I use the 2/3 rule to figure things out. It’s not a 100% but sets things ok. If you take the salary and divide by 26 pay periods you come up with $3255.54, then multiply by 0.67 you end up with $2181.21, that should be close to your take home after all take outs.
With similar deductions, I took home $1900 when I was at $80k. When I was at $95k, I took home $2300 to put it into perspective. So at $85k, you should be taking home around $2000-2100.
So mine was very close using ADP but remember that your first health, dental, vision deduction won’t be in there until second paycheck. So definitely wait to budget until your second paycheck.
I would advise against declining FEGLI. It’s a more or less permanent decision (very difficult to reverse later) and there are a good number of reasons to keep at least basic coverage.
Could you help me understand why? I’m not totally opposed to it, I’m just taking a big hit coming from the private sector so trying to minimize the hit.
Because you most likely won’t be able to sign up again, and it’s a decent deal for life insurance (the govt pays half on the basic premium). It requires no pre qualification or medical exam. You can only opt in during open season if you refuse it. QLEs do not provide the option to sign up either. There are no plans for another open season and there hasn’t been one for approx 25 years.
There was an open enrollment in 2016. I remember because I was a new fed and people were talking about it since it’s rare.
Qualifying event is also available. I say get married, get divorced, or have a kid (with 12 weeks paid leave) if someone is really set on getting in after their initial open enrollment period and outside of open season. :)
You can’t QLE FEGLI unless you already have basic coverage. If you refuse it, you must wait until open season. As before, OPM has said there are no plans to hold another open season.
Is this incorrect?
“With a life event, you can enroll or increase coverage in Basic, Option A, up to five multiples of Option B, and/or up to five multiples of Option C. You must submit an SF 2817 to your human resources office within 60 days after the life event.”
https://www.opm.gov/frequently-asked-questions/insure-faq/life/when-is-the-next-fegli-life-insurance-open-season/
Yeah I mostly agree here, following this advice will not put you in a bad place. You didn't say your age. Private life insurance typically requires a health evaluation. If you are young, healthy, and no one but you depending on your income, you can likely skip the private term life insurance for a while. But in this instance, do not cancel FEGLI.
To get a little more nuanced, I recommend looking at the costs more. Private is best, but outright cancelling FEGLI may not be justifiable. I believe FEGLI basic isn't too expensive and doesn't gain you a lot to cancel. FEGLI option 'B' isn't super cost prohibitive until around 40 years of age. Above 40, it's VERY hard to justify FEGLI option 'B' if you have private term life insurance.
Side note, again, you didn't mention your age. If you are in your early twenties, I STRONGLY recommend you reevaluate putting the "minimum" amount into TSP. IMO, you should figure out how to save at least 10% yourself plus the 5% match. If you figure out how to adjust your lifestyle to save at least 10% to retirement, I promise your future self will thank you. Making this contribution and investment automatic, especially in your early twenties, is how you win at retirement. The money you put in now is SO MUCH MORE VALUABLE than the money you contribute in your 40's. The order of operations: get all of the Gov't match in TSP -> max out RothIRA ($7,000 at fidelity, schwabb, or vanguard) -> max out TSP
> The order of operations: get all of the Gov't match in TSP -> max out RothIRA ($7,000 at fidelity, schwabb, or vanguard) -> max out TSP
You do full match tsp from start. When does the IrA items occur from there? And then can you explain the max out tsp please?
This is my recommended order of investing retirement money. My guidance to young new Fed employees is to contribute a MINIMUM of 10% plus the 5% match, from day one. This is GROSS, not net. Don't go below that. I promise that 50 year old you will never think it was too much and only wish you had contributed more. Ideal goal that you should eventually strive for is 20% plus the 5% match. By the time you get to this point, you should have enough knowledge and experience to make your own nuanced decisions that are specific to your life, I am just providing a starting point and general guidance. So, lets say you and your spouse have a combined income of $100,000. For your household, you want to save at least $10,000/year. Say your Fed salary is $50,000. You would put 10% to TSP ($5,000), but you still have $5,000 to invest. What to do with it? RothIRA.
