So today I'm doing some legwork to answer two questions. 1, is there any way that I can remain under the $25,000 limit for the retirement savings credit, and 2, if I got a new job, what would I have to make to equal the actual money given to me by this job?
My pre-tax earnings are $2500, here's what I get taken out pre-tax:
$54.81 for health insurance
$50.00 for pre-tax 403(b) contribution
$31.41 for flexible spending account
$225.00 involuntary retirement contribution to 403(b)
$45.80 for parking pass for Boyfriend
Taxes:
$34.36 for Medicare
$126.63 for federal taxes (although it is $1195 for the year, I recently adjusted my W-4)
$56.01 for state taxes
$47.39 for local taxes
I have an after-tax payroll deduction of $31.66 for my gym membership, and I get a taxable benefit of $1.25 per month on the group life insurance (any premium amount that pays for coverage above $50,000 is taxable - we're insured for 2.5x our salary for a non-accidental death, and 5x for an accidental death.)
Question 1.
I think this year I won't be able to take the retirement credit. I'm trying to figure out if I can afford to stick enough in my 403(b) that it will lower my AGI to the point that I can take it. Last year, even though I only had my full-time job for half the year, I also had $7,000 of self-employment income. But I barely made it under the bracket at an AGI of $24,308 (says my tax return online at H&R Block.) This year, I filed a W-9 with DealBarbie because I'm well over $1000 there now, so I'll definitely have to pay taxes on that. (I think it will be as self-employment income.. so that will be a nasty hit. I should probably save some of the money for taxes.) Earlier this year I also made about $900 from a part time temporary job I had. But I'll have been paid for the whole year.. damn. So $30,000 from my regular job, $900 from the part-time, $1400 from DealBarbie, $100 miscellaneous, total of $32,400.. and I think the only non-standard deduction I get is the student loan interest one, and I think that'll be about $700. So how much would it cost me to get below $25k? More than $1,000 per month. I don't think I'm going to swing it. So I might stop my pre-tax 403(b) contributions and put the money in my Roth instead.
Question 2.
So as stated above, I make $30,000 per year. This is pretty good for my position, but I think if I were working for a private company (ie a contract research organization or something similar) I'd probably make more money. Boyfriend and I have been discussing whether I should look into taking a monitor position which would likely involve at least 60% travel, because he's going to be so busy next year with his master's examination studying and classes that I'm not going to see him much anyway. And the high pay these positions command is very enticing. (Like, say, for a down payment?) But I don't know - I'm a homebody and there's a good chance I might not like it much, but on the other hand it would look GREAT on my resume. Anyway.
The issue for me is my retirement contributions. Right now I enjoy a very cushy package because I'm a state employee, and thus instead of paying the 7.5% or whatever towards Social Security, I pay 9% (or it might be 9.5%) directly into my 403(b), and my work contributes 13.31% as well. This works out that I'd have to make an extra 22.31% pre-tax in order to get the equivalent amount of money. So if I did make an extra 22.31% at a new job, I could effectively sock all of it away into a 401(k) and end up with exactly the same take-home pay. So what would that be? A measly $6,693. Somehow I thought it would be a lot more than that. But whatever. So basically, if I get a new job which pays at least $36,000, I can continue to put away at least $700 a month (figure includes my current Roth and voluntary 403(b) contributions) without actually feeling the pinch. Any more than that would just be extra gravy. I think I can probably swing that - assuming that I decide to leave. The positions I've been looking at in other departments at the same place I work now have paid at least $40k. (I've only applied for two, though, and one I didn't meet the minimum qualifications, and one is already considering a current employee. So I'm not worried that I haven't gotten any interviews.) The great thing about simply switching departments is that if I stay here, I still get all the free money - so everything above it is REALLY free money. If I got a $40k job here, that 22.31% would turn into $8,924 - so a $40,000 job with the free retirement money is equivalent to a $49,000 job without the free money. Things to think about...
