Tax Tips For Your Finances

As another new year starts, each one of us is hoping for and planning to begin a new life, a better and happier one than last year. As a New Year tradition, we have learned to make resolutions like going on a diet, working harder, saving more, etc. But unless we’re really determined in making a change this time, chances are we only do them for a while and start going back to our old, bad habits, or worse, not doing any of our resolutions at all. Next time, we say.

But when it comes to our finances, we just can’t say next time anymore. Like we should have done right from the start, everything should be organized when it comes to our money. We may say there are far more things more important than money, but whether we like it or not, we live in a practical world and almost everything revolves around money. And especially now that it’s the tax season again, here are 11 tax tips that we may find very helpful not only during this time but all throughout the year.

1. Catch up on your bills. Better yet, pay your bills on time! No matter what expenses we’re planning to make, we can’t really make any definite financial plans unless we have paid all of our bills. Electricity, water, school tuition, auto loans, house loan, etc. – pay them first before planning to make any unnecessary expenses!

2. Start an emergency fund. We’ll never know what might happen: accidents, natural calamity, etc. Let’s pray not but it’s always better to be prepared than regret later. Unless you already have one, start setting aside a part of your monthly income for emergency situations. You can have your bank set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account or open a new account just for that purpose, either way, you must have easy access to it.

3. Hide your credit cards. The temptation to use that magical plastic card is oh so irresistible! And unless you have no credit card debt or at least have it in order, better put away that pretty, little thing unless you want to do more damage. Besides, there’s nothing like paying in cash to have that peace of mind.

4. Lower the interest rates. Don’t just agree to what credit card companies are charging you. Negotiate. Mention any offer for lower interest rates that you might have received. Be firm but polite.

5. Tackle your debt with a snowball strategy. Now that you’ve managed to go ahead and get some better rates on your cards, you can have more of your payments go towards paying down the principal. Choose your smallest balance credit card and pay the most you can on it while paying the minimum on the rest. After paying that card off, move that money into your next credit card and repeat the process. Even if you don’t pay all of your debts off in 2011, you’ll knock some of them out, giving you some peace of mind.

6. Make a realistic budget. Whether we want to admit it or not, we don’t always stick to our budget. When we go grocery shopping, we usually have a list of things to buy. But more often than not, we buy more than what’s in the list and end up overspending. Unless we want to end up broke, we should make a budget according to our income and religiously stick to it.

7. Start or increase your retirement contributions. None of us is getting any younger. Sooner or later, we will be thinking about our retirement and what we will be getting out of it. The earlier you start investing on your retirement, the bigger your interests will be over time.

8. Plan a debt-free vacation. All of us deserves a vacation, especially after working so hard. But before you go on that much-needed trip, make sure you are free of any debts or you won’t be able to enjoy your vacation. Worse, you might end up paying for it long before the trip is over. Start saving up for it a few months before the big day. Take advantage of discounts and early reservations.

9. Ask for a raise. If you believe you deserve it after working on the same company for a long time and showing excellent work performance, go ahead and ask your boss about that raise. You might even be surprised with the result and get more than you think you deserve. Just don’t be smug about it. Be confident but polite.

10. Make cash from trash. Instead of throwing away old stuff, organize a garage sale or sell them online. You’ll be surprised by how much you’ll make out of selling old items. You got your house cleaned and organized, you even got extra cash for it! Talk about hitting two birds with one stone!

11. Get your taxes done right. File your taxes early and right to avoid any problems later on. In fact, you’ll enjoy tax refunds if you file your taxes beforehand.

Title Post: Tax Tips For Your Finances
Rating: 100% based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: bagashp

Terimakasih sudah berkunjung di blog BagZT , Jika ada kritik dan saran silahkan tinggalkan komentar dibawah