Stupid Tax Stories from Dave Ramsey’s Website

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I am not sure why I like reading the stupid tax stories on Dave Ramsey’s website but I do. It may be that I find comfort and know that there are people as stupid as I am. So here are a few of my favorite stories I read today.

Expensive Bulldogs

My husband and I were going to breed bulldogs for some fast cash. We paid over $3,000 for these two dogs and an additional $400 for tests they didn’t pass. We had to spay the female, but complications happened during surgery, and she got very sick. Another $1,300.

I have two dogs that are more work than my son and we’re out at least $4,700!

There is no way for easy fast cash! Someday I will be on the We Did It board not the Stupid Tax board!

 

Good Intentions Cost Me
This has to be Stupid Tax paid by many women.

Wanting to get exercise, I joined a women’s gym, for close to $35 per month. The monthly fee was automatically deducted from my checking account. I regularly exercised for months, but at some point I stopped going.

Always planning to go back, I continued to pay the fee for at least a year before I cancelled it. That’s over $400 worth of Stupid Tax!

 

The Business That Fell Apart
My father owned his own business and the building. I worked for him for several years when he told me, “If anything ever happens to me, sell it all and go get a job flipping cheeseburgers until you find another career.” A few years later he would pass away from an unexpected heart attack.

Being 24, my first thought was, “Work hard like your father, and the business will run itself.” I lost $25k a year for 3 years before I looked back and saw that he had been losing money the 2 years before he died. I had financed everything to keep the company afloat.

In the end, I borrowed $4k from my girlfriend to pay taxes. That month I laid off everybody, refinanced the building to cover all the debt, and put the building on the market. I would eventually lose about $25k on the money I borrowed against the building when we sold it and will lose about half the profit I would have made had we sold it as inheritance. Now I have to pay capital gains tax.

I figure the grand total will be about $75-100k when all is said and done. LISTEN TO THE OLDER AND WISER.

These people all have something in common. These people are human and make mistake but they also have learned from their mistakes. Stupid tax stories like these should be a reminder that we need to learn from our mistakes and takes steps to not repeat them.

October 16, 2007 | Filed Under Financial Freedom Journey Pep Talk, Stupid Tax | Leave a Comment 

Stupid Tax Stories

Occasionally I go to Dave Ramsey’s website to check out the Stupid Tax Stories. I think I may be trying to feel better about my stupid tax stories by reading others stories. So I read a couple of good ones today that I thought I would share with my readers.

Swept Up in a Wave of Emotion
As my 30th birthday approached, I started looking into “executive” dating services. On my birthday, I met with a representative from “Great Expectations” and, while swept up in a wave of emotion, signed a 3-year contract. They offered me a “discounted” membership at $2,400 and helped finance it at 17% interest.

Almost immediately I regretted my decision but was unable to get out of my contract. Even worse, the dating service had very few women my age in my area! I eventually paid it off early, spending almost $3,000, but haven’t met a single woman through the service.

I have been debt free since March 2007, and women find that sexy and appealing. Dave should be a dating counselor!

 

Volunteering Cost Me $400

 

Volunteering cost me over $400 plus stress and time from work!

I was volunteering at the Scholastic Book fair in my son’s school. On this torrential rainy day, I parked my car in front of the school to help unload the books and got a $42 ticket. At the time, we didn’t even know how we were going to make ends meet, more or less have $42 for a darn ticket. Months went by and I could not get the extra money to pay for the ticket.

Four months later, I got stopped for a defective brake light on my way to take my boys to day camp. The officer told me there was an outstanding warrant for my arrest, and my license had been suspended - all because of the unpaid ticket. In short, I had to leave work, post bail of $186, go to DMV to renew my license, pay the ticket, get the brake light fixed, and pay for the increase in insurance. Over $400, plus time lost from work.

Procrastination and poverty stink. That is why my money makeover is so important to me…. not only money-wise, but weighing the long-term cost of $400 versus paying the $42 ticket.

Everyone has stupid tax stories. I know that I have many of these stories and will probably continue to till I die but my hope is that with training I will become a better handler of money and these stories will be few and far between.

 Check out my other blog iwebis for information on making money online and social media.

August 16, 2007 | Filed Under Stupid Tax | Leave a Comment 

Stupid Tax Stories

Over at Dave Ramsey’s website there is a page called “Stupid Tax“. This is where people can submit their stories of stupid financial decisions. Today I read a few good ones I thought you all should read. Reading these stories might keep you from making the same mistakes.

I Rented a Dog for a Day

I went to the pet store and fell in love with a $1800 Yorkshire terrier. I bought the dog on credit.

I felt guilty about the cost and returned the dog the next day. I was charged a handling fee of $300. So I basically rented a dog for a day for $300.

Next time I will pay cash for my pooch and find a breeder in the classifieds.

We Hired Before Researching

We were getting ready to move from a rental place to our own new house. Due to construction delays, we ended up having to hire movers rather than our usual gang of friends. We got a few quotes and decided to go with a local company which was also a few hundred dollars cheaper.

Well, the kids that showed up to move us couldn’t finish the job, and they didn’t return the next day as promised. We discovered gashes in much of the furniture, a refrigerator that was dropped, boxes of fragile items that had been dropped, and a desk that was broken apart. They had finished late and just piled stuff in the living room and garage - easily $4,000 or $5,000 worth of repairs.

Kicking Myself Now

I got my first student loan in 1990. Not content to get enough to cover tuition and books, I always went for the maximum allowed balance. So every quarter after financial aid checks were disbursed and tuition and books were paid for, it was like Christmas for me!

I bought CDs. I bought $150 sunglasses. I bought expensive clothes. I never thought about having to pay these things off. I was going to get a great job making lots of money, and I was indestructable and going to live forever, right?

I’d like to jump in a time machine and go kick my 18-year-old self in the pants. Fast forward 16 years, and I’m still paying for those $150 sunglasses.

But we went to a Live event in November and are in Financial Peace University right now. We’re working on changing our lives, and for the first time in a long time, we have hope! Looking forward to being DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEE!

We eventually found out that the company’s license had been revoked years before, they had no insurance to cover the damage, and our only recourse would be to take them to court - and get in line behind thousands of dollars of claims and fines against them.

Bottom line - don’t believe the “licensed and insured” ads. Check with the regulatory agency in your state to make sure these are current.

Read More Stupid Tax stories Here.

My husband and I have many “Stupid Tax” stories that I have shared on this blog. I don’t like to repeat stupid tax mistakes so I hope the stories will now be few and far between.

June 20, 2007 | Filed Under Stupid Tax | 3 Comments