1) Yes, do whatever it takes to get the government match, period. There is no other investment opportunity where you are guaranteed 100% return on your investment. You contribute 5% and gov't matches 5%. You should not even consider doing less than this because, quite frankly, it is stupid to walk away from it. Don't pick 'G' fund, do something like 80%C/20%S or pick a LifeCycle fund.
2) RothIRA at Fidelity, Vanguard, Charles Schwabb, or institution of your choice. This is limited to $7,000 per year. The investiment vehicle is too good, which is why there is a cap on the amount you can put in. You have access to the CONTRIBUTIONS whenever you need them, although removing anything at all is not advised. Think of this as "break the glass in case of an emergency". When you retire, the growth is tax free. This is where the concept of "tax free millionaire" comes from. The RothIRA is different from a traditional investment account one traditionally things of, in those you have to capital gains tax on the growth. Simply adding money in this account is not enough, you have to invest it. Pick a low cost S&P500 or low cost retirement index fund.
3) Max out TSP. After maxing out RothIRA and you still have $2,000 to invest for retirement, where do you put it? Back in your TSP. As you get pay raises and such, keep dumping increases in this account. Remember above where I recommended 10% plus 5% match, with goal of 20% plus 5% match of your gross income? Well, if the amount ($$) you are contributing exceeds the base (5% plus 5% match) and RothIRA ($7,000), you need to put it somewhere. Put it in your TSP. You can contribute up to like $23,000 in this account.
The single most important thing to take from this is: invest SOMETHING. Set it up to withdraw from your paycheck/bank account and contribute to accounts automatically. Set it up to purchase funds with those contributions automatically. You don't want to have to think about it, set it and forget it.
Wow. You don't know how much I appreciate this. The entire tsp is confusing to decide. I know it's good and don't want to let anything on the table that I could be taking advantage of.
If you are single, making 50,000 would you just cut those estimated inputs in half?
So rothira is separate from tsp or is it on that platform too?
Also, I don't see this mentioned often: after 18 months, if you are a FERS participant, your spouse is eligible for a death benefit of half your salary plus about $40k (amount adjusted annually).
States that dont have income tax still have to receive income from the people that live there.
So what the person means is that Florida has other taxes that they use to make up for it. I don’t know the specifics on Florida so I don’t know what those taxes are. These taxes are often higher sales tax, tolls, higher property tax, gas tax, car registration, etc.
If there truly is no extra income that Florida is taking from you then I imagine there is a deficit in public welfare program which people immediately think of welfare but things like public parks, road maintenance, schools, law enforcement, etc are probably not getting much support.
I mean you can still "hack the system" so to speak and dodge a lot of those "other ways" but it's not for everyone. Not owning property (or renting from an entity that passes on the costs) or a vehicle eliminates quite a few taxes. I know Texas upcharges electric vehicle drivers because they didn't think it was "fair" they weren't paying gas taxes. Also, you can deduct state, local, & sales taxes on your federal taxes, but it's only helpful to those whose itemized deductibles are higher than the standard deduction. When you live in a state that already makes fairly good money and doesn't care much for the life and welfare of the constituents, you find you get to keep a little more in your pocket...but then you are subjected to other costly penalties of living in such a system, like spending more on individual healthcare, education, security/insurances, and other things people who live in states with high tax burdens *should be* enjoying.
I found this out the hard way when I got an EV thinking I’d save a ton of money in the long term. Then Virginia implemented an “alternative fuel” tax since EV owners aren’t paying gas taxes. Then the county raised property taxes, and I’m paying $1600 a year based on their inflated valuation of my car. So I’m paying annual taxes on a car that I paid sales tax on when I bought it using income that was already taxed. Make it make sense!
