Death and taxes., the two absolutes for every citizen in the U.S. and most other countries around the world. In the U.S. April 15 is usually a big day, the last day to file your taxes for the previous years earnings. For some tax time is one we don't look forward to to as we have to make out a check to Uncle Sam and possibly the State we live in. But for a lot of people it is a celebration! They are due a... REFUND! Woo hoo! But what should you do with that refund? The crew sits down and discusses what you can do with your refund in 2021 in the latest Shootin the Financial S...!
Death and taxes., the two absolutes for every citizen in the U.S. and most other countries around the world. In the U.S. April 15 is usually a big day, the last day to file your taxes for the previous years earnings. For some tax time is one we don't look forward to to as we have to make out a check to Uncle Sam and possibly the State we live in. But for a lot of people it is a celebration! They are due a... REFUND! Woo hoo! But what should you do with that refund? The crew sits down and discusses what you can do with your refund in 2021 in the latest Shootin the Financial S...!
[inaudible] Welcome to Talk Wealth to Me, a safe space podcast, where we chat about anything and everything related to personal finance, the information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute as accounting, legal tax or other professional advice.
Chase Peckham:I'm excited. How are you doing Phil?
Felipe Arevalo:Doing all right. Doing all right. It's uh, what traditionally would be a tax day, uh, coming up here, but that's been extended. So that's, I know that's relieving a lot of stress from some of those, uh, procrastinating individuals who wait to do taxes.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. You know, it's super funny because I have quite a, I have a couple friends that are CPAs and this is usually the, you know, I don't see them for about three months. Uh, they're gone, you know, cause it's, it's.
Felipe Arevalo:Non stop.
Chase Peckham:The April 15th date. Yeah. And then, you know, you're going to celebrate with them afterwards. And uh, and then it's also that date that people start to think about getting back their returns and then there's the people that are stressing because they haven't gotten them in yet and are do, how do I file an extension and all those, those things. But it's weird. Cause my CPA friends are like, man, I still got another month of this.
Felipe Arevalo:Right.
Chase Peckham:But at the same time, they're saying, look, everything's kind of so weird with the, with the, what, what the government just not there they're behind. Um, so he said, you know, but thanks. He's like, thank goodness. But at the same time, it's almost like that date that I circle every year is not, we're not going yet.
Felipe Arevalo:It's not that same thing. Yeah. And you see it on like a, I know part of the, uh, personal finance, Twitter world and, and you see people like, Oh my returns taking a long time or um, you know, people who are late to get there, a stimulus checks and things like that, where they're still getting it. And they have like this new found influx of cash for filing extensions to pay back and thing. But um, yeah, it's a, it's a tax season, I guess, although a different type of tax season.
Chase Peckham:It is. Do you have yours done yet?
Felipe Arevalo:Oh yeah, we did ours, uh, maybe a month ago.
Chase Peckham:A month ago. So did you get your return yet?
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. It was actually pretty quick. And it's funny I was mentioning, this is one of the few times with the state of California. It got into us before, uh, the IRS,
Chase Peckham:You gotta be kidding.
Felipe Arevalo:IRS is a little behind, but the state of California was on it!
Chase Peckham:That is crazy. Usually the state of the California lags.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah, no, they were on it this year and it was quick. I don't remember exactly how long, but the state one was, was in it. It surprised me when I saw it in there pending on, on the little app. I was like, wow,
Chase Peckham:Well, that's great. Did you, is there a specific app that you're, that you use to get the return?
Felipe Arevalo:No, we did ours through, um, through H and R and they have an app, but after they were filed, I just
Chase Peckham:So you hired somebody through H and R block to help.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah I just did a text updates, you get a text update every step of the way.
Chase Peckham:So did you all right, let's have it. Did you have a good return?
Felipe Arevalo:We did. And I think having kids, um, and I know Sarah is big on, uh, on returns. She's always liked the, the idea of a tax return, even though she understands that it's your money. Uh, and you could've gotten it over the course of the year. Um, she, she likes it that way.
Chase Peckham:Its the mental side.
Felipe Arevalo:So we have it set up. Yeah.
Chase Peckham:That's great.
Felipe Arevalo:So we have it set up that way so that we, so that we get a return, um, every year and every year it gets smaller.
