Saving Money

Biden calls for 401(k) tax break overhaul. What it means for you

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Biden calls for 401(k) tax break overhaul. What it means for you

For instance, let’s say you’re making $100,000, and you’re single, which means you’re in the 24% tax bracket. If you commit to putting away $10,000 a year – 10% of your pay -- into your 401(k), you’re reaping about $2,400 in tax savings.

WATCH NOW VIDEO05:41 Here’s what Biden’s tax plan could mean for investors In comparison, a single filer making $40,000 and saving 10% of his pay -- $4,000 – into a 401(k) would only reap about $480 in tax savings. That’s because he’s in the 12% tax bracket.

To equally incentivize savers regardless of what they earn, Biden proposes a credit of approximately 26% to replace the deduction savers get for putting money in a 401(k) plan, according to the Tax Policy Center’s analysis.

Monthly fees

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I have always had an aversion to monthly fees.

Anything you do repeatly adds up. As I noted the other day, subscribing to the trash pickup when I own my off-grid home might only cost $30 a month but it adds up to over $400 when you include taxes and fees. Good excuse to have fires, burn shit and haul your tin cans to the recycling center when you live in a sticks in a freer state. Indeed, even living in the suburbs now, I haul my own to the town transfer station and recycling center.

I’ve never had internet or television at home. If you think trash pickup is expensive look at the brochures they send to you all the time. On the way to trash, you’ll see they always have an offer for $60 or $80 a month if you willing to piss away $1,000 bucks a way a year, be my guest. I know I’ll never have internet at my off-grid place besides what I have on my phone. I can always plan my internet access around when I’m in town and can stop at a public hot spot for large downloads like YouTube videos.

I do have my basic smartphone subscription but I always buy time one year in advance, plunk down a big wad of cash to save money and get the best deal. It does lock me into the service but I’m happy with it and don’t have to worry about setting aside money each month. Beats paying monthly fees.

I do pay utilities and rent at my current place but when I have my off-grid home I’ll only have a yearly tax payment and propane and gasoline will be purchased on an as needed basis, along with various off-grid products like panels or batteries. I hope to buy land with cash and avoid mortgages all together. I’d save a ton of money that way, just like it did with my truck.

That said, there is one form of monthly expense that I approve of – automatic investing.

I’ve always taken a big chunk of every pay check for either my high interest, FDIC insured online only savings account or low fees index, bond and sector funds. While cable television might make you poorer, investing gets you closer to your long term goals.

With modern technology it’s so easy and, just involves doing a little research, filling out some forms and just acting like the money never was there. This is a really good thing to do after raises and promotions – pretend that most of the money doesn’t even exist.

What Hundreds of American Public Libraries Owe to Carnegie’s Disdain for Inherited Wealth

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What Hundreds of American Public Libraries Owe to Carnegie’s Disdain for Inherited Wealth

Carnegie argued that handing large fortunes to the next generation wasted money, as it was unlikely that descendants would match the exceptional abilities that had created the wealth into which they were born. He also surmised that dynasties harm heirs by robbing their lives of purpose and meaning.

He practiced what he preached and was still actively giving in 1911 after he had already given away 90 percent of his wealth to causes he cared passionately about, especially libraries. As a pioneer of the kind of large-scale American philanthropy now practiced by the likes of Bill Gates and George Soros, he espoused a philosophy that many of today’s billionaires who want to leave their mark through good works are still following.

Banks!

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Apparently its unusual and actually frowned upon to ask the bank to set a much lower credit card limit than you are allowed because it negatively effects your credit score. But I don’t really care if my credit score is trash – I don’t have any plans to borrow money any time in the future and I worry more about fraud then some idiotic number.

Why Nobody Feels Rich

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Why Nobody Feels Rich

9/14/20 by NPR

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/112462030
Episode: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-510308/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/hiddenbrain/2020/09/20200914_hiddenbrain_hb_p135_-_why_no_one_feels_rich_-_092020_-_final.mp3?awCollectionId=510308&awEpisodeId=912749547&orgId=1&topicId=1007&aggIds=423302056&d=2002&p=510308&story=912749547&t=podcast&e=912749547&size=31973892&ft=pod&f=510308

If you’ve ever flown in economy class on a plane, you probably had to walk through the first class cabin to get to your seat. Maybe you noticed the extra leg room. The freshly-poured champagne. Maybe you were annoyed, or envious. Social psychologist Keith Payne says we tend to compare ourselves with those who have more than us, but rarely with those who have less. This week, we revisit our 2019 episode on the psychology of income inequality, and how perceptions of our own wealth shape our lives.

It never seems like their is much money at the end of the week, pay day comes and money goes out. And the more money you make the less there is left after expenses and never ending inflation.

Roth and Traditional IRA.

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Roth IRAs versus Traditional IRAs and Living in New York 🗽

When I first started saving for retirement, outside of my state pension about ten years ago, I opened a Roth IRA and started to maximize it. I was fairly young, and my income was lower as I was not as far along on my career path. When you are younger, and you have 30 plus years for your investments to grow, it seemed like an appropriate way to save. The idear is pay payroll taxes now, pay zero state or federal taxes when you withdraw upon retirement with the Roth.

In most recent years my mind has changed, more into the camp of the traditional IRA. For one, I found myself taking an extended leave from state service, and with so went the more lucrative retirement program and deferred compensation, which you can’t contribute to as a non-state worker. With the state, I did the traditional IRA option with deferred comp and continued to maximize my Roth IRA on the side. My other employer offers a 401K, which I’ve been maximizing, but it’s maximum contribution rate is smaller then the state’s deferred comp plan, so to avoid my taxes going up significantly, I switched over to a traditional IRA option. I already get hit every year from investment income, even if it’s reinvested. Traditional IRAs, let you deduct all contributions immediately, lowering your taxable income but you have to pay taxes when you take money out as you retire.

Part of what made me change my mind from the Roth to the Traditional was I don’t plan to live in New York the whole rest of my life. While New York allows a decent standard deduction on something like $17k when you take retirement income, many other states don’t tax retirement income at all. It’s hard to know how much money I’ll need in retirement at my off-grid property, but even in low property-tax states, there are always expenses for a hobby farm — be it equipment, fuel, vehicles, livestock, feed, minerals, and groceries. Stuff gets used up, has to be replaced. Stuff you spend money on becomes poop, scrap metal or fire in the burn barrel. Tractors and implements are mad expensive. That’s life. But saving on taxes today, means I can invest more today, plus I am spending less money to subsidize the wasteful and abusive New York State government.