Intern

The "Productive"

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Working 9-5 for the Rest of Your Life?


I'm just now realizing that this (blogging) is something I had wanted to do for a really long time. It's allowing me to experience that childhood energy that I had so long forgotten. Looking back at it, and by that I mean yesterday, I guess I hit the pinnacle of boredom and something in me just snapped. The flame of my passion had just died and I had to find a torch to heat that bad boy back up (No that's not a reference to smoking dabs). While I do admit that I cannot be holding high expectations with regard to my workload, there's just something about a 9-5 that gives you a bitter taste of mortality. I cringe at the thought of being content with working in a modernized prison. But when it comes to college and living independently, money has the ability to transform you into a walking hypocrite and is the reason for why I've chosen to stick along thus far. And speaking of money, I'm learning the hard way that it is an education in itself and mastering it is no easy task. So what have I learned so far?

You don't have to give Uncle Sam an interest free loan!

For an internship or Co-op that usually lasts half a year or less, your salary most likely puts you on the lower spectrum of the tax bracket. This means that you're probably not going to end up owing the government too much in taxes. Use the IRS withholding calculator to find out the number of allowances you should claim when filling out your W-4. You can expect this number to be as high as 5, but in the end it ultimately comes down to your own personal preference. If you're the kind of student that's living on a check by check basis and could use some extra green in your bank account, then you can claim a higher allowance and increase your paycheck. This comes with the only downside being that you won't get that much money back in tax returns.

Unfortunately for me and many other fresh meats, money is currently the elephant in the room. While it's hard to ignore it at the time, there is a silver lining that comes with it. And that's getting to know yourself better. While there are cases of people hitting the jackpot and working at their dream job right out of the gate, that is rarely the case. As you survive another day at work, you start inquiring about your future and all sorts of hypotheticals. For me, being payed by the hour makes time feel a little bit more surreal. Yesterday, after completing my normal 8 hour shift, I reflected back and wondered how many of those hours I had spent simply killing time. Upon revelation, I reacted by impulsively writing my first legitimate blog and now this one a day after. Anyway, I feel like that's enough writing for my second post. For some reason, I was beginning to force myself to keep writing near the end there. Oh wait that's right, I was confusing it with work and forgot that I don't have a gun pointed at my head. Until my next post, keep it sexy!

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