Chase Peckham:But as you get older, I mean, you get the kids, you're getting write offs for the first. I mean, that's something now you guys are getting used to. Right. That's a little bit different.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah, Yeah. A little bit different. And, and, and, you know, w we're not homeowners yet, so we can't write off that interest and, and that kind of thing. So we'll see. But it does, it's still nice to get a return and not have I don't, I guess I don't fear taxes because I know I'm going to get a return. I don't know how much always, and I know it's going to be less than last year, but I still know that I'm going to get a return. So it's just more the hassle, even though you're getting a return, it's just a hassle of going through the tax process.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. The tax process is it's arduous. I mean, it can be very, uh, it's just labor intensive. Even if you're having somebody else do it, you still have to keep all the paperwork together.
Felipe Arevalo:Oh exactly.
Chase Peckham:Get all those things that you need to
Felipe Arevalo:An this year in the digital world, you have digital W2's digital childcare, receipts, digital, this and that. And, and, and it was an odd year where we had what we paid for childcare, but also a childcare refund because we had paid ahead when COVID came, they refunded us, but they didn't refund us till way later. And it was just like, now there's three documents for two months, a month and a half of childcare for 2020. And it's just like, man, it's a good thing. They're digital. And I never delete anything, uh, because I still have all the emails that have the little receipt attachments, but otherwise, I don't know. I'd have to call the school district and ask them to re send the form.
Chase Peckham:Yeah, it's funny. I, Kerri and I meet on that, but I got to give Kerri prop, she, she is, well, she's just that kind of person anyway, type a personality. She, she's very, she's an organized person by nature. Um, I'm not, uh, and even though I do this for a living, she just she's comfortable taking care of that stuff, but there's still, you know, I need to make sure that I get her, everything. I need to make sure that when we discuss how we're going to do stuff, but at the same time, she still is the one that gets it all prepared and gets it to our accountant. So, um, that that's, uh, I gotta give her props for that because.
Felipe Arevalo:It's the same for me.
Chase Peckham:It's not as stressful for me as it is for her.
Felipe Arevalo:Right. It's normally me running to Sarah. Hey, uh, how did I get, where do I get this paperwork for the childcare receipts? Um, and she's like, I told you not to put your email, uh, now you have to go to your email to pull them up. I don't have them.
Chase Peckham:It's good to know marriages are very similar a lot of times,
Felipe Arevalo:Right? So now I'm sitting there going through my Gmail.
Chase Peckham:Us guys are useless.
Felipe Arevalo:Trying to find the information that I'm sure I've lost. And I was like, you know what? It's there it's an old email, but, but then, then doing like the math, like why does it not adding up? And then you're in my head, I'm thinking childcare. And I look at the total and I was like, that's ridiculous. I know we pay a ton for childcare. That is not nearly enough. But then you have to remember, you know, 2020, the before and afterschool program ended in March.
Chase Peckham:Right.
Felipe Arevalo:Because that's when everyone went remote and he's been distance learning this year. So there wasn't before and afterschool program this year. And I, it was just like, Oh, Oh, it really was just like, from winter break, the end of winter break in 2020 till early March, when everybody got sent home, it wasn't that long of a time period.
Chase Peckham:Right. But your mindset, you're still thinking you're paying for that every month.
Felipe Arevalo:I'm used to my normal amount.
Chase Peckham:You saved all that money. But isn't it funny when you go to do your taxes and you're like, dog on it. I wish I spent more money on that. Cause you get that return.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. I going to get some of that back.
Chase Peckham:But at the same time, Ultimately you had more money for the long run.
Felipe Arevalo:It's true. Yes.
