Tax season, and I just noticed I have a household income of $700K. Guess how much we've saved? $0!!!

$300K goes to tax - thanks to CA
$60K goes to housing mortage, HOA, and tax
$15K goes to travel & vacation
$10K goes to BTS...

Where did the rest of money go? NO IDEA... Looks like just dining and grocery stuff. I don't have even have kids, didn't buy any luxury brands last year.

likefunnysmarthelpful
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So… let me get this straight… gross mismanagement of takehome pay aside, a married joint filer paying full freight on literally every single penny of their 700k income in CA would pay about $255k in federal and state taxes, maybe 300k if rolling in everything else… and you’re claiming you pay the full 300k?

So that’s zero contributions into any tax advantaged accounts, zero deductions made for mortgage payments, zero credits for kids, zero use of any of the dozens of ways the government allows you to reduce the tax burden?

This is either the most egregious lie or the most concerning state of household finances I have ever seen.

likesmartfunny

1st class tickets on daily commute to work…

likefunny

Asking for help is a good place to start. No need to listen to the people shaming you here. It’s easy to fritter away money on nothing when you have a lot of disposable income. Maybe you can look at it as you would a work project and do an analysis, as others have suggested. Set goals and set up automated ways to flow your money into savings and investments, then give yourself a finite budget to live off of each month/pay period. Cash is much easier to track and harder to spend, so maybe take out the money you want to allow for spending each month and leave the rest in an account. Then set intermediate spending evaluations with your spouse to make sure another year doesn’t go by before you catch yourself getting off track.

likeupliftinghelpful

Here to put in another plug for morning brew, loved their budget and investing courses

Recent IconRecent

Anyone else wondering if they are spending 10k on BTS concerts

likefunny

LOVE IT

$300k on dining out, huh? Hope you got the guac 🥑

likefunny

Yeah that’s nuts. Let’s say they have a big family, love snacks, and only buy the highest end groceries they might be able to spend $2500 a month in groceries ($575 a week), $500/week for a family of 5-7 isn’t that crazy in eating out and Uber eats, then if they go to two $1000-$1500 dinners a month, they’ve hit that $300k number. I know that sounds nuts, but $1000-$1500 at a nice restaurant isn’t what you should do but it also isn’t terribly hard to do. This is insanely irresponsible spending, imo. However, it is doable if you just love food and try to spend as much on it as possible

You didn’t pay $300k in state taxes. Someone in your bracket pays a flat tax of $61k and 12.3% of your income over $625k, which is roughly $86k.

like

Right but federal is a base rate everyone pays so the incremental $140k (love how you shrug this off like that’s reasonable on top of federal taxes) is due to the state

So sorry for you

Post Photo
likefunny

Download your credit card statements and sort from largest to smallest, do a pivot and see where the money went and suddenly it all makes sense...

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Damn. I mean this will all good intent but if you’re not realizing your expenses/money until tax season, you need to learn how to manage your money better. Especially making that kind of money.

likesmart

Space for improvement? You need a total demolition and reconstruction.

likefunnysmart

You’re saying you’re have no idea where 300k went? Yeah, you need to learn to budget.

Else, you’ll have the same issues when your household income is 1mil+

like

Sounds like you need to start making a formal budget with your partner.

like

The government will spend your money for you and you will like it

likefunnysmart

My man, the fact that you don’t know where a full 300k of your money went makes me happy the government at least took the other 300

likefunny

What do you all do for a living to make 700k combined?

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Wait.. when did they say their spouse was the wife?

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Route your paychecks through my account and I will forward a reasonable balance…and “save” the rest of the money for your future

likefunny

Idk making $700k and not having money saved sounds like a you problem.

likesmart

I can think of a few divorced folks who would beg to differ!

funnylike

You can't change the past, but you can do better moving forward. Start a budget today, and automate savings and investments. There's definitely no need to spend $300k on dining and groceries for 2 people.

likeuplifting

BCG3 just gotta downgrade I guess! Salmon roe from now on like the peasants get

funny

You make that much and haven’t figured out how to mitigate taxes? Did you just sleep through the four years of trumps presidency?

Buy a house with property and get some environmental easements going. Buy a damn plane and write off 100% of it. You honestly have a $300k tax piggy bank and you gave it all away? Start a business and start writing off your dedicated office, dedicated car, and dedicated materials. Organize a charity. Jfc turn off Fox’s rich person victimhood and start using a system that’s designed to help you. (Most importantly, go get an accountant/cpa who can actually advise you on this stuff)

likesmart

Start a side business and write off the expenses. It can even be a hobby you find interesting. Give to charity and write this off as well. Get a financial advisor, I have a fantastic advisor if you need a rec.

Spend less on candles

likefunny

How did you end up like this? Not knowing where you spent 315k - I blame myself for not figuring out the missing 315$.
Take 3 hrs and look at your credit card bills for the last year - You should be able to figure out where it went which could help you budget yourself next time!
If post is just about venting out on California taxes, I’d understand🥲

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why do people here insist of postings stuff like this...yikes.

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Flexing of course

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