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Wait so $180 is "Less than a date night?" I mean sure, live shows are expensive, but if that's your typical date night then maybe you have bigger problems than pissing away money on useless crystals. Cause drat, $180 can get 2 people in to an IMAX movie and a really nice dinner. Or if you have kids, a regular movie and a decent dinner once the babysitter takes their share.
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Jan 9, 2019 21:42
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Fitzy Fitz posted:I wouldn't even know how to spend $180 in one night. Almost any live show. I saw someone trying to offload Hamilton tickets for $500/ea when it came to our area, and that was sold for cost (supposedly). That's on the extreme side, but just about any live performance is going to be $50+/ea minimum for any nationally-known touring performer (musician/comic/play/etc), and it just goes up from there depending on demand.
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Jan 9, 2019 21:59
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You know I remember seeing that, but I never really read it in detail.... my bullshit detector started going off at the "40% effective tax rate" and it never shut off. I'm assuming someone has already picked that to pieces since the 401(k) max indicates it's between 2015-2017. But the only thing taken out of gross income is their 401(k)... even if they calculated using ONLY AMT, they can still deduct the $18k in charity. But right off the bat they have another 18k to deduct in charity, so even if their effective tax rate is 40% it is NOT on the $464k number. AMT will claw back their SALT and mortgage interest deductions, but who knows what those are because their mortgage is listed as P&I, instead of lining interest out separately. At minimum they get $20k in property taxes to deduct. Krispy Wafer posted:To be fair they're even broker now because they lost some deductions. Nope. So using only 401(k) and charity for deductions (since AMT allows them), their FEDERAL tax burden would be at most $130k for 2015 (assuming MFJ). Using 2018 brackets, their federal burden is at most $114k. And that's worst case, since it's not taking out standard deduction, personal exemptions, or other deductions that they'd be entitled to under either year. I mean maybe AMT gives completely different numbers, but I doubt it since AMT still allows 401(k) and charitable contributions. I don't think AMT is designed to give a worse number than the normal brackets if you use the same deductions. So long story short they have even more money to pay for violin lessons for their horse's kids. edit: so I just clicked through all the way to Financial Samurai. I glanced over it and they try to talk about 2018 numbers, but the table is almost certainly older. The comments indicate this was first published in 2015...so the numbers are way off. Using 2018 numbers, even including state and city taxes in NYC, they come up $10k shy of the $185k of taxes listed. DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 19:05 on Mar 26, 2019 |
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Mar 26, 2019 18:55
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totalnewbie posted:40% effective tax rate is a pretty good measure when you include SALT, sales, non-income payroll taxes, etc. Really? I just did a quick calculation and we're sitting at around 30%, assuming I'm calculating the same as them (Fed + SALT + FICA)/(gross - 401k). Maybe I'm lucky living in a state with a flat income tax of 5.25%, but my understanding is that high income tax places like NYC are pretty rare, and even then the highest rates only apply to really high earners.
