How much annual budget do you need to feel comfortable in retirement?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Realistically let me math this out. My DH and I both have been high earners and have been working nearly our entire lives. We are both on track for max SS. We have been faithful 401K contributors and at 47 & 50 have 1.8M in 401K and another 500K in Roth. We currently have our house paid off, but taxes today is 10K/yr and will obviously be more in the future. Plus of course maintenance.

The REAL long pole in the tent is our kids. With one kid in college who has found the intership market barren and many friends who graduated in May and STILL have not landed jobs. WE have had to break down and pull some nepo baby sh!t and get our kid a summer internship though our contacts (as we made him exhaust all his own resources first).

Personally I am starting to panic about our kids and have been really trying to power save now in our taxable brokerage accouts.

If we do not have to support our kids then We will try to stick it out in the working world until age 59. At that point we hope to only live off the Roth, then at age 67 draw on SS if it is around, and then wait until we are forced into RMDs at age 73. In a nutshell, I think 10K/mo will be a very nice lifestyle.

If our kids are in a brave new dystopian world which is fear is a stong possibility everything abobe will go tits up.

Most underrated comments. I too have older kids in college/high and I also work a job where I am part of the management team working on automation. I see so so so many jobs going away, it is terrifying. Not only is the labor market terrible, but it is further compounded with wide spread automation. We have a whole department that has no idea they will soon be obsolete. I truly feel we are moving more into a gig economy and going to college will just be a hobby with no real moatary gain except heathcare and commercial construction management/civil/mechanical engineering.

All of this is overblown. Will there be job eliminations with AI? Of course. Will new other jobs be created? Yes. The key will be being versatile and having skills that will transfer.

i’m not really seeing any AI job creation.

And I am not seeing AI take jobs either. People are saying that ---- people say the Amazon cuts were AI related but none have been.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Whenever you see this, you know the poster is SHAM and husband is the one making serious bacon.

Nope, I am retired, and DH retired this year. Not sure where you get that impression, but one thing you are correct about is DH did earn the "serious bacon."

LOL. That WAS the point.

Well I am comfortable in my own skin and enjoy going to pilates 3X a week. I have plenty of retirement savings and can easily live very comfortably without DH's income. Plenty of $$ in my name only lol.

I've been a SAHP for 25+ years, and all of DH income is mine

If your DH has any retirement accounts (401K, Deferred Income, IRA), they aren't yours. Yes, you can be a beneficiary, but it is not yours unless he dies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Whenever you see this, you know the poster is SHAM and husband is the one making serious bacon.

Nope, I am retired, and DH retired this year. Not sure where you get that impression, but one thing you are correct about is DH did earn the "serious bacon."

LOL. That WAS the point.

Well I am comfortable in my own skin and enjoy going to pilates 3X a week. I have plenty of retirement savings and can easily live very comfortably without DH's income. Plenty of $$ in my name only lol.

I've been a SAHP for 25+ years, and all of DH income is mine

If your DH has any retirement accounts (401K, Deferred Income, IRA), they aren't yours. Yes, you can be a beneficiary, but it is not yours unless he dies.

And if he were to divorce me, I would be entitled to 50%, as a SAHP for 25+ years

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Whenever you see this, you know the poster is SHAM and husband is the one making serious bacon.

Nope, I am retired, and DH retired this year. Not sure where you get that impression, but one thing you are correct about is DH did earn the "serious bacon."

LOL. That WAS the point.

Well I am comfortable in my own skin and enjoy going to pilates 3X a week. I have plenty of retirement savings and can easily live very comfortably without DH's income. Plenty of $$ in my name only lol.

I've been a SAHP for 25+ years, and all of DH income is mine

If your DH has any retirement accounts (401K, Deferred Income, IRA), they aren't yours. Yes, you can be a beneficiary, but it is not yours unless he dies.

And if he were to divorce me, I would be entitled to 50%, as a SAHP for 25+ years

Brutal. I am also a sahm and I hand no idea this was the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Whenever you see this, you know the poster is SHAM and husband is the one making serious bacon.

Nope, I am retired, and DH retired this year. Not sure where you get that impression, but one thing you are correct about is DH did earn the "serious bacon."

LOL. That WAS the point.

Well I am comfortable in my own skin and enjoy going to pilates 3X a week. I have plenty of retirement savings and can easily live very comfortably without DH's income. Plenty of $$ in my name only lol.

I've been a SAHP for 25+ years, and all of DH income is mine

If your DH has any retirement accounts (401K, Deferred Income, IRA), they aren't yours. Yes, you can be a beneficiary, but it is not yours unless he dies.

And if he were to divorce me, I would be entitled to 50%, as a SAHP for 25+ years

50% of whatever was gained since your marriage, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Whenever you see this, you know the poster is SHAM and husband is the one making serious bacon.

