Kelli Green: 0:00

Welcome to another episode of the Live Better podcast, proudly presented by Centric. I’m your host, Kelli Green, and today we’re covering all things tax preparation and how to maximize your tax refund. This time of year, many families receive a large sum of money and can achieve hopes and dreams like a down payment on a large purchase, pay down or eliminate debt or even stack their savings for unexpected expenses. So, whether you’ve been a loyal listener or you’re joining us for the first time, prepare to dive into ways to grow your tax refund and ensure most of your refund stays in your pocket. Well, I want to welcome all of our listeners to another episode of Live Better podcast. Today we are joined by Billy Joiner. He is our CFO here at the credit union . And before we get started, Billy, share with our listeners a little bit about yourself and what do you do here at Centric.

Billy Joiner: 0:51

No, I’m just a normal guy. You know I’ve got a family of four kids, wife, been married to 20 years, so I’ve been at the credit union going on 12 years. You know I love helping people live better.

Kelli Green: 1:06

Yes, you do, and so something to tell everybody too, kind of what the CFO does. You know, you don’t just crunch numbers all day long, right you’re more than that’s probably what I do.

Billy Joiner: 1:16

But no, I I kind of dive into all the anything related to finances for the credit union, whether it be making sure we’re making the most on our own our money that we have sitting around, making sure we have the best rates based, making sure we have the best dividend rates for our members, just trying to make sure that we’re providing the best value for our members.

Kelli Green: 1:35

Oh yeah, you know a lot of the things we talk about. What we do here at Centric is genuinely helping members live better, and we know this time is our economy is kind of all over the place. We don’t necessarily know what’s happening with the rates. I mean, we know today, but it could be something different here in the weeks to come, and so I think one of the things I admire about you and your team you always want to talk with our members to see what are their ultimate financial goals and do we have the right things that we’re offering to them? You know, are we offering the most advantageous rates? That’s right for our members, but it’s also something right for the credit union.

Billy Joiner: 2:10

You know we would love to have folks bring us their excess cash and, you know, be able to pay them the best we can. But sometimes we’re not able to pay the best. You know, if it’s not good for a member, we’ll tell them hey, love, this is a good, this is a good opportunity somewhere else and and it’d be better for you to go take that opportunity there. But you know, all in all we would, we’d like to have their funds here at the credit union, obviously, but if it’s not best for the member, it’s, it’s, it’s kind of what we love.

Kelli Green: 2:38

Yeah, I love that. To me, we’re a local institution that just has an arm that we can reach members no matter where they are. I still think the most important and valuable thing about Centric is what we have to offer. Our staff live here. We’re living in the community, we understand what people, the hardships they may be facing and and we’re living in it too. You know, and I think that’s the most important piece of this is that we just don’t take the human side out of banking because it’s so critical. We all have different financial goals and journeys, but having someone as far as a financial expert like you to guide our members, I think that’s so incredibly valuable and something that you know a lot of folks may not get with a mega bank or even a large community-style bank here at the credit union. That is who we are.

Billy Joiner: 3:26

Yeah, just being able to save the local economy is what we talk about here. Yes, we like to make sure that we’re providing the best value for our members, whether it’s through financial counseling I love better tips Visiting schools, financial literacy for children, whatever it is, Centric is going to be there to help them.

Kelli Green: 3:45

That’s right, and I know our kids. You’ve been a loyal supporter of Biz Kids from day one. You’ve been a supporter of our high school BizKids program, and students enjoy having you in the class for they are sure to have a good ole time. So again, if that’s something that’s interesting for you too, feel free to visit our website at MyCentric. org, because now we offer Biz Kids online and people can access that at their disposal, so that’s beautiful. Well, so we’re exploring tax refunds, and so I would love to hear the most beneficial way to ensure that tax preparations are completely accurate, timely, and how members can really get their maximum refund. What do you suggest?

Billy Joiner: 4:19

with that. I would say most people are probably always in a hurry to get their taxes filed and first of the year comes around, that’s one of the first things folks get to working on or getting their tax returns filed. And one of the things that I would just make sure to make sure it’s most accurate is making sure that you have all the applicable forms that you need, whether it’s some 1099s or W9s. Just making sure that you have all your documentation that you need before you file, because you don’t want to have to go back and do an amended return or anything like that. So making sure you have all your documents together. We’re making sure that it’s filed accurately and timely. Just making sure you actually file the return before the deadline you can’t file some extensions if you need to, but just file it before the deadline is probably the best thing that would be helpful for our members and making sure you get the maximum refund. It’s kind of it’s a numbers game, right. So making sure that your deductions and your income, kind of, are maximum maximized and if you’re not sure how to accomplish that, get some help. Ask for some help, because there are professionals out there that can help you and there’s also software available that you can use to help you through the process as well.