Chase Peckham:So people and that's, I think that's why the great topic about what you're going to do with your tax return because so many people think and it's been so long for me, but we work with so many people that do get tax returns. Um, just it's, it's just because of where I am in life. Right. I'm 49 year old male who's, you know, been married for quite a long time. And I've had children that are one that's getting into his teen years. And one that's just turned 11, you know? So we've been doing this for awhile, a homeowner, uh, my wife has a side business. We're starting, you know, we're at that point where we're doing the long form tax returns and there's a lot of write-offs and, um, it just way more complicated. So having the CPA that we have for the number of years, uh, and having that relationship to really work together to, you know, I'm not getting a return. We have to pay out, but it's, it's minimizing what we have to pay out every year. And we're just budgeting for that. So it's a different type of thing, but so many people that you and I work with, and that's why I'm interested in what you guys are doing is so many people think of that as just new found money and that they're going to go do something fun with it, or they're going to, and not that that's wrong, I don't even want to say that that's wrong because if you're budgeting and you're budgeting for the account that you're going to get money back then, by all means whatever, what have you. But at the same time, you've got to think of that. That, that is your money. That is money that you have earned. You just, you decided to give it to the government earlier on so you could get it back.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. And I think if you, if, if your budget can handle not needing it throughout the course of the year and, and you don't plan on it being there at the end, you know, it's there, but you don't incorporate it into the actual numbers. Then when it does get there, you're like, okay, I can do something with this. Um, as long as you're aware that you also could have spread that out and received it over the course of the last year, um, you know, it is like more of a choice before I was married. I like to break even. Um, and, and, and, and, you know, within a couple of hundred dollars either way, um,
Chase Peckham:Right.
Felipe Arevalo:And that's, but Sarah likes the bigger returns and I'm okay with it. It's not that, uh, it's, it's what she likes and, and that makes her feel comfortable about it. So I'm all right with it. And as long as there's that awareness, but you see videos on like YouTube or, or whatever of, especially young people reacting to their first paycheck. And you've got these like 16, 17 year olds, they just got their first paycheck and they tear it up and their parents are recording them and they look at it and they go, Oh, wait a minute. What happened? Um, I worked more than this, or, you know what, this isn't what I made. Uh, and, and there there's been a couple, I think last year that they were just perfect for it. And you're sitting there and you're looking at it like, they're, they're learning about taxes on the spot while they look at their first paycheck. And there's that moment where you go, Oh, Oh, wow. Um, and do, who knows how they filled out their w their, their work paperwork and their, um, withholdings and whatnot. So they may have messed it up and are taking more. But I think it's important to, to take that more as a teaching moment and, and let those, uh, young people know that, you know, if, because they're probably making less than, you know, the standard deduction and things like that, they're probably getting most of that back when they file, um, is you're seeing it come out of your paycheck. It's like, Whoa, when that first time, when you, when you see it and you're not prepared for it, it's like, where did it all go?
Chase Peckham:Yeah. There's no doubt. You're absolutely right about that. Um, I think that financial planners and, and us personal finance people will say all the time that, of course we can save money, um, put it away. Uh, and we'll talk about the different kinds of things that you can do with your tax return, but it always comes back to budgeting. Doesn't it?
Felipe Arevalo:Right.
Chase Peckham:If you were saving your money and you are doing the things that you're keeping track of your budgeting, and if you budget for the fact that you're going to get that return, who's to say where you should put it.
Felipe Arevalo:Right.
Chase Peckham:Maybe it is for that vacation down the line. And instead of putting that vacation on a, uh, a credit card or, you know, saving for it every month that you know that you're going to save for your vacations with the tax return. I mean, that can happen. I mean, that's not necessarily wrong.
Felipe Arevalo:No. And I mean, if you get, if someone does get a return right now, you know, that gives you perfect time to plan for your summer vacation. You still have your a few months out and you can start planning for it. And, and, and I, I have heard people who they wait until tax season, do their taxes, take the return, and then depending on what their return is, it determines what kind of traveling they get to do in the summer months. Um, you know, assuming their budget is balanced and they're saving elsewhere and they're saving throughout the course of the year, you know, that's their own personal, uh, financial decision. And, and as long as they're taking care of everything else, you know, who's say that's necessarily the wrong.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. And I think that's what I was trying to get to. We, we talked with our SWYM live today about the different things that you can do with it. So I think that you came up, there was something that I really, really liked, and the idea was that it's okay to take care of yourself. Right? Cause we talked, you can invest in yourself. We talk about investing. And that was part of it. We talked about the fact that you can start a savings that paid down. We had done paying debt, which, which, man, those are all very positive things.
Felipe Arevalo:All great.
