Why Ramit’s Site is so Good, Part II
Apr 17th, 2008 by Nut
I’ve written about Iwillteachyoutoberich.com before, but last week I read another one of those posts where I’m just like, “Ramit, this is why you are the man.”
This was is about tax refunds and the existing belief (taken as pretty much gospel in the blogosphere and in personal finance in general) that getting a refund is bad. The argument? Getting a sizable check from Uncle Sam means you’ve been giving the government a free loan over the course of the year. The solution? Check your deductions and file a new W-2.
How do I know this stuff? Well, it’s everywhere and I’ve even touted that advice in real life.
Well, Ramit is here to turn that on it’s head. He says people should stop complaining about the “free loan” and continue business as usual. Why? People aren’t going to save that extra money every paycheck. It’s kind of a forced savings plan and once a year we get it all in one, sizable check. If we would’ve gotten over the course of the year, most people would spend it.
He’s right.
And that’s just another reason why Ramit is the Michael Lewis of the personal-finance world.
That is all.
Open an ING account and get a $25 bonus!
I like his substantive p.f. writing, but most of the posts are content-free self-promotion, either of himself personally or of pbwiki.
Maybe the newer ones have a lot of this, but the man is busy after all. Even when posting less, he still manages to come up with good stuff. Do you like the post about tax refunds?