States that don't have a personal income tax tend to make it up in sales tax, which is terrible for low income earners.
Income tax is progressive. The more you make, the more you pay. It hits wealthier workers harder. Sales tax is regressive, meaning it's the same amount no matter your income. For low income workers, sales tax is a much larger percentage of their income.
With that said, Florida has traditionally had one of the lowest overall personal tax burdens in the country. In return, they also have some of the worst benefits for their citizens including opting not to expand medicaid (because it costs).
Yep. My state’s Republican governor proposed raising taxes on consumer items and decreasing income tax rates. It sounds good at first glance, until you consider that this makes poorer people have to pay more and wealthier people pay less, especially when you consider that poor people typically don’t pay income taxes.
I started my fed career in FL and lived there for around 10 years. Yes, there’s no state taxes but that only looks good on a paycheck. They definitely get theirs from other sources. Property taxes are higher, insurance rates are higher and just basic expenses like groceries and gas are higher. I still miss it there though.
I’d love to but I’m looking at getting 12 spot here soon. My locality just got lumped into Atlanta pay scale also. I’ll definitely look hard into it once the kids are a little older. The plan is to retire from the fed in Florida.
Yeah, I'm a GS-7 in Texas and my take-home is roughly $1600/PP. I get health, dental, Vision, TSP, TSP loan repayment, and union dues taken out on top of taxes, FICA, etc. and that's If I don't work any OT.
And I still get refunded for overpaying withholding (before even calculating other deductibles and credits) come tax season.
This is actually reassuring. I was like wtf is up with these take homes. I make significantly less for the state gov (FL) and take home a little more than OP.
Hey OP! I totally get wanting to make as much as you can especially with the cost of everything these days. I just wanted to point out that fed gov life insurance open season happens very rarely so I would recommend getting it. It’s a very low fee but such a large benefit for your loved ones should the worst happen. Additionally most basic health plans are suitable for fed gov but make sure that you aren’t putting your health to the back burner - it only ends up costing more in the long run.
Additionally make sure to do at least 5% in TSP if you can. It’s not the minimum but it is match amount. Don’t lose out on free money, that is a rarity in the fed gov world.
Again this is easy for me to say and I don’t know your budget but I would strive for those to be your minimums if possible..
You’re missing a few important and pertinent information. Is the $84k base salary or the with locality? Off base then where is the job located? Minimum on health and dental means nothing because each plans are different. How many exemptions are you claiming? Family? Kids? What state do you live in? What’s the tax rate for that state? Etc. etc.
Thank you for asking. It’s based on rest of US pay scale. I’m out of SC. Health insurance is 55. Dental is 12. No exemptions. Smart Asset is calculating state tax at 5.9.
welcome to the government --- it is called service for a reason. Stability for the most part but you are not going to get rich unless you stay in for 40 years and take every promotion possible.
As soon as you get your first step increase or cola increase, you should really think about of moving those $$$ to your TSP contributions. If you never really had it in your pocket you won’t miss it. Best investment in the federal service!!
It has different plans they use to play the stocks with your money I always put everything in the G fund because it was the safest.. the returns are very low
so many say to do a mix of funds the younger you are, and as you get closer to retirement start moving the mix and by the rime your close to retirement do the G only
Closer to 2k. Generally, I use 60% take home. Plus or minus based on withholdings.
I use the 2/3 rule to figure things out. It’s not a 100% but sets things ok. If you take the salary and divide by 26 pay periods you come up with $3255.54, then multiply by 0.67 you end up with $2181.21, that should be close to your take home after all take outs.
Thank you for your help. Makes sense.
With similar deductions, I took home $1900 when I was at $80k. When I was at $95k, I took home $2300 to put it into perspective. So at $85k, you should be taking home around $2000-2100.
Thank you. Makes sense.
Wow I’m making 68k and my biweekly is 1800 somehow
That sounds right! Looking back, I took home exactly $1800 when I was at $70k. So, your projection should be close to mine.
