OMG!! Over $900 unexpected BONUS!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
OMG!! Over $900 unexpected BONUS!!!
5
Fri, 02-24-2006 - 3:00pm

I did my taxes yesterday and discovered that I am getting back over $500!!! As if that wasn't fantastic enough news in itself, my company paid out it's yearly incentive bonus today - last year I got a paltry $50 - this year I got $400!!!!


I don't even know what to do with this money!!! Should I:



  • put it towards debt?

  • put it in my savings account?

  • spend some of it on something FUN??

  • some combination of the above??

I'm just so ecstatic about this!!!



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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2006
Fri, 02-24-2006 - 3:04pm
That is awesome!!! Do remember that bonuses are always taxed much higher than regular income. I would save 50 dollars to put to fun $$ and put the rest towards debt.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-1999
Fri, 02-24-2006 - 5:27pm
Way to go...great news on a TGIF day!!! I'm sure whatever your plans for your windfall that it will be put to good use! Enjoy
cindylee
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2006
Fri, 02-24-2006 - 8:59pm
My employer takes the taxes out when we have gotten bonuses in the past. Hopefully, this was done for you and you won't have to worry about the taxes. I would say take a litte and enjoy it, have a little fun. As for do you pay down debt or build emergency fund, where do you stand on those right now? You have to do what is going to work best for your situation.
I sat down a couple of weekends ago and made excel spreadsheet of my debt and payment to $0 bal. If I stay on that schedule I'll be debt free 12/31/07. The plan was to use tax money to pay down the debt a little earlier but I currently have $0 money from fiance in the vacation fund and tapped the emergency fund this week to get us through, so tax money will have to replenish my meager emergency fund, maybe even get it up to $500 (where I'd be more comfortable) before I work to speed up the debt reduction any more. I already pay twice a month more than the minimums each payment, actually I have been paying the same amount for about 6 months 2x a month which at the time was the minimums ie: payment/minimums are currently: 45/27, 50/24, 105/85, 125/100. I'm paying them off in this order and the first number was the old minimum payment and I keep paying that amount twice a month and will pay first card off in September and snow flake that to the next. Since we had a rough 2 weeks, we'll replenish efund before additional payments to the credit cards and if the e-fund get big enough we'll try and work on the vacation fund as the money flow gets a little better next month (**knocking on wood**). Pam

Proud sister of a Marine:

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Avatar for endomagazine
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Thu, 03-02-2006 - 10:21pm

Hello,

What a great unexpected bonus! If your emergency fund is under $1000, I would put some of the money (80%?) to getting it to $1000. If you have money left over at that point (or your efund is already there) I'd suggest putting 80% of it into debt payment (send to your target debt for a quicker payoff.. yippee!), keeping 10% for future taxes, and 10% for something fun.

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke

Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished

Avatar for cl_phocid
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 03-03-2006 - 8:05am

I'm always a fan of a "combo" - some to debt, some to savings, some to fun, and maybe some earmarked for "known" expenses...like Christmas.


Congrats!

All my best,
Danni