Monday, July 31, 2006
Friday, July 28, 2006
Oh, and also woot
Dear pennyfoolish,
Order4Free, Inc. just sent you money with PayPal.
Order4Free, Inc. is a Verified buyer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Payment Details
Amount: $160.30 USD
Subject: Your Order4Free Reward
Custom Note: Order# 4937
Thank you for using PayPal!
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And all of that went right into my ING account =) =)
Order4Free, Inc. just sent you money with PayPal.
Order4Free, Inc. is a Verified buyer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Payment Details
Amount: $160.30 USD
Subject: Your Order4Free Reward
Custom Note: Order# 4937
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
And all of that went right into my ING account =) =)
Check out the second Festival of Under 30 Finances!
This week's edition is hosted by College Student Financials. His question was, "What do you feel is more important, the GPA you have when you graduate college, or the first ‘real job’ that you have?” Check out our astute answer to this question here, and then take a gander at our collected wisdom in the articles here. Great work!
I say, Cat, quit costing me money
So on Tuesday we took the cat to the vet for his shots. I had figured this was about $30-40. O, things are never the way you expect, are they?
Trip ended up costing $114 - $39 for the vet consult (ie poking him all over, weighing him, and taking his temperature), $29 for a fecal smear (I probably won't get that done again.. it's to check for intestinal parasites but he doesn't go outside), and $5 to get his ears cleaned out by the vet with some alcohol and a wad of cotton (ok, that was probably worth it cause they were gross.) The rest was actually for the bordetella and rabies shots. The vet did tell us to not feed him so much (she seemed to say that even though he's about 1 pound overweight, he's going to get diabetes any minute) so that might save us some money on food. =)
We also need to start brushing his teeth cause he's getting some bad tartar buildup again - we had to get his teeth cleaned (to the tune of $150) when we first got him. Preventative cat maintenance will hopefully save us some money there.
Well, I guess that's what the backup credit card is for... good thing I just had a $100 offer clear at DealBarbie to cover it. ;)
Trip ended up costing $114 - $39 for the vet consult (ie poking him all over, weighing him, and taking his temperature), $29 for a fecal smear (I probably won't get that done again.. it's to check for intestinal parasites but he doesn't go outside), and $5 to get his ears cleaned out by the vet with some alcohol and a wad of cotton (ok, that was probably worth it cause they were gross.) The rest was actually for the bordetella and rabies shots. The vet did tell us to not feed him so much (she seemed to say that even though he's about 1 pound overweight, he's going to get diabetes any minute) so that might save us some money on food. =)
We also need to start brushing his teeth cause he's getting some bad tartar buildup again - we had to get his teeth cleaned (to the tune of $150) when we first got him. Preventative cat maintenance will hopefully save us some money there.
Well, I guess that's what the backup credit card is for... good thing I just had a $100 offer clear at DealBarbie to cover it. ;)
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Evidently My Business Is Not Worth $33 to Fifth Third Bank
So this morning when I got to work, I checked my bank balance to see if my Paypal deposits had come through yet. O, I was surprised to find that I had $0.85 in my account due to $66.00 in overdraft fees.
Naturally, I got furious and called them. The lady on the phone reversed one of the charges but said that it was "not their policy" to reverse more than one if there was no bank error. I asked to speak to her supervisor and she refused to put me through, saying that her supervisor would say exactly the same thing.
Here's the activity on my account:
Date Debit(-) Credit(+) Balance Check Description Action
07/26/2006 $16.68 *** DAILY BALANCE ***
07/26/2006 $66.00 OVERDRAFT FEE
07/26/2006 $117.00 PAYPAL TRANSFER
07/25/2006 ($34.32) *** DAILY BALANCE ***
07/25/2006 $100.00 ING DIRECT WITHDRAWAL
07/25/2006 $90.00 5/3 JEANIE WITHDRAWAL
07/25/2006 $24.91 DEBIT CARD WHOLE FOODS
07/24/2006 $180.59 *** DAILY BALANCE ***
Fifth Third processes transactions in a strange and unorthodox way. For instance, the Whole Foods transaction was deducted from my available balance right after I charged it on 7/23. However, it wasn't processed and put on my online statement until 7/25, where it shows up here. At no point did my available balance drop below zero. But my statement balance did. And since they processed the $100 first, and then bounced the $90 and the $24.91, they charged me two overdraft fees. And the Paypal deposit was probably processed at midnight, just after they processed the withdrawals, because it was showing in my available balance. Just not on the account statement.
