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The Simple Dollar Morning Roundup: Tax Day Edition 3comments
This year, we basically broke even on our tax returns, which means (I guess) that we’re taking out an appropriate amount for deductions from our paycheck. Hopefully, none of you are out there panicking about your taxes right now. On to some personal finance notes.
Think Dual Incomes Is A Great Thing? Think Again A simple point, but one that becomes clearer and clearer to my wife and I every year. Once you reach a certain point, more income doesn’t matter as much as it used to. For example, if I’m making $20,000 and get a $1,000 a year raise, that’s huge. If I’m making $75,000 and get a $1,000 a year raise, that’s peanuts - plus Uncle Sam will take more of it than it would have if I were poorer. (@ the golden parachute)
20 Tips For Getting Your Security Deposit Back As we get closer and closer to the big move, these tips become more and more valuable to us. We’ve lived here for several years and are just about to move on to a home of our own. (@ wise bread)
Do You Really Know How Much It Costs To Own Your Car? Yes, a lot. Far more than most people give a car credit for. (@ the digerati life)
The Simple Dollar Retro: The Value of Personal Appearance This is among my favorite pieces I’ve ever written here, and the first time I started to really draw a connection between personal development and personal finance. It is financially important for you to take care of your personal appearance, but that doesn’t mean you should dump a bunch of cash on expensive things.
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Here’s another link looking at the cost of car ownership. Scary.
I’m 30 and have never owned a car. I consider this to have been a decently large factor in my savings rate over the years. Add in the daily human contact on the subway, and the fact that I support local businesses instead of big box stores, and I consider it priceless! Many of my fellow-urbanite friends use the zipcar/carshare companies (when they need to pick up a large item etc), and consider them good options too.
I didn’t realize that when I forked out $22K for my van that I would potentially end up spending around the same amount to cover the life of this vehicle. I knew I had to pay for maintenance and repair, but didn’t think it would amount to 100% of the car’s actual cost! Amazing. Thanks for the mention!
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That car costs article is a great example of how doing your own maintenance can save a ton… and (for me at ) provide a fun hobby. If you look at his prileastce sheet, $1322, or 65% (!) of the cost is labor. Sure there’s the cost of buying tools and such, but for the cost of this repair he could have bought more than enough stuff to do it and come out ahead probably immediately. Then he would have a big zero in the tool expenses column for his next project. Sure time is a big factor, but a shadetree mechanic such as myself could probably have done all that in a full weekend, or spread it out over a couple saturday afternoons, and as I don’t make $1300 a day I’d consider it totally worth it.
David @ 8:13 am April 17th, 2007 (comment #1)