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How To Not Blow Your Tax Refund

Posted on April 2, 2008 by creditdusters

In my previous post I wrote about the importance of filing even when you owe. Today I am going to give some helpful tips on preparing for your refund. Whether you are getting $500.00 or $5000.00 it is human nature to spend your money two or three times before it even hits the bank.

I would encourage you to sit down with your spouse (if you are married) and map out a game plan. My wife and I have done this every year and it has saved us a lot of headache and fights.

This year I am creating a tool that is in PDF format which allows me to do a better job mapping out where the money needs to go. The process is simple and easy to use.

It details the following:

How much are you going to give? – Giver’s Gain. Right? Tithing or charity.

How much are you going to save? – If you do not currently have an Emergency Fund, I recommend doing this before anything else. It can really create some breathing room between you and the next disaster (i.e. transmission, sickness, job loss).

How much are you going to blow? – It is important to allocate a certain percantage to splurge. You may want to go on a vacation or buy something special for yourself. 

How much to pay down on debt? - This is imperative, but don’t get so focused that you lose sight of savings.

I will have this tool available for all of my readers in the next few days. Simply shoot me an email @ matt@creditdusters.com and I will get it to you.

 Thanks,

 Matt

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One Response

  1. claiming dependents, on October 10th, 2008 at 4:40 pm Said:

    the same could be said for the stimulus checks that everyone got. it is too easy to just go out and spend it on random crap that you don’t really need.

    Reply

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