Tonight, I’ll go to bed as I usually do, and when I wake up, I will be $10,000 richer. The secret? Live in Alaska. Okay, so the title was clickbait. But it’s true. Tomorrow every eligible Alaskan will be $2,072 richer than they are today because the Permanent Fund Dividend will land in bank accounts and be mailed out to others. (To celebrate, it decided to snow last night!) With five of us, that makes us $10,360 richer tomorrow.
It’s the one public conversation about money Alaskans have. “What are you doing with your PFD?” is a very common question in September. A friend of mine worked at Target last year and she said the day the official announcement is made of the exact PFD amount to about a week after the checks arrive, it’s like Christmas at Target. Her exact words: “Everyone spends like it’s going out of style. Even weeks before the money actually arrives.” My friends are all using theirs on savings, retirement funds, mortgage payments, one cruise, and one of my friends is using the PFD to take all five of her children to France to visit her sister living there. Luckily, my friends aren’t in the “spend it at Target” cohort.
I’ve told you that I’m a a lot at one time rather than a consistent, little bit at a time kind of person. Because of that, I love the PFD. What am I doing with mine? Technically, 3/5ths of that money is owned by my kiddos, but I plan to give that to them as a Roth IRA when they start working (I’ll steal the interest until then). A tenth of our $10,360 will be a tithe we choose to pay on our increase. That leaves $9,324. $2,000 will go to the mortgage as an extra payment (because of our financial Quality-Adjusted Life Year calculations). And the remaining $7,324 will go to funding our Roth IRAs for 2015. (We hope to use the Alaska Energy Rebate Program refund to fund the rest of the two 2015 IRAs and start the 2016 ones.) I love making big payments. It feels dramatic. It feels like a pat on the back. My sister-in-law just finished paying off her mortgage by consistently throwing all of her tax refunds toward it.
So, you don’t get a big windfall? Create your own windfall! One way to do this is to raise the amount of taxes withheld from your paycheck so you’ll get a bigger refund. I don’t recommend doing this. Yes, there’s the usual argument that you’re giving the government an interest-free loan. But also, there is a real risk someone else might claim your refund before you do. Yikes!
If making slow, steady payments excites you, you’re probably better off (both personality-wise and financially). But for the rest of us, calculate what size of windfall would get you motivated. What amount would help you feel the VICTORY of saving? Maybe it’s maxing out your Roth IRA. Set up an automatic savings transfer of $500 a month. After 11 months… check it out… you just got a $5500 windfall! Congrats. Make a big, dramatic payment and max out the Roth IRA in one big move.
Saving is always better than not saving. And paying off debt is better than not doing so. Be honest with yourself. Would you save more or pay down your debt faster if you were able to throw big chunks of money toward those things at one time? If so, make it happen. As someone who works this way, I can tell you it’s worth it to plan it out. We also automate other savings, but those monthly behind-the-scenes savings don’t motivate me quite like the once-a-year windfall payments.
What would you do if $10,360 dropped in your bank account overnight?
Fervent Finance
I was about to book my one way ticket to Alaska until you said you got snow last night… in SEPTEMBER! I think those are great things to do with your windfall, basically anything is better than blowing it at Target. Personally mine would be a 90/10 split between my Vanguard brokerage account and padding my cash savings. That amount could also pay off my student loans, which would be tempting if not for their 3% interest rate.
MaggieBanks
We always get a September snowfall that freaks everyone out and then we don’t get another one until mid to end of October. But yes, you have to be ready for it and love it up here or that money would not be worth it. We, however, love it. 🙂
Alyssa @ Generation YRA
Wow! That’s certainly a nice surprise the next morning. 🙂 I think the best part of a huge windfall is divvying it up between savings goals! The contrary to most people’s spending mentality & thought processes. It’s amazing how fast your financial goals can get accomplished when you throw big windfalls towards them. I plan this out methodically throughout the year with quarterly bonuses through work, and my tax refund. I split it up between beefing up my emergency fund, house downpayment fund, and IRA. I think you’ve got a solid plan for your PFD!
MaggieBanks
YES! Isn’t it so exciting! I feel so accomplished when I throw big chunks toward everything at once!
Brian @DebtDiscipline
Unless you are debt free and already saving enough for retirement, shopping should be the last thing you should be doing with a windfall. If I received a windfall and had debt, that’s where I’d aim it. I am debt free, so I’d continue to build wealth.
MaggieBanks
Seriously! But it’s too much temptation for so many people! And then there are all the sales that happen when the PFD hits… Lots of people can’t handle it. Some don’t even have bank accounts, so they just walk the check into a store and cash it.
The Vagabond
I love that you have surrounded yourself with people who use their windfall at least quasi-responsibly! Here in the spendy SF Bay Area, I regularly see friends whose companies go public, get acquired, and otherwise make overnight what I would consider my entire FI amount, and they’re all still at their jobs, driving $100K-plus supercars and complaining about how nobody can get ahead here… sigh.
MaggieBanks
Yikes! I would love to just sell a company and be done with it all! FREEDOM! Alas… we’ll take our minor windfall and celebrate (by putting it toward savings and mortgage, of course).
The Vagabond
You and me both! Alas, I am resigned to doing it the old fashioned way, and it’s quick enough (ok, ALMOST quick enough) with a little discipline and hard work!
MaggieBanks
right… I suppose you actually have to have a company in the first place in order to sell it…
Our Next Life
I’m totally with you — I LOVE big lump sums of cash. Both of our jobs tend to pay a big percentage of our salary at the end of the year — we call it our bonus, because that’s easier to explain, but really it’s earned compensation that’s just deferred a bit. But we LOVE it, because it helps us save a lot quickly, especially if we can avoid budgeting for that money. Right now, our 401ks are looking rather droopy after all the market drops, but we can’t do anything about those… so we’d sock a lump sum into our taxable retirement accounts through Vanguard. 🙂
MaggieBanks
It feels great to hit one of our savings goals in one big motion. I’m glad I’m not the only one that’s crazy like that. It motivates me so much more on the little stuff to see immediate success like that.