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Mar 26, 2019 19:34
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You know I just noticed something.... what the hell is $42k/year for child care? I kept glossing over that because I know how much day care costs in even a normal CoL area, but if these kids are old enough for $12k/year worth of activities/"lessons", they aren't in day care. I suspect "child care" is covering up for expensive private schooling to make it look better. Alternatively it could be a nanny or other full-time help. Either way I bet it's cover for something to make them seem more "average." baquerd posted:When you're working 60+ hours a week for $600k+ a year, saving money by taking more time to make food starts to not look like as good of a proposition as it used to for sure. Eh, they were each making $250k supposedly. Even then, $15/day for lunch ain't much even if you're in a normal CoL area. And yes there's PLENTY of fat they can cut first. But lets' be honest here, if you're going to bitch and moan about how $250k/year isn't enough to survive on, then you better start brown bagging it. If they're actually good at what they do, they can get good gigs that pay less, but are in much lower CoL areas. So they'd take a pay cut, but their taxes and expenses would drop by at least as much. Also: General Probe posted:The thing I always feel gets overlooked when that budget is posted is that the family declaring themselves average shows that they grew up with that kind of wealth and have grown so accustomed to it to it their whole lives that they would be absolutely hosed if they ever had to live like an average Joe. Yeah if nothing else, no "average" person in America is socking away the max retirement contribution. Also they're not driving BMWs, and they aren't spending that much on their kids' activities, and they're lucky to take 1 vacation a year. That's all pure luxury, and if they think that this is how "average" people live then they're delusional. DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 22:53 on Mar 26, 2019 |
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Mar 26, 2019 22:50
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blackmet posted:FSA accounts sound so shady and dumb. They really should be banned. I can see absolutely no reason for them to exist. FSAs are good for people with known expenses, such as those with chronic diseases that have recurring medications/treatments/etc. I know people who have recurring medical expenses (through no fault of their own) who blow through their medical FSA in no time. Personally, I take advantage of a dependent care FSA because day care is loving expensive. But I don't disagree, the concept is lovely as all hell that someone wanted to make a special way to pay for medical expenses, but as a compromise it's also severely limited because gently caress poor people who can't afford cadillac insurance.
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Mar 27, 2019 01:12
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Inept posted:Don't get me wrong, the guy's a dweeb for not noticing that. But accelerating the payments so that they're equivalent to a normal year is stupid as hell, or purposefully done so new employees can accidentally pay the FSA plan's costs when they have to forfeit the unspent money. Can't you use FSA money for the entire plan year, even if you only join mid-plan? I know you can't use it for prior plan years, but I don't know if there's any exception to using it for expenses from before you were part of the plan, yet still within the plan year... Also if the guy filled out the paperwork to say $X/month and HR set it to $X/check, then I would see an easy out to tell them to give the money back or something... I mean he probably filled the paperwork out wrong, but if not gently caress HR.
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Mar 27, 2019 13:47
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SpartanIvy posted:The thing with benefits enrollment is it's always loving confusing. At my current company you have to take the amount you want to contribute in a year, deduct what the company contributes, and then divide by 26 paychecks to give you the right number to put in the box which is just labeled "contribution amount". My current company's sign-up asked "what do you want the whole year" and actually gave me the full $5k, even though I started a few weeks in to the plan year. So I could have easily been in the same situation as our supposedly-screwed redditor, except lol day care I burn through that poo poo in a few months. Previous companies have done it mixed... one place gave the option for either full-year amount OR per-paycheck amount, you use a radio-button on the form to select how you want it calculated. But it seems lately everyone outsources benefits, so for at least the last 7 years I've only signed up for stuff via slick websites that show you exactly what your paycheck deductions will be before you hit "submit."
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Mar 27, 2019 14:54
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KingSlime posted:You might have work control issues. I say that because I also have work control issues and refuse to trust these chucklefucks here with my responsibilities at work or really any other single human in my freelance projects. This happened to the IT guy at my last place. He was upset because he was working 60+ hours a week busting his rear end keeping things running for a 250 person company. So they made him IT manager (he had an actual 4 year degree, not just tech school certificates) and put 2 people under him. One was an existing "IT" person who couldn't tell his rear end from a hole in the ground, and then they hired a 2nd experienced IT professional. He's still working 60+ hours a week doing the grunt work because he only delegates the most basic of IT tasks to his reports. He constantly whines about it and about how he can't trust his reports, but if you never give them anything difficult then they'll never learn to do it. The one guy was kind of an idiot though, but he was a nepotism hire so there was nothing that could really be done about it. Those are everywhere in small companies... More importantly, here's something to think about : If they can't fire you because you're the only one who can do your job, then guess what? They can't promote you either. Your best case there is you'll try and quit one day, then get a pay bump when they beg you to stay, but you'll wind up leaving a short while later anyhow because the money wasn't worth it. SMEs typically don't want to be doing the exact same thing their whole life. Some are fine with it, but in my experience the type of people who invest that level of time/effort in to something are capable of so much more, so they'll get bored if they get stuck in a rut. So if you're TRULY that valuable, then you need to convince your management that you need someone under you. If you're not a leader type, then at least get someone junior officially designated as your backup and part-time help, which will morph over time in to a replacement so you can move on to bigger and better things. But this is all ideal management/leadership bullshit. Most likely outcome is everyone gets pissed off and parts ways and chaos ensues for a few months. It's already played out like that so many times, and it'll keep doing that as long as short-sighted idiots keep getting promoted to leadership positions.
