In honor of our very first 5 For Friday a whole 10 months ago, I thought we’d do a “random question” series today to help jump start our weekend :)  If you’re up for it, copy and paste the following questions on your OWN blog, and then answer them there to keep ‘em moving along. OR, answer them in the comments below.  Especially question number 5 – I’d love some new tips ;)

Ready? Set? Humor me:

1. What was the last thing you purchased?
2. How about the last thing you returned?
3. How much is in your wallet/purse right now?
4. What would you do with an extra $100 in cash?
5. What’s your favorite album right now?
6. **EXTRA CREDIT** Who was the last person you kissed?

Here are MY answers:

1. The last thing I purchased was….. (going over to check my c/c account…)… looks like my recent health insurance premium :(  $292, ugh.  Right before that was beer though – yay!! Haha… we’ll be drinking the rest of that tonight, thank you very much ;)
2. Hmm… the last thing I returned was probably the 24″ computer monitor I was testing out cuz my old 22″ one broke :(  (It kept getting darker and darker every day I turned it on, isn’t that weird?).  I was originally just gonna replace it with another 22″, but figured if I’m gonna spend the money, I might as well do an upgrade while I’m at it – esp since monitors are SO much cheaper these days.  Only thing was that once I saw the 27″ Samsung one for $80 off, I knew I had to have it over the 24″ I had just picked up the day before ;) So I swapped! And now it completely takes over my desk, haha, but I feel like I’m in the future!
3. Right now I have exactly $30 in cash in my money clip, and a hearty $150ish on an Amex gift card waiting to be spent ;) Though I’ve had it for a good two months now…
4. Ooooh $100?  I’d probably exchange it for 100 $1.00 bills and use it in an upcoming art project I want to but together for my Blogger Lair.  It’ll kinda be like the last one I did, only not with paint this time. And $100 would be more than enough :)
5. Hands down Mumford & Son’s “Sigh No More” album.  My bro got it for me for Xmas, and I’ve literally listened to it every single day since.  It makes for GREAT blogging music in the mornings, and really inspires me to think outside myself more.  I highly recommend it!
6. **Extra Credit** The last person I kissed was Lolita. A very slim, and beautiful, woman who happens to love chasing her own tail and eating lots of cat food. (I Hope Mrs. BudgetsAreSexy isn’t reading this)

Your turn!  Divulge all your dirty little secrets with us today so you can enjoy a conscious-free weekend ;) I promise not to tell anyone if you don’t.

—————-
PS: If you’re reading this in a feed reader, I’m sorry to say you missed the greatest video ever imbedded in this post.

Hey guys!  Along with our weekly roundup of posts I enjoyed this week, I thought I’d start posting up a mini-roundup of coupons and deals I find throughout the week too.  Most of the times I just disregard them or not even look at them (*gasp*) but every now and then they come in handy when you’re already looking to buy something ;) So if they help, great! And if not, keep moving along.  I’ll do my best to only put up the ones I find useful.  Happy Friday!

1. Quit Your Job And Die Alone @ Untemplater
2. “The Best Budgeting Tip I Know” @ Main St. (Check out #4 ;))
3. Should You Give Back an Engagement Ring? @ DINKS Finance
4. 32 Inspiring, Funny, and Smart Quotes about Money @ Moolanomy
5. Do You Have One of America’s Most Stressful Jobs? @ Savvy Sugar
6. Win a Titanic 3D Valentine’s Day in One of 44 Cities! @ College Candy
7. What Happens Online When You Die? [video] @ Life Insurance Finder
8. Zuckerberg’s Ex-Roomate’s $400M Facebook ‘Mistake’ @ Yahoo News
9. The History of Personal Checks [Infographic] @ Bradford Exchange Checks
10. How many years does it take to become financially independent? @ The Military Guide
11. Why Trading Time For Money is the Best Way to Make More Money @ Passive Panda
12. Cool book on how to get free stuff from companies: “Free Stuff Everyday” @ Mike Essex
13. CONFESSION: I Was Earning $100K And Had a Really Low Credit Score @ Business Insider

This week’s online coupons:

