tax

No More Direct File Through IRS

As of this tax season, Internal Revenue Service’s free filing option, Direct File, has officially been discontinued. This program was praised by a number of tax filers and even by the Government Accountability Office in one of its reports, but IRS decided that the program was too costly to continue. In November 2025, a Treasury Department report discussed how Direct File was no longer a priority, and resources should be redirected to expanding the Free File program, which outsources free tax filing options to partner programs.

This is unfortunate, as the platform was reportedly easy to use. It’s interesting that several of the larger tax preparation software companies were opposed to the IRS offering a free option, even though this option was initially only applicable to simple tax returns. It’s safe to say that the bigger tax preparation companies knew that the implementation of a simple and cost effective filing option would eventually mean the loss of many customers over time, specifically since the direct filing capabilities would eventually expand and become more sophisticated and comprehensive over time.

Though Direct File is no more, IRS continues with the Free File program, which is still beneficial for filers with an adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less. For taxpayers over the AGI ceiling, fillable forms are available for free through the IRS website.

While the discontinuance of Direct File is unfortunate, it’s good that there are still a number of affordable digital filing options for taxpayers that need it. You may view the free file partners and fillable forms by clicking on this link. Filing season will begin on January 26, so you have time to review the different platforms and see which one works best for you.

The Big Tax Update You Haven’t Heard About

Recently, I was catching up on tax updates in the latest issue of Accounting Today, and I came across an article that stopped me in my tracks. Have you all heard about the Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act (IRS MATH Act, or H.R.998)?

In the midst of the confusion that happened with the federal government shutdown (which I’ve already written about here and here), this bill was quietly passed by Congress and sent to President Trump for his signature. This bill aims to promote more clarity with IRS notices, particularly with math or clerical notices that are sent to taxpayers after filing their returns.

While I’m usually skeptical of any tax legislation that is passed (as we all should be), I think H.R. 998 is an excellent step in the right direction. When I worked for IRS, I spent a large amount of time explaining notices to taxpayers, both as a contact representative and as an auditor and tax specialist. Even with the push for plain English writing (no jargon allowed), taxpayers were still confused about what certain notices meant, as well as the appropriate response after getting those notices.

H. R. 998 outlines a number of requirements for IRS contact with taxpayers via notices. When the IRS issues a notice for a math/clerical error, it must:

  • Deliver the notice to the taxpayer’s last known address.  
  • Provide a clear description of the error including the specific type of error, the applicable Internal Revenue Code section, and the exact line of the tax return it pertains to.
  • Include an itemized computation showing the adjustments required to correct the error.
  • Provide the telephone number for the IRS automated transcript service so taxpayers can follow up.
  • Clearly state the deadline for the taxpayer to request an abatement of any tax assessed because of the error.

Additionally, the bill clarifies the penalty abatement procedure and subsequent notices, letting taxpayers know that they can use their formal, flexible right to request abatement in any case where they believe that the tax calculation is incorrect. Further, the bill instructs the IRS to design and implement a pilot program exploring alternative delivery methods for math/clerical-error notices (such as certified or registered mail).

The beauty of this bill is that if your return triggers a math/clerical error notice from the IRS, you should expect more detailed information in subsequent notices. This will help you – or your tax professional – assess and respond more effectively. This clearer notice and abatement process strengthens taxpayer rights and transparency: it makes it easier to understand where the error lies, how to respond, and what timeframe applies.

I’m curious about how the IRS will implement the pilot program and ensure compliance with the new standards. I’ll be looking out for updates on this program in the future. In any case, I’m excited for how improved IRS communications will impact compliance, and I’m thrilled to see how the tax system is evolving in favor of more clarity for taxpayers.

There’s only one thing missing from this fantastic bill: a presidential signature! This bill passed Senate unanimously on October 20, 2025, and has been sent to the President for his signature. As we wait for the bill to become a law, we can peruse Congress’s website, which lists all of the bills currently in process. If you want to see which tax bills are on the horizon, check out the Ways & Means committee. They write the legislation that ends up as tax law.

There are several other tax updates that I’m excited to share with you all. Look out for those post soon! Take care.

Three Weeks of Government Shutdown 2025 – What’s Happening Now

Well, here we are 21 days into the shutdown, which ties this shutdown with the one that occurred in 1995-1996. Per the latest reports, there is no end in sight, which means that this is quickly becoming a possible contender for the longest shutdown in US history.

