Jon And Chantel

Choose the news 4/17/17

The Golden Gate Bridge Is Finally Installing a Giant Net to Stop Suicides

The Golden Gate Bridge was opened 80 years ago, and since then, more than 1,500 people have committed SUICIDE by jumping off.  That’s an average of almost 19 people a year.Last year alone there were 39 suicide jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge, and officers stopped another 184 people who were trying.

So this is definitely good news:  San Francisco is FINALLY doing something about it.

On Thursday, construction started on a NET about 20 feet down that should catch anyone who jumps off.  It will cost $200 million of federal, state, and local taxes and should be finished within four years.

And yes, it’s worth it to save all those lives.  A study out of Harvard found that nine out of 10 people who try to commit suicide and fail do NOT try to kill themselves again.

(CBS News)

Why It’s Not Actually Good to Get a Big Tax Refund Every Year

If you’re getting a really big tax refund this year, we’re not trying to crush your joy.  But here’s why it ISN’T always a good thing . . .

When you get a big refund, it’s usually because you had too much money withheld from your paychecks.  Maybe because you filled something out wrong on your W-4.  And it IS nice to get that big chunk of money.

But a lot of people end up using their refund to pay down credit cards, which rack up interest all year.  And if you had a little more money in your pocket, maybe you wouldn’t have NEEDED to use your credit card.

Or if you REALLY want to be an adult about it, that extra money could have automatically been deposited into a retirement account.  Here’s why it makes sense . . .

Let’s say you get paid twice a month, and got a really nice refund this year of $1,200.  That means you overpaid by $50 per paycheck.

If you invested all that money and kept doing it for 30 years, you’d put away $36,000.  But because of compound interest, you’d actually end up with a lot more than that.

If your 401K or IRA made 6% a year, you’d actually end up with about a HUNDRED-THOUSAND dollars after 30 years.  About 60 grand of it would come from the compound interest alone.

(Bankrate.com)

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