• 25% off TurboTax Deluxe: Coupon code: VCRKTSP6CTGOW
• 20% off entire purchase at Kohls.com: Coupon code: SMS464 (Expires 02/11)
• $10 off your order of $100 or more at Petco.com:: Coupon code: affex
• 20% off your order at BareNecessities.com: Coupon code: BARE20

PS: Will you vote for me on something real quick? If you like my post? :) Just put “Gigs” in the comments of this post I’m about to paste here, and you’ll help me win! Thanks! –> March Madness

(Guest Post by Corey)

If you know anything about Budgets are Sexy, you know that J Money is well on his way toward a million dollars. Not only does he have 83 people in his Million Dollar Club, but he also gives regular updates on his net worth. If either of these two things doesn’t inspire you to shoot for a cool million, I don’t know what would.

Yet, if I were to be honest, I don’t aspire to be a millionaire. I hate to say it, but there’s a reason why I haven’t joined the million dollar club. (I don’t mean to hate because it does a lot to get people on the right track, but…) If you really look at what a million dollars can do for you, I think you will come to realize that it is nothing special. That’s right – I said it. A Million dollars isn’t worth that much these days, especially if it makes up your entire fund for retirement.

Instead of focusing entirely on one lump sum, I want to emphasize cash flow. Cash flow is more important to focus on because that is what really matters when it comes to living out the years when you are old and wrinkly. When it comes to paying all of your bills, do you figure out how much you have in the bank or do you figure out how much you earn for the month or year? I think it’s more of the latter.

A Million Dollars Sounds like a Lot

Most people associate a million dollars with either the lottery or a huge pile of gold – a million dollars is something that exists only in dreams. So, when they think of having a million dollars all to themselves, it sounds a little crazy. Considering that the average US family earns less than 50k per year, it makes sense that only a few would think 1 million dollars is within their reach.

As a result of this perception, many ambitious individuals set their retirement goals on this large number. Because it sounds like a lot of money, they figure if they could have 1 million dollars by the time they retire, they will be set for life. I know that I have thought the same thing. If someone gave me a million dollars, I would be tempted to quit my day job because it sounds like so much money. I’m sure most of you have thought the same thing.

Why a Million Dollars Ain’t All its Cracked to Be

Yet, even though a million dollars sounds like a lot, it really isn’t that much when it has to last you the rest of your life. It is often said that the safe withdrawal rate for retirement funds is around 4%. This means that you can withdraw 4% of your total lump sum and survive for another 30 years or so. If you have exactly one million dollars to start with, this means your annual income is a whopping $40,000. While I could live on that, it really doesn’t sound like that much, does it?

I’m sure that is how we all feel. Yet, the problem with this is that it often takes 40 years to reach this landmark. With enough discipline to save and invest your money over the length of your career, I think that many people could reach the million dollar mark. But, if we’re going to be honest – who wants to go through all of that work? 40 years of ceaseless discipline takes a lot out of a person. If often equates to years of sacrificing the things you want now, just for financial security later. It definitely isn’t that sexy, that’s for sure!

Why Cash Flow is Better than a Lump Sum

If was at the same time that I was working on my early retirement plan that I started to realize how long it would take me to save up enough money to quit my day job. Saving enough money in the bank in order to continue my current lifestyle would take me decades to accomplish. That’s when it hit me.

If I started a business that would generate enough income to replace the income from my day job, I could retire early. The only catch is that it would have to be profitable enough that I could hire someone to take care of many aspects of running the business and leave me with money in my pocket. In other words, my net profit (after all expenses) would have to equal the income from my day job. That doesn’t sound easy either, right?

Most businesses require upfront costs like purchasing land or mandatory operating expenses like a mortgage, insurance, etc. This often limits the profitability of small businesses because there is so much overhead. After considering this, I decided to focus my efforts on the online world because of its small overhead. The only expense that I have for a blog is $10 per year for the domain and $100 per year to pay a company to host it for me. By creating and running online blogs, I imagine that I will be able to generate enough income to replace my pathetic income from my day job in the next year or two. I’m not confident that the online world will continue to be as profitable in 10 or 20 years, so I am going to use my income as an investment to get into real estate. People will always need to rent a home or apartment, right? As my online business develops, I should be able to hire out more aspects of running the sites, while keeping a huge profit for myself. I hope that this will allow me to increase my free time and help me see retirement at an early age.