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Mar 27, 2019 20:12
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So I know that was a stupid management thing to say, but the point I was trying to make is that it's not just on management to fix the problem, you have to be willing to ask for help and to delegate when given the opportunity. Most of the people I see in that situation just whine to themselves and to peers, but never talk to their boss about it. Yes there are plenty of places that will refuse to give help, but most times if you can present the argument properly you have a good chance of getting to a point where you can take a short vacation without your phone blowing up. Use the bus argument and throw in some, "hey I have some ideas on how to solve [some other problem the company has] but I just don't have the time to look in to them" bullshit and you have a good start. Being a stubborn SME who doesn't trust others to do the job is a trait that will follow you throughout your career if you don't take steps to fix it. Management can throw a whole team your way, but if you don't make the time to teach them how to do the job right then you're still hosed. So no matter where you go, you'll deal with the same poo poo and blame it on management. And to be perfectly frank, if management isn't willing to help you, then you are NOT doing as critical of a job function as you've led yourself to believe.
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Mar 27, 2019 21:10
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BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:A thousand times this. If you're some kind of great delegator you might get promoted one extra time to middle management Absolutely, for the most part... but I thought we're talking about People Who Are Really Good At What They DoTM. Even if you're an awesome individual contributor and avoid leadership like the plague, you're going to delegate to people eventually in your career. You won't be directly managing them, but you'll still have to be able to let go of things and trust them to get things done right. I mean, you don't HAVE to do that... but the alternative is eventually burning out, and never being in a position to steer big technical decisions or other "big idea" sort of stuff that is normally a result of being an expert on something. And let's be clear, job hopping rarely nets you a promotion, at least in my industry. It definitely gets you more pay, but it's rare to move up the ladder just by changing jobs.
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Mar 27, 2019 22:55
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bergeoisie posted:I bought too much car. What are my options? I'm confused... Looks like MSRP on that trim was around $30k. $454/mo for 8 years is $43.5k. Back-calculating using the rate quoted with $0 down and no trade-in, they financed appx. $38k on a $30k minivan...? Tax/title is not $8k. Either they decked it out with stupid options (lol TV screens), or they rolled another loan in to it. All around BWM.
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Mar 29, 2019 16:48
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tater_salad posted:Also confused fully specced 2019 is 36,100 without rebates / haggling etc. (Even with the silly DVD screen, rims running boards all the stuff) I keep thinking about it and all the possibilities are just the worst. Paying sticker, extended warranty, negative equity, dealer accessories... there's just no possibility that they made any good decisions when purchasing this vehicle. What's even more sad is that buying the car for $0 down is literally the best case to justify the loan amount. ANY down payment means they just made even more stupid decisions to inflate the loan principal.
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Mar 29, 2019 18:36
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eddiewalker posted:Craigslist is tolerable if you only use a Google Voice number so you can filter communication, and never ever meet on home turf. I always meet at the well-lit gas station that gives cops free snacks. Our local PD has "internet sales" parking spaces in their visitor lot, at least at their HQ. Not sure about their other stations but I would expect the same.