Chase Peckham:And if you're in debt, then yes, that's probably the smartest way to go about it because you're going to be saving yourself a lot of money. But I think we've learned through COVID too, how important it is to take care of ourselves, uh, both physically and mentally, uh, and that we do need to, to pamper ourselves every once in a while. Um, you know, purely the idea of, you know, getting away or just doing something that you haven't been able to do. Uh, you know, for instance, I'm surprising my wife, I know that she has a tendency, she loves to be alone. Sometimes she likes to be, um, to have that feeling of being in a hotel room and just reading a book and, you know, and I think a lot of moms and I think a lot of dads do, but I think a lot of them, yeah, they, they miss that quiet and, and cause they're constantly, there's no harder job in the world than being a mom. I really believe that. Um, and if you're a working mom.
Felipe Arevalo:It's like 24 seven.
Chase Peckham:Whether you're a working mom or not, it's difficult, but it is 24 seven and, and it's, and I think that it's becoming like that with us with fathers too. I think that we do have a lot, but at that same time, I just think that if I can invest, you know, if I can take a hundred dollars or a couple of hundred dollars and, and surprise my wife to give her a night to go to a hotel and order room service and just get into a robe and lay in bed and read a book and do whatever it is she wants, um, to just kind of refuel the jets without having us around all the time, which by the way, with COVID, we've, we've all been together 24 seven. Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:Right.
Chase Peckham:And, and, and I'm, you know, at first I kind of think, well, gosh, does she not love? Of course she loves me, but everybody we're human beings. Why not use the money for something like that? That could, it's going so far the benefits of it, the looking back and going, gosh, how much more I missed my kids for a night and now I'm so much more excited to go see them, you know? Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:Well, it could be, it's like the equivalent of your or I saying, you know what, I'm going to go. I'm going to go golfing.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Oh, that's beautiful.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah.
Chase Peckham:Right.
Felipe Arevalo:I have a, uh, a buddy of mine is getting married and, and he, uh, his, uh, toned down bachelor party is a golfing weekend and it's local. So I can go. And I was like, you know, golfing Saturday and Sunday, I haven't golfed in a long time. And it wasn't good at it when I was golfing constantly. But you know, just that four and a half hours,
Chase Peckham:People gonna have to take out insurance policies on you when they go out there with you, if they're in you foursome.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah.
Chase Peckham:Do they offer that?
Felipe Arevalo:They need to bring a helmet because it's going to be, it's not going to be pretty. Um, and I told him it was a giant group, text message. And I dropped in and I was like, fore, it's gonna go all over the place.
Chase Peckham:Your gonna hear that a lot.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. I'll be screaming fore all day. Um, but you know, it's, it's five hours, four and a half hours, whatever the round is a little before and the little after. Um, and it's like, I think Sarah is as excited about it as I am just cause I'll be out, I'll be out and about doing whatever it is I'm doing, but you know, just to get out, get some sun and, and, and, you know, have it be where I can just relax and suck at golf, which is what I love doing and what I've been doing for since I started playing. Um, but I enjoy it. I probably won't even keep score. Uh,
Chase Peckham:Probably a good idea.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. I'm, I'm not, I'm just, yeah. Put me down for a
Chase Peckham:This, this is a good idea for, for, for a person like yourself, who hasn't played in a while. And instead of keeping score, just keep track of how many golf balls,.
Felipe Arevalo:Oh yeah that's a good strategy.
Chase Peckham:Uh, how many times, how many holes in a row did you keep the same golf ball? Cause that could be that, that that's a good thing. And if you say, Hey, I, I, I came back with losing less than a dozen balls, then you've done a pretty good job.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. I agreed to it. And then I was like, wait, where are we playing? And I started looking at how challenging the course was. And apparently it's a tough course and I'm going to be in even more trouble than I thought, uh, w e're going to golf. U h B arona.
Chase Peckham:Oh, Oh wow. That's a nice course. Nice track.
Felipe Arevalo:That's what I heard. Very tough. You know, they have, they have qualifying tournaments there. Yeah, that's really tough. Yeah. That's when I, after I started reading on it, I was like, Oh wow.
Chase Peckham:I played there twice. And one of them was a long time ago. I played with one of my close friends who works for the NFL, uh, network. Now Leah Valette, uh, she, she's an amazing, uh, woman, uh, very successful TV, uh, was worked at channel four Padres for a long time. Got to know her. A lot of Padre fans will remember her as, as ball, girl, Leah. Um, but I played with her there and, uh, it, it is a incredibly difficult course.
Felipe Arevalo:That's what I was reading afterwards. After I agreed to it.
Chase Peckham:Yeah You might want to play from the red tees.