Kelli Green: 5:47

You know, and the thing I always try to share with folks whenever they’re thinking about preparing their taxes. You know I encourage folks if you’re gonna use like the software you’re talking about, even online. A lot of times that’s a very low cost to no cost, especially if it’s just a simple return or if you’re visiting with a local CPA, which I advise, because if you have any questions or maybe you’re missing out on some deductions that you never thought about, you can talk with them. That’s an expert that you wanna reach out to. But something to really think about is if you are getting a refund, I highly encourage you consider direct depositing your return into the credit union versus uploading your refund to a debit card or credit card, because there’s so many fees that are associated with that and we just see so many times, even when you’re calling in on these prepaid cards that they give you, they’re trying to charge you for that. If you’re inquiring about a balance, why worry about that when you can just direct deposit that for free?

Billy Joiner: 6:42

Yeah, Centric is able to take those deposits on the tax deposits and actually pay you money for them.

Kelli Green: 6:49

Yeah.

Billy Joiner: 6:50

Instead of charging you for them. So we actually pay a good dividend rate on some of our CDs and we don’t charge you to call and ask come what you’s in your savings account. So, yeah, just find the best value for your money. If you’re not making money on your money, it’s the opportunity now to make sure that you’re doing that.

Kelli Green: 7:10

Absolutely. What better time? So let me ask you this so we talk about the good things that are tax refunds, so think about the pros and the cons of a tax refund. What are some things? A lot of times is a very large sum of money and people are like, heck, yeah, this is great, we’re going on vacation. But really think about what are some real beneficial things that families might be able to do to kind of change your financial trajectory with this tax refund.

Billy Joiner: 7:36

Well, you think about when tax season is. Tax season is right after the holidays and a lot of folks, a lot of members, use those funds to kind of catch up and some of them may have some outstanding items they need to take care of and we see a lot of that happening. So some of the pros of a large tax return would be to catch up on some of your bills, build your savings, put back some emergency phone if you need one. If you don’t have one, put one back. Not a lot of times you’re going to get a big, large sum of money at one time. So when you do that, not a lot of folks are used to getting those types of funds and sometimes they the money tells you where it’s going instead of you telling me where the money it’s going. That’s right. Just making sure you tell your money where it’s going. That’s probably one of the things that I would say when you get a large sum of money. And some of the disadvantages of getting a tax return. There are some disadvantages. First of all, I would say if you’re getting a large lump sum of money, you need to determine why you’re getting that, because what you’re pretty much doing is giving the government an interest-free loan because they’re taking your money and giving it back to you with no interest. So if you’re getting a large lump sum of money, you’re probably having too much money taken out of your paycheck. You’re not. Your W-2 is not filed correctly, it’s not, the form’s not completed correctly. So make sure you get with your advisor or your HR department to see what you can do to lessen that. If you want your money every time you get paid. Some folks wanna the max yeah, the max taken out and getting a match refund, and that’s a you decision. But there is some opportunities for you to maximize your own earnings by making sure that your withholdings are correct.

Kelli Green: 9:47

When you think about the time of inflation that we’re living in right now and if you’re getting $10-15k, we see very large tax refunds a lot of times here the credit union and you think about that over a year and I think, wow, if we could pay them 5% on that. You’re giving this to the government interest-free, but you think about what does that equate to every single month in your pocket? Could that being used for grocery money? Or if you’re able to withhold that from your check that tells you you could use that money in a savings account, right? That’s why I highly encourage I’m all for. I understand that with inflation and costs are out of control, but sitting down with the CPA even an HR professional, as you mentioned that they can go over what your deductions are and if they’re understanding as well as far as what you’re getting out of the refund, how does that impact you over your paycheck over the whole year? So you gotta think about those kinds of things and opportunities. I think that’s one of the biggest questions and it’s an easy answer. It doesn’t take me just a few minutes to look at those things so you can make those adjustments and that’s something that could be an instant change in your overall budget.

Billy Joiner: 10:56

Oh, absolutely. It’ll help you tremendously. A couple hundred dollars extra of paycheck, I mean that goes a long ways for folks who are just trying to live paycheck to paycheck. And if you are one of those folks that are living paycheck to paycheck and you’re getting a large tax refund, you’ve probably got some opportunities to increase your earnings if you could just make sure that your deductions are filled out right on your W-2 forms.

Kelli Green: 11:24

Yes, I just love that. I’m glad that you shared that, because those are some things a lot of people don’t think about. You know you hardly ever look at your deductions unless you have a lifestyle change, you know, or you start a new job. It’s really the only times you really think about your prompted to review that. So, nonetheless, it’s something that I think would just take a couple of minutes, and you know you mentioned earlier talking about the financial counselors that we have here at Centric and something that I wanna make sure that we do mention to our listeners. We talk about this a lot, but it’s so critical, especially if you’re thinking about you’ve got these extra 100, $200 that are coming in if you have adjusted your deductions. How does that? You know, how do you add that money into your overall budget? And if you don’t have a budget, how do you get started with that? Right?