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Mar 30, 2019 19:02
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Raldikuk posted:Before the 08 crash I would get 0% cash advance offers all of the time...seems like they learned from that period and the cash advance limits are low along with usuorus rates Are you SURE that's cash advance, and not balance transfer? I've only had credit cards since around 2003 or so, but the cash advance rate has always been ridiculously high and interest starts accruing the day you take the advance (rather than waiting until the end of the billing cycle). But that said, I've been on the "opt-out" list forever so I never see those special offers...
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Apr 1, 2019 21:19
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Wow, that's a genius twist on this scam. Instead of having to fence crap consumer electronics or gift cards, they get buttcoins straight away and can launder it immediately.
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Apr 9, 2019 13:18
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GWM: Inviting your horse's chiropractor to the gender reveal party Last thing you want to do is burn that bridge... good horse chiropractors are so hard to find!
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Apr 11, 2019 13:43
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Subjunctive posted:A lot of them just don’t want the additional attention, I think. This. Most successful tech people are engineering types who HATE being the center of attention, they just had slightly better social skills that allowed them to work their way up the ladder.
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Apr 11, 2019 22:50
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Not a Children posted:"I've got too much energy and I'll go crazy" quote:damaging 5-figures worth of equipment. Maybe the gym membership is the only thing keeping him from doing even more damage...
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Apr 12, 2019 16:57
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gvibes posted:Also, contributions are deductible against state income in some states (Illinois!). Keeping in mind that if you take non-qualified distributions, the state's going to claw back the tax deductions you took on the contributions. So you're going to have a pretty hefty tax bill to pay if your kids don't go to college. Further evidence to support the "fund your retirement first" point of view. 529s are NOT a good place to stash money unless it actually is going to be used for education. After all the taxes and penalties, you MIGHT keep pace with inflation if you're lucky...
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Apr 22, 2019 18:36
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Chin Strap posted:529s also count for private K-12 now too right? Yes, but that's really only useful in states that have tax deductions for 529 contributions. You'd basically be funneling tuition money through the 529 in order to get tax benefits, as well as SOME tax-free gains. Otherwise, unless it's heavily front-loaded or you start years before your kid's born, you'll never get enough gains from a 529 to make a significant impact on 13 years of private school. Maybe a few months worth of tax-free gains each year before you have to pull it out and pay a tuition bill.
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Apr 22, 2019 20:07
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I dunno I'm getting a different picture here.quote:I've been married for 15 years to the same women. [ed: woman, not his wife] We have a mostly "traditional" marriage, in that I work and "provide" and she takes care of our kids and the house. When we met and got married, she was making substantially more than me, but I quickly passed her, and within a few years, it was clear that I would the primary breadwinner. I presently make a little over $150K a year in a high-stress/high-reward type of job, which is otherwise very rewarding and a very positive work environment. I travel frequently, but other than that, it's a very good position. She no longer works outside of the home. Wannabe super-powered-mega-elite businessman ends his wife's career and forces her to be a stay-at-home mom. Travels a ton and never sees his family, forces her to be the bookkeeper and does periodic "reviews" as though he's running a business and she's his subordinate. She's lonely, probably stressed out taking care of the kids, and gets hooked on something, then does the predictable addict thing of squeezing every penny out of the finances in order to feed her addiction. He doesn't notice because he's a lovely husband and is never around or paying attention. I dunno maybe I'm reading too deep here, but I get the vibe that he's kind of a controlling douchebag who prioritizes himself and his career over his family's happiness and well-being. StormDrain posted:Someone who makes 150k at the age 35-40 should have more in their retirement account than 65k, especially if they are disciplined enough to have saved 70k in cash. Also I'd use that cash on buying a car outright rather than having a loan. No no this is the BWM thread. They probably have an oversized house and lease expensive cars.
