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It’s bonus day! You’ve asked and negotiated to get the best you deserve, and now, as you happily log into your bank account with much anticipation, you notice it’s finally here! As plans start accumulating in your head, you begin to envision new shoes, gleaming purses, spa days and relaxing vacations by the beach…Or if you are the more reasonable type, you may find yourself dreaming of becoming debt-free and reducing your monthly cash flow.
If you’re one of the few fortunate enough to get a yearly bonus, there are many theories out there about what you should spend your bonus on, how you should invest it, turn it around, and make it last a lifetime! Yet, as far as I can remember, for the longest time I have received bonuses and..do not remember what I did with them! And when I did remember, I’d rather not list some of the splurges I’ve made here. So in the interest of not repeating the same mistakes twice (or three, four or five times), here are 5 things not to do with your bonus:
- Make on a big ticket purchase that is not urgent or really necessary: Unless you’re buying your significant other or family member the gift of a lifetime, or helping them out of a serious (read life-threatening) jam, blowing all your bonus money on that Rolex watch all at once may not be your best bet…
- Not saving any of it…at all! Treat your bonus as any amount of money coming in. Unless you really have unexpected emergencies, you should save some for the rainy days, or any day for that matter.
- Treating it as it it were your regular pay: Bonuses are infrequent in nature. As such, don’t use it in the same way as you would your regular paycheck. Whether you decide to pay down debt, invest or save some of it, choose to use at least some of it to set you ahead!
- Go on a splurge campaign! Just because you have the money now does not mean you’ll have it forever. Avoid over-spending and splurging on more items than you need to.
- Do nothing fun with it! On the flip side, not enjoying your bonus money at all can backfire on you, usually in the form of excessive shoe-shopping as a form of retaliation. Enjoy some of your money, and use the rest for wiser, long-term goals!
What advice do you have on what not to do with your bonus money?
The Corporate Sis.
