How To Spend Your Stimulus Tax Rebate
I am sure you are already anticipating with joy the fat check you are probably going to get from the government. You might have even gone shopping mentally for some gizmo you have had you eye on. That can be a fatal mistake.
Now, I'm not trying to be a party pooper, but the plain truth is, I don't really like this government ploy to try to stimulate the economy and pull us away from a possible recession by encouraging you to hurry out and spend the money at your favorite gizmo store. Our current President, George Bush stated, 'Letting Americans keep more of their own money should increase consumer spending, and lift our economy at a time when people otherwise might spend less.' I definitely thinkThe President needs to read The Fair Tax Book by Neal Boortz.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that in December 2007, Americans had accumulated $944 BILLION in total revolving debt, most of it on credit cards. Spending with plastic cards has sneaked into every corner of our American lifestyle. In the past, consumers put only discretionary expenses on plastic cards. Currently, many consumersare so short on cash that they use revolving credit cards to pay for basic survival items like gas and groceries just to survive. That is economic slavery.
The government's plan may appear like it will work, however,but I don't think it is a good plan. I believe a much better plan is to utilize that rebate check to reduce your debt on credit card balances. If you have less debt, you eventually willwill eventually have a bigger bank account to spend on things like groceries and gas. We are talking about basic survival for many families. There is not an economy on the planet that can flourish when the public is buried under a mountain of suffocating debt.
Do you already have a plan for what you are going to do with your stimulus tax rebate? I'm encouraging the plan of using your rebate to move toward gaining your financial freedom! Here's my best advice.
Do NOT mentally go shopping and spend the money before it arrives in your mailbox. Instead of doing that, figure out how you can spend the rebate to improve your financial condition.
Use the rebate to reduce your credit cardpay off debt. There simply is not one good reason to rush out and spend the cash on 'stuff' when you already can't pay for the stuff that's already sitting on your credit cards as debt. When you get to the point where you are FREE OF DEBT, you can start putting money aside to buy that gizmo or gadget you have had your eye on.
If you are already debt free, then invest the money so it will make more money for you. It doesn't take but a few years before that $600 or $1,200 dollars can grow to double or even triple the value at an 8 - 12% return.
Allright, allright. If you can't control yourslef and just have to blow some of the cash on a splurge item, just limit the amount you use by going out for a nice dinner or buying that music CD or book you've been wanting. After that use the rest to pay off debt or put into an investment. The quicker you get out of debt, the more often you can do fun things with your income instead of spending sleepless nights worrying about how you are going to pay off those credit cards and get out of debt.
Sandra Simmons, President of Money Management Solutions has years of experience helping business owners and individuals manage their money to achieve financial freedom. Watch the FREE 5-minute demo video on her website www.MoneyMgmtSolutions.com
Published February 18th, 2008
Filed in Family