A painless way to save - tax refund

[peg2001]

I know the argument about not giving the IRS an interest free loan, but I have found the most painless way to save for the annual vacation is having "too much" income tax taken out of my paychecks. Then, each Spring, I get a juicy tax refund, just in time to plan and pay for the family vacation!

Honestly, when you don't see it in your take home pay, you don't really miss it.

 

[disneydebi]

me too! That's exactly how we are paying for our June trip to Disney... Although, I'm still waiting..... where's my refund anyway! It's a great and painless way to do it. We really were not expecting to do a Disney Trip this year but since the money was there... why not! We haven't been since our honeymoon 10 years ago, and my 5 year old has been begging everytime he sees a Disney commercial on TV.

 

[nuthut]

Why don't you send me your money every week and then I will return it to you the following April,with no interest, exactly what you paid?

I am more trustworthy than the IRS too!

 

[laurenk]

That is how we are paying for our 9 day June vacation too!! I about killed my account(with excitement) when he told me the total. I was jumping up and down like a fool shouting "We are going to Disney World!" I just love that man!

All Star Sports 95
Shades of Green 98
Swan 2000
AKL 2001

 

[n2mm]

That's a great idea if you get one! Haven't seen one of those in many years.

<font color=3300ff>PO/Riverside 5/01
Dixie Landing 11/00, 9/00, 8/00, 1/00, 10/99, 10/98, 6/94
All Star Sport 10/01,5/00, 12/99
All Star Music 7/01, 4/01, 4/00, 5/99, 5/97, 5/96, 4/95
All Star Movie 11/00, 4/99
Caribbean Beach 5/96, 11/90, 5/89
Coronado Spring 5/98
Wilderness Lodge 7/99, 11/95
WDW Hotel Village 10/87
Disneyland 5/86</font>

 

[padams]

rather than giving your money to the government for up to a year at a time, then you would have more money to spend at WDW. You are LOSING money when you allow the government to earn interest on your money instead of you.

 

[cindala]

True, but most people lack the resolve to take that money and save it for Disney. It winds up getting spent on other things. It's like a 401K that you contribute to. If you don't see it, it's painless.

This is how we have been going to WDW each year; with our tax refund. Plus it helps that my DH is an accountant!

Offsite - 1974,1975
Contemporary - 1982,1983
Port Orleans - 1993,1994
Wilderness Lodge - 1995
Yacht Club - 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,7/2001

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, GOING BACK ... WDW!

 

[nuthut]

It seems like your accountant husband would understand the importance of not letting the IRS steal from you.

 

[Disneydenise]

I lack the resovle to save for vacation. I am saving for kids College and saving for retirement. I can't save anymore. I hate it. So...I let the gov't have my disney money for the year and then I can go with a song in my heart and bells on my toes. Hiegh Ho Hiegh Ho it's off to the Poly I go!!!

 

[PamOKW]

See if where you work has direct deposit. They can even put some of it into one account and some into another. That way you'll be saving and gaining interest. You won't be seeing the money but neither will the IRS. You'll have even more money than you are getting in your refund and you'll be covered if the day comes when there is no refund but there is "tax due".

 

[Nantucket]

Everyone has their own way of "saving". Savings accounts are paying so little interest these days that the argument that refund money could be making interest all year really holds little weight. I laughed at the person who said she was tired of saving and happily lets the IRS do her vacation saving for her! PamOKW also had a good idea! But for some people the tax refund is best because they can't touch it during the year. I think each family has to use whatever way is best to save their vacation money. A family vacation at Disneyworld is well worth saving for, anyway you can.

 

[dmfuru]

Can't you set up a system with your bank where a certain amount of $$ be automatically be taken out of your checking and into your savings each month or pay period. I believe some banks already have these kind of programs for their customers. You could have a certain amount for your regular savings account and a certain amount for your special vacation account. Just make sure it's an interest earning account. Anything is better than giving the government an interest free loan every year.