On my end, all has been well. I’m happy that my resources have sustained me thus far, and I”m just waiting patiently as things get sorted out with the federal government. Things may become direr for employees who weren’t able to prepare for the shutdown (thinking specifically of those newer employees, or those that have had recent or drastic changes in their financial circumstances). Please keep those folks uplifted in your thoughts: this may be an especially difficult time for them.

I’ve been employing a lot of selective information consumption at this time. However, some of my favorite sources for shutdown and general government information have been:

  • Federal News Network (enough general information on here to keep most people well informed)
  • NPR (great if I prefer to get my news via radio)
  • Heather Cox Richardson (government explained through a historian’s perspective: refreshing and informative)
  • LinkedIn News (though I often find myself conducting quite a bit of fact-checking to confirm the veracity of the statements I’m reading)

As soon as I have more details, I’ll be sure to share with you all. Until then, I’m standing by and waiting, just like the rest of the federal workforce.

In the meantime, I’ve been resting, traveling a little, and reading a lot. In previous furloughs, I learned that the most important thing I can do is occupy my time with things I enjoy and avoid obsessing about the things I cannot control. That has been instrumental in making sure that I don’t feel anxious or stressed, because worrying changes nothing. As a result, I always end up feeling pretty good about the uncertainty surrounding these closures. I use the time wisely and find ways to make the time off as fun as I can, too.

That’s it for this week in the Government Shutdown. Here’s hoping we’ll have some good news soon!

Shutdown Updates – What’s Happening With The IRS

Well, as this federal government shutdown toils on, many people may have questions regarding their tax obligations. After all, October 15th is the deadline for submitting tax returns after requesting an extension of time to file. What will happen to those returns that are submitted while nearly half of IRS’s employees are furloughed? And, what if you have some other tax questions that you need answered?

If you aren’t aware, IRS had a contingency plan that covered five shutdown days, but with the shutdown extended into its second week, nearly half of the workforce has been furloughed. You can expect that any IRS contact you need to make may be impacted by the reduced workforce. (You can read more about some of the general details here: IRS Shutters ‘Most Operations’, Furloughs Employees as Shutdown Continues). Fortunately, IRS published its contingency plan on its website, which spells out which functions will continue to operate, and which will cease. You can view the contingency plan here.

The functions that will continue during the furlough are:

  • Criminal Investigations (CI) (law enforcement operations, ongoing investigations, and protection of officials)
  • Data and property protection (computer systems management and taxpayer remittances)
  • Limited taxpayer services (disaster relief or safety focused only)
  • Filing season preparation (forms design, IT testing and modernization)
  • Contract oversight (for contacts necessary for life/property safety or exemption functions)

The functions that will cease during the furlough are:

  • Routine taxpayer services (call centers, walk-ins)
  • Non-disaster transcript processing
  • Non-automated collections and legal counsel for non-exempt matters
  • Research, planning and training not related to exempt activities
  • Most administrative and HQ functions not tied to safety or property protection

For those that have tax concerns, you may be wondering what should you do while you wait for IRS to go back to fully operational status. I tried the 1-800 number for IRS earlier today and found that indeed they are receiving calls, but you won’t be able to connect to a live person unless its related to disaster relief or some major safety concern. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the October 15th extension deadline is looming, and this furlough is unlikely to be a valid reason for not submitting your tax returns. So you will want to remit your returns anyway, since the data and property protection teams are still operating during this time (they will receive the documents, but processing wont’ resume until the furlough ends). Unfortunately, if you need a transcript and you’re not living in a disaster area, your request will not be processed during this time (keep this in mind if you were completing a process that requires income verification, like asset purchases).

Please know that in cases of shutdown, there are usually no pauses in automated collection actions: the time frames and system-generated documents generally continue as normal. So if you are currently under a payment plan, the shutdown will not stop or prevent you from having to pay on your balance owed. Also, if you were anticipating a refund, there is a good chance that that too will be automatically (systemically) issued if you were anticipating a direct deposit. I am unsure how this will impact paper checks. Additionally, if you are under criminal investigation (hopefully not!) and were hoping that the furlough meant you’d get a break, I hate to be the one to tell it to you, but the CI team is still hard at work and investigations will continue.

These reduced services can be a bit frustrating, but the shutdown is temporary and will be resolved at some point. Right now is a great time to sort through your documents in anticipation of your next year filing, or you can review some of the changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (if you want me to share my notes in a future post, let me know!) Previously, we heard talks of tax collections being reduced or the IRS being eliminated. But with an estimated 80% or so of government funding coming from the IRS, the chances of a completely dissolved Internal Revenue Service are slim. So if you’re hoping that the temporary government shutdown will lead into a permanent shutdown of Internal Revenue Service, I wouldn’t bet on it. But who knows? Anything is possible.

