UNITED STATES—Tax season is upon us in full force. For many Americans, we are in the process of receiving tax returns. Others we will be looking to make tax payments to Uncle Sam come April 2022. However, for those who are expecting a tax refund, it’s time to start thinking about how you handle that extra income that may be coming your way.
There are plenty of accountants and tax experts who note that if you’re getting a tax refund you’re doing something wrong. I would agree with that assertion to a point, you should be getting more of your money during the year, but at the same time, if most Americans had most of those funds during the year, they would have spent all that extra money they received.
So in an odd way, getting a tax refund is a great thing, because it’s like the government acting as your bank to help you save money during the year. So when that tax refund comes like RIGHT NOW, in a few weeks, next month, April or sometime this year, are you prepared for what you plan to do with it? Will you save? Will you spend? Will you pay bills? Those are the questions you have to ask people. For me, it is all three. I want to pay off some debt, I want to save a bit more and I want to ensure that I also treat myself. That is the one thing that I rarely do America: spoil myself.
I work tirelessly, to the point that everyone calls me a workaholic. I work so much that I forget about my personal life and the things that truly matter. So for 2022, I want to take that extra money and spend it on me. I want to take a vacation and just get away from all the chaos. I want to be able to breathe in the fresh air and not think about anything, but pure serenity people. I need to focus that energy on the things that matter to me and to completely forget about everything else people.
That is the thing about splurging some people tend to do too much. No. I’m not taking my entire tax refund and spending it on materialistic things. That’s just stupid, even though a lot of people tend to do that all the time. Not me, I’m going to do the exact opposite. Whatever that refund is I’m taking some of the money and I’m spending it on me. I’m NOT going to overanalyze what I’m spending, but I’m going to treat myself and NOT feel guilty about it. Hell, I worked hard for the money and I should be able to enjoy it America without having any regret.
As for my debt, I have already put together a blueprint of the amount of debt that I have and what I need to do to pay it off. Yeah, it might be a bit of work, but it helps me to have a plan on what needs to be saved, put away and put toward my bills to eliminate that debt that has been lingering over my head people. I tell this to people all the time, I’d rather be broke and have no debt, instead of being rich and having a ton of debt people. Not everyone thinks that way, but if you do have some debt, and you’re getting a tax refund this is the perfect opportunity to put a dent in that debt people.
Now the big one and it’s a huge one: saving. We as Americans do not save enough. We spend so much money that it’s just scary. We don’t think about the future and what we need to do to prepare for it. Each time you get paid you should be putting money away for a rainy day and even better investing in crypto markets and stocks. With a tax refund you’re getting a large chunk of money at once. Some people are expecting it, some are NOT. This does NOT mean you have to use it all to pay off debt. If you want to that is an option that you have, but I would like to point out taking half of that tax refund to pay off debt is NOT a bad thing. So if you’re getting a $2,000 refund if you can take $1,000 and apply it to any bills that you have that helps knock that debt down.
Guess what people, when you knock debt down it opens up the doors for you to be able to save more money that you make during the month. You’re not taking the money you’re earning to pay off debt because guess what: you’ve already paid off that debt. I’m referring to those credit card bills and miscellaneous expenses that may have added up. You’re always going to have weekly and monthly expenses that have to be taken care of, but that doesn’t mean you can cut costs down a bit along the way.
You may have a plan already in place for your tax refund, but I want you to seriously think about that plan. Think about the things that you need to take care of that you have ignored or placed on the backburner, but this is vital and important people. We need to be better equipped with how we spend our money, especially when we get expected and unexpected money back from Uncle Sam people.
Written By Jason Jones