 

[cindala]

nuthut
If it's legalized theft from the IRS that gets me to WDW every year, then so be it! Both of us claim 1 on our 1040, so it's not like I'm having extra money taken out. The amount of interest I would make on the return money(saving it each week and after taxes of course) would probably be $100. Wow, I could retire on that!

disneydenise
I'm with you! I like knowing I'll have the money when I need it from the IRS. Probably those that disagree with this method don't go to Disney that often!

Offsite - 1974,1975
Contemporary - 1982,1983
Port Orleans - 1993,1994
Wilderness Lodge - 1995
Yacht Club - 1996,1997,1998,1999,2000,7/2001

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, GOING BACK ... WDW!

 

[hockey mom]

I'm confused, what exactly is a refund.

95- offsite
97- Nikki bird
98- Holiday Inn M.E.
99- Days suites
00-ASM and HIFS
00- DL and MOWC
01- Animal kingdom lodge and HIFS

 

[luvdsny]

That's how we're paying for our trip to DIS-Con 2001 in November...8 FANTASMIC nights at YC.

Our refund is paying for the hotel/events pkg. AND airfare AND our park hoppers! Yahoo!!!!

Gotta save our pennies if we wanna eat though.

<font color=red size=4>HAVE A DISNEY DAY</font>

<font color=navy size=3>M-I-C...see you at The DIS Convention, K-E-Y...why? Because we LOVE Disney, M-O-U-S-Eeee...</font>

 

[TotallyLuvTigger]

My deposit for my cruise is being taken out of my check before taxes. It is sitting in my Flex spending plan. I have to pay daycare and I take out so much for daycare and healthcare. This was my first year doing this. But now I have it figured out. I can take up to 5,000 for daycare and ? for Healthcare. So I will be taking out a few thousand for daycare next year and about 500 again in health. And when I put in the claims the checks just go to my savings account. This way it is Tax free, gains a bit of interst and I still fall below to claim the EIC. I figure as long as I can pull my income down to meet the EIC I don't have to worry about taxes and I have my withholdings at 5 for Federal and 3 for state. I have check Finaincal Calculators and I should still get some kind of refund. But I don't want Uncle Sam using my money before ME!!!

This will pay for my cruise and I am not going till May of 2003

 

[idontknow]

DH gets soooo much overtime that he is put in a higher tax bracket. They take out 32% in taxes alone! The only thing that he could do is say he has 8 dependants to get more in his check a week. (ok, so I exaggerated on the dependants #. LOL) We end up with a nice vacation fund at the end of the year. That is how we've been going to WDW for the last 4 years.

(I'm too afraid that something would change with his job if we changed his dependants. Our luck we would end up owing at the end of the year )

 

[kimartyraye@att.net]

We have the same "problem". OT is taxed way higher and DH has alot of OT! (Snow plows in Chicago!) LOL But, after this year's HUGE refund, we decided to increase his withholding # as well. (8 might be excessive but, I think he went to at least 2-3.) That way, we should still be assured a refund when we claim all 4 when filing, besides itemizing which helps greatly, also.

 

[friskykitten]

Nuthut, I am just curious, you got me thinking harder about this. I have an accounting degree as well and so I already knew that what you said is true. My tax refund is an interest-free loan to the government. Yet I have never done anything different about it because I don't really know what type of savings instrument to use. The best savings rate I can get at our CU is 2-2.5%, you can't do a CD as CD's need to be lump sums not added every paycheck. And a mutual fund seems impossible as you usually don't put your money in one short-term. Now if you know that you are definately going to use that "refund" money every year what is the best savings instrument to use, in your opinion? Please, no sarcasm! Dripping sweet or otherwise, I am honestly interested in your opinion on this.

 

[PamOKW]

FriskyKitten, Nuthut may have better suggestions but at the very least a Money Market Savings account will usually give you better interest with not that high a minimum (some banks also let you link all your accounts together for figuring the minimum). Even the 2%, why give away any money? An extra $100+ can always come in handy. People come up with all kinds of scrimping saving methods for $100-$200, this is "free" money.