I called back and told the person that I did not think it was fair to customers to do it in that way, because that just guaranteed more overdraft fees. The lady claimed that this was because they processed the most important ones first. "What if," she told me, "the largest one were the house payment?" Well, that argument is parading concern for the customer's well-being over their own. I asked her how she knew the largest one was the most important. She told me they didn't have the manpower to go through all of them and determine that.
So I asked her if $33 was more important than my business, and she just repeated the line that it's their policy to give a one-time reversal of one charge unless there was a bank error. Wait, you mean they would refuse to reverse it in the future? Yep, that's right. One reversal and that's it.
I checked the features of my savings account online. Yup, no ability to use it as an overdraft line. I guess the only thing you can use as an overdraft is one of their credit cards. That sounds like a terrific idea! When I run out of money, charge me extra money to a high-rate card! Yaaay!
Looks like the credit union will be getting my business now. I don't really care all that much about having lots of locations, because I have direct deposit and do most things online, but there's a location two buildings over from me at work, which is actually closer than the Fifth Third branch here in the hospital. My coworker said that they're really easy to work with and apparently their employees have a lot more individual power than Fifth Third's telephone ladies. (I generally find that when you give good people power to help others, they tend to use it as often as possible.) They've got online billpay and free debit cards and all that jazz.
I'll need to wait on closing the accounts until my paycheck goes through and I can pay all the bills. So probably next Friday, I'll get to pay the nice people at the Fifth Third branch at my work a nice visit and tell them to close my damn account. First, however, I will have given the nicer people at the credit union a big fat check for the balance of my account.
This was just the last straw with Fifth Third. They failed to give me the employee benefits package on my account, even though I told the person who signed Boyfriend and I up for accounts where we would be working, charged me several times for going under a $200 average balance on my savings account, or making too many transfers (despite that all of the transfers were just between the savings and checking accounts), or for using the PIN pad instead of signing for things. Oh, and that time that they guy at the branch told me that he couldn't withdraw $20 from my account and give it to me in quarters - I should just go out to the ATM, get a $20, and come back in and give it to him.
The lady on the phone wasn't particularly concerned when I said I would be closing my account - probably a lot of people say this, and then realize how annoying it would be. Well, I don't really give a flying crap. I've definitely paid Fifth Third more than this in fees already and it's getting old. Goodbye, you old dog.
Naturally, I got furious and called them. The lady on the phone reversed one of the charges but said that it was "not their policy" to reverse more than one if there was no bank error. I asked to speak to her supervisor and she refused to put me through, saying that her supervisor would say exactly the same thing.
Here's the activity on my account:
Date Debit(-) Credit(+) Balance Check Description Action
07/26/2006 $16.68 *** DAILY BALANCE ***
07/26/2006 $66.00 OVERDRAFT FEE
07/26/2006 $117.00 PAYPAL TRANSFER
07/25/2006 ($34.32) *** DAILY BALANCE ***
07/25/2006 $100.00 ING DIRECT WITHDRAWAL
07/25/2006 $90.00 5/3 JEANIE WITHDRAWAL
07/25/2006 $24.91 DEBIT CARD WHOLE FOODS
07/24/2006 $180.59 *** DAILY BALANCE ***
Fifth Third processes transactions in a strange and unorthodox way. For instance, the Whole Foods transaction was deducted from my available balance right after I charged it on 7/23. However, it wasn't processed and put on my online statement until 7/25, where it shows up here. At no point did my available balance drop below zero. But my statement balance did. And since they processed the $100 first, and then bounced the $90 and the $24.91, they charged me two overdraft fees. And the Paypal deposit was probably processed at midnight, just after they processed the withdrawals, because it was showing in my available balance. Just not on the account statement.
