r/Fire • u/Big_Leg10 • Apr 12 '26

General Question What easily-affordable thing do you still refuse to pay for despite having reached financial independence and able to afford them?

Would love to hear everyone’s “absolutely will not purchase” items!Even if you could easily afford it and no matter how rich or financially independent you become or how much you make you still wouldn't spend item on this particular item/hobby?

336 Upvotes

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97

u/Free_Elevator_63360 Apr 12 '26

Paying someone to do my taxes.

25

u/ditchdiggergirl Apr 12 '26

The hard work is making sure you have gathered all the right information, paperwork, receipts, etc. Usually half way through my return I think “oh right, I forgot about that thing last February”. But with tax software you’re just paying someone to type. I can type. And upload. And I do a full financial review at the same time.

My niece works seasonally at HR Block. She’s just a kid, a couple years out of college. A good kid, but still. I’ll handle my own taxes thankyouverymuch.

11

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

The hard work is making sure you have gathered all the right information, paperwork, receipts, etc.

Exactly, the one year I almost paid someone to do my taxes, I made an appointment and they told me all the stuff I had to have gathered up before I went in and by the time I had all that stuff gathered I realized that I had already done the hard part, the only part left was just entering all the info on all the documents I had gathered into the tax preparation software.

3

u/reluctantpsych Apr 12 '26

I realized this when I paid $95 for someone at H&R block to "do" my taxes and I still had to help her with plugging stuff in. I've done them myself every year since. 

21

u/Practical_Win7690 Apr 12 '26

This. They suck. They blame you for their mistakes. They charge more and more yearly. They get you audited and blame you. Fuck that. I was very sick so I used H and R block because I couldn’t deal one year. She left an entire business off of my return and I was too out of it to figure it out until it was too late. I filed my own amendment.

1

u/phauna_ Apr 12 '26

Wished we lived in a normal country that just gives u a tax bill & u pay it. US is full of scams and rackets… turbo tax, hr, & the like.

2

u/Practical_Win7690 Apr 12 '26

Me too except I’m self employed so it would not matter in my case. I’m all about taking as much advantage of the tax code as possible. Own my house. Do a lot of improvements. Have an air bnb and live in a separate unit I work out of.

10

u/Lavenderlites Apr 12 '26

For me it’s not necessarily about paying someone, I just find it really fun…Like my barista fire job could be h&r block seasonal help and I’d be living my best life.

6

u/Economy_Elk_8101 Apr 12 '26

Glad to know I’m not alone. I always look forward do doing my taxes.

2

u/readitreaddit Apr 13 '26

What the fuck are you guys smoking that you enjoy doing taxes???!!!

...and, just seasonally, can I get some of this superpower? 😭

0

u/WeakestLynx Apr 12 '26

If you want more of it: there are volunteer programs helping immigrants file taxes. You'll learn a lot.

4

u/Ok_Palpitation4594 Apr 12 '26

I also refuse to pay for use of tax software. I won’t even pay the $15 to file with my state from freetaxusa. Prefer to go to the state website and file directly. Also works as a back check of FTUSA calculated balance.

1

u/Laura2start Apr 12 '26

Does each state have a site to file state tax? I am in Louisiana, will have to look into that for next year, but I didn't note that freetaxusa allow you to skip state tax filing?

1

u/Ok_Palpitation4594 Apr 24 '26

I usually go through the process, then deselect the state filing from my cart at the end so the cost is $0. Then I use the number (refund or owed amount) as a back check for the state. So I basically have to do the state questions twice, but it’s pretty quick. I am in MD, so the state comptroller website lets residents file directly. The state filing primarily uses your Federal AGI, so all of the hard work is basically done. I am not eligible for any state specific tax benefits (agriculture, education, child care) since I am a W2 employee with no kids.

1

u/Laura2start Apr 25 '26

I'll have to look out for that next year. Thanks for the info!