Nope, I am retired, and DH retired this year. Not sure where you get that impression, but one thing you are correct about is DH did earn the "serious bacon."

LOL. That WAS the point.

Well I am comfortable in my own skin and enjoy going to pilates 3X a week. I have plenty of retirement savings and can easily live very comfortably without DH's income. Plenty of $$ in my name only lol.

I've been a SAHP for 25+ years, and all of DH income is mine

If your DH has any retirement accounts (401K, Deferred Income, IRA), they aren't yours. Yes, you can be a beneficiary, but it is not yours unless he dies.

And if he were to divorce me, I would be entitled to 50%, as a SAHP for 25+ years

50% of whatever was gained since your marriage, yes.

+1. 50% your marriage period only

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Whenever you see this, you know the poster is SHAM and husband is the one making serious bacon.

Nope, I am retired, and DH retired this year. Not sure where you get that impression, but one thing you are correct about is DH did earn the "serious bacon."

LOL. That WAS the point.

Well I am comfortable in my own skin and enjoy going to pilates 3X a week. I have plenty of retirement savings and can easily live very comfortably without DH's income. Plenty of $$ in my name only lol.

I've been a SAHP for 25+ years, and all of DH income is mine

If your DH has any retirement accounts (401K, Deferred Income, IRA), they aren't yours. Yes, you can be a beneficiary, but it is not yours unless he dies.

And if he were to divorce me, I would be entitled to 50%, as a SAHP for 25+ years

50% of whatever was gained since your marriage, yes.

Got married right out of college, so basically given that he had $60K in student loans and I only had $16K when we married, I came into the marriage with less debt and contributed directly financially for 8 years until we had kids and I stayed home (still contributing in different way).

So yes, I'm entitled to 50% of everything. But not an issue, 34+ years, retired and going strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Whenever you see this, you know the poster is SHAM and husband is the one making serious bacon.

Nope, I am retired, and DH retired this year. Not sure where you get that impression, but one thing you are correct about is DH did earn the "serious bacon."

LOL. That WAS the point.

Well I am comfortable in my own skin and enjoy going to pilates 3X a week. I have plenty of retirement savings and can easily live very comfortably without DH's income. Plenty of $$ in my name only lol.

I've been a SAHP for 25+ years, and all of DH income is mine

If your DH has any retirement accounts (401K, Deferred Income, IRA), they aren't yours. Yes, you can be a beneficiary, but it is not yours unless he dies.

And if he were to divorce me, I would be entitled to 50%, as a SAHP for 25+ years

50% of whatever was gained since your marriage, yes.

+1. 50% your marriage period only

Which in our case is everything. Except maybe the first year when they were earning $15K while away at grad school. So maybe $2-3K of "retirement Funds" initially in that, so way less than 0.05% of our total NW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Whenever you see this, you know the poster is SHAM and husband is the one making serious bacon.

Nope, I am retired, and DH retired this year. Not sure where you get that impression, but one thing you are correct about is DH did earn the "serious bacon."

LOL. That WAS the point.

Well I am comfortable in my own skin and enjoy going to pilates 3X a week. I have plenty of retirement savings and can easily live very comfortably without DH's income. Plenty of $$ in my name only lol.

I've been a SAHP for 25+ years, and all of DH income is mine

If your DH has any retirement accounts (401K, Deferred Income, IRA), they aren't yours. Yes, you can be a beneficiary, but it is not yours unless he dies.

And if he were to divorce me, I would be entitled to 50%, as a SAHP for 25+ years

Brutal. I am also a sahm and I hand no idea this was the case.

Depends upon your state, but in many yes you are entitled to 50%, as you should be. We make sacrifices to SAHP, and lack of official paycheck and retirement (beyond an IRA) are key factors, along with smaller SS when the time comes.
I'm not concerned. We are approaching 35 years, finances have been joint since the start.

[Anonymous]

SAHMs nearly all the time 99 percent of premarriage money is split 50/50 too.

Look at me. In my case I owned a nice apartment, had a nice car. Had 20K in bank. That was my whole net worth.

Well sold apartment after married and rolled funds into home we purchased together, the 20K in bank rolled into our joint savings account and my 401k back in 1998 was not very large at all. I only put in 6 percent of the 55K salary back then. All the gains are over last 26 years.

And if I go first she gets my SS which is very big as I plan to retire at 67 and not take SS to 70 God willing. And 401K is a lot.

Earning money is way way easier than raising kids and running a household. they deserve 100 percent in a divorce.

[Anonymous]

I think we will be ok with 120K after taxes as a pensioner.

No mortgage. No college. Medical through employer. Not counting DH's SS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SAHMs nearly all the time 99 percent of premarriage money is split 50/50 too.

Look at me. In my case I owned a nice apartment, had a nice car. Had 20K in bank. That was my whole net worth.

