental income you will be taxed on by specifically listing any expenses (such as travel expenses or postage expenses) you personally incurred by generating that supplemental income, but of course these expenses might belong on Schedule A, but then again, they could belong on Schedule C or Schedule E depending on how you actually generated the supplemental income. I’m about to answer your question, but for non-Thirty-One supplemental income earners I wanted to make two points: 1) See why the tax law really needs to be reformed and simplified? 2) If you have supplemental income, you probably need more than do-it-yourself tax software to make sure you get it right and report the supplemental income in the most tax-efficient (and legal) way possible.

So, I dug and dug for Thirty-One-specific tax guidance and was able to find buried on page 16 of their Consultant Guidebook some surprisingly helpful advice:

“Yes, you’re required to report your commissions and other earnings from your Thirty-One business as income in your tax filings each year. Your other earnings include your Overrides, free products, hostess and other business credits, etc. For tax purposes, you are “self-employed” and it’s important that you keep complete and accurate records of your business income and expenses.
There are some tax benefits for self-employed individuals that may allow you to deduct certain business expenses. We strongly recommend that you talk with your own tax advisor to learn how the tax laws apply to your Thirty-One business.
As a Consultant, you’re a self-employed, independent contractor of Thirty-One. You’re not an employee of Thirty-One and we won’t issue you a Form W-2.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) requires us to issue a Form 1099 to every Consultant who earns $600 or more during the previous calendar year. By January 31st of each year, we’ll issue you a Form 1099 for the previous calendar year. Your Form 1099 will include all of your earnings from your Thirty-One business, including your commissions and the other earnings described above.
You’ll have to report the income from your Thirty-One business on Schedule C of your federal income tax return. Because you are self-employed, you may be able to deduct certain business expenses like the use of your vehicle or home office. You can discuss this with your tax advisor and/or contact the IRS for more information at www.irs.gov or (800) 829-1040.
Also, if your state and/or city collect income tax, you may need to file income tax forms with them too.”


I hope this is what you were looking for. To recap in layman’s terms: you have to report the income, you are deemed to be self-employed, you are deemed to be an independent contractor, and Thirty-One will send you a 1099 by 1/31/15 for Tax Year 2014 to get you started. As always, I’m happy to help you specifically address your tax situation offline, but I really think you’re going to want the services of a paid tax preparer as well!


3. For the life of me, I do not understand the ad valorem tax. I've read a few government documents on it, but none of them are explicitly clear. Can you please explain for us new-to-Georgia folks? 

- Amanda                         

Sure, I’ll be happy to. Don’t you love it when people explain things in a way that’s so complicated no one can understand it?

On March 1, 2013, Georgia changed the way it taxes motor vehicles. For people who have cars that were purchased before March 1, 2013, nothing changed: you renew your tag right before your birthday and you get to pay an annual ad valorem tax (sometimes nicknamed the “birthday tax”) as part of that process. (An ad valorem tax is a tax based on value.) For people who have bought cars (or will buy cars) since March 1, 2013, the rules have changed: you no longer have to worry about paying an annual ad valorem tax when you renew your tag, but you do have to pay a title ad valorem tax all at once when you buy a new motor vehicle. The title ad valorem tax is calculated based on the fair market value of your new vehicle (less any trade-in value you may have gotten from your old car and less any discounts or rebates you may have received from the dealer) times 6.75%. I know the new title ad valorem tax has the words “ad valorem” in it just like the old tax, but try to ignore that and just think of the new tax as a sales tax of sorts. The new tax is essentially tax pain all at once as opposed to slow tax pain by a lash every time you have a birthday.

A couple of additional “nuggets:”
     - The title ad valorem tax also applies to purchases of used vehicles.
     - If you’re a Georgia resident and you buy your car out of state, you’ll still get to pay the Georgia title ad valorem tax even if you've already paid another state's tax.
     - If you transfer the title of a vehicle within your family, you will trigger a reduced title ad valorem tax.
     - The title ad valorem tax rate is scheduled to increase to 7% in 2015.


I hope that’s clear as mud. If it’s not, please let me know. Here are two other links that might help you: 1) a Georgia Department of Revenue Title Ad Valorem Tax Calculator and 2) a FAQs page about the new rules.

4. I have an opportunity to move to a state that I would prefer not to live in for a really good job opportunity. What should I be thinking about financially as I weigh the pros and cons? 

- Anonymous                    

Nice question, and one I’ve never been asked. Whatever you decide, congratulations on earning the opportunity to take the job!

If the job opportunity was something you were really excited about in a state you were really excited about, I don’t think I’d try to be a wet blanket on your job opportunity as long as it was financially lucrative. I believe there are more currencies in life than just money, such as time, happiness, and fulfillment, so I wouldn’t want financial implications to unnecessarily sway your decision. That being said, since the situation you are describing is "only" a really good job opportunity in a state that you are less than excited about, I can definitely see digging into the financial implications a little bit more.

