I honestly believe I have the most engaged readership of any personal finance blog out there. I mean, I write a silly blog post about tax deductions and it gets over 70 comments. It’s insane. It makes me happy. And it makes me want to keep writing.

Sometimes I sit back and think to myself, “Why the heck have over 2,000 people subscribed to my blog?” I’m clearly a terrible writer and I’m obviously not the most financially savvy of the PF bunch. Why do people keep coming back?

Then it hits me. You don’t come to PDITF for my contributions, but for the contributions of the PDITF community. It often only takes a few minutes to read one of my posts (this one included), but it can take 10 times as long to read through the comment section.

A few weeks back I wrote a post titled “What kinda debt you got“. It quickly became the most commented on post in PDITF history. That says to me, you all don’t mind getting vulnerable and sharing a little bit of the “ugly” side of your financial situation. Heck, even some of you long time creepers came out of hiding and contributed to the dialogue. Thanks creepy lurkers!

Since this went so well last time, I figured it’s only fair to give you all a chance to tell the other side of your story. We know how much debt you have from the post a few weeks back. Now it’s time to get vulnerable and talk about how much you’re bringing in. I shared this in my budget just a few days ago, so now it’s your turn.

How much do you make per year?

Remember this isn’t a contest. I don’t care if you are making more money than you know what to do with, or if you’re an underemployed college graduate living with your parents. This isn’t about who makes more. It’s about finding out where your peers are and getting a realistic feel for where we stand against the masses.

You should also probably include your age and general geographic region for context. If it makes you more willing to share, don’t be afraid to fill out a fake name or email in the comments section to keep your identity anonymous (even from me).

I’ve been tracking the delivery of my iPhone 4s like a hawk. In fact, it should be getting dropped off at my door in the next few hours. I’ve been rockin’ the iPhone 3G like a boss for over three years now — longest I’ve ever had one phone — and it’s time for an upgrade. The 3G is more frustrating than it is helpful, it’s that slow. I’ve been drooling over the 4s ever since it was announced, but now I’m sitting here thinking I should return it.

Although I often second guess myself (due to extreme bouts of frugality) that is actually NOT the reason I’m conflicted today. No, it’s something much worse. I was reading the news yesterday and happened upon a story about how/where iPhones are made. I. Was. Shocked. Here’s the first few paragraphs from that story…

Normally, the launch of a new Apple device such as the iPhone 4S would make Mike Daisey salivate. But not this year.

Daisey, a monologuist in the vein of Spalding Gray and a recovering “Apple fanboy,” has not upgraded his phone since flying to China to investigate how those smooth, beautifully designed hand-held gizmos are made.

What he found was horrific labor conditions, impossibly long hours and the use of crippling, repetitive motions. He met very young factory workers whose joints in their hands were damaged because they performed the same action thousands of times a shift.

“I was woefully ignorant most of my life. Even though I love the devices deeply, I never had any idea how they were made and never thought about it in the least,” says Daisey, who had assumed robots put together his iPad and iPhone.

Seriously!? I mean just yesterday I said these exact words in my post about Occupy Wall Street: “You think Bank of America is going to stop charging that $5 debit card fee if you say “I hate you Bank of America” while you’re swiping it at the grocery store? Not a chance. You have to say “I hate you Bank of America” and start banking somewhere else. Empty threats are a waste of oxygen.”

Here’s what that statment should look like today: “You think Apple is going to stop engaging in unethical business practices if you say “I hate you Apple” while you’re tweeting from your iPhone? Not a chance. You have to say “I hate you Apple” and start tweeting somewhere else. Empty threats are a waste of oxygen.”

How the hell can I in good conscience buy an iPhone? If I do, I am essentially enabling/encouraging Apple to continue doing what they’re doing; contracting work out to sketchy technology manufacturers. The only way to make it clear that I don’t support unfair labor practices is to vote with my dollar, and not purchase Apple products.

But I love Apple products. In our house alone we have two iPads, two Macbooks, a Mac Mini, two iPhones, and a handful of old iPods. The iPhone 4s is arguably the best phone to have ever existed and I would want nothing more than to own one. But at what cost? At the cost of someone’s well-being? No, I guess I don’t need a new phone that bad.

