March Ballin

I had to invent my own theme song for how paid I'mma be this month. This is a PSA that if you got paid Friday March 1st and you're on a bi-weekly pay schedule, you will get THREE checks this month and one other month in 2019. I also filed taxes this last weekend and am expecting another paycheck and a half. Our orange leader's tax reform shafted a lot of people who were planning on their usual tax return numbers, but us frugal folks aren't too roughed up. Disappointed, but not in financial crisis, right?

I have two thoughts on tax refunds. One is that a refund means you overpaid taxes the whole year, and the federal government got an interest-free loan from you. If you have unlocked the key to the universe and know exactly how much in taxes to have withheld over the year to end up at $0, then investing that money is better. In my case, if I knew the secret, my $1800 refund would be $1980 if I had invested every cent into my Vanguard account at 10% in 2018. The other thought is that I respect people who take the more convenient option of having extra deductions during the year and do impactful things with their yearly refunds. Well, more impactful than our blinged-out Moet-pourer at the top of the post.

image from johnlund.com

If my refund is what the software said it would be, half of it is going to an extra mortgage payment. The remaining money will go towards upgrading the house. The fan was $30, but labor to install it could be $400. I just paid $100 for over $1500 worth of eco-friendly cork flooring for my whole living room, including gas to pick it up. If I'm patient with OfferUp and Craigslist, I can get better blinds for the two windows in my unit for < $100. So far, all of these pursuits are investments and will add value to the home. You may be rolling your eyes at my corny dedication to investment with the windfall, but I also spent a large chunk on something super frivolous: a PS4 Pro. My current system works fine, and this new one won't allow me to play new games or anything; it's a graphical upgrade and runs quieter.

Keep raising the wage floor!

Products with integrity...

According to TheGuardian, Amazon raised the minimum wage across warehouses and Whole Foods stores to $15. One of the main arguments against raising wages is always that hours will be cut. So, Whole Foods cut working hours to compensate. All of this is predictable behavior, but at the same time, Yahoo Finance says, "Thanks to the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), Amazon’s federal tax responsibility is 21% (down from 35% in previous years). But with the help of tax breaks, according to corporate filings, Amazon won’t be paying a dime to Uncle Sam despite posting more than $11.2 billion in profits in 2018."

So, Whole Foods, a store whose workers can't realistically afford to buy their own goods, will cut hours, meaning their (generally high-earning) patrons will be waiting longer for service. One user mentioned having to make room for employee shoppers who are gathering goods for home delivery orders. The long-con here is that customers with time constraints will then switch to Prime Fresh and get Whole Foods delivered to them. I won't be surprised if Amazon beats $11.2B this year, but no one is doing anything useful with those profits. I think the argument against raising wages comes with the complete acceptance that companies will behave this way, but the largest ones really don't have to, not with such huge coffers.

Shout out to Trader Joes for having happy employees who, while not millionaires by any stretch, can at least afford to shop at their own stores. In the same way you can't leave Costco without muffins, I can't leave TJs without lava cakes.