Do you have any tax questions or are you still wondering what’s next for the federal government? Leave your questions below, and I’ll do my best to answer them!

One Week Into The Government Shutdown: What’s Happening Now

It’s Day 8 of the 2025 Government Shutdown, and it looks like the federal government is no closer to an approved budget than it was last week. I’m guessing that this won’t be resolved within the week; in fact, I think it could be almost November before the funding bill is approved.

I’m writing this post as a furloughed federal employee who has prepared for this sort of thing, and I want to assure you all that I’m doing just fine. The unscheduled time off was perfect: I had just finished helping a friend relocate to her new home, and I was walking nearly 22,000 each day during the move. Additionally, I was helping her after I finished work every day, so I was helping with the move between 7 PM and 3 AM each night, for several days. By the time the shutdown was announced, I was sleep deficient and running on absolute fumes, so having a few days to properly rest and take care of myself was perfect.

Foresight has been a savior during this time. I save my money and live sensibly so that I can weather changes in income, and, given the many shutdown threats I’ve lived through over the past 20(!) years of federal employment, I am NOT surprised that this happened. I was working as a federal employee in 2013, which was when I experienced my first shutdown. My daughter was small and that was the perfect time to do some domestic travel and catch up on the sleep I’d been missing as a long-distance daily commuter. So, being wise, keeping a positive outlook, and using the break to my advantage has been good for me.

For those impacted by the shutdown, I’m sorry for any inconveniences you may have experienced. And for those that are just annoyed with all of this, just know that every federal employee understands and agrees with you. I sincerely hope that this gets resolved soon, so that we can get back to serving the public.

Stay Safe: The Story of a Scam, Part 1

In the financial world, the only guarantee that exists is that there is always a scam or scheme on the horizon, ready to take advantage of the ambitious but ill-informed masses. Recently, a large group of global investors and entrepreneurs fell victim to a scooter scam to the tune of millions of dollars.

If you have been keeping up with the world of frauds, scams and schemes, you may have heard of the Lightning Shared Scooter Company (L.S.S.C.) The Hong-Kong based company purported to set up scooters in densely populated cities, and investors could pay a flat fee to lease a set of scooters for 3 years. These leases were supposed to fund the initial scooter purchase and subsequent mechanical maintenance. Larger investments created the opportunity for more scooter leases, and more leases meant more money could be made by the investor. The company would maintain the scooters, and the investors made money by “turning on” the scooters every day of the work week (Monday through Friday). The claim was that investors would recover the initial investment within 30 working days (about 6 weeks). After that 6 week period, all subsequent income generated was profit.

This sounds simple enough, but the story quickly fell apart as the company revealed more about what they expected from investors. First of all, the company was compensating investors for “turning on” the scooters, but it didn’t seem logical that, in this age of automation, these devices would need to be manually powered on. The company alternated between claiming that investors didn’t need to bring in additional participants and claiming that the only way to make money was to add new “team” members as quickly as possible. Additionally, the training and investor meetings were extremely disorganized and repeated the same canned, surface-level information in slightly different ways. Investors were expected to attend YouTube “training” sessions that weren’t substantive, but simply a way to continue to spin the illogical compensation structure of the company and leverage the excitement of new investors that were ready to make “easy” money. These “trainings” offered fluffy, poorly constructed arguments in favor of the company, and were little more than a way for the YouTube trainers to quickly become part of the YT Partner program, offering a way to make money beyond LSSC’s scooter scheme.

Another peculiar point about the scam was the method for compensation. The company only paid through cryptocurrency on Coinbase, and they required a complex process for remitting investment funds to start. The company would have different short term investment opportunities for participants, where investors would remit $10,000 or more and, within 2 or 3 days, they could receive from 10% to 25% over their initial investment. LSSC went a step further, and also started making claims that the money received from the company was nontaxable due to the fact that the company was Hong-Kong based, offering awful and oversimplified tax guidance to excited but uneducated investors (at the point where I heard this, I KNEW, for sure, this was a scam and would cause financial ruin for the participants if it continued).

