I would rather get a larger refund than end up owing.
Nooooooo. You are loaning money interest-free to the government. When you owe, you've screwed the government out of the interest. I realize it's painful to write the check, but from an investment POV, you are better off owing.
ETA: or what the others said.
I think this depends on the amounts we're talking about. The last several years, we have usually gotten back $1000, give or take a little, from the state but owed $1000, give or take a little, to the Feds. Even if we didn't get that part back from the state, owing $500 to the Feds is no big deal.
But this last year, we (and by we, I mean I) fucked up big time and crazy underwithheld. At tax time, we owed $2500 to DC and $4000 to the Feds. But we are in debt payoff mode and literally did not have $6500 lying around to pay. It suuuuuuucked so bad.
Of course, the real goal is to not fuck up your taxes to the tune of $6500.
If you want to check on your home and auto insurance prices, I'm happy to PM you the contact info for the agent who helped me--not remembering off the top of my head which company it was, but it was one that sells products for tons of companies.
We saved $700 a year switching auto from Geico to Met Life. Our homeowners was already with the cheapest company.
There are evidently all sorts of weird factors that some companies use and others don't to figure discounts--like the fact that my title is "manager" was a discount.
Nooooooo. You are loaning money interest-free to the government. When you owe, you've screwed the government out of the interest. I realize it's painful to write the check, but from an investment POV, you are better off owing.
ETA: or what the others said.
I think this depends on the amounts we're talking about. The last several years, we have usually gotten back $1000, give or take a little, from the state but owed $1000, give or take a little, to the Feds. Even if we didn't get that part back from the state, owing $500 to the Feds is no big deal.
But this last year, we (and by we, I mean I) fucked up big time and crazy underwithheld. At tax time, we owed $2500 to DC and $4000 to the Feds. But we are in debt payoff mode and literally did not have $6500 lying around to pay. It suuuuuuucked so bad.
Of course, the real goal is to not fuck up your taxes to the tune of $6500.
I don't disagree that the amount in question impacts comfort level and can skew your budgeting if you aren't careful, but the math is still the same: you lose money when the government owes you, and you have reaped a benefit when you owe.
ETA: I feel like I need to add quote marks to "benefit," LOL.
Post by secretlyevil on Jul 22, 2014 10:55:48 GMT -5
I'm still in denial about 80% of my monthly discretionary money is now a car payment. That sucks, it's getting better but man it took me a long time to get back to watching pennies.
I would rather get a larger refund than end up owing.
Nooooooo. You are loaning money interest-free to the government. When you owe, you've screwed the government out of the interest. I realize it's painful to write the check, but from an investment POV, you are better off owing.
ETA: or what the others said.
But that's assuming you actually invest the extra (in savings accounts, stocks, etc) rather than "investing" it in makeup or shoes.
Nooooooo. You are loaning money interest-free to the government. When you owe, you've screwed the government out of the interest. I realize it's painful to write the check, but from an investment POV, you are better off owing.
ETA: or what the others said.
But that's assuming you actually invest the extra (in savings accounts, stocks, etc) rather than "investing" it in makeup or shoes.
An investment in makeup or shoes is an investment in something you like, and choice/pleasure have value. Further, the money was in your hand, rather than the government's, to use.
/start rant on taxes I'm not even that annoyed at the government holding the tax money interest free as I am that when you do owe, even if you pay it by April 15th when the deadline is to determine what you owe, you could owe a penalty on that money. Why should I have to pay them a guess in advance when the can't even figure out all the tax laws until sometimes as late as Feb/March the year the taxes are due. It shouldn't be there money to charge a penalty on until my return says it is. /returns thread to WaWa
/start rant on taxes I'm not even that annoyed at the government holding the tax money interest free as I am that when you do owe, even if you pay it by April 15th when the deadline is to determine what you owe, you could owe a penalty on that money. Why should I have to pay them a guess in advance when the can't even figure out all the tax laws until sometimes as late as Feb/March the year the taxes are due. It shouldn't be there money to charge a penalty on until my return says it is. /returns threat to WaWa
I TOTALLY AGREE!! I had to pay a penalty too this past year.
This seems like the appropriate place to whine that Mint has a known issue going right now where hidden tags are in fact not hidden from budgets. It's supposed to be fixed in the next release "soon" but it's pissing me off in the meantime.
I'm still in denial about 80% of my monthly discretionary money is now a car payment. That sucks, it's getting better but man it took me a long time to get back to watching pennies.
Whoa. So was the car a frivolous want? I understand the debate of whether clothing should be a fun money item or a budgeted line, but I don't see how a car payment would not be its own line item.
Edit: I thought I was in the post about blow money. If the discretionary money you are referring to isn't the money you get for yourself each month, then nevermind.
I'm still in denial about 80% of my monthly discretionary money is now a car payment. That sucks, it's getting better but man it took me a long time to get back to watching pennies.
Whoa. So was the car a frivolous want? I understand the debate of whether clothing should be a fun money item or a budgeted line, but I don't see how a car payment would not be its own line item.
Edit: I thought I was in the post about blow money. If the discretionary money you are referring to isn't the money you get for yourself each month, then nevermind.
No, it wasn't a frivolous item. We just had to do some changes in the budget. The fun money took a hit because of it.