Well sold apartment after married and rolled funds into home we purchased together, the 20K in bank rolled into our joint savings account and my 401k back in 1998 was not very large at all. I only put in 6 percent of the 55K salary back then. All the gains are over last 26 years.

And if I go first she gets my SS which is very big as I plan to retire at 67 and not take SS to 70 God willing. And 401K is a lot.

Earning money is way way easier than raising kids and running a household. they deserve 100 percent in a divorce.

+100

The spouse of a SAHP who feels that way will likely never experience divorce, because they love and support the SAHP and recognize and appreciate what they do for the entire family daily.

[Anonymous]

I’ll bring this thread back to the original question. We are aiming for about $250k/year in retirement. We have $4.5m combined in retirement and brokerage accounts along with $1.1m in home equity (we plan to sell and downsize so probably walking away with about $300k). Hoping to retire early in next two years or so.

As with others, health insurance before 65 is our biggest question mark. It’s factored into our projections, but with less confidence than rest of our budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

That doesn’t add up, FICA is 6.2% up to $176,000 of income. Federal is 37% only after $626,000, income before that is taxed at lower rates. 10% is very high for a state tax rate, you should think about moving to a lower tax state. VA is 5.75%. I’d also be surprised if you didn’t have some income that’s not taxed, retirement contributions, health insurance premiums, etc.

Yes the lower is taxed lower. But if you have W2 income of well over 1M and any interest/dividend income is taxed as "income" you will have A LOT taxed at over 37% and your top state tax rate. at that point your "health insurance premiums" and your "retirement contributions" are really nothing in comparison. It's simple math. Yes the lower 500K is taxed less, obviously I get that. But my $1M+ in dividend/interest is also taxed as "income" along with my real income over ~$600K.

Point is, many of us with HHI are not "hiding from taxes" and certainly pay our fair share, we dont need to Pay more taxes.

Would you prefer to make a lot less and pay a lot less in taxes?

You are paying higher taxes for your ability to make this crazy level of income in the first place. We all subsidize access to low wage labor pool proportionate to how much we benefit from the system.

Nope, but we made choices to get where we are. And when after the first 1/3 of our income, we pay almost 50%, yeah I'm allowed to believe I am paying enough for the good of society after 20+ years of being in that situation (and always being above 100K as a family even 35 years ago). I'm not asking to pay 5-10% total, just that you start realizing that there are plenty of W2/income high earners who don't have ways to "avoid paying taxes" and do pay 40-50%+ on a good portion of their income.

That “after the first 1/3” is doing a lot of work. Your first 1/3 is much, much more than most people earn—including very hard-working and highly educated people. I hope that if I found myself one day to be earning over 15 times the US average HHI, as you are now, I would understand that I don’t need all or most of it.

Then you would be free to pay 80-90%+ in taxes. You can pay the govt more at any time if you desire.
We already donate to many local organizations and help friends and family. But no, the govt (or you ) don't get to decide we need to give more.

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Anonymous wrote:Depends on what style you are accustomed to. I don't understand the point of these posts. They aren't too valuable unless your question is what the minimum is for people to retire and what is needed for basic life, and addition of what budget can buy nicer things. There is always a floor.. There are basic needs people have to meet to survive (shelter, food, healthcare, and for elderly - also some assistance).

But there is no ceiling to luxury spending. People get mad when someone says how they need 7 figures passive income to enjoy themselves in retirement, but it can easily be spent by people with very high spending habits wanting luxury lifestyle, multiple homes, paying grandkids private schools and homes for the kids who aren't well off, travel, charity donations, pricey personal healthcare, etc. Some also want to leave sizeable wealth to their descendants and that's their goal in retirement. I think it would help to separate these goals that go beyond "comfortable in retirement" that tend to get blood boiling for majority of population that doesn't have 8 figure NW

Mostly because we think you should be paying more in taxes.

All of our income is taxed at over 50% when you include federal, state, fica, etc


Even cap gains are taxed at 22 fed and 7% state.

So nope we don't need to pay more taxes.
I don't hide money anywhere or have a way to protect it from taxes.

I don’t see how anyone’s income could be taxed at more than 50%. I mean my take home is less than 50% of what I earn but that is bc it includes retirement contributions and health insurance.

Because if you are earning $1.5M+ as W2 income, anything over ~$512K is taxed at 37-39%+, FICA is 7.5% (on lower amounts), medicare is 1.45%, state is ~10%. Earn higher and even higher percentage is taxed at those rates. So yes the "majority" is taxed at 45-50%+ quite easily.

We earned $2.9M last year and our effective tax rate was 35%. The bulk of this was was W2 income with a large portion of that including income from exercising stock options. I don't see how anyone could be paying 50%. You need to actually look at your tax return and divide by taxable income (line 24/line 15).

Did you add in your state taxes?

Did you take medicare into account (almost 2%)? Yes our federal is not 50, never stated that it was.