By focusing on building up cash flow, I don’t have to wait around for my yearly contributions and compound interest to slowly add up to a large lump sum. Instead, I am able to reap the same benefits in a short period of time. It seems like the best of both worlds: an early retirement with the same size income as those who save their whole life.

Do you look at the cash flow in your retirement planning?

————–
Corey is a personal finance blogger at Passive Income to Retire and 20′s Finances. He writes about his financial goals, including his most recent aspiration to retire by the age of 27, in order to persuade others to get a handle on their own finances.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I actually agree with a lot of this (though a million dollars STILL is a lot of money). My mind is slowly morphing into the “cash flow” mentality as well, and I think being able to live your life *as if* you were retired earlier on is a lot better then when we’re old and not as healthy. And unfortunately it’ll take many of us 40+ years to get to that point w/ our current savings habits. That being said though, “starting your own business” is def. not for everyone, and that’s OK too – we need all types of people to run this world :) So if you fall more into that category, keep rockin’ what you’re doing over there but just increase your savings/debt ratio a notch so you don’t have to wait that long. There are plenty of ways to get to retirement! (Thanks again Corey, great post)

(Photo by stevendepolo)

You know those people who read like 10 books a month?  Well, that’s me, except I read magazines instead.  In fact, I devour the hell out of them. I literally just signed up to 6 new subscriptions and I’m on a high, baby! It’s the best thing to happen to A.D.D. people since coffee ;)

And just like with books, once you’re done reading them, you need another.  And another, and another. And for someone who used to not enjoy reading AT ALL – like, I’d maybe go through 1 book ever 5 years – this revelation has been a God send.  Especially when I found out you can actually *learn* from them instead of just looking at all the pretty pictures the whole time! (Which is still fun to do, of course) So before you go telling me I’m a fool for “wasting my money” on all of this stuff, at least consider the fact that I’m now a smarter fool, okay? :)

And actually, you’d be pretty shocked at the money I’ve already spent on some of these magazines cuz I used to buy them SEPARATELY at the airport every month last year!  Instead of signing up to a subscription like normal people do cuz I enjoyed the thrill of buying them so much on the spot and reading ‘em right away.  It was like crack to me, and it was less fun if I brought the magazine from home (I don’t know why?). So in reality, I’m actually SAVING a butt ton here.  And now that I don’t travel at all much anymore, I’m missing my fix! (And I’ve also ran through all my other four magazines already from the month, boooooo…..).

So what does my magazine collection include, you ask?

• Money ($14.95/year) — My all-time favorite magazine :)  Will never get tired of it.
• Kiplinger ($12.00/year) — This one ranks up there too. Pretty much all the money ones do, haha.
• Smart Money ($10.00/year) — Same here.
• House Beautiful ($15.00/year) — Just started checking out this one when I kept stealing them from my sister on beach week last year ;)  Figured now that I’m getting into house stuff again, it’ll be a good way to keep up my inspiration.  And a nice break from all the money reads too.
• Veranda ($15.00/year) — Picked this one up the other week when we had our $5.00 Groupon deal here, remember?  That’s 1/3 the original price! Not too shabby… (another good house/pic. book)
• INC ($12.00/year) — **NEW** One of the magazines I kept picking up at $5.00 a pop.  So def. worth $12.00 a year! Haha… though when I bought it, it was reduced to $7.00/year?? I must have snuck in before Amazon changed it. If you like businessy type stuff though, you’ll love this one :)
• Entrepreneur ($11.97/year) — **NEW** Another one I’d spend $5 bucks on every other month.  Some of our favorite financial/social media guys write for it too!  Including our own J.D. Roth :)
• GC ($19.99/year) — **NEW** A bit more expensive than the others, but a nice change from all that money/business/house stuff. This one’s for making me a better manly man ;)
• Fortune ($19.99/year) — **NEW** I got back and forth on this one, and probably could have done without this year (I took 2011 off from it), but my fear of running out of magazines to read at night got me to get back on the train again.  If I find myself overwhelmed at any point, it’ll be the first to get the chop.  Though it is an interesting read.
• Tattoo ($29.99/year) — **NEW** Definitely new!  My desire to get another tattoo has been rising every single year since I got my first one 10 years ago.  And while I can easily research and scour the web for cool ideas and what not, I prefer it in print to give my eyes a break from the computer screen.  I also love the culture behind it all, and actually do read the articles ;)  Though I don’t think my wife believes that, with all the half naked girls in them and all, haha…
• Inked ($29.95/year) — **NEW** I freakin’ LOVE the layout and pics in this one – a bit more upscale looking than Tattoo and the other mags, and I can go through them pretty fast anyways.  So now we get double the tattoo fun :) (Oh, and the price tags?? Man, they’re high! But considering they go for $8.00 a piece – no joke – it’s def. worth it to me, at least for the first year.)

