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What’s up Gentrifanatics!

I’m pretty sure you’ll agree with me when I say that tax refunds usually only last a couple of months at best, and a couple of days at worst! You buy things you don’t really need and by next tax season you have no clue what you even spent last year’s refund on.

Not too long ago I went through the same trouble. I remember getting about $4,000 back one year and I was super excited. In my mind I already had the money spent. As soon as the check came in (this was before you could have it direct deposited) I went to the bank and cashed it.

When I tell you I stunted with that money…I went extra hard! I took my 1995 Infiniti J30 straight to Boss Custom Wheels Inc. on Virginia Beach Blvd. in Norfolk, VA and bought the most ridiculously hood rich 20″ rims that this fine establishment had to offer!

Needless to say I was rolling right but the very next month when the transmission on my spaceship went out I had to keep parked near my moms house and beg people I knew for rides. When my friends would pick me up they would be like “where’s the J30” and I would respond, “oh I’m letting my mom borrow it this week”!

This pattern of getting my tax return and blowing it quickly went on for years. One year I knew something had to change. I realized that I wanted more than the appearance of money, I wanted actual money! So I took my entire tax refund one year and invested it in some really high quality DJ equipment. That summer I worked DJ gigs at clubs, family reunions, and house parties and ended up pulling in $18,000! That’s six times what I invested in the equipment!

In this post I’m going to teach you 4 brilliant ways to put your tax return to work for you in 2018! You’ll learn how to turn that $4k, $2k, or even $500 into financial tool with the potential to provide you with significant cash and the promise of providing you with invaluable knowledge for the new year!

**Oh and if you don’t get a tax return it’s ok…read on anyway! But when you’re done, shoot me a comment or email and we can chat about lowering your taxable income 🙂

1. Tackle Your Debt

Ok, probably not what you wanted to hear from the jump but hear me out, I really feel strongly about this one! You can’t bury your head in the sand and hope that one day you’ll wipe out all your debt at once. Don’t put off paying debt down buying things that will only temporarily make you forget that you have debt!

Trust me, paying off all your debt, or even getting started paying down some of your debt, will feel better than anything else you can buy until you’re debt free.

So there’s a great theory made popular by Dave Ramsey called the “debt snowball”.

This is how the debt snowball works:

First, put your money toward paying off your debt with the highest interest first (hopefully this is a smaller debt). A great way to get started with this is to use your tax return to totally wipe an entire bill out.

Next, take what you were paying every month on that bill you just paid off and immediately designate that money each month toward paying off another bill. Here’s an example:  say you used your tax return to pay

off a bill that you were paying $75 a month on.

Now that that bill is paid off take that $75 a month and start adding it to your payments on another bill. So if you were paying $100 a month on a separate bill now you’ll pay $175 per month, make sense?

Every time you pay something off use the money you were spending each month on the previous bill to pay off the next bill. This will create a snowball effect where the money you have to pay bills off each month keeps getting bigger and bigger, and you won’t miss it because you were already paying it anyway!

Before you know it all of your bills will be history and you can start investing your money so that it makes you more money!

2. Educate Yourself

Education has gotten a really bad reputation over the years. Just the word itself brings up thoughts of boring classes that you really don’t get anything useful out of. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

In 2018 why not take that tax return money and take a class that will jumpstart your vehicle to financial freedom?

Maybe you want to get into the real estate game (one of my favorites). If you don’t have enough to put a down payment, or if your credit is still recovering, why not become a licensed real estate agent? It doesn’t cost much and learning that side of the business will give you an incredible edge when you’re ready to start investing in real estate.

What about learning computer code? There many inexpensive and sometimes free tools out there designed to help you learn how to code. How awesome would it be to get good at it and start designing websites or apps for people?

Take classes on selling and marketing.

Robert Kiyosaki, the author or Rich Dad, Poor Dad; said that he wasn’t the best writer, or even a good writer for that matter. An aspiring author asked him for advice on how to be a successful author and sell a lot of books.

Kiyosaki told the aspiring author that to be successful she needed to learn how to sell. The author got offended and didn’t think that selling had anything to do with writing. Kiyosaki showed her one of his books with a big gold sticker on it…

He pointed to the sticker and asked the aspiring author “what does this say”? She said, “well it says best selling author, that’s what I want to be”! Kiyosaki said, “that’s right, it says bestselling author, not best writing author”!

Learning how to sell and market products is an extremely powerful tool and well worth one years tax return!

Before you run out and buy the latest gadget or make it rain at the club, take a minute to think about what you are truly talented at. Everyone has something so if you can’t come up with something you’re just not putting enough effort in knowing yourself! Trust me, you’re good at something…you’re probably good at a lot of things!

Figure out what you’re good at and spend your tax money educating yourself on how to refine that skill. The better you get at that skill the more likely you’ll be to turn a profit doing it! If you’ve never heard of Fiverr.com I highly recommend you check it out!

On Fiverr people get paid every single day doing random things that they’re good at. So whether you just need money on the side or if you’re saving for that big investment that’s going to set you up for major success, learn, focus on, and build your strengths; success will follow!

3. Start a Business

Let’s face it, you’re never going to get wealthy working for someone else. Think of the most successful person you know financially and chances are they own, or have owned, their own business.

Your business doesn’t have to start out huge, in fact it’s usually the opposite. Take the couple of thousand that you get back in tax money and put that toward creating and funding your business. These expenses will likely include the costs associated with forming your business entity as well as purchasing or creating inventory.

One of the great things about using your tax refund to start is a business is that many of the costs associated with starting and operating your business can be tax deductible! Find a good Certified Public Accountant to help you out with the details of business taxes.

Using your money to research and start a business will occupy a lot of your time, which may be a good thing. Sometimes we spend money when we’re bored so having a purpose for your money and a goal for it makes you think a lot harder before blowing it on that new iPhone!

4. Buy Assets That Will Help You Make Money (Just Don’t Forget Their Purpose)

Ok, I know I literally just said don’t buy and iPhone…but…

One of the great ways to spend your tax refund is by buying things that will make it easier for you to make money. If you’re like me and got your first smartphone in 2014 then it’s time to work smarter not harder! It’s gonna be hard to take online classes, market your business, or contact potential customers if you’re still working with a vintage cell phone.

If all of your debt is up to date and you have some sort of emergency cash stash then it can be pretty satisfying to get yourself a new cell phone or laptop. But here’s the thing, don’t forget why you’re buying it! It’s not to waste time on Instagram or dating app crack like Tinder (I know it’s addictive)!

Remember, you’re paying for this new device in cash, not on credit, not on a payment plan! If you get a $500 refund and a new phone costs $800 ask for a cash discount. The worst they can do is say no!

If they won’t budge on the price then you can’t get it. It’s that simple. Find something else that costs $500 or less!

You get the psychological win of making a big purchase of something new, now use it for good, not evil! Take that new device and get to work on your business. Research marketing, download podcasts, read blogs (*ahem)!

Doing this is guaranteed to put you light years ahead of most people.

Use the methods outlined in this post to really put your refund money to work for you in 2018. Your goal should be to create more streams of cash coming in and to limit the streams of cash going out.

Remember, the best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is NOW!

As always, if you have any questions HMU, I’ll be around!