I’d advise you to consider your new state tax rate versus your current state tax rate. I’d look into what your new property tax rates would be, and maybe even more importantly, how much a suitable home would cost you in your new state versus your current state. I’d look into potential cost of living differences in terms of utilities, transportation, and groceries. Once you factor in the cost of the physical move with these cost adjustments, versus any change you would experience if you took the job in terms of compensation and benefits (don’t forget benefits like 401(k) matching, paid time off, health insurance, etc.), I think you may be better able to gauge whether taking the job would be financially good for you or not.

If you’d like more specific assistance, I’d be happy to try to help you. I have also come across this nifty, little tool developed by the National Center for Policy Analysis that attempts to help you determine how much you will gain or lose by moving to another state, and I’d suggest you check it out. I’m not trying to dismiss your question in any way, but unless it really comes down to financially making it or financial ruin (which you should be able to figure out pretty quickly), I’d spend more energy on considering how your potential move could affect your family and friends, what amenities you might gain or lose, how stable your potential new employer is, and what your growth potential in your new role could be.


5. Do you recommend taxable bonds or municipal bonds for your clients?

-David                              

That’s a very good question and is a question that all investors should ask their financial advisors or brokers and CPAs. (Actually, financial advisors or brokers should be discussing this with their clients and their clients’ CPAs, but that’s a different story.)

As I respond to so many “general” questions, I must also respond to this one: it depends. Bond investors are typically looking for investments with high yields and less volatility than the stock market. They basically have two general bond types to choose from: taxable bonds and municipal bonds. Taxable bonds are typically issued by corporations and offer a higher interest rate, but an investor will have to pay federal and state taxes on their gains. Municipal bonds are typically issued by state and local governments and offer a lower interest rate, but an investor will not have to pay federal taxes on their gains. If the municipal bond is from the state or a locality in the state that the investor resides in, the investor may very well not have to pay any state taxes on their gains either!

So, in summary, I recommend both taxable bonds and municipal bonds to the clients I work with, and in some cases, a combination. If someone is in a 25% tax bracket, they’d much rather have a 5% municipal bond than a 6% taxable bond that would only yield 4.5% after taxes. If someone is in a 10% tax bracket, they’d much rather have a 6% taxable bond that would yield 5.4% after taxes than a 5% municipal bond. My recommendations are client-specific, and under the right circumstances, could even be bond-specific. The one other general comment I can throw your way is that in light of municipal bonds usually having lower interest rates than taxable bonds, municipal bonds rarely ever make sense inside a tax-deferred investment account such as a 401(k) or IRA. A 401(k) or IRA is already pretty much exempt from income taxes until you take a withdrawal or distribution, so the potential after-tax “savings” of municipal bonds would really be of little to no value in these types of accounts.


I hope that helps!


Thanks again for all of the questions. The Lightning Round is a lot of fun for me, but please always feel free to reach out to me with your financial questions year round!

-Tom

Start Strong, Finish Stronger

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Many retirees (or soon-to-be retirees) have a retirement plan based on what is called a “three-legged stool.” They have their pensions (leg 1), their Social Security (leg 2), and their investment assets (leg 3). They worked hard, they went through a lot, and I don’t begrudge them a bit.

If you’re like me and in the early stages of your working marathon that some people like to call a career, it is easy to get caught up in things such as fancy dinners, “flashy” clothes, and expensive gadgets. It’s a lot more fun to think about surround-sound systems, exotic vacations, and big houses than to think about retirement planning. The problem is, I believe our future well-being depends on just that. I believe the three-legged stool is headed to a museum, and younger people, like me, need a new blueprint. I don’t know many people early in their career who are working toward vested pensions, and I’m not willing to make a big bet on Social Security income as we currently know it still being here 20 or 30 years from now. So, if you ask me, the three-legged stool is looking more like a peg leg for us younger folks. Unless you’re willing to walk the plank (yes, that was a pirate pun), it’s important to realize that the ability to retire in the future is probably going to come down to leg 3: investment assets.

 

If it’s going to come down to investments, you’re going to need to get it right. You need to read the fable of “The Tortoise and the Hare” and take “slow and steady” to heart. You need to invest in an appropriate, long-term strategy. You need to make significant progress towards retirement during the first and second decades of your income-earning life, so you can have a decent chance of having significant assets during the last and second-to-last decades of your life.