Overall it’ll cost me $200 this year for over 140+ copies of my favorite all-time magazines. Which I’ll read mostly in-full, and then scan all the others for a nice “word break” with all the pretty images of houses/tattoos/sharply dressed models, haha… it’s a perfect concoction really ;)  (Also, I like how I have INC and INKED on there – almost the same word, but with totally different meanings!)

I even have a spreadsheet I keep that tracks all the prices I paid, their renewal dates, *where* I go to pay them (online vs. mailing check, etc), and how long I’ve had them for.  I HATE getting all those “You better renew now or you’ll never get these mailed again!!” trick notices they do to get you to re-sign up like 6 months earlier, it’s bonkers.  I never knew how much longer I had left, so I started the spreadsheet so I’m always on top of it going forward.  And then I found out you can look at the code they put on the notices too, which sneaks in the actual date it expires! Haha… did you know that?  It’s always small and black and very hard to notice if you’re not looking for it. And I never even knew you could buy mags on Amazon either!  That’s what really sent sent me over the edge last night ;)

So yeah.  My name is J. Money, and I’m a total magazine addict.  You’ll never find me saying to cut them out of your budget like coffee or TV (I hate those tips!) cuz for some of us they prove to be very very valuable – and fun – things in our lives. We all prioritize differently, right?

How about you?  Do you rake in the subscriptions too, or are you more of a book person?  Or have you given up reading all together, except for this insanely awesome blog here? ;) I wanna know!

—————————–
PS: I’ve picked up the book, “The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture,” while I await for new mags to hit the mail, and I gotta say – it’s pretty exciting stuff!  If you like trivia books, or even modern history for that matter, I think you’ll really enjoy this one. Another great A.D.D. book because every page is a new “summary” of a famous person or place or thing! Haha… You’ll like it.

PPS: Most of those subscription links up there are affiliates. I gotta at least *try* and get my money back if y’all find these helpful, right? ;)

Getting soooooooo close to $300k, I can taste it! Just a little way to go and we’ll hit it in no time – I’m pretty psyched.

You multiply that by 3 and we’ve hit $1 Million dollars son! :) Something I never would have guessed was possible 4-5 years ago when we were pretty much breaking even every month.

(That was one of the first lessons I learned with money – it’s hard to grow it if you don’t have anything *extra* to add up at the end of every month!) And while it looked like we slacked on the cash front this month, we actually did pretty well over all but a couple nibblers got in the way and took out some of the zing.

1) Our cat, Bob, got sick again (twice), and we finally made the decision that we’re not bringing him in again as it’s best for both him and us at this point (we added $1,300 to his bill which by now is probably reaching $5,000-$6,000 in the past half a dozen months).  He’s now got 3 serious diseases, and while we can revive him w/ every 5-6 day vet stay, we’re pretty sure his quality of life is finally going way way down.  So we’re spoiling him as long as we can from this point forward, and as soon as it’s time to go back to the vet he’ll be sent away to the Heavens above.  We’re appreciating every day we have left with him though, and so far he’s 30+ days w/out much trouble! :)

2)  We had to cough up an extra $8,000 more in taxes this quarter cuz of my last bump in revenue I got in December.  I should have just not included it in last month’s net worth update really, but of course it slipped my mind and I forgot to take it out ;)  It’s all good though, it’s all the same thing in the end, right?  I’d  happily make an extra $25k again and pay my due share of taxes…

Other than those two big changes, the rest of the month hummed along nicely and the stock market took care of the rest (well, besides us keep moving forward with Operation Kill Mortgages! Another $2,000+ wiped away – woo!) Here’s how the other parts of the equation broke down.

