So, with that disclaimer made, what should you do with your money? Well, I know some people who tell you that you should never put it in the bank. The banks are going under, they claim. But that hasn’t happened yet. And when that does happen, if it does, we are all probably screwed anyway. These same people also argue that if you deposit it in the bank the bank has to notify the IRS if you make deposits of over $10,000 at a time. This is true. Of course, the obvious thing to do, even if you aren’t doing anything wrong, but just don’t want T-men snooping around in your business, is to deposit the money in smaller amounts to avoid attention from the IRS. Guess what? That’s illegal too. And people have gone to prison for it. Still, putting some of your money in the bank is not a bad idea. Yes, the banks could go under, but you could also be burglarized.
Leaving the money around the house still may not be a terrible idea, if you do it right. Don’t hide your cash in some obvious place. The burglars are going to go through your bedroom. They will look in your drawers. They will turn them inside out. They will go through your medicine cabinets looking for drugs, so don’t hide your money there. They may take your electronics. Hiding things in plain sight is not a bad plan. Hid it in things that look like ordinary household items, but that aren’t. You can find “safes” online that look like all sorts of regular items in your house. For example, you can get a soda can that looks like a popular brand of soda. But don’t just leave the one can sitting out. Buy a case of that soda to just sit in the back of your fridge and leave your fake can in there, near the bottom. Of course, there is a problem with this. You might kick the bucket and your loved ones may not know where you have hidden your money. They just as well may throw it out by mistake. Or it may never be found.
There are always problems with every way that you chose to store your money, so that is why it is important to diversify what you do with it.
If you make lots of cash and decide to keep it around the house, you can use it for your daily living expenses. And if you keep your regular job (assuming you had one) then you can use the money from those checks to do things like pay down your credit cards other debts. If you don’t owe money, then you should greatly increase the amount of money that you are putting into a 401k and/or IRA. If you don’t have a 401k or IRA, get one. It is important to save for your retirement and they also help you to avoid excessive taxation.
