Tag Archives: happy money

Five Unorthodox Uses For Your Tax Refund That Will Change Your Life.

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It’s that time when the financial “gurus” begin to tell you what to do with your tax refund.

what to do

According to the IRS, the average refund this year is $3,034 – up 3% over the same period last year.

So, you read/hear the same advice every year. Granted, it’s valid. But it’s old.

Pay down credit card debt,  fund a Roth IRA, begin or bolster an emergency reserve.

I guarantee what you’re hearing will pay off if you listen and follow through.

Better than how I know some people are going to blow a tax refund.

I asked.

“Going to a strip club.” Good one.

“Paying for a divorce.” OK!

“Spending it on my boyfriend.” Really?

“Going to IKEA.” Hell no.

Dumb.

So let’s try new ideas.

Here are five unorthodox ways to direct your tax refund dollars to increase your ROL.

Return On Life.

return on life

1). Treat the grandparents and parents to dinners.  The knowledge you’ll gain from asking questions to those with money experiences (good and bad) will be invaluable.  Listen. Learn. Write down the responses. Write down everything. Gaining perspective from those who have been handling investments, credit, debt, financial failures is worth more than any Roth contribution.

2). Purchase experiences, not stuff. From the authors of the book “Happy Money: The Science Of Smarter Spending” your money goes a long way to provide happiness when it’s directed toward experiences that create memories, not stuff like new smart phones. Eventually your satisfaction with goods diminishes; memories last a lifetime.

3). Take on education. Learn a skill that will increase your “ROHC,” or return on human capital: The return on YOU as a future earnings machine.  Many people are underemployed and reluctant to “switch gears” to learn new skills or spend the time on what’s required to succeed in our post-financial crisis economy.  Perhaps a vocational school is worth your time. There’s a dearth of skilled laborers today. Check out http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/ for accredited schools in your area.

4). Do something for your soul.  Money you share with others can foster inner satisfaction. Purchasing items for a local animal shelter, contributing to a favorite charity, helping someone in need all can add to your happiness bucks.

5). Do something for your heart. With the healthcare industry going through tremendous change, one fact is clear: Getting and staying healthy is going to be a priority. First, your insurance carrier will demand better “numbers” from you to provide premium discounts. For example, cholesterol, blood sugar and weight should meet or exceed normal ranges for your age. Second, joining a gym and spending on healthy meal choices can mean fewer visits to the doctor (your doctor no longer has time for you, anyway).

Consider ROL for your refund; you can return to the advice you already know and will hear again next year, anytime.

It’s always out there.

The old guidance is good guidance.

Now.

Try something different.

Go!!

Spend Your Way To Happiness: Five Ways To Do It.

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I read 75 books a year.

Thank god for Kindle where I can highlight and store notes.

Don’t hate me.

It’s an illness. The thirst is quenched temporarily and it drowns me too.

I’m a slave to words. They own me.

Like good food or great conversation.

Sharing sparks with others; absorbing energy from people smarter and passionate than me.

I can’t get enough of the moments.

I’m nourished and starved at the same time.

book crazy

Associate professors Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Noonan who wrote the book “Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending,” outline research which shows how money can do a better job of buying happiness – if you spend it right.

This book sticks with me.

Can you get a bigger bang for your happiness buck?

print your own

I think so.

How?

Random Thoughts:

1). Buy experiences. Research shows that spending on experiences edges out purchasing stuff as experiences create lifetime “feel good” moments through the connections to others. You relive memories forever; the novelty over of a new purchase is fleeting. After six months you don’t even care that the dog barfed up worms all over the buttery-leather back seats of your new (now old) ride.

We’re happy with things until we find out there are better things available. You’re happy with smart phone version 3 until version 4 comes out. Then you’re miserable. Who the hell needs this roller coaster? I’m done with this shit.

The authors’ research shows that people who pay for an experience in advance feel more satisfaction than those who get stuck with the bill months after the fun has ended.