January, 2012 Net Worth Break Down

CASH SAVINGS (-$1,027.96): A negative number this month, but only because I goofed up on our net worth tracking last month ;)  As I mentioned above, we had to shell out an additional $8,000 in taxes last month (which shouldn’t have been included in the last update), as well as $1,300 to heal our sick cat which took us down a little. I’m expecting Feb’s numbers to look a lot more prettier now that I’ve gotten a good grip on my post-Love Drop lifestyle. It’s amazing how much more time you have to hustle when you’re not flying all around the country every other weekend ;)

EMERGENCY FUND ($0.00): Still at the same $10,000 we’ve hit, and left alone, for the past 3-4 years now. Some of you have mentioned that we should pump this up a bit now that I’m self-employed and we have a baby on its way, but I also consider some of that other $99,000 in cash we have stored in various places partly to help in emergencies too ;) That $10k will just be the first to be hit (and hopefully the last!).

IRA: SEP (+$619.04): Nothing more invested in this bad boy last month, but in a little bit we’ll be REALLY pumping it up as soon as I get the go ahead from my accountant on how much I can legally put in (we’re expecting around $23,000 so far).  Not only will that cushion the tax blow for 2011, but it’ll allow me to invest in some more loveable stocks too! Woohoo! :)

IRA: ROTH(s) (+$1,697.26): This guy will remain stagnant when it comes to us putting anything more in, until we get a good grip on what the baby costs are gonna be in the second half of the year… we’d love to max out BOTH our Roths this year (at $5,000 a piece) but it’s def. at the bottom of our priority list for the time being. We’ll see what happens though…

IRA: TRADITIONAL(s) (+$9,360.44): Pretty damn sexy for just allowing the markets to do their thang!  Of course, I’d like to believe it’s all because I’ve brilliantly picked the right funds to invest in and what not, haha, but we all know the whole thing’s just a crazy game.  Most of these companies’ core business never changes, but so many investors sell and buy based on the latest news from talking heads and/or weirdos, ya just never know what’s gonna happen with these markets month after month… as long as we’re inching upward over time though, I’m happy to stay on board and play by the rules ;)  If I sold it all now I’d be up $10k for the month for just doing nothing!

And here’s an update on our Ultimate IRA Game too. It looks like one of our adviser-managed fun has sneakily taken the lead! We’ll see how long that lasts for…

• IRA #1 (NOT Managed): $58,608.95
  
• IRA #2 (Managed, USAA funds): $58,100.49
• IRA #3 (Managed, ALL funds): $58,677.47 **The new leader, by a hair
  

AUTOS WORTH (kbb) (-$40.00): Nothing too worrisome in this department.  Just our cars getting older and losing value as to be expected.   Here’s how they break down this month (we use KBB’s “private party” estimations as that’s how we’d sell them once/if the day ever comes)

• Pimp Daddy Caddy: $2,410.00
• Gas Ticklin’ Toyota: $9,072.00

HOME VALUE (Realtor) ($0.00): This is stagnant at $300,000 too. Not gonna update it until we talk to our realtor again down the road, which may or may not happen anytime soon (I don’t want to bug him unless we want to take action on either selling or renting. And I don’t trust Zillow or the other programs very much, though they are entertaining to watch ;))

MORTGAGES (-$2,472.68): Up to FOUR months now!  Man, time goes by SO fast, right?  I’d like to say paying down these mortgages are getting easier over time too, but I’m not gonna lie – it’s tough.  And we’ve still got like 1 billion more months to go!  Jeesh… I’ll be writing a big blog post about it all soon – too tired to get into it all right now ;)  At least we’re still pushing forward though! Here is what we owe still on both mortgages:

• 1st Mortgage: $286,886.91 – 30 year conventional @ 5.5%
• 2nd Mortgage: $53,095.85 – Maxed out HELOC @ a variable 2.8%

That’s it for this month!  How’d you all do?  Anything exciting or scary come out in Jan for you?  As you know I only wish the best for you guys, so feel free to ask questions or talk about some awesome game plans in the comments below! :)  We’re all in this thing together, baby.