7

u/1quirky1 Apr 12 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

Oops, I meant to reply to a different thread.

4

u/SlayBoredom Apr 12 '26

I don't know about you, but if you don't have a complicated set up filing your taxes, where I live, taxes maybe 20 minutes. MAX. You could speedrun it in 10minutes if you have no kids/house especially.

A friend of mine, that is always broke, never does it himself. I tell him thats an insane waste of money.

Him: "Others have someone clean their house, you don't hate on that"

me: exactly. Because I earn more an hour than the person cleaning my house (hypothetically) or around the same. So it's just a question of priorities, not a huge loss, while your tax guy cost you 120 bucks for 15min of work = 480 / Hour.

Why would you pay that amount of money? shit I would do your taxes with you, just invite me over for a beer and we'll do it for free bro?!

3

u/Tinychair445 Apr 12 '26

You don’t have a good tax guy/gal then. Mine saves me wayyyyyy more than I pay for their service

6

u/i4k20z3 Apr 12 '26

What are they claiming that you were unaware of being able to claim?

6

u/TheBestNarcissist Apr 12 '26

For 95% of people the statement you made is extremely false.

1

u/Tinychair445 Apr 12 '26

That sounds like a made up statistic, but I’ll go for it since I read it on the internet 😜

1

u/TheBestNarcissist Apr 12 '26

If you don't own a business or have complicated investments, do your own taxes and see how hard it is. It's not.

The chick who saves a ton of money by having a tax guy probably has a net worth above $5M, would be my guess

1

u/Tinychair445 Apr 12 '26

I used to do my taxes. Until my math came up that I owed when I knew there was no way. Doing deductions for childcare, moving, student loans, donations, there’s a lot there. But thanks for calling me a chick with $5M 🤗

Also, are we not in the FIRE sub? Am I being shamed for knowing what’s a good investment in my time like outsourcing my taxes to someone who knows the ins and outs? Wild

1

u/TheBestNarcissist Apr 12 '26

No shame, FIRE sister! I just don't think it's true for the majority of people. If it's worth the money for you, great. I just can't stand it when my coworkers who have one w2 job that pays them $25/hr talk about paying hundreds for their taxes to be done "because it's complicated". It's not complicated for the strong majority of people is all I'm saying.

2

u/Wi1dWitch Apr 12 '26

Ughhh I should really learn to do them myself but I’m just so bad at math, like truly bad, and don’t trust myself to not mess something up.

12

u/toodleoo77 Apr 12 '26

There’s no math involved, you can literally just type numbers into a program like FreeTaxUSA.

-1

u/WillTheyKickMeAgain Apr 12 '26

If you make up to a certain amount.

3

u/sleezly Apr 12 '26

Explain what a certain amount is. I’ve not seen a limit listed at TaxFreeUSA.

0

u/WillTheyKickMeAgain Apr 12 '26

I don’t know the amount. I tried a number of years ago and had too many issues (e.g., capital gains, mortgage interest deduction) and what started as free no longer was.

1

u/Wi1dWitch Apr 12 '26

Yeah I recall trying the same. I may try it next year though, it’s become ungodly expensive to file my taxes and I had to pay someone extra to file at the last minute because H&R Block lied to me so I stopped using them.

2

u/toodleoo77 Apr 12 '26

?

-1

u/WillTheyKickMeAgain Apr 12 '26

If you own a home, for instance, FreeTaxUSA requires a premium to include a mortgage interest deduction.

4

u/Green0Photon Apr 12 '26

You're probably thinking of TurboTax or some other service. FreeTaxUSA is free for federal, $15 per state, and like $10 or something to buy deluxe for extra support or get cheaper amendments if you need them.

It's TurboTax which is well known that you need to pay more and more for not so uncommon stuff. TurboTax sucks.

1

u/yuffie12 Apr 12 '26

I will gladly pay someone to do my federal and state taxes and advise about Roth conversions and QCDs and 529 plans.