What not to do with your tax return

What not to do with your tax return

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I just got a call the other night from a friend of mine. We were talking and the conversation ended as he and his wife were going to go pick up their taxes from their tax accountant. One hour later I got a phone call from the same individual asking me questions about the best computer and digital camera to buy. Turns out his accountant told them that they would be getting a refund and they were busy spending the money before they even officially filed their taxes. They were going to buy a new computer, digital camera, PDA, and possibly a new tv. I have no idea what they got for a refund, but my guess is that their expenditures are probably going to outweigh their tax refund.
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Carnival Recaps & March Madness Update

Carnival Recaps & March Madness Update

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This week I participated in two carnivals and still have one post in the Personal Finance March Madness contest.

The Carnival of Personal Finance #92 was hosted at LazyManAndMoney this week. My article on million dollar kids – give me a break!
 made the Honorable Mentions Category right below the Editors choice. As usual many good articles.  Below are some of my favorites

The Festival of Frugality #66 was hosted today at The Frugal Duchess.  My now famous article on the Frugal cure for a sore throat is found at the very bottom (must have saved the best for last).  Here are some articles that caught my eye.

Finally somehow through some stroke of luck, one my articles(The True Cost of Owning a Home) made it to the Elite 8 over at FreeMoneyFinance’s March Madness and looks like it is on it’s way to the Final Four.

Welcome new visitors and Cayenne pepper lovers

Welcome new visitors and Cayenne pepper lovers

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My article on How to cure a sore throat has been finding it’s way onto the sites of Reddit, Del.icio.us, and others, which means I’ve got a bunch of new people visiting my site.  For those of you who are new to MyFinancialJourney.com here are some of my more popular articles to give you a feel of the content you might run across this site if you stick around. 

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Saving money on books

Saving money on books

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Now this is going to be one of those, “no kidding you dufus why are you even posting this – it’s pretty obvious” kind of posts, but honestly I always forget about it and well it just saved me money this weekend. I actually don’t read books, for whatever reason I can’t just sit down and read a book. I usually get bored out of my mind after the first chapter and the only book I know that I have “read” since school (even then it was slim pickings (cliff notes)) is “The Little Book that Beats the Market” by Joel Greenblatt. The only reason I finished that book is because it was maybe 100 pages long, the pages were very small, and it actually was 90% substance instead of having to read 200 pages of fluff to get to the good stuff. I don’t know if I have ADD or am just an unintelligent caveman who can’t read books, but I just don’t read books.
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Frugal cure for a sore throat

Frugal cure for a sore throat

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I’ve been sick for most of the week and last couple days I have had a really bad sore throat. I had been sucking on cough drops and other common things to try to relieve my sore throat, but it kept getting worse and worse, to the point where I could barely manage to swallow. As a kid I had tonsillitis and strep throat probably on average 5-6 times a year, but back then it was taboo to take your tonsils out so I spent a fair share of my time at the doctors office and on amoxicillin and other antibiotics. Well I hadn’t had strep in a long time and was worried that this had to be strep again. I was just dying so as usual I went to the internet to find a solution.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I am only posting this because I heard such great things about it and had such wonderful results myself, please consult with your physician before trying this magical elixir.
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Sad part is most people won’t get the joke

Sad part is most people won’t get the joke

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Got a kick out of a recent dilbert. It’s hilarious because it’s so true, although I’ve got this nagging feeling that 90% of the Dilbert audience doesn’t truly get the joke. The reason is because the average person probably doesn’t even know what a managed stock fund is, what high churn means, or even what front-load means. So let me break the cartoon down for you.
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Ask the readers – How do you come up with that magical retirement number?

Ask the readers – How do you come up with that magical retirement number?

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One thing I’ve taken a little slack for is right now my only public goal is that I want to have $100,000 in principal deposited by the time I reach age 30. This is a good goal and has been pretty popular with many of my readers, however as a couple of you have pointed out – it’s a short term goal and really says nothing about how, when, and how early I can retire.
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