To a great 2012,

———————
PS: For those who have asked recently, I’m starting to put together a 4-year net worth review since I started tracking all of this stuff back in the day. It’s a lot of info to take in, but I’m hoping to share a nice summary post w/ y’all soon on how things have changed over the years… if you guys have something similar yourself, I’d love to see it!  Drop me a link or an email sometime so I can marvel at all your progress and/or pretty graphs :)

It just occurred to me that I haven’t made much money at ALL on any of my savings or money market accounts I have… Or even checking accts for that matter, though that one is *always* in the $hitter. In fact, I haven’t really blogged about the Fed or its affects on the interest rates since June of ’08!  When we were deciding on whether or not to lock in a fixed rate for our mortgage (thank goodness we didn’t!), and the economy was in full melt down mode… jeesh…

But here we are, 3 and 1/2 years later, and our rates are still frozen at the incredibly low amounts in hopes our economy will once again start looking picking up steam.  And with the Fed announcing the other week that they’re KEEPING it that way for ANOTHER couple years or so (at least ’till the end of 2014), it looks like we won’t be getting back to the hay days of interest-making for quite some time.

But not all is bad, either.  In fact, selfishly speaking I actually PREFER to have these stay super low like that for a few more years!  Because if the interest rates on our savings/checking accounts are super low, it means our DEBT interest rates remain lower too!  At least in the general scheme of things.  And right now, that  means two things for me, personally:

1. Our 2nd mortgage (a maxed out HELOC) remains at only 2.8%!!!  My 2nd one!  That’s almost 3 percentage points lower than my 1st mortgage which is not supposed to happen! :)  So obviously I’m gonna be a fan of lower rates just purely based on me saving money on interest debt here for the next few years until I pay that bad boy off (25 months to go! Jeesh…).
2. The second reason I like this a lot is that my credit card rates are insanely low too, stuck at a crazy 6%.  Which is pretty good if I ever wanted to leave any debt on there for an extended amount of time. I won’t be, of course, since I always pay off our credit cards in full each month, but it’s nice to know I won’t be slammed if I make any stupid mistakes down the road or anything ;)

So pros and cons to lower interest rates for sure. (And I’d be singing a different tune too if I had absolutely NO debt and hundreds of thousands stashed away in cds or savings accounts). The scariest part here, though, with all this stuff, is the fact that the Fed STILL doesn’t trust our economy enough to start pumping up the rates at all!  If they’ve just renewed their stance for another 2+ years of non-raising, it means they know a LOT more about what’s going on with our futures than they probably let on (and rightfully so – you don’t want mad mayhem going around if they say the world is falling a part!).  Who knows for sure how drastic, or not, the future economies we live in are deteriorating or anything, but right now it doesn’t look pretty.  Going on only the interest rates, of course ;)

But getting back to our *specific* situations today – how does this non-rate change affect YOU at this moment?  Has it been a GOOD thing for y’all these past few years, or is it really more annoying – personally speaking – since you can’t EARN much money on usual assets like you used to? There’s always pros and cons to all of these kinda things, but I’m hoping you’re taking as much advantage as you can so it all goes MORE into your favor as time goes on  here:)  It’s a damn good time to be financing/re-financing stuff, that’s for sure!

—————–
(Photo by  Clearly Ambiguous)

I came across this “financial cheating” poll this morning and naturally had to make it our “5 For Friday” today ;)  Though we’re only gonna do 6 of the 10 questions posed cuz the others are kinda boring and/or too long to put in here (the whole poll can be found at MSNBC: Do you financially cheat on your spouse? -  and it’s all multiple choice). I tip my hats to Today.com and SELF Magazine for putting it all together and looking forward to the results!

