When you receive paychecks weekly or biweekly the good thing is that you do not account for the months in which the extra checks arrive. Or do you?

If you receive a weekly paycheck you receive four extra checks a year if you are paid weekly and two if you are paid biweekly. Here's how: In a sense it is like having an automatic bank account that someone has been putting money into for you. Each year contains 12 months, but 26 two-week periods. Keep in mind that every year, four different months last or five weeks as opposed to four weeks and that is what accounts for the 25th and 26th payments. We often grow accustomed to the notion that there is four weeks in every month but on average it actually comes to 4.3 weeks. Assuming an $80,000 taxed at 25% (straight up) here is what the money equates to assuming Friday paydays for the 2004 calendar year.

Schedule Timing and amount (2004) Yearly total
Weekly Jan, Apr, Jul Oct $1,154 per check $4,616
Biweekly Apr, Oct $2,308 per check $4,616

From the way this budget is set up the extra money can be used for whatever you like. I prefer to label them as bonus checks. The hard part is waiting from them to arrive at their different intervals throughout a year. This is nice because you earned it and you deserve it.

What if you get paid bimonthly?
If you receive paychecks on a bimonthly basis it is usually on the 15th and 30th of every month. So how do you create a set-up so you can receive bonus checks? The $80,000 gross pay equates to an average of $6,666 a month in gross income. Instead of receiving 26 or 52 paychecks each year, bimonthly paychecks total only 24. Therefore, you will have to determine an amount you can set aside each month from both paychecks as your monthly average will be higher than the weekly and biweekly scenario.

Copyright David Mulonas - http://www.flipping70.com