I called back and told the person that I did not think it was fair to customers to do it in that way, because that just guaranteed more overdraft fees. The lady claimed that this was because they processed the most important ones first. "What if," she told me, "the largest one were the house payment?" Well, that argument is parading concern for the customer's well-being over their own. I asked her how she knew the largest one was the most important. She told me they didn't have the manpower to go through all of them and determine that.
So I asked her if $33 was more important than my business, and she just repeated the line that it's their policy to give a one-time reversal of one charge unless there was a bank error. Wait, you mean they would refuse to reverse it in the future? Yep, that's right. One reversal and that's it.
I checked the features of my savings account online. Yup, no ability to use it as an overdraft line. I guess the only thing you can use as an overdraft is one of their credit cards. That sounds like a terrific idea! When I run out of money, charge me extra money to a high-rate card! Yaaay!
Looks like the credit union will be getting my business now. I don't really care all that much about having lots of locations, because I have direct deposit and do most things online, but there's a location two buildings over from me at work, which is actually closer than the Fifth Third branch here in the hospital. My coworker said that they're really easy to work with and apparently their employees have a lot more individual power than Fifth Third's telephone ladies. (I generally find that when you give good people power to help others, they tend to use it as often as possible.) They've got online billpay and free debit cards and all that jazz.
I'll need to wait on closing the accounts until my paycheck goes through and I can pay all the bills. So probably next Friday, I'll get to pay the nice people at the Fifth Third branch at my work a nice visit and tell them to close my damn account. First, however, I will have given the nicer people at the credit union a big fat check for the balance of my account.
This was just the last straw with Fifth Third. They failed to give me the employee benefits package on my account, even though I told the person who signed Boyfriend and I up for accounts where we would be working, charged me several times for going under a $200 average balance on my savings account, or making too many transfers (despite that all of the transfers were just between the savings and checking accounts), or for using the PIN pad instead of signing for things. Oh, and that time that they guy at the branch told me that he couldn't withdraw $20 from my account and give it to me in quarters - I should just go out to the ATM, get a $20, and come back in and give it to him.
The lady on the phone wasn't particularly concerned when I said I would be closing my account - probably a lot of people say this, and then realize how annoying it would be. Well, I don't really give a flying crap. I've definitely paid Fifth Third more than this in fees already and it's getting old. Goodbye, you old dog.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
What Am I Doing With All This Moolah
If you're a regular reader, you might have noticed that I've been posting my Paypal notices from when I get paid by various online companies. This is just the first trickle - because of Paypal's limit of $500 per month withdrawals, at least $1600 of my earnings from other sites like DealBarbie, RockHardCash, and MyHotCash are coming by check.
These first few withdrawals I'm kind of allowing to "disappear" - you know, like when you withdraw $125 from your savings account to deposit somewhere next week, and by next week somehow there is only $100? You know what I mean. I have this tendency a lot, which is why I pay all of my bills the day I get paid, even if they're not due or I haven't even gotten the bill yet. And any little things, like Pinecone checks, get put into savings instead of checking so they don't "disappear" on me. I've accepted that for the next week, money is just going to *poof* disappear, because my mom is coming to visit tomorrow night through next Tuesday, and I know we'll spend a lot of money on various things. I already promised her that I would split her hotel bill with her (because she agreed to stay in an Inn Towne Suites instead of our office, for Boyfriend's sanity) and I want to hit a bunch of museums and what not. I'm trying to keep it on the cheap - I've got a folder at home with Restaurant.com coupons (by the way, another 60% sale with coupon code 65096 until the 31st) and Entertainment.com coupons and coupons from the ValPak and coupons from the newspaper. You get the idea. So I know that I'm going to probably spend $300 or so while she's here (I already withdrew the $80) and I have accepted this. I am Zen with spending all that money, because my mom is coming all this way to do stuff with me.