Billy Joiner: 12:11

Oh yeah, I mean, the most important thing for me and my family is I’ve said it before earlier today is telling them our money where to go. You have to tell them where to go or it’s going to disappear on you. So a budget is really simple. We’ve got folks that can help you with the credit union, that can help you set it up, but you know it’s pretty much your hand call on one side, expenses on the other one and whatever’s left you’re saving. That’s it. So yeah, that’s pretty simple.

Kelli Green: 12:40

I love it and I’m telling you just a couple minutes to review your deductions, and anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes with a financial counselor can change your life. I’m telling you when you’re talking about some of the successes that you’ve had. I would love to hear from you, billy, especially. I know you’re a big time saver. If you have a goal or a plan or you want to take your family on a vacation, you create a savings account and you name it for what you’re saving for.

Billy Joiner: 13:04

That’s absolutely true. Yeah, so one of the things that I can the very first time where I can remember where I got a large tax return back when I first started working was, you know, we had just had a kid and I just had, I had just gotten married and we’re probably four or five years into our marriage and this is the earliest success I can remember. So we had a large lump sum and I was tired of, I was tired of debt, I was tired of debt, and so I took that money and I put it on my my wife’s car that had bought for her, and we paid that thing off and it was such a relief that’s kind of a relief, such as that. And you know, things change in your life and you have to do things that you may not necessarily want to do but you have to do. You know, some of the things that you know I definitely like to try to save for or vacations. I’m a huge traveler. I love traveling with my family. We’ve got some big plans coming up in the next year my wife’s our 20th anniversary, so we’re looking forward to it. Yeah, looking forward to a big trip with my wife out of the country, so looking forward to that. And you know we just traveled with my family for Christmas and we saved for that, so definitely have to tell your money where it’s going.

Kelli Green: 14:18

It’s so interesting, though A lot of people say, oh well, you know, because you’re a CFO, you know have a large income and all these sort of things, but it’s like no, no, even so, regardless of the income that you have, I think we see so many single moms, single parents, you know a lot of times they’re doing better multi-income family! Too many times, they’re not in control their money, they’re not telling their money where to go, and I love hearing from you how important it is. Regardless of where you are in your financial status or what have you, you still have a budget, you still create a savings account for what you want and you ensure that you set up those automatic deductions because that’s a goal that you want to see. I love it also because your wife is an educator. I know that you know children is something that’s near and dear to both of your hearts. You know I have to tout your basketball team too, over at the West Monroe Rec. You’ll have to go watch them. We have a boys and a girls team that are playing, so you’ll have to go celebrate them. But being involved in kids and whether it be sports and education, but seeing our attitude around money and how we spend or how we choose not to spend money. I think that is teaching such a life lesson that they will carry forever and ever. You know some of the decisions that you and I have made a lot of times. We talk about this a lot. As far as financially, it’s like, man, if we could have done over, you know. Or else the decisions that we made, or because we saw things didn’t go too well in our childhood, you know. And so what we do matters, even though our kids are probably like we think they’re not listening. Oh boy, they’re listening, you know.

Billy Joiner: 15:49

For sure, for sure. You know I’ve learned. I tell my, you know my friends and my coworkers. You know I learned how to be a father because of things that happened in the past. You know, and so I’m hoping my kids are learning some of the things how to take care of their finances by watching me and some of the things that they’re learning through me. You know I’m very passionate about financial issues with kids. That’s something that is very near and dear to my heart. I think kids need a head start on getting this education. I’m looking forward to continuing our best kids further down and going forward with that. But yeah, if your kids need some help, you gotta help them, and also we got some help for you if you need it. So you need to sit around the table, talk to your kids about money. If not, they’ll be living with you in your basement.

Kelli Green: 16:47

This is exactly right. And listen, I love my girls, we all know this. But you got to understand and know, hey, this is when you’re ready to go. And my daughter asked me yesterday. She’s like, mom, can you get me $10 out of that ATM? I need $10. And I’m like, well, why do you need $10? And she’s explaining what she needs it for. And so I’m like okay, you got a plan for this money. We’re not just gonna be spending frivolously. So, anyway, nonetheless, I think starting your kids early is the best thing that you can do. We have kids savings and checking accounts to give them a debit card completely free, like why not? So, Billy, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been so good. Well, so that brings us to the end of our episode of the Live Better podcast. We hope you found today’s conversation about really opportunity is knocking with a tax refund. We certainly hope that this has been great for you and we hope that Century remains your steadfast partner in your overall financial journey. If this episode is resonated with you, we kindly ask you to show your support. Please hit our subscribe button, share the episode with your friends and family and take a moment to leave us a review. Your input is truly invaluable in shaping the content that addresses your financial interests and needs. And, of course, let’s stay connected on social media. You can find us on Facebook at Centric Federal Credit Union and on all other platforms under MyCentric. Stay in the loop regarding the latest financial insights and resources tailored to your unique financial aspirations. Until our next episode, always remember that Centric is by your side as you navigate your financial journey. Thank you for tuning in to the Live Better podcast.