OverTime or Part Time job?

if you could find a second job where you worked for cash only.? "Tread lightly" -- you don't want the IRS breathing down your neck

 

Much better to have a cash flow producing asset like a rental apartment, farm, etc.

 

Committing tax fraud is usually a pretty bad idea....

 

I agree -- but most would be truly amazed how much this goes on. I actually never had to do this but I know of many that have. Most never get found out. The ones that do usually start spending (or depositing(money)) past their reported income.

 

Yeah, this is not an option, i wasn't born in the states and even i know that messing with the IRS it's a pretty bad idea.. i won't risk my status for a couple of extra bucks.. either way they have nothing like that in the company that i work for.. i just decided to work 60h/week. It's awful but well at least i got the option to do OT.

Now that you bring this up, i pay several diferent services from me and my family, they transfer the money to my account, cellphone bill,internet,car insurance and bunch of many other things, is that going to affect me at any point when i fill out taxes for next year?

 

No -- unless you are waaaay out of line with any deposits you make in your account for your reported income. There are certain "thresholds that the IRS sets in their tax reporting computer programs. In other words if you were to see the allowable deductions and deposits for someone making 200K -300K versus my income (and maybe yours) you would be surprised -- these are the things most tax accountants call "red flags" -these vary widely with your income. Trip up too many of the red flags and they will take a second look at your yearly tax return.
You are to be commended -- for being a honest citizen -Uncle Sam loves you!

 

Just work the equivalent of a years worth of hours ~2,080 in a compressed timeframe...like say 6 months. Get laid off and collect an ungodly amount in unemployment benefits - effectively getting the taxes you’ve paid out back in your pocket.

Worked for me pretty good the last 7 years.

Then you can always cast shade on those who say they work such long hours...you can literally get your paystub and show them that if you’re are capable of 1000+ hours of overtime between May & October they’re just a whiny bitch.

 

not sure of whether to laugh or think of a different line of work....

 

Making more money and not knowing where it's going isn't useful. How are you tracking your spending and savings? If you haven't, consider getting Quicken (I prefer non-online tracking software, but I think Mint, which I believe is owned by quicken, is free... or at least it used to be), and putting every purchase/receipt/transfer/paycheck in it. You'll then be able to see where you're spending, and if there's ways to save more.

Another thing that really worked for me is to set up automatic transfers to a savings account (I use Citizens Access, but it requires a $5k minimum to get their best interest rate). I set it up to automatically transfer a decent portion of my paycheck out of my checking account. This does two things... trains me to live on less money in my checking, and promoting saving quite a bit without much thought.

Combining these two suggestions, you can then use quicken to see how much money you can save after x months/years, and really pinpoint when you will have a decent downpayment on a house (try to save 20% to not have PMI insurance on a mortgage). You can get a quick snapshot of your lowest account balance in x number of days, so you can even dump more in savings (this only works if you predict and account for reoccuring bills... like cable or cell phone where the amounts don't really change).

If some of these terms don't make sense, I actually have found the "for Dummies" books to be a good starting point... like homebuying for dummies or the investing for dummies.

Good luck.

Regarding OT vs. part time... based on your situation, maybe the mentally healthier option is a part time job just to get you out of the house.

 

The majority of folks that work their careers in fire management end up with a work schedule like this. In the end, when you’re collecting unemployment while on the Govt. Ski Team all winter it seems worth it.

 

dang i really do need to look at my choices LOL...@Hextall some really solid sounding advice...might have to look into this myself