Yesterday I put in the request to have my ING account linked to my Paypal account (I have four ING accounts, but only one has any money in it) so that I could withdraw stuff straight to my ING account and not experience too much "disappearance" along the way. For this most recent payment, I withdrew half of it to my regular checking and half to ING, and after that basically everything else I get by Paypal will go to ING. I know that the checks coming next month will pay off my small credit cards, so that's how I've decided to break it up to ensure that everything gets paid. Anything after that, I'll probably throw into my Roth IRA in addition to the $100 a month I put in now.
In many ways, what I am planning to do with this money is similar to planning for a windfall, because this kind of money-making isn't sustainable. There aren't an unlimited number of sites out there, and few sites allow you to do multiple Tickle offers in one week as I did at DealBarbie and RockHardCash (which may have since changed their policies) so I can only do one a week at these places. Basically what I was doing was finding new sites, tearing through all of the high-paying offers in a day or two, and then cashing out and not going back. But I'm not finding so many new sites anymore, and I kind of want to pay off the credit cards before I rack up any more charges from doing stuff. I estimate I've spent about $400 on all the Tickle offers, trial fees, etc etc.
(Now I also have to pay to ship back a bottle of some vitamins, because after I cancelled the free trial they said that only ONE of the bottles they sent me was free, and I had to send back the other one or they would charge me full price. We had already thrown them away, but Boyfriend, being resourceful, made me go out to the dumpster and helped me look for the trashbag they were in. The package was covered in rotting cherries but the bottle is clean and they are getting it back no matter what it smells like.)
I know that most of the time they say to use some of a windfall for fun, but I think I probably already have too much fun in my expenses as it is. What will be more fun for me than spending it recklessly is to use this money to pay down debt and establish a great emergency fund. Yeah!
These first few withdrawals I'm kind of allowing to "disappear" - you know, like when you withdraw $125 from your savings account to deposit somewhere next week, and by next week somehow there is only $100? You know what I mean. I have this tendency a lot, which is why I pay all of my bills the day I get paid, even if they're not due or I haven't even gotten the bill yet. And any little things, like Pinecone checks, get put into savings instead of checking so they don't "disappear" on me. I've accepted that for the next week, money is just going to *poof* disappear, because my mom is coming to visit tomorrow night through next Tuesday, and I know we'll spend a lot of money on various things. I already promised her that I would split her hotel bill with her (because she agreed to stay in an Inn Towne Suites instead of our office, for Boyfriend's sanity) and I want to hit a bunch of museums and what not. I'm trying to keep it on the cheap - I've got a folder at home with Restaurant.com coupons (by the way, another 60% sale with coupon code 65096 until the 31st) and Entertainment.com coupons and coupons from the ValPak and coupons from the newspaper. You get the idea. So I know that I'm going to probably spend $300 or so while she's here (I already withdrew the $80) and I have accepted this. I am Zen with spending all that money, because my mom is coming all this way to do stuff with me.
Yesterday I put in the request to have my ING account linked to my Paypal account (I have four ING accounts, but only one has any money in it) so that I could withdraw stuff straight to my ING account and not experience too much "disappearance" along the way. For this most recent payment, I withdrew half of it to my regular checking and half to ING, and after that basically everything else I get by Paypal will go to ING. I know that the checks coming next month will pay off my small credit cards, so that's how I've decided to break it up to ensure that everything gets paid. Anything after that, I'll probably throw into my Roth IRA in addition to the $100 a month I put in now.
