thanks for the good advice. i really do appreciate it, it’s always good to read your blog because i seem to absorb and relate to advice and experiences from people in a somewhat similar age bracket and situation as i’m in.

Now, this would only be beneficial if you strictly used that extra cash flow to continue to pay off your debt or fund your savings. If you are disciplined enough to do this, then yes, it’s in your best interest to put that money to work for you as soon as possible instead of letting the government hang on to it for a full year and not give you any interest in return.

But for some, this added money each month might end up getting spent on other things instead of being applied to debt, savings, or investing, so it ends up not being a real benefit. So it really depends on whether or not you can ensure you put the extra cash flow to work or not. For some people, the idea of getting a larger refund is a way of forced savings, so that method works best for them. But if you can stick to your plan and put the money you save on tax withholding to work, it would be beneficial to do that for sure.

is this totally flawed? everyone tells me i should have more exemptions and be using that money throughout the year, but realistically my credit card debt was accrued out of poor spending habits and stupidity, and it’s not money i “need to live”. over the last 6 months i’ve definitely changed my spending habits but i still feel like the idea of getting a large sum of money at once makes it far easier for me to to take one sweeping action against a debt rather than regularly paying the money off in smaller chunks that, relative to my income, seem less substantial.

good luck with your taxes. it’s never a fun time of year but it seems to come and go quickly every year so hopefully once everything’s settled it’ll be smooth sailing for the rest of the year for you and your family.