Further, the company’s rapid expansion was supposed to be part of a strategic plan to corner the North American market by “proving” public interest in scooter usage (all while scooters devices have been in use for many years here in the US). Relying on investors’ ignorance of how foreign companies enter new markets, the “logic” presented argued that the fact that investors’ participation would make a stronger claim for LSSC as it navigated the process of setting up US presence. The company attempted to bolster its appearance of legitimacy by offering business registration information and documents on live videos, telling investors (and I paraphrase here, but not much), “If we were crooks, would we register with regulatory agencies?” Personally, the registration documents provided by the company were among some of the flimsiest I’ve ever seen, and didn’t actually confirm the legitimacy of the company, but that should be no surprise, given the way things turned out.

In the end, the company came toppling down in late July 2025. In the weeks leading up to the collapse, the company amped up activity, promising to gift Teslas to some of the lucky investors, planning multiple grand openings of scooter stores in the US, and giving away the equivalents of thousands of dollars in household items to investors each day. After failing to pay investors timely, AND after failing to disperse rewards promised through games and competitions on the company’s BonChat platform (their exclusive communication channel structured similarly to WhatsApp), it became clear that LSSC was what it claimed to be. On the heels of FBI scrutiny, the company closed down and left many people with lightened wallets and shamed faces.

Further, some of the more public members of the organization – who were also investors who lost significant money – have become victims of harassment, despite the fact that they were not the masterminds behind the scheme. Several individuals have been forced to keep a low profile in light of the scandal. It has been rumored that the different higher level individuals that interacted with investors were actually AI generated entities, making it nearly impossible to pinpoint the actual parties responsible for the scam.

In any case, I have a lot of sympathy for the victims, and there were plenty of them: the entry point for investors was fairly low (less that $1000 USD when the company shuttered its doors), making it accessible. And, because the company initially kept its promises to investors, the early investors (some of whom came into the structure when the fees were less than $500 USD) were encouraged and inspired to bring in as many family members and friends as they could. I have several family members who fell victim to the scheme, however, they personally incurred the loss for the individuals that they brought into the company (they made the investment on behalf of the people they brought in, only to be repaid when the participants were beyond the 30 day investment recoup period).

There were many red flags with the scheme, and I will explore ALL of them in my next post. So stay tuned for Part 2 of The Story of a Scam. I’ll talk to you all soon!

Why The Previous IRS Commissioner Was Perfect For The Job

Upon hearing that IRS recognizes that they need more staff but doesn’t seem to be clear how to best accomplish this, I decided to research the current leadership, to see if the organization had the right people to realize their goals. The things I learned about Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Billy Long initially made me raise a brow, but since I believe in nuanced interpretations, I carefully considered what I learned about him and comfortably concluded that he is actually a very good fit for this role. Unfortunately, as I was completing my analysis, Long was removed from the position of Commissioner! That being said, a little background on Long is still worth considering, even if it’s just for the purpose of comparing the qualifications of future appointees.

Commissioner Long is a former congressman from Missouri, and he previously supported initiatives to abolish IRS. Additionally, there have been questions about Long’s ethical background, as he was once employed by a firm that obtained fraudulent Employee Retention Credits (ERC) on behalf of their clients. Long has stated that he did not partake in any wrongdoing, and Senate agreed with him, confirming him as commissioner in June 2025. Long was removed from his role as Commissioner in August 2025, less than 60 days after he started.

Here is why I think Commissioner Long was perfect for the role:

  • He has very little actual experience working in tax administration. This may be unusual for IRS commissioners but not for other public roles: there are a number of elected officials that have ZERO experience that qualifies them to participate in the committees in which they serve. The lack of relevant experience isn’t the disadvantage you would expect: it often serves as a prompt to dive deeper and really do the work of understanding how things work from the inside out. Long was in a perfect position to see IRS through fresh eyes.
  • In this role, he could have reconfigured the IRS in a way that best supported his vision for a fair, efficient revenue generator for the US. As a critic of the current IRS setup, he has a much deeper understanding of the flaws that can be fixed within the system. By focusing on fixing those issues, he could have set in motion the kind of changes that would actually make IRS a much better vehicle for financially supporting its goals and objectives.
  • I believe in the Emperor Sung effect when it comes to putting critics in positions that were initially opposed to (see The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, Law 2, “Observance of the Law” for more context). There’s something transformative that happens when critics inhabit the roles they initially opposed. This gives them the opportunity to see firsthand where processes break down and how they can actually fix the problem. It’s very rare that someone gets into these positions and doesn’t have a shift in their perspective and interpretations. I believe that Commissioner Long was far more invested in cementing his legacy as a brilliant leader that transformed the behemoth that is IRS, than to be the one that dismantled the agency because of previously held viewpoints.

