Personal Finance News Friday 4/12

Phil's Personal Finance Tip of the Day:

How a Tax-Refund Windfall Can Hurt Your Finances

By Richard Satran | U.S.News & World Report LP 

What could be wrong about getting a $3,000 check in the mail?

It's great news if you're like most Americans who have been strapped for cash. The average refund is just under that amount, surveys say. But millions of people use their refund in a way that virtually assures they'll have less cash in the future than they might have had--and for some, the money can be misspent and become a negative.

Studies of consumer behavior show that people spend money very differently depending on how it is acquired. In a well-known "windfall" study from 1994 at University of Michigan, students who earned money the hard way, pouring tar for a summer job, spent it at the same rate as suntanned lifeguards who spent their days toiling at the beach. But cash from "windfalls" like tax refunds or other kinds of "found" money were sometimes spent twice as fast as earned money.

[Read: Good News, Bad News for Tax Refunds.]

 

For many Americans, the tax refund is the year's biggest money event, and they often use it to pay for vacations and big-ticket items because it is outside of the salary pool. It's fine to live a little, but people are living a lot longer and it's good to think about the value of money over time.

"Some people think of it as a lottery win," says tax lawyer Genilde Guerra, managing partner at Kravitz & Guerra in Hallandale Beach, Fla., who gives tax advice to many non-residents who come to this country to work. "People who move here from abroad are not used to the tax-refund system. I tell them to spend it on something good, toward a house, paying down debt, retirement. Not like everyday salary."

"It can be a negative," she adds. Some people awaiting their tax refund actually go deeper in debt as they anticipate the check in the mail and then spend the money and forget about repaying it later.

Then there is the "lost opportunity" cost to consider. For example, if you took that $3,000 and spent it all on a trip to Jamaica, you would have a lovely week of palm trees and beaches, and a week later, it will be over except for the sunburn.

Putting that amount aside in an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) would give you an immediate deduction that could reclaim as much as $1,000 in tax savings--and you still would have your original three grand. If you put it into a dividend fund or other IRA investment that pays just 5 percent, you will have a total of $6,000 in 14 years and $12,000 in just under 30 years.

To read the entire article from Richard Satran | U.S.News & World Report LP:http://news.yahoo.com/tax-refund-windfall-hurt-finances-212812886.html

Inspirational Quotes@Inspire_Us from Twitter:
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Hi my name is Philip J. Miano and I am the founder of PJM Personal Finance and Productivity Coaching specializing in Budgeting, Debt Reduction, Bank Reconciliations, Goal Setting, Time Management, and Organizational skills. Please visit my website: http://pjmcoaching.com.