Tuesday, November 15, 2011

$8,000 windfall!

{via}
Today was my meeting with HR to discuss the final paperwork that I would need to fill out before I leave. We discussed the cost of COBRA, what to do with my pension plan (thank you state retirement fund) and my vacation/sick leave. As of today I have 49 days of vacation/sick leave - I'm such a workaholic. Since I haven’t taken any time, the policy is to pay me in full to the tune of $8,607.00 in addition to my paycheck.

Hello – I have won the lottery.

Then she informed me that since I was leaving less than a year after my tuition, I owe them $500 making it $8,007. Still – it’s $8,000 that I didn’t plan on having in my hands.
So the next step is to figure out what to do with it and I have until next Wednesday to decide. Do we take it in a large sum, change my withholdings and pay the taxes on it? Or place it in a Roth IRA to defer taxes?

I went to Dave’s ELP site and requested the contact information for one in our area. It would be tragic if we didn’t take the right steps to get the most out of our money. My initial thought is to pay off my car or to save for IVF. I am so THANKFUL for this problem but need to figure out what to do soon!



4 comments:

  1. A roth ira wont defer taxes. A traditional ira or 401k will but not a roth. I would follow Daves Baby Steps with this money.

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  2. oh thats wonderful! extra money is always good

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  3. Very cool. Congrats! 49 days, wow. My workplace doesnt have any PTO other than 1-2 week of non-carry over vacation. So if you get sick, you have to use your vacation, and if you don't use all of your vacation days, they expire the next year. I'm jealous. Let us know what option you are adviced. I'm kind of curious of the reasons to pick one over another. I'd use it to pay off stuff!

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