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I just bought these. Thanks fishbowl friend .
Best way to get a consulting job in the U.S?
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If your employer allows then defer your compensation. I defer about half of mine for 5 years and can extend.
The 529 route really is good, especially with the cost of tuition for universities and in some cases, private high schools. You can also consider moving into trusts. Not that it will avoid taxes but the taxes will be at the rate of total income earned by the trust rather than your household.
This!
I donate to charities.
I defer too. It’s the best, esp when you get closer to retirement
Pay your taxes. It’s why we have such a big deficit. Think of it as your civic duty.
there aren't too many more options for two people with w2 jobs but you can consider 529s, donor advised funds, real estate, aftertax 401k (future taxes only)
Coach
I do a lot of real estate investing, but even there your losses are considered passive and are capped to $3k per year as a deduction, unless you are offsetting other capital gains. But in the absence of passive gains that you’re offsetting, real estate losses cannot be used to reduce w2 tax liability unless one of you is classified as a “real estate professional”, per IRS guidelines.
Coach
To add some additional clarity - it’s nearly impossible to qualify as a real estate pro as a “side gig”. One of the main requirements is that the time spent on real estate is > 50% of your total work hours during the year. So if you work a w2 job and spend 2000 hours per year on that, you’d have to ADDITIONALLY spend 2001 (or more) hours on real estate activities (and be able to prove it). So most W2 employees that work a full time job can never qualify.
It’s also one of the most heavily audited areas that the IRS hits, because so many people try to qualify improperly.
U said W2 between your Wife and yourself? How are you on a W2 as a Partner in the firm?
Donate to church
You have two incomes, one of which is at the Partner level and you’re at $550k HHI? Seems very low.