INTP approaches to money management/ bookkeeping/ accounting/ taxes tasks

[DrGregoryHouse]

BOOOring topic but necessary I suppose.

Are there any effective INTPs out there who can answer?

How should an INTP approach their bookkeeping/ accounting/ tax work?

For home and/or business?

INTPs are notorious for their horrible natural inclinations/ abilities in this area in particular. Sadly, I'm no exception. I'd like advice and thoughts, please...

 

[DIALECTIC]

How should an INTP approach their bookkeeping/ accounting/ tax work?

Hire an ISTJ to keep your books and do all your accounting / tax work for you.

 

[computerhxr]

I just ignore it until it becomes a problem. Then hire a CPA to fix everything. I'm working on building better habbits. I try to keep everything in bank transactions so that I can go back and figure things out. Buy things online so that you have a digital receipt. It's a horrible system and when I have the money, I'm just going to hire someone else to manage everything for me.

 

[Sir Eus Lee]

I don't know. I didn't spend any money for years, saved it up, and then got back into MagicTG again and blew like 75$. Was it worth it? I'll never know.

My advice for an approach? Spend minimal money. Is it good advice? Nope, I didn't even answer your question.

 

[Yellow]

I grew up very poor (the no-public-assistance kind of poor), so I absorbed very frugal habits and approaches to personal economics.

That being said, I'm very bad with the associated paperwork. When I was on my own, I just dealt in cash and didn't even have a bank account. I saved so much money, even on low wages, that I ended up with random piles of cash scattered throughout my apartment. Now, I just let the INTJ worry about that stuff, and try to turn over my receipts in a timely manner to avoid his nagging.

 

[redbaron]

I can't even motivate myself to keep receipts, let alone do paperwork. I've been telling myself for the past year that I'm going to be more organized for my taxes this time around.

Well taxes have arrived and I'm no more organized than before. Guess I'll just pay an accountant.

So to answer your question:

How should an INTP approach their bookkeeping/ accounting/ tax work?

They shouldn't. They should make someone else approach it for them.

 

[Sixup]

I naturally spend very little, but my fiance tends to be more of an impulse buyer, generally worse with finances. So I have been trying to suck less at tracking and planning this stuff.

Started with reading Your Money or Your Life. Then I tried to implement their charts and tracking stuff. Did it for about a month and then was over it. Having a big paper chart on the wall, and having to manually do all that shit just wasn't working.

Now I'm working with this program YNAB - "You Need A Budget". Which sounds really boring--never thought I would've used a budgeting program--but it's actually pretty awesome. I think I'm into my 2nd month using it. So...of course I could still be at the point of falling off the wagon.

Nice thing about YNAB is the system behind it. Not just tracking what you spend, but planning where your money goes beforehand. Subtle difference, but it works. Plus there is built in flexibility which helps.

Check it out. It has a 34 day free trial. No commitment. One time purchase if you do decide to buy. Pretty solid, no BS company, from what I've seen so far.

 

[Rook]

Attain money.
Spend it.
Repeat.



Why make it so difficult?
That being said so far I dodged the taxradar, so that probably makes yer financial woes more complex.

 

[Minuend]

Is the taxes (paperwork) very different from year to year? Can't you, like, keep a copy from last year and pretty much copy it for the next?

In Norway the process is automated. I've signed in once to make changes the last 5 years or so since there hasn't been much going on financially. But it's advisable to check every year ofc, even if you're not planning on making changes.

 

[computerhxr]

Is the taxes very different from year to year? Can't you, like, keep a copy from last year and pretty much copy it for the next?

Not when you run a business...

 

[Minuend]

Yeah, I meant the private economy part, not business. Though, I find a template mentally more motivating. At least you can copy stuff like addresses and organization numbers. (I find filling forms mentally exhausting, so anything helps, really).

Regarding business, my dad used to hire a person to do that until he went bankrupt.