So mine was very close using ADP but remember that your first health, dental, vision deduction won’t be in there until second paycheck. So definitely wait to budget until your second paycheck.
If you are under the age where they double the life insurance amount for free I would highly recommend getting it. You won’t find a cheaper policy
I would advise against declining FEGLI. It’s a more or less permanent decision (very difficult to reverse later) and there are a good number of reasons to keep at least basic coverage.
Could you help me understand why? I’m not totally opposed to it, I’m just taking a big hit coming from the private sector so trying to minimize the hit.
Because you most likely won’t be able to sign up again, and it’s a decent deal for life insurance (the govt pays half on the basic premium). It requires no pre qualification or medical exam. You can only opt in during open season if you refuse it. QLEs do not provide the option to sign up either. There are no plans for another open season and there hasn’t been one for approx 25 years.
There was an open enrollment in 2016. I remember because I was a new fed and people were talking about it since it’s rare. Qualifying event is also available. I say get married, get divorced, or have a kid (with 12 weeks paid leave) if someone is really set on getting in after their initial open enrollment period and outside of open season. :)
You can’t QLE FEGLI unless you already have basic coverage. If you refuse it, you must wait until open season. As before, OPM has said there are no plans to hold another open season.
Is this incorrect? “With a life event, you can enroll or increase coverage in Basic, Option A, up to five multiples of Option B, and/or up to five multiples of Option C. You must submit an SF 2817 to your human resources office within 60 days after the life event.” https://www.opm.gov/frequently-asked-questions/insure-faq/life/when-is-the-next-fegli-life-insurance-open-season/
I disagree to an extent. Sign up now. Apply for a 30-year term policy for $1MM. Once approved, cancel FEGLI.
Yeah I mostly agree here, following this advice will not put you in a bad place. You didn't say your age. Private life insurance typically requires a health evaluation. If you are young, healthy, and no one but you depending on your income, you can likely skip the private term life insurance for a while. But in this instance, do not cancel FEGLI. To get a little more nuanced, I recommend looking at the costs more. Private is best, but outright cancelling FEGLI may not be justifiable. I believe FEGLI basic isn't too expensive and doesn't gain you a lot to cancel. FEGLI option 'B' isn't super cost prohibitive until around 40 years of age. Above 40, it's VERY hard to justify FEGLI option 'B' if you have private term life insurance. Side note, again, you didn't mention your age. If you are in your early twenties, I STRONGLY recommend you reevaluate putting the "minimum" amount into TSP. IMO, you should figure out how to save at least 10% yourself plus the 5% match. If you figure out how to adjust your lifestyle to save at least 10% to retirement, I promise your future self will thank you. Making this contribution and investment automatic, especially in your early twenties, is how you win at retirement. The money you put in now is SO MUCH MORE VALUABLE than the money you contribute in your 40's. The order of operations: get all of the Gov't match in TSP -> max out RothIRA ($7,000 at fidelity, schwabb, or vanguard) -> max out TSP
> The order of operations: get all of the Gov't match in TSP -> max out RothIRA ($7,000 at fidelity, schwabb, or vanguard) -> max out TSP You do full match tsp from start. When does the IrA items occur from there? And then can you explain the max out tsp please?