Felipe Arevalo:That's the Saturday. I'm going to have to see if I could get away with it. Then on the Sunday, we're playing Cottonwood, which is where we play our high school golf. Uh,
Chase Peckham:That's less difficult.
Felipe Arevalo:That is significantly less difficult. I can handle that course.
Chase Peckham:And much better on the tax return budget.
Felipe Arevalo:Right. It's significantly lower price point. Um, but you know, I haven't golfed in over a year. Um, and you know, it's, it's fun. I enjoy it. And these are some of these guys I've been golfing with. I say it, during my presentations. I've been golfing at the same guys for 20 years. You know, it's the same, it's the same guys. So it'll be fun to take it out there and take care of yourself. And if you spend a little money, as long as your budget can handle it, you know, who's to say, that's wrong thing to do with your tax money. But you know, other things that we were saying with the investing yourself as maybe go back to school and, you know, there's people who might want to, who've been wanting to go back to school and maybe you just, maybe it's not enough to go back all the way, but maybe you don't want to go back full-time to start off anyways.
Chase Peckham:Yeah maybe there's a specific class you want to take. Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Take a class, go to your local community college. And they're not as inexpensive as they once were, but they're still pretty affordable compared to any of the universities.
Chase Peckham:Absolutely.
Felipe Arevalo:Um, you know, take a class, learn Excel or something more exciting.
Chase Peckham:writing you know If you've always wanted to write.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. I mean, there's great creative writing courses and stuff like that. Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Whatever it is. Anything really, if you, if you look at like the learn a language, uh,
Chase Peckham:I'm going to just say no, cause I can't do it. I'm so bad at it.
Felipe Arevalo:Learn a language?
Chase Peckham:My son he's in Spanish right now and he knows he's in his second year of Spanish in seventh grade. And he already
Felipe Arevalo:Surpassed your Spanish?
Chase Peckham:I don't know if he can have a conversation with you, but yeah, he's already talking over my head.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. It's something where, you know, but maybe it's something, you know, a career certificate that may be able to help someone advance their career or, um, you know, or just something they enjoy, you know, um, lessons for golf lessons, um, you know, um, anything really, and, and, and you can, some of them can be productive. You take a writing class, maybe you can start writing on the side. You know, you, you, you can, uh, further your skills that way. Um, I think that, so take some time and, and at least consider, you know, investing a little in yourself and, and, and in loved ones. Um,
Chase Peckham:Yeah, and I think that's really, especially in these times, I think that this is a diff coming out of a pandemic, which none of us had ever come out of before. We're all kind of in a different area of life. And we kind of view things a little bit differently possibly, but at the same time, numbers are still numbers and finances are still finances. And those don't change based on whether there's a pandemic or we're in regular times, uh, emergencies are gonna happen. There's gonna be things that come up privately, personally, uh, those things. And so you've still the foundation of it all is to go back to your goals and what those are and, and, or creating the new ones that you have coming out of the pandemic. But working with, if you're married or you're single one way or the other is have that conversation with yourself or your spouse or your loved one, um, that, you know, what is it that we want to accomplish? What is it that we want to do? I know that, um, you know, our colleague, uh, it just is in the final stages of buying a home and they've been working at it for so long and saving and putting other different, uh, ways of financial gain that they have accumulated through the years and using that for the down payment, but then going through all of it that that's, that's a goal that they set for themselves. And, and, you know, part of that is using some of the tax returns. They had it and putting it away for whatever that might be. So that is, you still want to look at that. You still want to say, what is it that you can do? What you mean? Can you put it away in a and open up a new IRA that you've never opened up before? Because you just think that I'm, how am I saving? I've got my putting into my 401k. Is it going to be enough to retire? And in chances are, unless you've had a financial planner that's been putting, you know, helping you, you know, put you on a plan, then chances are, you don't know if you're going to have enough for retirement at this point. Uh, and it's hard to know.
Felipe Arevalo:Well, that was another thing is you can take some of that money and, and look for someone looking for professional guidance from a financial planner, from a tax professional, from a attorney from, uh, you know, and, and, and that's another way you could spend that tax return is, is coming up, helping you come up with that plan or helping you, you know, we've, we've done episodes on wills and trusts, and you know, maybe, maybe you don't have one, but you think you should, you just couldn't afford to go get it. And now you have this tax return sitting right there, so you can afford to go get it. Now
Chase Peckham:And you got to ask yourself, can you afford not to?
