The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: mustachianteacher on March 14, 2015, 04:57:35 PM
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I apologize in advance if this is a moronic question because I already know it's not a complicated calculation. Unfortunately, the last time I did this was at least 10 years ago, and I can't figure it out anymore.
We want to switch from making post-tax deductions to Roth IRAs to pre-tax deduction to a 457b. Right now, we contribute $800 a month after taxes. I want to contribute as much as it will take to a 457b to "feel" like it's $800 missing from the paycheck, but not more. Because those will be pretax deductions, they will lower our overall tax taken from each paycheck, but how do I figure out how much that amount is? We're in the 25% tax bracket. I completely understand the concept of marginal tax brackets, but I think that's irrelevant in this case.
What's the formula for figuring that out?
Thanks!!
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There are various paycheck calculators online. I'm sure you can just plug numbers in to one and get the answer you're looking for.
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800/(1-marginal rate). In your case $1066 pretax.
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800/(1-marginal rate). In your case $1066 pretax.
In case you are close to a tax bracket boundary, try
http://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/salary/ or
http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/tax-planning/1040-form-tax-calculator.aspx or
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/ or
the reader case study spreadsheet (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/how-to-write-a-%27case-study%27-topic/msg274228/#msg274228).
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800/(1-marginal rate). In your case $1066 pretax.
THANK YOU!! I knew it was something relatively straightforward like that, but I just couldn't sort it out. I think my math muscles need strengthening.