As the week winds down, we wind down with some tidbits for your information, education, health, and enjoyment.
Quotes of the Week: “The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.â€Â Will Rogers; “The hardest thing to understand in the world is the income tax.â€Â Albert Einstein
Humor Break: “On my income tax 1040 it says ‘Check this box if you are blind.’ I wanted to put a check mark about three inches away.” Tom Lehrer
Stat of the Week:  $193 Billion in federal refunds issued by March 19, 2011. Tax day isn’t quite as taxing if you have money coming back. But Simple Dollar blogger Trent Hamm wonders about our financial management competency:
“Simply put, your tax refund check presents you with a choice.
Are you going to use it to put yourself in a better financial position? Are you going to pay off a debt – and not immediately run up a credit card? Are you going to put it towards a house down payment? Are you going to use it to save for a replacement car? Maybe you’ll use it for more education, or perhaps you can invest it in a small business. Maybe you can even drop the money into a local charity, which improves your community. All of these choices will pay you dividends for years to come.
On the flip side, you could buy a new television or take a trip with that money. Of course, as soon as that television is bought or that trip is over, you’re back in the same position you were in before.
Which side of that coin do you want to be on?â€
Action Tip: Don’t procrastinate, use today as a kick-off for your own financial planning, both in terms of next year’s taxes and your long-term financial future.
Volunteering: Today is a terrible day to ask someone to volunteer. Instead, pay your taxes and rejoice that you made enough money to be taxable! (However, if you received a refund, consider donating a portion to your favorite charity.)
[tags]financial management, financial health, irs refunds, bill bradley, william bradley, bradley[/tags]
Bill Bradley
Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.
