A rough weekend
This weekend was pretty terrible. I suppose the most powerful negative force on recent days was the goddamn US Government. So now that I am an all-out grown up I have to do grown-up things. Some of them are good. I can see R rated movies, drink whenever I want to, and go out on a schoolnight. But along with this new freedom comes the oft spoken of, but little appreciated, Man. And come April 15th The Man wants a shitload of my money. Yesterday I found out just how much of my money he wants. It was actually a fairly horrible experience. While I was working at Netstudy I was officially 'on salary' but techinically 'self-employed'. It was kinda cooky and more complicated than I'd care to explain, but basically I didnt have any taxes taken out of my paychecks. It was all on me to do it myself. Different forms than most people, different ways of calculating expenses, really complicated math stuff that I probably wouldn't understand. I wasnt a math major or anything. So as I sat there in front of my turbo tax I kept clicking next and watched as the little number in the top left corner kept going up. It was almost as if the computer took pity on me; it kept trying to give me a way out. Do you have any unclaimed medical expenses? Are you a farmer who lives on a farm? Is there anything I can do to lower this number? I read each question; invariably checking the 'No. Charge me the maximum, please.' button. My dad was also looking for ways out. I had educational trusts and various other funds that would have lowered my income and thus my taxes. I couldn't use any of them, though. Most people get money back in April (or so I hear), when it was all over I ended up owing the government just over 3500 dollars. Due in two weeks time. Awesome. I also owe my car insurance payment this month as well as needing to repay a loan from my parents a few weeks ago. Rent is due tomorrow and we will have various utilities to pay. I still need to eat, I figure. I put it all in a spreadsheet and like a young Alan Greenspan ran the numbers, looking to quantify the scale of damage, vaguely known only to be immense. After emptying my savings account and drawing upon all available cash I was still almost 5000 dollars short. Kinda bad news. I suppose there's no point in developing a long line of good credit if I'm not going to use it when I need it. That said, I am now in debt.
It seems a little bizarre and not a little bit shitty that I made it through high school and college debt free. Granted, I only had to pay a relatively small amount of my total tuition, but that small amount was still considerably huge for someone like me. I worked a ton every summer and still needed to empty all my bank accounts, drain my education funds, and sell all of my stocks just to afford the 15 thousand that my parents charged me. Had I stayed another year at Northwestern there's no way I could have afforded school without a loan. Just one of the reasons I decided to graduate early. I was able to exist for almost two years after graduation surviving generally on my own as well. It wasn't always easy and the casino helped me out a bit, but I managed it alright. And so now, now that I am working more than I have ever worked before, now that I am earning more than I have ever earned before, now that I am more independent than I have ever been before, I find myself poorer than ever before. Kinda sad. At an aggressive, 'essentials-only' pace I will be able to repay my debt within 4 months. At a normal, 'I still want to buy lunch and see the occasional movie' pace it will take me almost 10 months. In 2006 I might be debt-free. That really brought down yesterday's mood.
The only highlight of the tax experience was learning why I owed so much money. I estimated my taxes for 2004 last April and had been making estimated tax payments every 3 months. Had I done something wrong? It turns out that my estimation last April was almost exact, I paid precisely the correct amount to not owe anything this April. Unfortunately, being self employed means that I dont pay social security out of my paycheck. Instead I was supposed to have been paying some alternative self-employment tax to compensate. Not knowing about it, I obviously hadn't paid anything. Nearly all of the money that I owe right now goes to social security. This is super good news since I generally hate old people already. My dad was helping me do my taxes and tried to explain it to me. I wasn't as receptive as he might have hoped.
"Wait, so I'm out on my ass right now because I need to pay for YOU?!!!" I pointed a finger menacingly... though lovingly.
"No. That money is for YOU when you get old." he tried to explain.
"Yeah right. That money goes to you! I know how it works. Take your stupid, old-man money! I'm sure you need it more than I do."
Nothing like government and social security to bring the generations together. The joke is on him though. I paid my taxes by drawing an advance against a credit card that is ultimately in his name. Oooooh.... the irony.
It seems a little bizarre and not a little bit shitty that I made it through high school and college debt free. Granted, I only had to pay a relatively small amount of my total tuition, but that small amount was still considerably huge for someone like me. I worked a ton every summer and still needed to empty all my bank accounts, drain my education funds, and sell all of my stocks just to afford the 15 thousand that my parents charged me. Had I stayed another year at Northwestern there's no way I could have afforded school without a loan. Just one of the reasons I decided to graduate early. I was able to exist for almost two years after graduation surviving generally on my own as well. It wasn't always easy and the casino helped me out a bit, but I managed it alright. And so now, now that I am working more than I have ever worked before, now that I am earning more than I have ever earned before, now that I am more independent than I have ever been before, I find myself poorer than ever before. Kinda sad. At an aggressive, 'essentials-only' pace I will be able to repay my debt within 4 months. At a normal, 'I still want to buy lunch and see the occasional movie' pace it will take me almost 10 months. In 2006 I might be debt-free. That really brought down yesterday's mood.
The only highlight of the tax experience was learning why I owed so much money. I estimated my taxes for 2004 last April and had been making estimated tax payments every 3 months. Had I done something wrong? It turns out that my estimation last April was almost exact, I paid precisely the correct amount to not owe anything this April. Unfortunately, being self employed means that I dont pay social security out of my paycheck. Instead I was supposed to have been paying some alternative self-employment tax to compensate. Not knowing about it, I obviously hadn't paid anything. Nearly all of the money that I owe right now goes to social security. This is super good news since I generally hate old people already. My dad was helping me do my taxes and tried to explain it to me. I wasn't as receptive as he might have hoped.
"Wait, so I'm out on my ass right now because I need to pay for YOU?!!!" I pointed a finger menacingly... though lovingly.
"No. That money is for YOU when you get old." he tried to explain.
"Yeah right. That money goes to you! I know how it works. Take your stupid, old-man money! I'm sure you need it more than I do."
Nothing like government and social security to bring the generations together. The joke is on him though. I paid my taxes by drawing an advance against a credit card that is ultimately in his name. Oooooh.... the irony.