In many ways, what I am planning to do with this money is similar to planning for a windfall, because this kind of money-making isn't sustainable. There aren't an unlimited number of sites out there, and few sites allow you to do multiple Tickle offers in one week as I did at DealBarbie and RockHardCash (which may have since changed their policies) so I can only do one a week at these places. Basically what I was doing was finding new sites, tearing through all of the high-paying offers in a day or two, and then cashing out and not going back. But I'm not finding so many new sites anymore, and I kind of want to pay off the credit cards before I rack up any more charges from doing stuff. I estimate I've spent about $400 on all the Tickle offers, trial fees, etc etc.
(Now I also have to pay to ship back a bottle of some vitamins, because after I cancelled the free trial they said that only ONE of the bottles they sent me was free, and I had to send back the other one or they would charge me full price. We had already thrown them away, but Boyfriend, being resourceful, made me go out to the dumpster and helped me look for the trashbag they were in. The package was covered in rotting cherries but the bottle is clean and they are getting it back no matter what it smells like.)
I know that most of the time they say to use some of a windfall for fun, but I think I probably already have too much fun in my expenses as it is. What will be more fun for me than spending it recklessly is to use this money to pay down debt and establish a great emergency fund. Yeah!
woot v. 4
Well, I've been posting my receipts anyway, but maybe I'll win something too. =)
Dear pennyfoolish,
Prizebook LLC just sent you money with PayPal.
Prizebook LLC is a Verified buyer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Payment Details
Amount: $102.00 USD
Subject: Prizebook Paypal Cashout!
Note: Here is your July 26th Prizebook Paypal Cashout! Until the end of August, we will be randomly giving away FREE money to users we find on the internet posting testimonials and screenshots about Prizebook! We'll be giving away a total of $5,000 until the end of August! Our support staff will occasionally prowl the internet for postings about Prizebook and reward users accordingly. Referral links do count as well, but please remember that there is NO SPAMMING allowed. If you are caught spamming, you will be banned. Good luck and Congratulations on your payment!
Custom Note: Thank you for using Prizebook!
View the details of this transaction online
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Dear pennyfoolish,
Prizebook LLC just sent you money with PayPal.
Prizebook LLC is a Verified buyer.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Payment Details
Amount: $102.00 USD
Subject: Prizebook Paypal Cashout!
Note: Here is your July 26th Prizebook Paypal Cashout! Until the end of August, we will be randomly giving away FREE money to users we find on the internet posting testimonials and screenshots about Prizebook! We'll be giving away a total of $5,000 until the end of August! Our support staff will occasionally prowl the internet for postings about Prizebook and reward users accordingly. Referral links do count as well, but please remember that there is NO SPAMMING allowed. If you are caught spamming, you will be banned. Good luck and Congratulations on your payment!
Custom Note: Thank you for using Prizebook!
View the details of this transaction online
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Wanna be a mini-blogger?
I'm putting out the call for semi-permanent guest bloggers at under30honorroll.com. If you're 30 or under and you've thought about starting a blog or have some ideas for articles, but aren't ready to start your own blog or just enjoy writing, I'm all ears. Come be a mini-blogger on under30honorroll.com. You can write posts under your own name and get them published for the world to see! No minimum blogging requirement.
A Limericky Festival
Check out the Festival of Frugality over at Money and Values. Obviously she's got WAY more patience and rhyming ability than the rest of us... =)
woot v. 3
I went back and did some more tickle surveys, and cashed out.. I got this today. So I went back and did almost all the rest of the tickle surveys and should be getting antoher $160 soon. Many woots.
Dear pennyfoolish,
Order4Free, Inc. just sent you money with PayPal.
Order4Free, Inc. is a Verified buyer.
Payment Details
Amount: $117.00 USD
Subject: Your Order4Free Reward
Custom Note: Order# 4609
View the details of this transaction online
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
Dear pennyfoolish,
Order4Free, Inc. just sent you money with PayPal.
Order4Free, Inc. is a Verified buyer.
Payment Details
Amount: $117.00 USD
Subject: Your Order4Free Reward
Custom Note: Order# 4609
View the details of this transaction online
Thank you for using PayPal!
The PayPal Team
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