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Posted
May 29 2008, 11:51 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
If you've already received your economic-stimulus check from Uncle Sam, you can share what you did with it by posting at a Web site called -- ta-da -- How I Spent My Stimulus. You can even post a photo that illustrates how you used it. For example, we saw photos of casinos, whiskey bottles and cut-up credit cards. Scrolling through the site, we noticed that lots of folks spent their tax-rebate money to treat themselves -- hopefully stimulating the economy in the process. Some saved it, some used it to cover higher living expenses, and some gave it away. Some posts are listed under a category called "weird."
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Posted
May 06 2008, 11:03 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Cathy at Chief Family Officer was very excited the other day. That tax rebate check showed up in her checking account. She's using it to pay off the balance owed on her car loan. "That's right! Our car loan will be paid off in less than two months! I feel like I pretty much met my goal of paying cash for a car this year," she writes. Lots of bloggers have received their checks and are sharing their plans for the money. Not a spendthrift group, this bunch. So much for the government's economic-stimulus plan.
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Posted
Apr 25 2008, 10:16 AM
by
Karen Datko
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Consumer confidence is at a 26-year low. Gas prices have risen yet again. Are we ready for some good news? Here it is: Those tax rebate checks will start showing up in people's bank accounts on Monday, four days early. For those who didn't select direct deposit, the checks will begin hitting the mail on May 9, a full week ahead of schedule. "The money is going to help Americans offset the high prices we're seeing at the gas pump, the grocery store, and also give our economy a boost to help us pull out of this economic slowdown," President Bush said today.
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Posted
Apr 02 2008, 02:53 PM
by
Karen Datko
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More than half of Americans say they'll put their tax refunds into savings, and the rest say they'll pay off debt, do home improvements or give it to charity. (Actually, we have no idea if this is true because we read it at Punny Money.) Nick, the blogger at Punny Money, knows better. His hand-drawn pie chart -- "How Americans actually use their tax refunds -- shows this breakdown: 34% will spend it on "the newest model of iPod. Every year. Forever." Another 20% will go for pay-per-view wrestling, 19% for Hannah Montana concert tickets, 9% for "personalized celebrity recording for answering machine," and it just gets worse from there. What are some ways to use that refund or rebate that aren't so ridiculous? The funniest personal-finance blogger on the Internet has some advice for you.
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Posted
Mar 25 2008, 07:07 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. I try to do as much shopping as I can online. Nothing beats comparing a bunch of locations all at once to get the best price or taking advantage of a vendor's price-matching policy. What's also awesome about buying online is that you get to avoid malls, parking and dealing with people who are grumpy or had a bad day. Here are eight reasons why I prefer to shop online: Better prices. While not always true, in general you can find better prices online because online vendors have lower overhead costs. They don't need to rent a physical store location, staff it with people, and support all the other overhead costs associated with a brick-and-mortar store. Online stores have warehousing infrastructure and distribution costs, but they save on the overhead associated with storefronts.
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Posted
Mar 07 2008, 04:20 PM
by
Karen Datko
How does Patrick at Cash Money Life really feel about tax refund anticipation loans? He writes, "The refund anticipation loan is quite possibly one of the worst things to happen to taxes since ... well, taxes." First of all, why not wait the 10 to 14 days it will take the IRS to get your money to you electronically. "Unfortunately, some people aren't satisfied with mere days. They want it now!" Patrick says. "Enter the refund anticipation loan," which he calls "essentially payday loans that are guaranteed by your tax refund."
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Posted
Feb 07 2008, 06:28 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Now that a $168 billion economic stimulus package has been approved by Congress, we thought we'd revisit David's recent post about the plan at My Two Dollars. He thinks it's a bunch of bunk. (Actually, his wording was a bit stronger.) Where, he wants to know, is the money coming from? "We are borrowing to pay for everything nowadays because Bush has spent us into the poorhouse .... And yet we still have (money) to hand out to every person in the country? No, we actually don't," he writes. "It will be paid for by us, just not today." (Lest you think this is a partisan rant, he lets the Democrats have it, too.)
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Posted
Feb 07 2008, 02:27 PM
by
Karen Datko
The message is the same from every presidential candidate, says Savvy Frugality: "The people (that's us) just can't make ends meet on our own, so we need their (the candidate's) help." Perhaps Savvy is just a tad bit jaded because he was a reporter for more than 20 years, but he says he's heard it all before. Why wait for the government to improve your finances? he says. You can apply the same solutions spouted by politicians to fix them. Here's an example: Some candidates say they want to cut taxes. You can cut your own taxes without their help. If you're getting a refund, you're having too much money withheld from your paycheck. "Adjust your W-4 at work at keep that money yourself," Savvy says.
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Posted
Jan 29 2008, 04:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Kyle at Rather Be Shopping offers some standard advice for using the tax rebate that's part of a federal economic stimulus proposal: Pad your emergency fund or retirement savings, or pay off debt. But you won't find his "5 stupid things to do with your rebate" anywhere else. The first one: Buy some water, specifically a case of Bling H2O. He writes: "At $40 a bottle you will surely quench your thirst for stupidity. If not, try drinking this stuff from a dog bowl with your canine."
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Posted
Jan 15 2008, 05:10 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. During my research about flights for our honeymoon, the question of how much our time is worth has come up every single time we've compared flights. Do we want to spend an extra $100 each on flights and cut the travel time by two hours? The answer, in part, depends on the value of our time, and we use a simple calculation to determine that. Take your annual salary, divide it by 2,000, and then divide in half. The 2,000 reflects the number of hours in a year for your average professional -- 50 weeks of 40-hour workweeks (assuming 10 holidays sprinkled throughout the year) -- and then divide that by half. That half represents taxes, Medicare, Social Security, and a bit of a fudge factor -- and because dividing by half is easy. In actuality, taxes, Medicare and Social Security will represent less than half, but you add the extra just to make it "worth your time." So, if you make $50,000 a year, the value of an hour of your time is $12.50 after taxes.
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