But first, let’s find out if YOU’ve been a truthful little lover over there or not ;) Now’s your time to fess up if you’ve been naughty! Just pray your other half isn’t reading right now like mine is, haha… (Hi honey!). I’ll start us off today, here we go…

1. At what point in a relationship do you disclose money issues, such as major credit card debt or an unsustainable mortgage? I say when it starts getting serious.  Neither of us really had any financial skeletons in our closets – we both started out roughly on the same financial “level” – but we def. divulged a lot more once we started dating for a while.  And by the time we moved in with each other (roughly a year later), we made sure everything was out on the table before we started signing leases and putting together house budgets/etc.  I think at that point you HAVE to know the entire story of a person’s financial situation – esp if marriage is the next step.
2. If you’re married or living with your significant other, how do you and your partner manage your money? The Mrs. and I share a major joint checking and savings account, and then we both have our own checking & savings accounts on the side too. This allows all the big stuff to be taken care of right away (the mortgages, bills, savings for trips, babies, etc), and then the rest in our “own” accounts can be spent as freely as we wish with no questions asked.
3. How much money do you feel it’s OK to spend on a joint credit card or from a joint account without consulting your partner? We have a rule in the house that anything over $100 has to be brought up with the other person – though I tend to forget about that sometimes and always get *caught* in the act, haha… but only because I KNOW she’s gonna say it’s all okay anyways! ;) Luckily neither of us ever go on splurging binges much though. And if we do, we have free reign to raid our personal accounts any time, and spend whatever we want from them as there’s no questions asked with those bad boys.  It works out nicely…
4. Have you ever lied, or hidden, any financial information from your other half? Even little white lies? Hah! Only when I was trying to sneak her engagement ring purchase by her!  Those idiots at the store kept MAILING US STUFF when I specifically told them not to and to change our address (I had given my parents’ address, but because of the way their billing was set up they had the wrong address in there for a little while in the beginning.  It was pretty nerve-wracking).  But other than that, I wouldn’t dare. I don’t keep secrets that well anyways ;)
5. Has your partner ever lied to YOU about money? Not that I know of, haha…
6. Do you think financial infidelity leads to sexual infidelity? Hmmm… I wouldn’t normally think so, but if you’re asking us here in the poll I’m thinking you might know something we don’t ;) I wouldn’t cheat on someone if I found out they were hiding money secrets from me, if that’s what you’re asking.  Though I suppose it wouldn’t help build up trust very much between the two of us if I caught them doing something bad w/ our money. Or if another person ever came into question – trust is a pretty important piece to a relationship.

As you can see, I’m not much of a financial cheater (sorry if I’m too boring! Haha..).

Your turn!  Up for answering those same questions up there?  If you don’t wanna divulge your name or blog or anything like that, just go anonymously or under a fake name so you can wipe away all of your financial sins ;)  We won’t tell anyone, I promise! (Though you should probably come up with a good game plan fast before the other person finds out. Feel free to ask your own questions about that too, if you have any – maybe someone here has gone through the same and can help share some pointers?) Happy weekend everybody!

—————-
(Photo by D.C.Atty)

Happy Friday homies!  Here’s a bunch of articles I liked from around the web this week – hope you learn something good! (Or at least entertain yourself enough to not go out and spend any money :))

1. A Comic That Got it Right @ PF Firewall
2. Make a Million With $225 a Month @ MSN Money
3. $30k Blogging Challenge @ Online Money Bloggers
4. Host a Budget-Friendly Clothing Swap @ Savvy Sugar
5. My $1,000 Lottery Experiment @ Big Lottery Winners
6. From $80 Million to Broke: Update on T.O. @ The Post Game
7. Personal Finance FREE eBook library @ Life Insurance Finder
8. Indiana Man Pays for $25,000 Pickup Truck in Coins @ Fox news
9. I Hate My Job… But I’m Getting a Paycheck! @ Brad Moore Coaching
10. How an Alaskan Mom Brings Millions to Her Carpentry Blog @ Social Media Examiner

(I got this email last week from Barbara over at SpringWell Financial, and I loved it so much that I asked her if I could share it with y’all.  She said no, but I’m gonna do it anyways!  Haha… nah,  of course she said it was okay.  I’m too much of a wuss to do something illegal like that anyways ;) Hope you learn something about taxes today!)