Whoa. So was the car a frivolous want? I understand the debate of whether clothing should be a fun money item or a budgeted line, but I don't see how a car payment would not be its own line item.
Edit: I thought I was in the post about blow money. If the discretionary money you are referring to isn't the money you get for yourself each month, then nevermind.
No, it wasn't a frivolous item. We just had to do some changes in the budget. The fun money took a hit because of it.
Ah. Gotcha. I originally read it as
H: You need a new car? Take it out of your fun money. No soup for you!
Post by mrsukyankee on Jul 23, 2014 2:39:51 GMT -5
I'm only going to answer one part of your question...we use this budgeting tool and love it: Good Budget. We love it because it also has apps for any sort of phone, so you can keep track even while out and about (for example, I can input my coffee or grocery shopping in the moment), and it updates the info immediately.
Post by sillygoosegirl on Jul 23, 2014 7:51:48 GMT -5
I like Mint a lot. It's not as flexible as the spreadsheet we used to keep, or even as flexible as Quicken (which we used for a while too), but I love how much it can do automatically. It's not perfect, but easier to just make corrections than to do it all myself. Also, being fully online it's much easier for DH and I to both use it without ending up with versioning issues. (I suppose we could use GoogleDocs or something, but that was still in it's infancy when we switched to Mint). One of my favorite features is that we can login from anywhere, including unsecure places when traveling, and check on our accounts, without risking someone getting ahold of passwords they could use to do real damage. We originally started using Mint for our RTW trip, and just never went back.
wawa it sounds like you're in a good place, although daycare costs for number 2 could really make or break it. We are in the same place with that--either we plan to put our savings goals on hold while doubling up on daycare or we wait to have a second kid and do one daycare load at a time.
Also....at the risk of offending...I've heard you talk enough about YH and your financial situation that I think his attitude toward your household finances is concerning. It sounds like he is very hard on you for budget while at the same time enjoying the expensive hobbies you share. There has to be a balance there. Getting shit over an extra 10 bucks overspent when your spouse spent how much on expensive hobby gear is not OK. A counselor, financial or otherwise, might be a useful tool to get the communication on finances in a better place?
wawa it sounds like you're in a good place, although daycare costs for number 2 could really make or break it. We are in the same place with that--either we plan to put our savings goals on hold while doubling up on daycare or we wait to have a second kid and do one daycare load at a time.
Also....at the risk of offending...I've heard you talk enough about YH and your financial situation that I think his attitude toward your household finances is concerning. It sounds like he is very hard on you for budget while at the same time enjoying the expensive hobbies you share. There has to be a balance there. Getting shit over an extra 10 bucks overspent when your spouse spent how much on expensive hobby gear is not OK. A counselor, financial or otherwise, might be a useful tool to get the communication on finances in a better place?
to your first part - Yeah, that's the conclusion I've come to staring at this for the past few days. We're not actually in a bad place right now. Partiuclarly when I remember to include my FSA money as money I can spend on daycare...duh. But the extra kid? Yeah, we're going to have to make some decisions on how we handle the extra daycare costs. I am not interested in waiting 4 more years for #2 though. At that point we'd just be one and done because nope. Not gonna do it. I think over the next two-three months as we actually track our spending and get a better feel for how close we are on some of our estimates we'll have a better idea of where we can find that extra. It's in there. If nothing else....the boat gets axed the next time something expensive breaks. If the money isn't there it's just not there. It's cheap to own except for the endless random motor parts because we store it for free and boat insurance on an old boat is not $$.
As to the second part - yes, he can in fact be a total ass on this topic. The problem is that we tend to go in waves. We'll both have expensive shit we need/want to buy (like my full wardrobe and makeup overhaul over the past 3 months, his backpacking gear) and we'll both kinda go nuts with it - and then he'll look at the bank account and get all, "we have no money! save all the monies!!" and suddenly start scrutinizing every penny and giving me random lectures about buying a coffee at the gas station that cause me to tell him to knock it the fuck off. It's a very sudden 360 and it comes across extremely shitty. "like, hey, I'm done spending money now, so DAMMIT YOU STOP TOO." Which in practice - yeah, if we're cutting back we both need to do it - it's just that he makes that decision with zero input and then freaks out about it. It lasts about a week and then he turns back into a sane person who neither blows huge piles of money on some fancy sleeping bag nor gives me the sideeye when I tell him that I own exactly zero pairs of non-denim shorts or capris and have a work-related golf event to attend that require me to spend approx. $20 on a pair of freakin shorts. (I ended up at goodwill. got a polo and a pair of shorts for $10. I win!)
i'm trying to eliminate this cycle by taking over the budget tracking because his method works for neither of us. Hence this post.
I'm only going to answer one part of your question...we use this budgeting tool and love it: Good Budget. We love it because it also has apps for any sort of phone, so you can keep track even while out and about (for example, I can input my coffee or grocery shopping in the moment), and it updates the info immediately.
Lurker chiming in, I love Good Budget as well. I hated having all my account info stored in Mint; Good Budget keeps all my accounts but doesn't automatically sync with them. It's a little more work, but only takes a few minutes a week to keep on top of it and I feel like I'm more aware of what I'm spending because I do have to input it myself.
Ok, this is all very helpful. I think we'll track using Mint for the next couple of months and then once I know how close my estimates actually are I'll throw my budget at MM and see what they think.