• Slow and Steady - Saving $100 a month in your bank account, raising your contributions to your employer’s 401(k) or retirement plan by 1%, and opening a Traditional or Roth IRA account that you’re not sure you can fully contribute to can feel almost silly. It seems like a drop in a bucket, and it is, but it’s a drop in your bucket. It’s the first steps on your journey of a thousand conference calls, staff meetings, and expense reports. The hardest part about beginning a savings plan, implementing a family budget, or taking on a debt reduction plan is starting it! Brief sprints of financial progress and long periods or “naps” where you live at your means (or beyond you means) will make you resemble the hare, and you may not win your race. To be honest, you might not even be able to finish! Dedicated, repetitive steps of saving 10% from every paycheck, increasing your retirement plan contributions every time you get a raise, making those annual IRA contributions, and making 13 payments instead of 12 on your mortgage are how you and the tortoise win the race. I think Aesop may have been a financial planner in his free time…
• Invest Appropriately - I keep reading articles about how the market downturn in 2008 and 2009 has really spooked people in their 20s and 30s (millenials). For example, a recent study by UBS found that on average, millenials have half of their assets in cash and less than one third of their portfolios in stocks. I get it, I really do. Our grandparents’ home values went down like lead balloons, our parents’ investment accounts went down like an ACME anvil on Wile E. Coyote, and we couldn’t get jobs even though we went to college and did everything that was asked of us, but we cannot live in fear. My short-term market crystal ball is still in the shop, but I can tell you that plopping all of your assets under your mattress, in a bank account, in a bunch of bonds, or in an annuity with a minimal, yet allegedly “guaranteed,” return is not going to get it done. Young workers need to make diversified, tax-sensitive, and fee-conscious investments, but they also need to act their age! Long-term, 50% cash, 33% bonds, and 17% somewhere else is for grandpa and grandma - not for working millennials who have a longer time frame for their assets to significantly appreciate.
• Make Progress Early - I cannot emphasize how much higher the odds are that you will be in a good financial position if you start planning for retirement now as opposed to six months before you want to retire. Little things like building up an adequate emergency fund so you don’t have to raid your portfolio and sell when markets are down, making the contributions needed to your employer’s retirement plan to get their maximum match, and paying extra towards long-term debts may not seem like much now, but there will be a day when you look back, and you will smile. I wrote about the unbelievable power of compounding earlier this year, but it is worth restating that a dollar saved in your 50s is not the same as a dollar saved in your 30s! Progress towards your retirement goals at any point is great, but the sooner you can start packing away funds towards your future needs, the greater the chance that you will have meaningful compounding in your favor. If you start strong, you’ll have a much greater chance of finishing stronger.

 

The How to Retire Early Series will continue on next week by considering real estate and the pivotal role it can play in retirement planning. I hope you’ll check it out.

 

-Tom

What You Should Do With Your Tax Refund

Credit: David Castillo Dominici

Hopefully, you’ve already started working on your taxes. If you’re a real overachiever, maybe you have already submitted your taxes. With a little luck (or conservative withholding), hopefully you’re expecting a refund. If you are, I’d like to make a few suggestions for what you should do with those funds.

1. Go have some fun. Take 10%, take a couple hundred bucks, take whatever you feel is right and go buy that snowboard, get that new dress, or eat at that new, expensive Italian place everyone is raving about. I’m not your typical financial advisor, and I’m not Scrooge: go take some of your check from Uncle Sam or your home state and enjoy yourself!
2. Pay off your credit cards. There are very few things you can do that help your financial health more than paying off that Visa debt you’ve been carrying around since college. Maybe you’ve been making steady progress in recent months and need a surge to finish the drill? Luckily, if you’re getting a refund, the Department of the Treasury could be about to provide that cash surge.
3. Boost your cash / rainy day fund. If you’re working, I’d advise you to have three to six months’ worth of living expenses in cash. If you’re retired, I’d propose one to three years’ worth of living expenses, just to make sure you’re in good shape and can sleep comfortably. If you just checked your account balance and it isn’t at my suggested threshold, take advantage of this unbudgeted (and maybe even unexpected) cash inflow.
4. Put a little towards your long-term debt. An extra mortgage payment every year can sometimes cut five or six years off a thirty-year mortgage! If you’ve got an outstanding car loan or student loan, go ahead and consider putting some of your refund there. Seeing people debt-free or working towards being debt-free makes me happy, and it usually makes them happy as well!
5. Make an IRA contribution (or a bigger IRA contribution). If you’re 49 or younger and have earned at least $5,500, you can contribute $5,500. If you’re 50 or older and you have earned at least $6,500, you can contribute $6,500. Now it’s important to note that $5,500 (and $6,500) is the limit, not the requirement! Every dollar saved towards retirement gets you one step closer to that recliner, newspaper, and having your wife bring you your slippers – wait, strike that last part!

Getting a tax refund is a great feeling and as I mentioned in #1, you should do something fun with part of the money. Don’t just throw it all away on a March Madness bet, a golf weekend, or a shopping spree!

 

Many people, myself included, sometimes view a tax refund as money you were never expecting to have. On some levels, that may be true, but it can also be said that a tax refund is money you should have never agreed to loan the government in the first place! When you look at a tax refund that way, I’d suggest you look at options #2 though #5 and decide for yourself what you should do with your tax refund.

 

-Tom