21 Days of Financial Honesty -- Shattering Integrity and Your Money

Day 3 and Day 4.

So easy to slide back into old patterns, that's why I'm doing this for 21 days, because they say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I did not look at my account yesterday. Doh. Nothing catastrophic happened, but its something I want to put into practice everyday. Not only does it give me more control over my money, but it also allows me to make sure that no one has committed fraud with my Debit card #. Apparently Visa just had a bunch of credit card numbers stolen because just a few days ago I got a new debit card in the mail just in case my # was one of the stolen cards. Looking at my account everyday enables me to make sure that there are no transactions on my account that I did not make. I was actually a victim of fraud earlier this year and luckily the Credit Union was on top of it and called me, right away, on a Sunday to double check and see if I've made three purchases at the KMart in Valencia. To which I would like to say to the people who committed the fraud and copied my debit card, Don't be an IDIOT. . . three purchases in one place, one right after the other is a RED FLAG. . .  sheesh. At least they're morons.

I have recently made the realization that I can not generate abundance in my life if its not on the up and up. That's where the integrity part of this blog comes in today. In 2007 and 2008 I went to a shady tax man. Everyone at my work had utilized him and some had been audited, but it didn't seem like a big deal. I chose to use him for those tax years because I work at a high end restaurant and we used to get paid in cash. While we reported all of the money we made, there was never enough to take out of our paychecks, which consisted only of the hourly $8.25 rate we made for the 25- 30 hours a week we worked. In order to avoid having to pay taxes I went to a shady tax man. BAD CALL. I now know that if my brain knows its not in integrity I will create problems for myself.

I was audited and am currently paying back over $4000 that I owe to the IRS and the State of California for those years. Here's the thing, it just wasn't worth it. I only got back maybe $600 one of the years and not much more the others. To be honest if I had ended up paying the taxes that i owed it probably would have been a fraction of the money I'm now paying back, but a scorned IRS does not like to play nice. I tried to argue with them for a few years and after sending endless amounts of paperwork back and forth I finally caved and said, forget it, its worth more of my peace of mind to simply straighten it out.

The tax man was not without fault because besides taking some crazy deductions, that I just didn't pay attention to . . . once again, checked out, disconnected and just HOPING that things would pan out. . . I also think he made a mistake on one of the years and somehow counted my income as $88,000 instead of $44,000. No matter how many times I asked about it he never really understood what I was saying.

Perhaps I could have gone a different route and hired a tax attorney to help me work it out, but like I said after the two year battle and then constant self-punishment for using a shady tax man I just resolved myself to owning up to it and paying it back.

A lesson learned that I won't soon forget. If its not in integrity, even if it seems lucrative in the moment and I could desperately use the money, I probably shouldn't do it, because inevitably its going to come back and bite me in the arse.

21 Days of Financial Honesty - Shattering the Overdraft Fees

Day 2. Financial Honesty.

Overdraft fees.

They make no sense to me. Overdraft fees were something I got when I first moved to Los Angeles and I was struggling to make ends meet and Wells Fargo were complete asses that charged an arm and a leg for each one. I quickly got my act together, left Wells Fargo, joined a credit union and vowed never again.

To my alarm, as I was gathering my deductions for my taxes I noticed an alarming number at the bottom of my Statement. There at the bottom was a "Year to Date- Overdraft Fee" box. I thought hmmm, I don't remember getting too many. . . shouldn't be that bad. . . $1000. I had over $1000 in Overdraft Fees last year. Do you KNOW how much I could USE $1000 right now?!

To my chagrin this year has begun much in the same way. I vowed to stop getting overdraft fees in 2012 but my year has not started off that great. I don't know what I was thinking, but in a weird, roundabout way, I thought it was better to pay my bills on time, and just accrue the fees if I didn't have quite enough in my account to cover them. WHAT THE HELL? Most of the late fees on my bills are $15. Here I was getting things paid in a responsible manner but paying a $25 Overdraft Fee at the same time instead of just getting a $5-$15 late fee on the bill. Most of the time if I call the people I owe money to, they just make a note of it, charge the late fee and they wait for the money to show up.

Also, I hate Overdraft FEES and I think they are mean and do NOTHING to help people who are perhaps struggling to get by. I get it, from a business point of view, but I think they've gotten a little out of hand. I think they are strictly a way for Credit Union's and Banks to make money off of people for NOW GOOD REASON. Most of the time they create a greater problem. This last month, I had to pay my $300 car bill three weeks late because I didn't have the money, but over the last month I was charged about $250 in Overdraft fees! That's almost enough to pay the car bill!!! AHHHHH!! In money I will NEVER GET BACK!!!

Don't even get me started on the vicious circle of debt that they can create. Watch my video blurb to hear more.

Now that we've ranted. . . What can I do in my new found Financial honesty to stop getting late fees. STOP spending money that I don't have. Wait until I have the money to pay the bill or get a money order when I have the money and that way, it gets deducted from my account without having to wait for checks to clear or the dust to settle on all pending transactions. I mentioned in my blog yesterday that a lot of this had to do with not keeping track of the money I had spent in my checking account. BIG no, no that I will never do again. I downloaded a simple app on my iPhone called, iCash Tracker to act as an electronic cash register and tell me how much money I ACTUALLY have to spend. I hope this solves my problem because I HATE giving credit unions and banks my money for NOTHING> NOTHING> NOTHING. There are so many amazing places I could go and things I could buy if I just saved that money and never got another Overdraft Fee in my life.

I'm done getting fees. What about you? Have you sworn fees out of your life? Join me won't you, though the execs at your bank might not be too happy, the money you have left over for a massage will definitely be worth it.