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Apr 23, 2019 12:50
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Krispy Wafer posted:Now now, we get a lot of entertainment from other people's woes. That's why humble bragging isn't immediately probatable as long as your bragging about a terrible thing you did. BWM: having any hobbies outside of making fun of people on the internet
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Apr 23, 2019 23:06
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All the assumptions, and none of them probably true. Initial land purchase price is unknown. Subsequent land purchase(s) and their prices are unknown. Property tax is unknown. "Rent" paid to him by tenants is unknown, nor is the average "occupancy rate" of the land (if it's even used for tenant farmers). The only known is the current land acreage, rough location, and the approximate current value. There is literally no way to even begin to calculate how much money the neurosurgeon is making, has made, or what they could have made had they put this money elsewhere with the small snippets of information available.
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Apr 26, 2019 02:09
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H110Hawk posted:My 3 year old nephew is future fodder for this thread. He got a toy toolkit for his birthday and was extremely excited. He grabbed the hammer and said: "I'm a worker now! I'm going to use the hammer to break our car so we have to buy a truck!" no but you see I once had to pay $100 for delivery of a brand new refrigerator I won't be making THAT mistake again! edit: and with all the money I have sitting around that I saved from delivery fees I'll have to invest it in a boat, and of course I have to haul that! DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Apr 26, 2019 |
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Apr 26, 2019 18:08
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:No, it's logical regardless. Not contributing with a match is "leaving money on the table" while not contributing with no match is "putting a nice dinner on the table once in a while." People want to see tangible results and not just a paycut. I dunno I'll take "putting ANY dinner on the table when I'm 70" over "splurging on food I can't really afford now" any day I don't know what sort of 401(k) you have available to you, but your alternative is to invest in something else (IRA, taxable brokerage, etc.), not spending your future away on temporary luxuries that literally turn to poo poo within 24 hours.
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Apr 26, 2019 19:36
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wait wait are we talking about postponing retirement savings in order to put ANY food on the table, or just "putting a nice dinner on the table once in a while" here? Because those are wildly different things.
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Apr 26, 2019 19:42
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:^^^ /e those judgement can really only be made when you're already secure. Most aren't, see wages. So wait a second here, what funds are in your roth that your company's 401(k) is giving you poo poo returns in comparison? There's only so many things retirement plans can generally choose from, there must be something that has low enough ERs that you would make off better by putting pre-tax money in to your 401(k).
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Apr 26, 2019 20:01
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Submarine Sandpaper posted:not in comparison. Fees are also not a thing for me anymore but that's only because they were such a problem the company decided to pick them up. wait i'm confused you literally just said: Submarine Sandpaper posted:Without match I'd have such a poo poo return it would not be worth investing in a 401k. If fees are not a thing then I'm even more baffled. You either have the world's worst 401(k) offerings or there's something missing here. quote:I'm just saying when you're paycheck to paycheck a good meal means more than packing away 40/mo for 40 years later. Well yes, literally living paycheck to paycheck is a situation where saving for retirement is the last thing you do. I'm not going to be the one to get on someone's case for breaking the beans/rice monotony by splurging on canned tuna. But there's a difference between actually living paycheck-to-paycheck, and spending yourself into that scenario. Most Americans fall in to the latter (see: truck equity).
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Apr 26, 2019 20:17
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https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/bhp934/parents_are_taking_a_100k_home_equity_loan_to_pay/quote:Parents are taking a $100K home equity loan to pay off $75K credit card debt
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Apr 26, 2019 20:53
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Cacafuego posted:Should I climb MT Denali spoken like someone who has never had a sunroof. Seriously they're nice to have like once or twice a year, but who the gently caress lays out $12k for a sunroof
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Apr 30, 2019 14:46
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Hoodwinker posted:But DaveSauce TruckQuityTM
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Apr 30, 2019 15:06
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Guillotine yes, but BWM? Only BWM thing there is Boston. They're doing all their saving/retirement whatever correctly. I feel like unless they have expensive tastes, they're WAY overestimating their miscellaneous costs, because the $2,000 leftover after bills/etc. is more than GWM people with normal incomes have. The right answer is to get the gently caress out of dodge and reap the benefits of having dual doctor income in a normal COL area. They'd take a pay cut but they would live like kings anywhere else. Plus once she's out of residency, her income will probably at least double. I dunno how doctor pay scales work, but he's over triple hers, so if they just sit tight they'll probably get a huge income boost.
