Every year for the past few years I’ve received a refund from the Federal Government on my taxes.  My financial situation hasn’t changed much in the past few years so I have come to expect this.  Now, I know that any self-respecting financial adviser would tell me I should adjust my withholdings so I can keep more of my earnings each paycheck.  I know they would tell me that the government makes a lousy bank, and that they don’t pay interest on the money I let them “borrow” this past year.  My financial planner would tell me that there are plenty of ways to make that money work for me throughout the year instead of letting it sit in Uncle Sam’s coffers.  They would tell me it’s a lazy investment choice.

I disagree. It isn’t that I feel that the government needs my extra $889.60 in order to operate.  It isn’t that I think they can put it to better use than I can.  It’s just that most people walk around during the year feeling like they owe the man.  In someways we all do.  Driver’s license fees, toll roads, ten-cent pop-bottle deposits.  It’s true, I pay my taxes just like everybody else but still, lost investment opportunities not withstanding, it’s a great feeling to go through the months leading up to tax day knowing (or at least smugly suspecting) that the man owes me. For right now that’s the best investment I could make.