The outlaw Willie Sutton stole an estimated $2 million over a 40-year career robbing banks — and scored the ultimate “success” in his business, living long enough to die of natural causes. Sutton always carried a pistol or Tommy gun with him on jobs, declaring “you can’t rob a bank on charm and personality.” But the gun was never loaded, because, as he said, someone might have gotten hurt! And he became legendary, ironically, for something he never actually said.

According to the story, Sutton was asked why he robbed banks — and replied “because that’s where the money is.” But in his 1976 autobiography, Where the Money Was: The Memoirs of a Bank Robber, he confessed that credit for the line belongs to “some enterprising reporter who apparently felt a need to fill out his copy.”

What does a depression-era bank robber have to do with taxes? Well, the IRS estimates that outlaw taxpayers cost the Treasury $385 billion per year in uncollected taxes — roughly 15% of the amount they believe is due under current law. So they work hard to close that gap. In FY 2011, the IRS employed over 22,000 revenue officers, revenue agents, and special agents. They conducted 391,621 “field” audits and 1,173,069 less-intensive “correspondence” audits. They filed levies on 3.7 million taxpayers and filed over a million liens. But they can’t turn over every rock. So how do they case their targets?

Earlier last month, the IRS released their FY 2011 Enforcement and Service Results revealing how likely you are to be audited. And even Willie Sutton would have appreciated the IRS’s “M.O.”:

• If you make less than $200,000, your overall audit risk is only about one in a hundred. (Of course, that average encompasses a range of possibilities. If you run a sole proprietorship in a cash-heavy business like takeout pizza, your risk may be far higher.)
• If you make over $200,000, your overall audit risk rises to about one in twenty-five. Obviously, the IRS sees more opportunity in chasing higher income earners.
• If you pull down $1 million+, your audit risk rises again to one in eight. Welcome to the 1%!

The IRS likes targeting entertainers, athletes, and other celebrities, too. Sure, it sets a high-profile example for the rest of us. But it’s also (spoiler alert) where the money is. Take Hollywood trainwreck Lindsay Lohan, for example. Google her name, and you’ll usually find it followed by “failed another breathalyzer test” or “missed her court-appointed community service.” But last month, Lohan made a different kind of headline. That’s right, the IRS filed a lien against her home seeking $93,701.57 in unpaid taxes from 2009.

Our jobs as accountants is to help you pay the minimum tax allowed by law. But we know the IRS is out to challenge us, so we don’t cut corners. We give you good, solid planning. That way, even if you do lose the “audit lottery,” you’ll feel safe knowing your savings are court-tested and IRS-approved.

————-
EDITOR’S NOTE:  Have any of you ever been audited before?  Did it come out okay? 1 in 100 doesn’t seem bad at all, but I def. don’t want to find experience it, haha… though I’m pretty sure w/ all my blog stuff going on I’ll be due for one at some point over the next few years ;) Yet another reason to be friendly w/ an accountant you trust!

Barbara Richardson is a CPA with SpringWell Financial – a full-service Certified Public Accounting and personal financial consulting company dedicated to empowering individuals and small businesses to financial freedom.

I saw this over at Everyday Minimalist, and just love it. Thinking of printing it out and putting it on my wall as a reminder to stay on track – I tend to wander at times :)  Maybe you’ll like this too?

A Minimalist’s Train of Thought

Less money spent means more money saved

More money saved means the longer you can live in financial peace and security

Financial peace and security comes from owning less

Less stuff owned means less to carry around, move or have to travel with

Less responsibility for your stuff also means less maintenance and more time

The more time you have, the more relaxed you will feel

The more relaxed you are, the less you will care about stuff

If you care less about stuff, it means you’ll care less about image

If you care less about image, you will care more about experiences and memories

If you care more about experiences and memories, you will be happier with less

If you are happier with less, you’ll never want or need for more

The less you want or need for more, the more you will feel free

- The Everyday Minimalist

————–
PS: Thanks to Fabulously Broke for allowing me to re-share this! You’re an inspiration, my friend.