Felipe Arevalo:Right.
Chase Peckham:Because ultimately, no matter how little or how much you have there is, you can lose it if you're not prepared. And if anybody has ever had parents that they've had to go through their final stages of life with, you know, unfortunately I've been there for one of those. And, and I've watched my dad and my mother go through their, losing their parents and dealing with their affairs, um, that you really being prepared for all of the scenarios, um, is going to help out your, your kids, your future family. Uh, and, and the honest truth is you want your money and your legacy to go where you want it to go.
Felipe Arevalo:You want it to go, Right.
Chase Peckham:That's where a probate attorney tells probate.
Felipe Arevalo:Court.
Chase Peckham:Court tells you where it's going to go and, and people to get it that you don't want to. Um, that that's an important thing. And, and that is, uh, you know, in even as little as talking about, uh, setting an executor, uh, to your estate, um, having somebody, you have a power of attorney, if in case you, something happens to you and they need to get to your bank accounts and, and get to those tax returns, um, that's important stuff to, to put together, um, that, that you have a safety net, so to speak, because if you've ever tried, I mean, thank goodness. You know, my mother and my dad, when my mom was really sick, when we had, you know, gave me the power of attorney to be able to get into a bank accounts and all that stuff before my mom got really sick, um, we wouldn't have been able to do that. And if something happens to my father, then you know, th so all those things that, that you need to do, and that's really hard to do to set up yourself, having a professional guide. You it's penny wise and dollar foolish. You know, we talk about DIY a lot of times when we talk, I, and somebody says, well, how come you're not going to put an, your own faucet on, because I'm going to cost myself a lot more money by me doing it, because I'm going to break something else than I am by hiring somebody that knows what they're doing that can do it in 10 minutes,
Felipe Arevalo:The potential savings are not enough to, uh, to risk the potential expense of most home repairs or auto repairs
Chase Peckham:It is I know my limits, and it's not because I'm not trying. I just know that I am not going to do as nearly as good a job.
Felipe Arevalo:And you might spend all day on it.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Penny wise and dollar foolish,
Felipe Arevalo:That's like, when people say, well, why don't you do this or that on your car? Cause I like my car running. And if I start messing with it.
Chase Peckham:Especially Today's cars. I mean, they're all computer. I mean, how are you going to, you need the equipment to work on them? It's not like the days when my dad got me, my old 19, what was it? An old 65 Mustang, 64 and a half. I didn't realize what I had.
Felipe Arevalo:You could sit in the thing and work on your engine.
Chase Peckham:You could change the oil in 20 minutes. It's the simplest thing in the world nowadays. I can't even find my oil filter in my trucks engine.
Felipe Arevalo:It's true.
Chase Peckham:There's so much stuff going on in there.
Felipe Arevalo:I remember my dad's old truck. It was super easy. You slide on underneath it. Find a little thing, two or three things, no tools, really. And it was.
Chase Peckham:A wrench.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Let it drain a wrench. Yeah. To move. And then you put the new one back in there. You see all that up. And it's done. I honestly, I, I look at my car and my car being small. Like everything is just jumbled in there where even if I tried to pull it, it would just break something. Oh no.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Not worth it. It's worth the 80 bucks to have it done.
Felipe Arevalo:Right.
Chase Peckham:It really is.
Felipe Arevalo:You end up with a whole bunch of extra check engine lights. If you do it yourself,
Chase Peckham:That's the kind of thing you can do with the tax return too. Right? If you have those projects or if you have things that you need done, I mean, how many times have you run into where your, your tires are a little bit bald and, and you know that they're a little bit dangerous and you want to change them. But look, the cost of tires is so much, and you don't want to add to the credit card, you know, putting those on their tax return can do things like that. So, I mean, if you're budgeting that in and you're the there's so many different things that you can do with it that are constructive, but at the same time, you've got to do what's best for you. You got to do what's best for your family. And, and the honest truth is the honest truth. That's an oxymoron. Um, you're telling the truth that hopefully that's honest. So I don't know why I said that, but the truth is that you can be honest with yourself. You know, if you're being honest with yourself and come up with a game plan, I think we say it over and over and over again, when it comes to a budget, paying back debt, if you have debt lingering over your head and you've been stressing about it and you get a good flux of cash back from your tax return, and you can put a dent into that. Maybe you should look at doing that instead of doing something fun. And, but now you're stressing on the same debt. Uh, you know, that that's, that's a conversation that you need to have. And, and, uh, you know, a lot of times the feeling of knocking back a lot of debt can be as good of a feeling as you get from planning that vacation.
