Post 101-What Rich and Poor People Do With Tax Returns

Good Morning to the Millions and Millions of Readers out there, I always like to laugh in the morning!

I first want to congratulate myself for sticking with this and getting to my 101st post.  It was almost 3 years to the day since I started my first post.  I was not as consistent as I could have been, skipping 2011 entirely and a 6 month stretch in 2012-2013, but life and priorities happen, but I'm certainly glad I'm here today.  I just want to thank those who read or comment, I hope it has helped or made you think about finance and fitness along the way.

I think the post below is the question that everyone asks as I did in my first post, well the journey continues.

                      What do I need to do to get fit and wealthy?

                                                

TAXES-The Rich and the Poor

Let me first start by saying I don't know what the Rich or Poor do with the money they receive from a refund from there tax returns.  Here's a few things from friends and family that I have seen along the way(no judging....yet)

• I'm buying a new big screen TV(I have seen more empty big screen boxes on my daily walks now than I have seen during black Friday/Christmas time)
• Buying a new/different car(Chances are your refund isn't big enough for a new car, so they are putting some money down and financing the rest)
• I'm not sure what I'm going to do, probably just save it(doesn't seem like a bad idea at all)
• I'm paying down my debt(I'm sick of paying the regular payment for what feels like the rest of my life.)

I look at the first 2 and think a couple things.  One is you know what I paid the government this whole year and I deserve this money, I have been saving the whole year I deserve something nice.  Another part of me thinks that's got to be the stupidest thing you can do with your money right now!  You have been paying the government extra all year long not earning any interest or paying down any extra debt and what did you do with the money, you couldn't get it out of your hands fast enough.  It's called delayed gratification.  I'm sure you want a new phone, new TV, new computer, new car, trip to Vegas.

As you can see by the length of each rant, I'm not a huge fan of the first 2 bullet points.  What do I think about the last 2 bullet points?

One is that this person must be making the right choices they are getting a return and saving the money or at least trying to eliminate some of there debt.  This person must be rich or know about how to handle there money and will be rich one day.  Another part of me says this person only thinks they know what is going on, why are they getting a refund, they decided it was a good idea for the government to hold on to there money while they had credit card debt at 19%, a car loan of $500 month, and eating ramen noodles so they didn't go over there grocery budget, they might be as blind as the person buying the new car!  

While this rant was similar to the above, I think they are making "weatlhy" decisions in the end.  While in theory I do think that it is a poor decision to loan the government money at 0% return, I believe that most Americans including myself find it a struggle to save money, so even though we are giving the money to the government to hold on to, we know they are pretty reliable and will give us what we have saved and feel pretty good about ourselves.

So in the end if you are waiting on your tax refund or already spent it on a big screen TV, keep this post in mind on your decision today and for the future.  If you think I'm crazy here's a post over at Get Rich Slowly that has a couple ideas as well.  

Are Your Parents Rich-Small Town Life

Good Morning Happy Friday right!?!?  So growing up as many of you know, we lived in a small town, I mean our school had like 6 towns combined and we were still considered very small.  One thing came to my mind the other day when a couple of friends and I happened to stop by in our old hometown to pick up some golf clubs.  What did we ever even do in this town?  No wonder we played sports or watched movies, the only businesses were a grocery store and 2 restaurants.  It's was unbelievable to me, I currently live in Chicago so that might have something to do with it, but I was almost taken back, and then I thought about it who is rich or wealthy in this town and area, it was definitely not my parents despite the subject.

So I started thinking how do any of us know how to be wealthy?  Do we take what are parents have done and mimic what they have done?  I don't see anyone as of yet running a hedge fund, owning a multi million dollar business, so how do we get there, who teaches us what we need to do to become wealthy?

Let me back track this a little, there are many people who have great jobs and professions who make a good or even great salary.  I have friends who are doctors, lawyers, nurses, construction workers, bankers, and I know they will do well, but will they be wealthy?  Do they have student loan debt, mortgage, are they debt free?  Because otherwise they/we are walking with a limp, during the race of being wealthy.  What are they doing to become wealthy?  What did your parents tell you to do?  Did they show you the path? 

Growing up I feel like very few friends or classmates had wealthy parents.  Without saying specific people although small town it will be pretty easy to figure out, here's what I have taken from it.  Insurance agent, Judge, Railroad worker, Restaurant owner, Business owner, these are the names that pop in my head that seemed to be doing above average compared to other families.  What do I see with almost all of these is that they had there own business in some way, these are the people who did well.  Yes there are certainly outliers and many people who work at a solid company and appeared to be doing well, but the outer appearance is small business is the way to wealth, there are other ways, but this sticks out.

Wealthy Farmer?

                                               

My parents have not taught me how to become wealthy, they have taught me many things that I am indebted to them for life, the list would be to long to even mention.  This is my goal, become wealthy.  I do not own my own business, strike 1 for me, I am in debt, strike 2 for me, however one topic that I did not cover, real estate, this is not a strike for me and feel like this maybe the home run of wealth. 

Please comment I love to read them even if it's this is terrible or great or your story, I love them!