I want to keep the iPhone so, so, so bad, but after reading this article can’t figure out a way to justify the purchase. The worst thing I could do is say “Man, Apple is involved in some shady business, but the phone is cool enough I’ll pretend I never heard the bad stuff.”

Am I the only person that’s just now hearing about these inhumane work conditions? Why are people willing to compromise their moral/ethical beliefs just so they can have a cool phone? If you are getting (or already have) an iPhone (or similar device), how do you reconcile the information from this report with your desire to own an Apple product? (I seriously believe everyone that has an Apple product has a moral obligation to answer those questions)

p.s. on a much less depressing note I had my first media mention in a published media outlet. If you head to your local grocery store and pick up a copy of this month’s Readers Digest, you’ll notice on page 55 there is a brief reference to myself and my blog (so what if the article is about foam mattress toppers). I found out last night, Readers Digest is the fifth most circulated publication in the world. Pretty sure that means it’s time for me to write a book… right? Took a pic of the article ’cause I was so excited….

Over the last two and a half years, I’ve written nearly 700 posts. That’s a lot of blabbering if you ask me. I know I’m not interesting enough to deserve the awesome community that Punch Debt In The Face has built. I am only one person, with one opinion, and one story. As much as I’d like to pretend every post I write totally rocks your world, that’s simply not the case.

Even though I’m not the most influential personal finance blogger out there, I know I have something that the other PF blogs don’t; An amazingly loyal and committed reader base. I’m apparently not the only person that feels this way. Here’s part of an email I received yesterday from a long time reader…

Your blog is great!  I’m glad you are having fun with it and I think you have the best commenters on any blog ever. Thanks again for writing such great posts your blog has really made me think and changed some of my opinions of PF for the better!

I’m so glad I got this email, as it reminded me this pitiful excuse for a personal finance blog IS important and has the potential to radically impact people’s perspectives on money. But more importantly, it reminded me that the true value of this blog lies in the community that surrounds it.

In an attempt to diversify the message of PDITF, I’ve had my mom guest post, a close friend, Girl Ninja, my sister-in-law, and my fellow PF bloggers. That’s all fine and good, but what I really think this blog needs is an opportunity for you all to share your stories.

“Things I want to punch in the face“ is the only series I’ve ever had on this blog. Well, it’s time for that to change. We would all benefit from learning more about our peers and that’s why I’d like to ask for your help in kick starting my newest series: “How you doin’?”.

Here are some of the guidelines if you want to contribute:

First, shoot me an email and let me know you are interested. If no one emails me, then I’ll assume this was a terrible idea and we can pretend this post never happened.

After we’ve emailed back and forth, send me a 300-500 word article summing up how you are doing financially. Are you drowning in debt and feel like there’s no hope? Are you killin’ it and bringing home major dollars? Are you financially cheating on your spouse and don’t know how to stop? Have you lost your job as a result of the down economy and struggled to gain employment? Share your story with me, so I can share it with my readers.

You have to be willing to be 100% authentic and honest. That doesn’t mean you have to use your first and last name, but it does mean you have to be raw and tell your story as it truly is, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Ideally this series will consist of posts from my readers that don’t blog; people who have no way to share their story with others. If you have a blog and want to contribute, that’s fine by me, but you have to be willing to accept that I will not link back to, or even mention, your blog in the post (that way there is no question as to the motives for your submission). If you’ve never engaged with the PDITF community before, this series is the perfect opportunity for you to share how you are REALLY doing.

The ball is in your court community.

Will you take a step out of your comfort zone and help make PDITF even better?

p.s. If you think this idea sucks (or sounds cool) would you let me know in the comments. I haven’t actually talked this through with anyone and I know sometimes things seem better in my head then they do in reality.

p.p.s. If you want to be super awesome, would you also share some other things you’d like to see on PDITF?

I seriously love you guys so much. Thanks for all your support over the years and I want to do everything I can to serve the PDITF community better. If I was emotional, I’d totally be shedding a tear of happiness right now, but instead I’m just scratching my butt and burping

Hypothetical Scenario:

You have a four-year old white Macbook. The CD drive burnt out two years ago, you’ve dropped it a handful of times and it goes “Crrrachhhhsmackashh” every time you open it, and the hard drive died six months ago, but was replaced for $50.