2). Make it a treat. Abundance is the enemy of appreciation. Purchases that are special treats (a steak dinner, rich chocolate), memorable places for vacation, or annual traditions are most likely to create greater happiness per dollar spent.

McDonald’s has been the master of this mind melt (a shameless McPlay on words), for decades. They strategically roll out the McRib each year and fake-pork freaks go insane.

I’m guilty too.

I go apes**t over the Shamrock Shake. I’ve been in love with this green, minty, frosty mix since my first sip in 1977.

I’ve raised another generation of the Shamrock addicted, too.

Kudos, McDonald’s.

Kudos.

I’m ashamed.

Shameful Money.

shamrock shakes

It’s coming. The green I really care about – IS… COMING.

3). Buy time. Sacrificing free time just to save a little money will not make you happy. In fact you’ll be miserable. Driving an extra 20 minutes to save 5 cents on gas or purchasing a larger home in the suburbs farther from work appears to be a smart use of your money, but time is more precious.

Those who have more free time exercise more, do volunteer work and participate in other fulfilling activities linked to happiness. I bet they have better sex, too.

Hate them.

ben franklin

In between chasing naked French chicks 30 years younger than he, Ben Franklin was truly a genius (also because he chased and caught naked French chicks 30 years his junior).

Money is important, but time is indeed, more valuable.

4). Never buy flowers for anyone. Get yourself something nice. Flowers die. No pleasant experience here. Actually, there’s a law of diminishing returns with women the more flowers you send them. Save the money for an experience that will nourish your soul. Send a flower meme instead. It’s clever. It’ll cause a laugh.

Chicks like funny.

“Oh flowers. Again.”

“Thanksssss.”

Dead.

flowers

See – this shit is wittier. And cheaper. Happy money (in your wallet).

5). Pay it forward. Or back. The other day I gave a homeless guy a dollar. He told me my life was worth living. He altered my mood. For a buck. Best dollar I ever spent. If you owe a person money, make an effort to pay it back – salvage what’s left of a relationship.

Money is fleeting; good friends are worth more than a thousand fortunes.

slept with lohan

My daughter told me Shamrock Shake is back!

She had one today.

I’m out of here.

Off to make a memory.

Ribbons of Green – 5 Ways to Wrap Yourself In Green and Find Happiness.

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The wind of positive change swirls green around me.

In circling ribbons of warmth and awareness.

Acceptance.

acceptance

Green gets it. Green believes even when you refuse to. Green is faith undetected but always present. Green knows you’ll find your way out. To the green.

Green shoots live in the actions you remain steadfast to pursue, even when they feel tiny and worthless. In the small daily rituals to find a clearer path the genesis of a spark appears in the spring of green.

Green is tenacious. It never gives up.

Every action was (is) progress.

It moves to its own rhythm. It pulls you forward. A big strength in the small. Every move is important. Counted. Your mind pulsates to the beat. A ribbon from heart to mind. In a flowing cadence of green.

When green arrives or returns, outcomes don’t matter anymore. Finally, it hits you: You can’t control the uncontrollable. The ego has fooled you all along, laid a trap.

Fooled you.

FRIEND

You’ve been duped.

And green knows it.

Green doesn’t laugh at you.

Green is a teacher.

Not an emerald temptress.

And then.

A warm entrance to a moment.

A clearing.

A sign.

Here.

In shiny-bright green shades of now.

Green – the late arrival of calm.

Green – physical and mental reward for finding methods to slay fear and anxiety.

Green guides thoughts.

Green uncovers methods designed to turn the tables.

Gain control over enemies.

Yourself.

And now – an inner peace I haven’t experienced in years has returned.

I’ve turned back to the green page.

After so long. Years.

The next chapter of me has arrived.

New & improved (beaten lightly).

A wiser presence standing. Sharper around the edges than the shadow of who I was.

Broken free from those who mastered over me.

Green is robust. Thick. A fighter.

I am no longer the reflection in a mirror.

I’m me. In deep-green three dimensional color.

green ribbon

Green is a complete acceptance of what is.

How things are now.

It’s not the path that got me to the place.