In any case, we won’t get to see Long usher in changes to the IRS. He has been appointed as Ambassador to Iceland (I can’t say whether that’s a promotion or not: I’ll let you be the judge of that) so we’ll just have to keep an eye out for the next commissioner and wait to see what changes will come. Long seems excited about his new role and I’m sure he’ll share many updates as he settles into his ambassadorship.

I’m interested in who will be appointed next. In the meantime, I’ll watch for updates on IRS’s hiring initiatives and implementation of the OBBBA in the weeks and months to come.

Winning the IRS Employment Game: A Strategic Guide

I recently shared a post regarding the Internal Revenue Service’s “hiring” push that is unlikely to result in any material impact on agency goals and objectives. However, at the end of the post, I mentioned how there would be some terminated or laid-off IRS employees that may be considering returning to the Service for the upcoming filing season, and how these employees could maximize the opportunity regardless of how indeterminate their employment time may be. Here are my recommendations for getting maximum benefit as a re-hired IRS employee:

  • Prior to returning to the office, schedule any doctor and specialist appointments so that your reinstated federal health insurance can cover those visits. For instance, if I was a former IRS employee that intends to be rehired before the filing season begins, I’d start scheduling doctor appointments for February and March 2026. I’d be sure to focus on those specialists that have a 6-9 months wait list, as well as any doctors that I have been unable to visit while I’ve been unemployed. I’d put those appointments on President’s Day if possible (this is a federal holiday that is open for many businesses, including a good number of medical offices). If, for some reason, I am not hired or my insurance is not reinstated within a few days of the appointment, I’d call and reschedule. I’ve lost nothing, and the medical office still has time to offer that space to another patient.
  • Leverage your lunch time and after work hours to complete free Skillsoft training to qualify you for a different job. Since it’s been more than a decade since I worked for IRS, I’m unsure how much access employees have within Skillsoft. However, if you are a rehired employee, confirm the Skillsoft access information in your employee handbook or through intranet pages. See if there is an option to download the Skillsoft app to your personal device, where you can use your agency log-in information to complete training when you’re off the clock. If so, explore the training paths that are most beneficial to your goals and use this re-employment period to complete the training. As you complete courses, make sure you retain copies of your completion records, lest they become unavailable to you in the future. Some programs I’d recommend are the project management and business analysis tracks (successfully completing Skillsoft training in either area is accepted by the Project Management Institute and the International Institute of Business Analysis). However, if you’d like to know of additional Skillsoft training that I recommend, let me know, and I’ll do another post.
  • Research the tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment options available to you. It’s uncertain whether these programs are going to be available when rehired employees return, but if I came back to the agency, this would be one of the first things I’d confirm. Generally, you must have at least one year of employment to qualify, but you’ll have to confirm whether there are additional criteria, such as whether the year of employment must be 12 consecutive months, if you must be a permanent employment (as opposed to seasonal) to qualify, if the benefits are available only to certain job series (positions), etc.,.
  • This is a perfect opportunity to utilize Employee Assistance Program (EAP) resources. Whatever you need that is available through EAP, go ahead and use it. I cannot remember the full extent of the resources available through IRS’s EAP, but these programs usually offer counseling and therapy services, financial and legal advice for personal purposes, and expedited referrals to various specialists. It’s a complimentary service so get as much as you can while you’re there.
  • Prioritize completing internal required and supplemental training and save documentation of it. Outside of Skillsoft, IRS used to maintain its own training materials. I advise you to take advantage of these training programs if still available and, should you find yourself laid off again, you’ll be able to prove that you’ve completed tax-relevant and other specialized training programs. These can be great if you enjoy working in finance or tax, and want to distinguish yourself from other applicants for other positions.
  • If at all possible, invest heavily in your Thrift Savings Program account. Socking away some retirement funds is always a good idea, and the effect of compound interest can work to your advantage. The sooner you put funds in, the longer you can benefit from the time advantage. So if you can put in a little (or a lot!), do it. Your future financial security will thank you for whatever you do now.

If you can think of additional strategies for rehired IRS employees, please leave those suggestions in the comments, so that others can benefit. Also, if there are any points that need correction, please let me know and I’ll be sure to update. Let’s help each other to make the best of this situation!

The IRS “Hiring” Fiasco: The Least Surprising Development of 2025

I will apologize in advance for any snark that you detect in this post. I try to keep things elevated and fairly neutral, but this latest chaotic development from the Internal Revenue Service concerns me, and I don’t want to dilute my thoughts as I address the issues that I see when it comes to the latest hiring “push” from the Service.

