Just a quick thing… if anyone shops at Rite-Aid here is a $5 off $20 coupon for tonight and tomorrow. Happy shopping!

Any Canadian readers? I imagine this is how English worked? :p

As mentioned earlier, I want everyone to get in weekend mode and what better way than to be able to laugh at something silly. Enjoy yourselves, and let the weekend begin. After two weeks of posts I appreciate anyone who has become a regular!

Last week I got into a comment discussion on a post over at Rocket Finance. His post had to do with the current economic stimulus package and whether or not it was wise to spend our way out of the current crisis.

Do Personal Finance Rules Apply to the Government?

This is a diversion from a purely personal finance topic, but it is a timely topic and one that I think is interesting. I think a lot of personal finance bloggers have mentioned that the government needs to take a lesson in personal finance and do things like spend less than they earn. However, I wanted to create a post to discuss how this is not ALWAYS the case.

I won’t lie… I just wanted an excuse to post this video. That street dance off around 3:30 is pretty sweet. So let me try and make some point out of this post… let’s see…

Long Days, Tough Times

Do you ever feel like this when you wake up? Right when the alarm goes off you roll over, look at the time, and a mood of dissatisfaction just encapsulates your bedroom. You realize its time again for work. Your 1 day weekend just ended, and you have quite a long week ahead of you. Each day you feel like you are just going through the motions only to feel like you are going backwards. And then BAM. You just wind up finding the straw that broke the camel’s back. You logged into your retirement accounts. You go tab by tab thinking to yourself that it can’t be as bad as it seems. FINALLY the page loads because your Comcast connection has been messing up recently (and of course when you call they blame it on peak times… its 5am!). You frantically search the page in a zig zag fashion and then your eyes lock on… Yearly Return: -31.9%? Ack. Well now what?

This post is part of a three post series which walks a recent graduate through filling out their W-4 and filing their taxes. After these three posts, recent grads should be squared away with Uncle Sam come April.

Post 1: How To Fill Out A W-4 For A Recent Graduate
Post 2: How To Figure Out Taxable Income for a Recent Graduate
Post 3: How to File Your Taxes for a Recent Graduate

Getting the Job

Since April is right around the corner I decided to write a post to help any recent graduates who are about to sit down and do their taxes. I remember when I first sat down the January after graduation and went to file my taxes… it was a good bit different than when I was making substantially less while a full-time student.

However, before we discuss how to file taxes we should start at the beginning. This is the part a lot of people rush through in the new employee orientation: Filling out the new-hire packet and the accompanying w-4 form. The first section you need to fill out, pictured below, is the “Personal Exemptions Worksheet.” For most new graduates, you will put a 1 for A and a 1 for B, meaning H will be 2. BUT you should check with your parents and make sure they are not claiming you as a dependent before you put 1 for A. This is doubtful, but I would make sure.