 

[ENTP lurker]

My guess:

import life, rainy_day, spend, work, crisis, bank_account, move
main:
   while life.alive():
     work.get salary()
     check_balance()

subroutine  check_balance:
  if bank_account.money() < crisis.money(bank_account.money()):
    rainy_day.precautions()
    spend.minimally()
  elif life.need_money() < bank_account.money()
    exit(0)
  elif bank.account.money() < life.monthly.money() and work.status() == "False":
    move.parent("basement")
  else:
    spend.normally()

 

[computerhxr]

My guess:

import life, rainy_day, spend, work, crisis, bank_account, move
main:
   while life.alive():
     work.get salary()
     check_balance()

subroutine  check_balance:
  if bank_account.money() < crisis.money(bank_account.money()):
    rainy_day.precautions()
    spend.minimally()
  elif life.need_money() < bank_account.money()
    exit(0)
  elif bank.account.money() < life.monthly.money() and work.status() == "False":
    move.parent("basement")
  else:
    spend.normally()

Haha, perfect!

 

[crippli]

I, well we. My parents isn't much involved in the administrative work on the farm, other then machines and stuff that is bought where they want a say. Use an accounting firm. It costs a bit of money, but is well worth it. Then I can keep track of the important aspects to get tax on a minimal level. Tax authorities are an unemphatic group of people, so I wouldn't want to have the responsibility of getting all that stuff in order. It's unbelievable how much paperwork a few cows generate.

 

[computerhxr]

I think the important thing to realize is, that a good accountant works with other businesses. They have experience and knowledge at working your accounts so that you can minimize your tax obligation. Doing it yourself, you will miss out on this benefit. It's what they do, it's what they are good at (hopefully).

Alternatively, don't go to H&R block. They are no better than doing it yourself with tax software. Seriously I needed something simple and out of 40 people, not a single one could figure it out. The rule is, if someone at H&R block can do it, then you can do it yourself with the same effort.

There are real professionals out there, and it's worth the money if you are making anything worth protecting.

 

[Seteleechete]

As a private person tax isn't much of a problem the tax authorities make it simple and convenient in Sweden(You just log into their website once a year where they have already filled in all of your income and tax paid throughout the year, write any income they missed and add any tax deductions you know you can get, usually people end up getting money back). If I ever started a company I would either see getting everything in order as a) a challenge and learning opportunity. Or b) as something I can't be bothered with and hire an accountant.

As for my personal finances I am frugal and always consider things in terms of time. (Okay, This costs 10 dollars, I will make that in an hour working in the future, is this thing costing 10 dollars worth 1 hour of my time spent on work?) By always considering things in terms of time spent working to make up for it instead of cash I become much more encouraged to keep track of my money(since there are few things more valuable to me than avoiding spending time on things I don't wanna do).

Money is time.

 

[Gather_Wanderer]

I was thinking financial planning until I become more educated.

Money has always been a headache for me but at the same time, its incredibly irresponsible to ignore. From the small bit I've learned, I don't think most people are sufficiently taught the subject in school.

A good foundation seems like it'd be 'Spend less than you make. Save a reasonable percentage of earnings.'
Top that off with some investment sense and I'd say you're in better shape than most.

 

[computerhxr]

Money has always been a headache for me but at the same time, its incredibly irresponsible to ignore. From the small bit I've learned, I don't think most people are sufficiently taught the subject in school.

It doesn't help that it's socially unacceptable to talk about money. If people talked about it more, then everyone would be educated and make better decisions. People need feedback and to see how other people manage money rather than learning by trial and error.

 

[Anktark]

An INTP approach would be creating a new moneyless society, thus solving the problem once and at it's roots. Have you tried that?

 

[Sixup]

An INTP approach would be creating a new moneyless society, thus solving the problem once and at it's roots. Have you tried that?

Nah an INTP would just figure out how to do it...say "oh that's a cool idea." And be done with it.