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service announced that it would be hiring several thousand employees as contact representatives and tax examination technicians, while simultaneously getting rid of direct filing capabilities (taxpayers are once again going to have to figure out how to use commercial tax filing software if they want to submit electronic returns). This hiring “push” comes after months of intentionally reducing a number of the employees that were already doing collection and tax resolution tasks. Many of these employees were not at the top of their pay scales – they were fairly newer hires – and now the Service will be tacking on the cost of re-hiring people at the same levels of the ones that were just terminated earlier this year.

If that isn’t wacky enough, it gets even more chaotic. The job announcement for contact representatives was posted on July 29th, and canceled on July 31st. Yes, you are reading that correctly: within 72 hours of posting the job, it was canceled on the federal government’s hiring platform, USAJobs. Why was it canceled so quickly? It’s possible that IRS had already gotten the maximum number of applications they were seeking. But, it’s far more likely that the post was published hastily, and it likely was missing a number of critical details. Whenever I’ve seen jobs posted and taken down quickly, it’s usually because the HR Department was ill-prepared and put up an inaccurate, incomplete announcement (most likely scenario) or the requested number of applications (let’s say, no more than 200 or 500) was received (this is very unlikely). The whole thing smacks of impulsive decision making and poorly completed, rushed work.

Oh, that quickly removed announcement? It was only eligible for certain categories of IRS employees anyway: specifically, current IRS employees, and IRS career transition employees (those were previously fired or otherwise subjected to reduction-in-force actions [layoffs]). So, they terminated people, only to attempt to hire the same folks back, at the same pay rates that they were using before. In summary, this whole game of layoffs and rehires is an expensive exercise in futility.

I also mentioned that there is an announcement for tax examination technicians. That post is still available, but it’s for that same limited group of IRS employees (current IRS and career transition IRS employees), which, again, makes the vast majority of people ineligible to apply. Additionally, the tax exam tech posting was done so hastily that the hyperlinked video on the job announcement doesn’t work at the time of this posting: the promotional video generally provided to potential employees isn’t even viewable! All of this smacks of rush work and poor execution from IRS. And of course, the tax exam tech job caps at roughly $60,000, with no telework or remote work options, and the expectation of developing into a technical advisor, classroom instructor or on-the-job trainer (with no additional pay: you’d be getting the same compensation as someone that didn’t train fellow employees).

I’ve seen disorganized hiring efforts before, but this one has to be one of the most comical, considering how the IRS wants to hire back the same people that were unceremoniously discarded several months ago. If I was one of those terminated employees, this game of “keep away” that IRS is playing with people’s livelihoods would completely turn me off to working for them again. However, for those that decide that they want to try it again, and find a way to make these games work for them . . . I have some strategies coming for you later this week. Make sure to come back so I can explain exactly how to WIN while working an IRS job. I’ll talk to you all soon!

Entering My Opulent Era

This is slightly related to the subject of this blog so I figured I’d share.

Today is my birthday. I’m writing this ahead of time, since I’ll be overseas and practicing what I preach.

I’ve mentioned before how I’ve grown weary of the practical (boring) advice that is often offered by financial gurus. I am DONE with promoting austerity as the path to wealth, and I will no longer deny myself pleasure that adds depth and color to my existence. I believe it is possible to live luxuriously while also being wise with money. In fact, I’d argue that (for me) the only reason to be responsible with money is to enjoy the luxuries that money can buy. I may forgo ordering takeout to save up for a pair of Ralph and Russo shoes, or I may decide to stay home and read a book instead of blowing my quarterly massage budget on a night out with friends. Whatever the case is, I may opt for the responsible, “boring” choice, but only if it puts me in line for the luxury I really desire.

I have no interest in denying myself every pleasure, just so I can see a certain amount in my bank account. Yes, I believe in saving for rainy days and old age, but I also believe in leaving room for fun NOW! I don’t want a life where I’m not having fun: I want a life that is juicy, exquisite, and delightful from beginning to the very end. That is why I’m declaring this my Opulent Era. I require opulence in everything I do: my meals, my home, my hobbies, my travel, everything. If opulence means sacrificing the less interesting things, I’m happy to do it. I’m no longer interested in living a dull life JUST so I can have more money in an account. I want to LIVE (still responsibly, but not miserly!)

I’m committing to incorporating more opulence into my daily life. If that interests you, then stay tuned, because I’ll be sharing more of those opulent experiences here. I look forward to taking you all on this opulent adventure with me!

Posing at the Edinburgh Airport