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(Daily thread title changed by order of CEOofmyhouse56 - alternate title suggestions warmly welcomed!)

  • BakuOPEnglish
    4·
    16 days ago

    I have a bit of a cheeky saving strategy - I pay 25% into tax, but don’t actually have enough money to need to pay tax. It’s kinda like an interest free, automatic, recurring, term deposit

    I was actually meant to open a fixed term at tax return time, but that’s when all the bads were happening, so I was kinda stressed (and a bit depressed), and through a series of very poor financial decisions, wasted the majority of it. It’s all worked out in the end, though. I timed it so the TD will end around tax return time, so I can lump that in with it and reinvest

    • melbaboutown
      5·
      16 days ago

      All things considered you’re doing well. I struggled to manage money when I was younger and then learned

      • BakuOPEnglish
        5·
        16 days ago

        Thanks! My biggest trouble is being uncomfortable having money. Always grew up worrying about it, and then being worried it’d get stolen, so now if I have money I go into how fast can I spend this mode. That’s why I’m so fond of these fixed terms and things like voluntary tax deductions

        Should probably figure out how to fix that. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll work it out one day

        • dumblederp
          6·
          16 days ago

          I grew up with similar. It wasn’t until I’d saved my first $1000 that the rest sort of came easily. But I also needed to be in a position in life where I was earning enough and being frugal for that to happen.

        • Alamutjones
          5·
          16 days ago

          Oh, I’m the same. My financial brain is in two halves - half of me KNOWS I have a safety net now, but the other half is driving and that half is used to being poor as shit.

          My safety net is real, but doesn’t feel real

        • Rusty Raven M
          4·
          16 days ago

          You probably chose the “do not claim the tax free threshold” option on the intitial paperwork. I did that when I first started working - I didn’t know what it was, so figured I shouldn’t claim it. It did lead to some lovely tax returns until I told payroll to change it, but these days with high interest in bank accounts available it is not such a good strategy.

          I use automatic payments to divide my pay up into a bunch of different accounts, so the money that I have available to spend is separate from the money put aside for bills or savings goals. Having everything divided up into smaller amounts earmarked for specific spending makes me much less likely to spend it on something less important than having it all in one place.

          • BakuOPEnglish
            2·
            15 days ago

            Sure did. I knew what I was doing and the implications of it, though. Having a percentage yoinked out and sent off, inaccessible for almost a year is perfect for me. One it’s done, it’s done, and there’s no reversing/backing out until tax time

            The interest would probably still add up to be less than like 60 bucks over the course of the year, even with the highest interest savings accounts on the market. I decided that’s a worthwhile tradeoff for the security of having it completely hidden away