Now imagine:

You are at a football game on a Friday night. A friend of yours casually states the following…

Hey, I’m quitting my job at Apple in 7 days. If you’ve been thinking about getting a new computer or anything, I can hook ya up and get you a 25% discount before I quit. Need anything?

Dilemma:

What do you say?

If you haven’t caught on, this situation isn’t hypothetical at all, but very much the quandary Girl Ninja and I are currently in. I’m gonna lay out the facts as I see ‘em…

Facts:

• We each need (and by need I mean really enjoy having) our own laptops.
• In our house, we have two four-year old white Macbooks, a first generation iPad, a relatively new Mac Mini, and two iPhones. Needless to say, we like Apple products.
• We will buy a new Apple laptop when one of ours passes away.
• My laptop could literally spontaneously combust at any moment, it’s that beat up.
• Girl Ninja’s laptop probably has at least another 12 months left in it.
• The iPad is cool but, in my mind, not a laptop replacer.
• Apple products never go on sale. Like Ever. So this 25% discount is SUPER appealing.
• We can afford the laptop.
• We want  a new laptop.
• We definitely don’t need a new laptop.
• We would not be looking to buy a new laptop right now if there wasn’t a 25% discount offered.
• We could sell one of our current laptops for a few hundred dollars on Craigslist to help mitigate the cost of a new laptop.
• The thought of replacing our current laptops, while they are both still “mostly” functional, makes us feel like we are stereotypical “American Consumers”.

And thus ends our dilemma. Although Girl Ninja and I have an idea of what we will do, we’d like to hear your two cents on the situation before we share. We would totally appreciate your opinions as to why we should or should not get the new laptop (maybe you have insights we haven’t considered). To buy, or not to buy. That is the question dilemma.

Have you ever passed up a deal and regretted it later? Ever taken advantage of a deal and realized it was a waste? I feel like no matter which route we go, we will always wonder if we made the right decision.

p.s. Don’t turn this in to a Mac vs PC fight.

Girl Ninja recently got her first paycheck of the new school year. I’ve been foaming at the mouth, waiting for this day to arise for many reasons: 1) Getting two paychecks is way more fun than getting one…duh. 2) We didn’t really know how much her check would end up being. 3) I didn’t know how much federal tax would be taken out of her paycheck. For today’s blog post, we will only be focusing on point three.

Back in May, I ran a calculation on our estimated 2011 federal tax obligation. The result wasn’t pretty. I estimated we would end up having to write a $1,200 check to the IRS come tax season (this is in addition to what we would have had withheld throughout the year).

Well, now that Girl Ninja received her new paycheck, I was able to make a far better prediction as to what our ACTUAL tax obligation will be this coming year, and to be perfectly honest… it made me want to vomit.

Here’s a screen grab of what we are faced with…

Makes me want to cry

So even though we have already paid more taxes this year, than we did all last year, we still are going to be $4,511 behind. What really makes me angry though is that I don’t know what else Girl Ninja and I could have done to avoided this. Even though we are married and file jointly, we both claim “Single” and “0″ exemptions to pay in at a much higher tax rate than the W-4 recommends (it wants us each to claim “married/2″). As far as I’m concerned the W-4 is worthless.

What really boggles my mind is that even though GN claims Single/0 on her W-4, she only had $76 taken out for federal taxes, when her gross pay was $1,228. That’s only 6% of her gross pay going to the fed! Does anyone know why?

We have a few options to reconcile this uber-depressing situation. We could either…

• Make additional federal tax payments of approximately $1,000/month for the remainder of the year.
• Keep withholding at current rates, and in December dedicate 100% of my gross income to bring us current.
• Change absolutely nothing and wait until April 14th to send in that $4,511 check.

Part of me wants to wait until the April 14th so I can earn a little interest on that money and stick it to “The Man” a little. But then another part of me wants to bring that sucker current ASAP ’cause I feel like it is a “debt” looming over my head….and in case you didn’t know; I punch debt in the face when I see it!

Have any of you used the IRS withholding estimator? Are you on track with your federal withholding? Why is Girl Ninja only getting 6% of her paycheck taken out? And lastly, which route would you take to satisfy our tax obligation?