Stacking Pennies . . .

I get paid tomorrow (yes, on Thursdays) and finally was able to view my paycheck online. Though I only am being paid for 40 hrs instead of 80 this period, they did process my signing bonus in the first check (yes!) so I finally have some money to work with. They got all my direct deposit stuff set up in time (nice work!). I have it split between three different accounts, checking, short term savings (insurance, travel, car) and a long term savings (e-fund, maybe house/condo fund one day). I still may have to transfer between these, but this should minimize that. Make savings automatic!

I'm still not ready to finalize a budget, as I'm not certain what my take home pay will be. I tried to figure out exactly how much I'll be paying in taxes each month by taking total taxes paid divided by total gross pay in this check. I came up with about a 39% tax rate! Yikes, that can't be right! Google tells me that taxes on bonuses, while calculated as normal income, are withheld at a different rate, up to 40%. Well, that makes more sense! Good to know.

Is it logical to just use 25%, my marginal tax rate? Then again, what about FICA, Social Security, etc? If I do that, I come up with about $1700 after 401k and medical or $1500 if I go all the way up to 20% in my 401k. It isn't likely I can live off the $3000/month, at least not if I want to grow my cash savings. Though the way some people dream about buying a house, I dream about maxing out my 401k....

My 401k still isn't ready for me to enroll. I hate when systems are not automated enough. My last job I could enroll in my 401k on the first day (through Fidelity). It has been a full week and CitiStreet still isn't recognizing my user ID. When I called the number to ask if this was normal, I was told "Please listen carefully as options have recently changed." Then, there was a single ring, then silence. More silence. I was never given any options! I hung up and tried again, only to have it happen again. I pressed all the numbers and was directed to an operator who could not help me unless I "went through the system and entered my PIN" (which I did!). He suggested waiting another week, or trying the number again. Lame.

I was going to go hang out with the boyfriend tonight, but I think I'll cancel. He has a lot of school work, and I have needed to do laundry for at least a week. This will give me time to start working on yesterdays to-do list. First up, taxes!

I get paid tomorrow (yes, on Thursdays) and finally was able to view my paycheck online. Though I only am being paid for 40 hrs instead of 80 this period, they did process my signing bonus in the first check (yes!) so I finally have some money to work with. They got all my direct deposit stuff set up in time (nice work!). I have it split between three different accounts, checking, short term savings (insurance, travel, car) and a long term savings (e-fund, maybe house/condo fund one day). I still may have to transfer between these, but this should minimize that. Make savings automatic!

I'm still not ready to finalize a budget, as I'm not certain what my take home pay will be. I tried to figure out exactly how much I'll be paying in taxes each month by taking total taxes paid divided by total gross pay in this check. I came up with about a 39% tax rate! Yikes, that can't be right! Google tells me that taxes on bonuses, while calculated as normal income, are withheld at a different rate, up to 40%. Well, that makes more sense! Good to know.

Is it logical to just use 25%, my marginal tax rate? Then again, what about FICA, Social Security, etc? If I do that, I come up with about $1700 after 401k and medical or $1500 if I go all the way up to 20% in my 401k. It isn't likely I can live off the $3000/month, at least not if I want to grow my cash savings. Though the way some people dream about buying a house, I dream about maxing out my 401k....

My 401k still isn't ready for me to enroll. I hate when systems are not automated enough. My last job I could enroll in my 401k on the first day (through Fidelity). It has been a full week and CitiStreet still isn't recognizing my user ID. When I called the number to ask if this was normal, I was told "Please listen carefully as options have recently changed." Then, there was a single ring, then silence. More silence. I was never given any options! I hung up and tried again, only to have it happen again. I pressed all the numbers and was directed to an operator who could not help me unless I "went through the system and entered my PIN" (which I did!). He suggested waiting another week, or trying the number again. Lame.

I was going to go hang out with the boyfriend tonight, but I think I'll cancel. He has a lot of school work, and I have needed to do laundry for at least a week. This will give me time to start working on yesterdays to-do list. First up, taxes!

