Will you save or spend your tax refund?
What are you going to do with your tax refund?
Forty-two percent of those surveyed said they will save at least part of their refund, which is expected to average about $3,000, writes Palm Beach Post reporter Laura Green.
And of those who are spending, the biggest segments plan to pay off debt (41.9 percent) or cover everyday expenses (29.7 percent), Green reports, citing a study by the National Retail Federation.
“The bad news is the recession has greatly affected people,” MassMutual financial adviser Alfred Hovis told Green. “The good news is it’s woken up a lot of folks to understanding that they have to be more self-reliant.”
Financial advisers are starting to believe that the trend of the past few years, when more Americans plowed refunds into a retirement or an emergency account, could signal a more lasting shift, Green writes.
Are they right or wrong? What do you plan to do and why?
- Henry Unger, The Biz Beat
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107 comments Add your comment
Find Me - I Dare Ya
March 23rd, 2011
3:15 pm
Living off the grid and the IRS has no idea I even exist. No bank account – just a safe deposit box in my father’s name in a small town bank where all my money is along with a stronbox in the wall for keeping some on hand. I’m sure I’m doing better by not paying taxes than I would be doing if I had it in an interest bearing account. How else can you keep 40% more of your money?
TnGelding
March 23rd, 2011
3:22 pm
eye roll
March 23rd, 2011
3:06 pm
It was sincere, although a little too flippant.
We simply have to come up with a more simple, efficient way to feed the beast. The IRS can be a real headache. My apologies and condolences. Might consider hiring a tax attorney, but it probably wouldn’t save you any money. It’s really a shame.
TnGelding
March 23rd, 2011
3:25 pm
Find Me – I Dare Ya
March 23rd, 2011
3:15 pm
There are millions similar to you. That’s the one good thing about the Fair Tax. You’d have to pay your fair share. You’re one of the reasons the IRS has to have so much power it can harrass the rest of us.
Hope you were just pullng our leg.
Light
March 23rd, 2011
3:28 pm
Let God will be done thru this blog http://lightoftheearth.blogspot.com/
party time!
March 23rd, 2011
8:45 pm
I’m going to vegas with my refund and hoping to turn it into a big bundle playing blackjack and poker, all night sessions, mixed in with some hard partying with the vegas ladies the rest of the time!!!
TnGelding
March 23rd, 2011
11:02 pm
Make that castrated instead of neutered. How could I forget that?
TnGelding
March 23rd, 2011
11:07 pm
Well, we should all return our refunds to the U.S. Treasury. It needs it worse than we do!
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm
“The Bureau of the Public Debt may accept gifts donated to the United States Government to reduce debt held by the public. Acting for the Secretary of the Treasury, Public Debt may accept a gift of:”
•Money, made only on the condition that it be used to reduce debt held by the public.
•An outstanding government obligation, made only on the condition that the obligation be retired and the redemption proceeds used to reduce debt held by the public.
•Other intangible personal property made only on the condition that the property is sold and the proceeds from the sale used to reduce the public debt.