This is a great time for most people.  Tax refunds are arriving in the mailbox and for most of us, its one of the few times when we have extra money in our checking accounts.  The biggest challenge is using your refund wisely.  It’s amazing how money seems to disappear from my account the longer I leave it in there.  A little here, a little there, and one day you look and it’s all gone!  I'm sure most of you know what I am talking about.  Let's look at some ways we can make our tax refund work for us.  It is a great idea to save some if not most of the money.  Start an IRA account, open a mutual fund account, or simply buy a CD.  Some of these investments are much better than others so make sure you seek professional advice before making any investment.  Next, you should look to pay off or pay down debt.  Most people carry much more debt than they should so take a good look at doing this.  My favorite way is to list all my payments and balances and then use different scenarios to see where I would benefit most from paying bills off.  The next use I would consider is buying a home if you don't already own one.  Buying a home is still the biggest investment most of us will make in our lifetimes.  There has never been a better time to buy.  Interest rates are at all time lows and seller incentives are common in the market place these days.   Hopefully these are some helpful hints about using your refund wisely.  Thanks again for reading and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me.