I get paid tomorrow (yes, on Thursdays) and finally was able to view my paycheck online. Though I only am being paid for 40 hrs instead of 80 this period, they did process my signing bonus in the first check (yes!) so I finally have some money to work with. They got all my direct deposit stuff set up in time (nice work!). I have it split between three different accounts, checking, short term savings (insurance, travel, car) and a long term savings (e-fund, maybe house/condo fund one day). I still may have to transfer between these, but this should minimize that. Make savings automatic!

I'm still not ready to finalize a budget, as I'm not certain what my take home pay will be. I tried to figure out exactly how much I'll be paying in taxes each month by taking total taxes paid divided by total gross pay in this check. I came up with about a 39% tax rate! Yikes, that can't be right! Google tells me that taxes on bonuses, while calculated as normal income, are withheld at a different rate, up to 40%. Well, that makes more sense! Good to know.

Is it logical to just use 25%, my marginal tax rate? Then again, what about FICA, Social Security, etc? If I do that, I come up with about $1700 after 401k and medical or $1500 if I go all the way up to 20% in my 401k. It isn't likely I can live off the $3000/month, at least not if I want to grow my cash savings. Though the way some people dream about buying a house, I dream about maxing out my 401k....

My 401k still isn't ready for me to enroll. I hate when systems are not automated enough. My last job I could enroll in my 401k on the first day (through Fidelity). It has been a full week and CitiStreet still isn't recognizing my user ID. When I called the number to ask if this was normal, I was told "Please listen carefully as options have recently changed." Then, there was a single ring, then silence. More silence. I was never given any options! I hung up and tried again, only to have it happen again. I pressed all the numbers and was directed to an operator who could not help me unless I "went through the system and entered my PIN" (which I did!). He suggested waiting another week, or trying the number again. Lame.

I was going to go hang out with the boyfriend tonight, but I think I'll cancel. He has a lot of school work, and I have needed to do laundry for at least a week. This will give me time to start working on yesterdays to-do list. First up, taxes!

I get paid tomorrow (yes, on Thursdays) and finally was able to view my paycheck online. Though I only am being paid for 40 hrs instead of 80 this period, they did process my signing bonus in the first check (yes!) so I finally have some money to work with. They got all my direct deposit stuff set up in time (nice work!). I have it split between three different accounts, checking, short term savings (insurance, travel, car) and a long term savings (e-fund, maybe house/condo fund one day). I still may have to transfer between these, but this should minimize that. Make savings automatic!

I'm still not ready to finalize a budget, as I'm not certain what my take home pay will be. I tried to figure out exactly how much I'll be paying in taxes each month by taking total taxes paid divided by total gross pay in this check. I came up with about a 39% tax rate! Yikes, that can't be right! Google tells me that taxes on bonuses, while calculated as normal income, are withheld at a different rate, up to 40%. Well, that makes more sense! Good to know.

Is it logical to just use 25%, my marginal tax rate? Then again, what about FICA, Social Security, etc? If I do that, I come up with about $1700 after 401k and medical or $1500 if I go all the way up to 20% in my 401k. It isn't likely I can live off the $3000/month, at least not if I want to grow my cash savings. Though the way some people dream about buying a house, I dream about maxing out my 401k....

My 401k still isn't ready for me to enroll. I hate when systems are not automated enough. My last job I could enroll in my 401k on the first day (through Fidelity). It has been a full week and CitiStreet still isn't recognizing my user ID. When I called the number to ask if this was normal, I was told "Please listen carefully as options have recently changed." Then, there was a single ring, then silence. More silence. I was never given any options! I hung up and tried again, only to have it happen again. I pressed all the numbers and was directed to an operator who could not help me unless I "went through the system and entered my PIN" (which I did!). He suggested waiting another week, or trying the number again. Lame.

I was going to go hang out with the boyfriend tonight, but I think I'll cancel. He has a lot of school work, and I have needed to do laundry for at least a week. This will give me time to start working on yesterdays to-do list. First up, taxes!