It is the place.

Although I’m tempted by the past, which is yellow.

I won’t go back.

To the stain.

I’m armed with silk ribbons of Chartreuse.

Encircling. Ever engaging me in the present.

Green prevents me, guards me from the mistakes of the past.

And I don’t want green to leave again.

I still remember when it disappeared. Bled to white in 2011. Gone forever.

I was sure.

Without green.

It was all over.

And after the fall.

A white winter never arrived.

A shade of green emerged.

What an interesting trip back to now.

Floating on a color.

And green is happiness in many forms. Self-defined.

Find your green.

Here’s the wrap.

Random Thoughts:

1). Green Is Not A Destination. It’s an arrival. As you focus on your daily actions, green grows. Friend and mentor James Altucher found his green, created a Daily Practice. Start a daily practice of your own. Whatever it is. Pick your battles. Then do the work, do the work, do the work to succeed. Train your mind. Every day. Repetitive, positive actions ignite green. Choose the words to yourself carefully, they will set the pace of the day. The words you hear inside will prevent green from leaking out.

2). Green Assures. You are finally back on the right path. New growth seals your progress. You start to recognize who you are, not who others expect you to be. The rules created are your own and if they’re true, honorable, then nobody can take the green away. It will be sealed inside so deep others won’t penetrate. Those who say you can’t succeed, I don’t love you, your rules are unusual fold into the shadow of who you were. Not who you are. They are hidden entities now. Camouflaged in blends of green. And gone from the path. And you’re now grateful.

3). Happy money is green.  Clean green. Let’s face it: What is money? Dirty paper steeped in salmonella. The authors of the book, Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending outline the robust green of money. Spending doesn’t lead to happiness, at least not long term. Short term spending is designed to stroke your ego; when the excitement fades you’re back at it. A slave to the high. The art of smarter spending is based on the authors’ research into what I call “green-satisfaction” spending.

Five principles that can lead to monetary bliss:

Buy experiences, not stuff: Spend on memories that will enhance your life colors.

Make it a treat: Keep buying junk you don’t need and the novelty wears off. Research reflects that the category in which people spend the least becomes a greater source of happiness. Track your discretionary spending (fun stuff) for a month. Determine where you spend the most. Do you still derive as much happiness from the spending activity? If not, cut it back. Make it special.

Buy time: Sure, buy that nice house in the suburbs. Get a better bang for your buck. Now sit for four hours a day commuting. See how much you care about all the money you saved. It’s not worth it. Time is worth more than money.

Pay now, consumer later: Studies show paying for an item, service now but consuming later creates happier, greener money than doing the opposite. For example, I love being able to purchase music immediately through ITunes. However, when I pre-order a movie, album selections and receive an e-mail a week later from Apple notifying me that my “pre-order is ready for downloading,” I get more excited over the purchase. Yes, we want everything now, we’re Americans; purchasing and waiting may be a greener way to go.

Invest in others: I love purchasing gifts, giving more than I enjoy receiving. It’s is the basis for research into this principle. According to the authors, a Starbucks gift card provided the most happiness when people used it to buy coffee for someone else.

Happy money is green. Unhappy money is well, bacteria-filled fiber.

dirty dollars Ew?

4). Never Force Green. It will arrive when you’re ready to arrive. Not before. You’ll be driving. At the mall. Wherever. And boom. It’ll hit. I can remember day, time and where I was when green re-engaged. Focus on your daily practices and before you know it – Green. Don’t rush it.

5). Green is victory. You reached a goal, lost the weight, made the bonus, fought the enemy. And you won. All the hard work has paid off.

As I fight a corporate giant seeking to strip me of everything including my career, I see with each move, my green is growing deeper. And I will spend the rest of my life making sure they know it. Others will know it, too. Many others.

I will fight a terrorist, lying organization.

For as long as it takes.

In private. In public, eventually.

And humble them to the green of honesty.

For as long as it takes.

No matter how many organs I sacrifice.

For the right.

For the truth.

For the green light.

To keep on rolling.

green light