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Apr 30, 2019 20:33
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Krispy Wafer posted:Do they have a live-in nanny? That's the only way I can see $3000+ on infant care. quote:(our current place is lovely..2400 for 600 sq ft and still had rat problems, but hey it’s Boston) I mean they have a ton of money, but I wouldn't classify their living conditions as "living like kings" I don't know Boston but I can't imagine 4400 is anything but a standard apartment anywhere else considering if they were paying double my mortgage for a 600 sqft shithole.
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Apr 30, 2019 20:38
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Are we reading different posts, or did I gently caress up my math? Because by my calculations, after all the "mandatory" payments (rent, food, utilities, insurance, day care, etc.) they still have $2,000/mo to pay for "miscellaneous" expenses, of which they've somehow allocated $1,800 into unknown categories. Keep in mind they are already maxing their 401(k)s. The only thing I don't see is saving for their kid's college fund...
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Apr 30, 2019 20:53
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therobit posted:My favorite are the single serving wine boxes with straws. It's Capri Sun for adults. That's definitely a case of GWM (Good With Marketing)
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Apr 30, 2019 21:14
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Thanatosian posted:Couldn't they use an FSA for childcare, and net another $500ish a month? Only if their employer sponsors one. And it has to be a dependent care FSA, not a normal FSA. And a dependent care FSA is limited to $5k/year per family, so they'd really "only" be saving about $100/mo (assuming 24% marginal rate) in taxes. edit: ok maybe a tad more than $100/mo, since I think FSA money comes out pre-FICA, so about $125/mo? DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Apr 30, 2019 |
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Apr 30, 2019 22:22
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Honestly I'm willing to give them a pass on the food budget. I'm assuming that as a resident and an attending, their schedules will be batshit crazy and they'll be eating out a lot and have zero time/energy to cook proper meals. $600 for groceries is a lot for 2 adults and a baby when you consider $600 for eating out, but it's doable if they're shopping at Whole Foods a lot. I mean, that's obscene in and of itself, but it's not like they're necessarily throwing a lot of food away to spend that much. therobit posted:You know it has to be the vacations. That's about the only thing I could possibly think is costing them $1,800/mo, especially when "flights" is specifically called out. But I suggested earlier that they may have expensive taste (clothing, jewelry, etc.), so that may account for it as well. There's just not much left for them to spend money on since they've already lined out most of the other expenses...
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May 1, 2019 16:09
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Cyrano4747 posted:Along these lines note that the $850/month car payment is for a single car. My guess is that there's a lot of "well, we're doctors so obviously we deserve to be driving a $60k car" going on there. That's assuming the payments are towards a title and it's not a lease. To be fair they list "Car payment, insurance, gas, maintenance," for $850 so they could be slumming it in a $45k car. quote:The whole thing just smells like someone who believes they know what kind of lifestyle they "deserve" and isn't' willing to cut poo poo down to a more manageable level. I'm pretty sure with a real budget it wouldn't be much effort to have them dumping $1k/month into extra savings at a minimum. Yeah I get that, but at the same time it's not like they're doing all this and also racking up CC debt because they can't figure out where they're bleeding money. They're spending their massive income on things that (presumably) make them happy, while also contributing to their retirement at a very high level, and they still have leftovers. I think the original complaint was that after all this, they aren't able to max out their IRA savings... which while that'd be great, but it's not like they'll be in financial ruin without it. So yes they can do better, but they're not in dire straits by any means. They just need to get to the point where they accept that they'll have to compromise on things, and that'll open the door wide open for them.
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May 1, 2019 16:42
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guys I think we're missing the most important thing here: Instead of lining their rich doctor pockets, they're putting all their money back in to the economy while also avoiding being a drain on society. I think this is a win/win.
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May 1, 2019 16:51
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