How to Deal with Your Shrunken
Paycheck in 2013
If you have 15 minutes of your life you feel like wasting, read it here http://finance.yahoo.com/news/deal-shrunken-paycheck-2013-142808632.html otherwise I will recap it for you.
This article alerts the world that the 2% payroll tax reduction which was part of the stimulus package has been repealed. The result is a decreased pay check for everyone of as much as $40 a week. This is not an easy pill to swallow, so of course there are experts to advise us how to continue living.
Robert Pesce, a partner of a NYC accounting firm soothes us by saying that $40 “is real money, but I don't know that it warrants panic."
Thanks Bob that is very helpful.
Tim Speiss, from the accounting firm of Blah, Blah and Blah informs us that, “From a tax perspective, the answer is, you can't do much. You can't opt out of it, and your employer can't reduce it."
Well Tim, you are a gem of useful information.
There is some good news, however, thanks to the author of this article, Amy Feldman, who lets us know, “From a budgeting perspective, if you need the cash, there are things you can do. Here is how to think about your options:"
(BTW, can we use the word perspective a little more often, it sounds so cerebral.)
Are you ready for Amy’s key to more cash? Here we go…pay attention.
CONSIDER CHANGING YOUR WITHHOLDINGS
Great Amy…withhold more tax payments from your paycheck and indeed you will receive more cash in your weekly pay check. You will also receive less as a refund at the end of the year (or maybe even owe money + interest and penalty) on which many of us have come to rely.
In what universe does this give you more cash Amy?
DON'T CUT YOUR 401(k)
Good advice, but how does this add more cash?
RECALCULATE ESTIMATED TAX PAYMENTS
Damn Amy, this is helpful. If we are self-employed you tell us how to calculate having to pay the extra 2%. Hmmm… how does this help anyone budget for the reduction in pay? Hmmm… what self-employed person who is able to stay in business cannot figure out how to pay the extra 2%?
TAP DISCRETIONARY INCOME
This is the best advice yet…damn Amy, from an ignoramus perspective you are a genius. Tap discretionary income means SPEND LESS on things you can do without!
Do people get paid real money to write this drivel?
"I Used to be Stupid" is now available and in stock on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Used-Be-Stupid-Joe-Hagy/dp/1434934802/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361307468&sr=1-2&keywords=I+Used+TO+be+Stupid
How about some advice we could actually use? Like leaving your hat and coat with your ID in the pocket hanging from a tree down by the swollen river, then having the missus claim the insurance money? You can watch a lot of daytime TV with a million bucks in the bank. Screw that measly $40 a week. ;)
ReplyDeleteS
I'm glad that I'm not the only one for whom this type of "advice" makes me want to scream and yell obscenities from my upstairs window.
ReplyDeleteHey, color me subversive if you will but I thought it was MY MONEY! (Who am I kidding.)
"Discretionary income" would be what one gets from robbing banks, boosting cars, selling drugs... right?
ReplyDeleteAround here there's already a ton of competition for that.
Yes, unlike bloggers these people get paid to write their drivel.
ReplyDeleteAs I have come to learn from the comments on articles such as this- "What did you expect? It's Yahoo!"
ReplyDeleteNot exactly a place where anyone might expect to find informative, let alone enlightening articles. Enertaining- sometimes not so much, but at least you can get a good laugh at how poorly written some of them are.
They can't bear to advise skipping Starbucks in the morning. If it even crosses their minds.
ReplyDeleteMy advice? Take more serving jobs. :-) Eat more oatmeal.
ReplyDeletePearl
Save ink by using less five dollar words. Do what Cranky does--spend less.
ReplyDeleteWow, don't spend money if you want to not spend as much money ... that Amy, she's a thinker!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, we ate a lot of soup. A huge pot fed us for a week. Sure, we got tired of it by the end of the week, but it was filling and inexpensive. Eating more soup is as good advise as in that article. (Even if I didn't get paid to give it!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for warning me about the email hacker, but now I do not have a viable email address for you.
ReplyDeleteHope you can recover from it all.Please write me.