Felipe Arevalo:It can be better than a Vacation.
Chase Peckham:Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah. Paying off a large chunk of debt can be more rewarding and more stress-relieving.
Chase Peckham:Yes.
Felipe Arevalo:Than a vacation, especially in the long- term that week you're gone in Hawaii or on the beach. Yeah. That's going to be less stressful.
Chase Peckham:Then you're coming back.
Felipe Arevalo:Come right back to it and paying off a large chunk of debt is, is more of like, okay, that's gone. And even if you don't pay it off all the way, you know, maybe you just pay off a chunk of it.
Chase Peckham:Sure.
Felipe Arevalo:But now you'd get that much closer to them,
Chase Peckham:You're paying that much less in interest. Right. And feeling,
Felipe Arevalo:It might re motivate you.
Chase Peckham:Yes.
Felipe Arevalo:To get back into it and to really buckle down and, and pay it off.
Chase Peckham:Create that game plan. I, I think it's just so funny listening to so many people, when they say I get my tax return, I'm going, and I'm going to put a lift on my truck and you just go, but you, we talked the other day and you're stressing about debt. I mean, let's, let's, let's work on this. It's changing your frame of mind.
Felipe Arevalo:Right.
Chase Peckham:If It's, you know, you feel like you're drinking too much, then you need to change something you need to, there's fundamental changes that need to make. And it's the same thing with finances. Um, it's, it's you, you, you, if we have bad habits, you can train yourself to have good habits. Right. So it's, it's all about just changing the frame of mind and coming up with those goals and that game plan and giving you something to work towards.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah.
Chase Peckham:Quitting smoking, quitting tobacco, whatever it might be, you know, any of those vices that we have, if you want to eat better.
Felipe Arevalo:Quitting junk food.
Chase Peckham:Junk food, all of that, uh, quit it. You know, I quit diet Cokes 10 years ago. I can't believe my wife was saying, can you believe it was 10 years ago? You had, is the last time I had a diet Coke.
Felipe Arevalo:Really?
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Can you believe that?
Felipe Arevalo:I remember.
Chase Peckham:Yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah.
Chase Peckham:Crazy. Yeah. So anyway, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's interesting, you know, there's no right or wrong. I mean, honestly, it's, it's about what you do, but you, it is for you and me to tell somebody whether they're being right or wrong. Uh, th that's difficult to do. We can guide, um, we guide people. Um, we give them best practices.
Felipe Arevalo:Rule of thumb.
Chase Peckham:Rule of thumb, exactly. Averages, those kinds of things. But ultimately you need to make the best choice that's right for you. Um, but at the end of the day, you know, whether you've been honest with yourself and that's, that's who you gotta listen to, unless of course you're married, then you listen.
Felipe Arevalo:Then you got another person.
Chase Peckham:Then you listen to your wife, if you know, what's good for you.
Felipe Arevalo:That's right.
Chase Peckham:Kerri and Sarah, when they listened to this, I hope they get a kick out of it because
Felipe Arevalo:Yeah.
Chase Peckham:It's True.
Felipe Arevalo:I know my, my oldest, he was just telling me earlier today he's. Um, Sarah was Joking about something. I said, Oh yeah, sure. Sounds good. And she said, are you just agreeing with me so that, so that I'm happy and you hear my seven year old Barrington, like he does that a lot. Mom.
Chase Peckham:Wise beyond his years.
Felipe Arevalo:I was like, Oh, well done.
Chase Peckham:Wise beyond his years.
Felipe Arevalo:Well done. He's learning
Chase Peckham:Well, happy tax pseudo tax day. Um, and for those of you, remember May 17th is now your date to get all that in. And if you get your tax return and you're getting money back, congratulations to you. But think ahead, think about what you want to do with that. Um, because it can help you a lot or you can just go away. Uh, and regardless if, if, uh, don't be penny wise and dollar foolish, I think that that's a fun one. We'll tackle[inaudible].