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I had my annual evaluation for 2008 yesterday. My company does performance evaluations twice a year; once around June or July and then again at the end of January. Raises are only given once a year during the January evaluation.

I went into my evaluation with an open mind and low expectations. Due to the struggling economy, there are a lot of companies that are not giving raises this year and/or trimming the payroll. Some companies are even reducing salaries or cutting the number of hours. I feel that my job is pretty secure but and I didn't think there would be any issues with my performance.

At first, it was hard to not expect any money since I received a very good raise and merit cash equal to 5% of my yearly salary in 2007. In 2008, I didn't receive the merit cash but I still received a nice raise and a $500 bonus.

After reviewing my performance with my manager, I came out of my review with a 2% raise. I was very happy to get any kind of raise; especially since a couple of my co-workers didn't get a raise at all.

What do I plan to do with my raise? It's going into the savings account of course. I've made a conscious effort for the past few years to make sure that my expenses did not increase just because my income increased.

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This is the last part of a 4 part series of what to do with your tax refund. If you have not read parts 1-3, you can view them by clicking the links below:

• Emergency Fund - Part 1

• Pay off Debt - Part 2

• Retirement Savings - Part 3

If you've done all the above and still don't know what to do with your tax refund, consider investing in yourself. Is there a class that you could sign up for to improve your job skills? Think about something that will help further your career like a computer class, accounting class or something else related to your current occupation.

Maybe you want to sign up for a cooking class or scrapbooking. Maybe you and your family have been working so hard on getting out of debt, you've neglected having an family vacation. If you've covered the above, go ahead and treat yourself (within reason).

If you want to reduce the amount of money to give to the government each month and would like to increase your take-home pay, visit the IRS website and use the IRS withholding calculator. Maybe you can claim one or two more dependents and reduce the amount of federal tax you pay per paycheck.
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I had my annual performance evaluation for 2007 yesterday. My company does performance evaluations twice a year but raises are only given once a year. Last year, I had an excellent performance review which resulted in a 4% raise. Since I exceeded the company expectations last year, I received a raise and merit cash. The amount of the merit cash received is determined by 5% of your yearly salary.

This year, I was hoping to exceed company expectations again to be able to get another merit cash payment. Unfortunately, I did not exceed company expectations but I did fall into the highest performance tier. As a result, I was able to get a 5% raise and a $500 cash bonus. I was a little bummed about not getting the merit cash but I quickly realized, some people did not get a raise at all this year. Some people are even hoping they are able to get a job to be able to make money. I quickly realized, I am very, very fortunate to have a good job with a good salary and job security.

This year, I am making a conscious effort to make sure my expenses do not rise to meet my new income. Out of my 5% raise, I am adding an additional 1% contribution to my 401k. The rest of my increased biweekly income will go into savings and towards debt payments.

Did you get a raise this year? What do you plan to do with the increased amount of salary?
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