PS3 and  few games

bought some new clothes for the kids  and us

paid a bunch of bills

 

Extremely lucky, I'd say. Just out of curiosity, what do you do?

"How did you spend your tax return? Actually I don't really care, I just made this thread because I wanted to share my purchasing decisions with people on the Internet for e-peen."

  Absolutely, and adding insult to injury is the fact that it was a NEW car.  Sucks even more that I had to replace my GPS with a LESSER model for nearly the same price as the one I used to have because the one I used to have was on an insane rebate that's no longer going on and I'm not going to spend hundreds more to get another one.  iPod I can live without for a while, I'm bidding on a big fat memory card for my PSP right now to use that as my primary MP3 player for the interim till the next generation of MP3 players come out at the end of the year.

I am in advertising. Every mile I place on my car and every day I spent out of town is a write off. The mileage is huge but I get a 35 dollar per day tax credit when I am more than twenty minutes from home. I have an office at home but I do not claim it. It is not worth getting flagged by the IRS. If I wanted to push the limit I could get another 1,500 or so back every year but it is not worth the IRS being up my ass. When I was 19 I bought my first home. I am now 26 and am on my 4th property. I actually own two at the moment. One is a duplex in Michigan. The key to my financial success, which started when I was 17, was to invest. I still go out and booze on the weekends but I do not waste money on dumb shit every day. I roughly put away 1200ish dollars a month into fixed investments. The reason why I say 1200ish is that part of that is due to my income that month tied to my 401k. That represents half the money each month. This also does not include my companies kick back which is a 100 percent match after the year is done. The other 400 dollars go straight to Edward Jones. This is where I get to "play the market" and be a little more risky with the money. I buy and sell stocks out of this pool of blood. When I was 18 I hit it pretty big. I had a 15,000 payout from a 3,000 pay in. When you are 18 that is ballin. What did I do with it? I spent 2,000 in "rewards." The rest went back into the puppy mill. I will ad this. You do not have to make "big money" to be worth "big money." You can work at McDonalds and become a paper millionaire over time. If you take 30 dollars a week or whatever you can throw down you can begin growing your wealth today. If anyone wants advice on how and why you should get started I will provide my cell phone number. I always love helping people get started then hear the great stories a few months later. For instance, my girlfriend started two years ago. She has put roughly 3,500 into investments. Even in a down economy she is up almost 10 percent. Think about that. If you can make 10 percent profit every year.. year after year... as you keep putting money in... My goal is not to retire at 65. It is not 55. It is 45. With the decisions I have made back when I was 17 I have started a plan of action. This plan, as long as the markets do not close, will play out.

how big and what is going on it?

my tax refund went to buying some backpacking gear I needed, the rest went to fucking bills. cost of living is shooting up but wages are fucking stagnant. it's eating me up.