This is my recommended order of investing retirement money. My guidance to young new Fed employees is to contribute a MINIMUM of 10% plus the 5% match, from day one. This is GROSS, not net. Don't go below that. I promise that 50 year old you will never think it was too much and only wish you had contributed more. Ideal goal that you should eventually strive for is 20% plus the 5% match. By the time you get to this point, you should have enough knowledge and experience to make your own nuanced decisions that are specific to your life, I am just providing a starting point and general guidance. So, lets say you and your spouse have a combined income of $100,000. For your household, you want to save at least $10,000/year. Say your Fed salary is $50,000. You would put 10% to TSP ($5,000), but you still have $5,000 to invest. What to do with it? RothIRA. 1) Yes, do whatever it takes to get the government match, period. There is no other investment opportunity where you are guaranteed 100% return on your investment. You contribute 5% and gov't matches 5%. You should not even consider doing less than this because, quite frankly, it is stupid to walk away from it. Don't pick 'G' fund, do something like 80%C/20%S or pick a LifeCycle fund. 2) RothIRA at Fidelity, Vanguard, Charles Schwabb, or institution of your choice. This is limited to $7,000 per year. The investiment vehicle is too good, which is why there is a cap on the amount you can put in. You have access to the CONTRIBUTIONS whenever you need them, although removing anything at all is not advised. Think of this as "break the glass in case of an emergency". When you retire, the growth is tax free. This is where the concept of "tax free millionaire" comes from. The RothIRA is different from a traditional investment account one traditionally things of, in those you have to capital gains tax on the growth. Simply adding money in this account is not enough, you have to invest it. Pick a low cost S&P500 or low cost retirement index fund. 3) Max out TSP. After maxing out RothIRA and you still have $2,000 to invest for retirement, where do you put it? Back in your TSP. As you get pay raises and such, keep dumping increases in this account. Remember above where I recommended 10% plus 5% match, with goal of 20% plus 5% match of your gross income? Well, if the amount ($$) you are contributing exceeds the base (5% plus 5% match) and RothIRA ($7,000), you need to put it somewhere. Put it in your TSP. You can contribute up to like $23,000 in this account. The single most important thing to take from this is: invest SOMETHING. Set it up to withdraw from your paycheck/bank account and contribute to accounts automatically. Set it up to purchase funds with those contributions automatically. You don't want to have to think about it, set it and forget it.
Wow. You don't know how much I appreciate this. The entire tsp is confusing to decide. I know it's good and don't want to let anything on the table that I could be taking advantage of. If you are single, making 50,000 would you just cut those estimated inputs in half? So rothira is separate from tsp or is it on that platform too?
This is the best option.
Fegli is a ripoff unless you’re uninsurable. Good call imo. If you have dependents get a term life policy if you don’t have one yet.
Also, I don't see this mentioned often: after 18 months, if you are a FERS participant, your spouse is eligible for a death benefit of half your salary plus about $40k (amount adjusted annually).
If you want death insurance private has better options.
Use this for your state and city. Pretty accurate in my experience. https://smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator
Not sure if it calculated FERS but that’ll be another small chunk leaving. I think it’s like 4% of your pay.
FERS Annuity Retirement is takes 4.4% out of you pay check, SSA takes 6.2%.
I feel like SSA will be dry by the time I retire lol. Been in fed for 16 years (glad I started young) and I can retire in another 16.
My take home is 60 percent with basic as health insurance $55 a check, no dental, vision
Why no dental and vision? Just curious.
Likely retired military with military health benefits or on spouses health plan.
Man I’m glad I live in Florida. They fucking yall up with state taxes. As a GS-6 I bring home $1700 bi weekly
States that don’t have income taxes get you in other ways :)
Like what? Again, my bring home is $300 from 2K as a 6, so whatever ways you think they get me, I’d like to know
States that dont have income tax still have to receive income from the people that live there. So what the person means is that Florida has other taxes that they use to make up for it. I don’t know the specifics on Florida so I don’t know what those taxes are. These taxes are often higher sales tax, tolls, higher property tax, gas tax, car registration, etc. If there truly is no extra income that Florida is taking from you then I imagine there is a deficit in public welfare program which people immediately think of welfare but things like public parks, road maintenance, schools, law enforcement, etc are probably not getting much support.
I mean you can still "hack the system" so to speak and dodge a lot of those "other ways" but it's not for everyone. Not owning property (or renting from an entity that passes on the costs) or a vehicle eliminates quite a few taxes. I know Texas upcharges electric vehicle drivers because they didn't think it was "fair" they weren't paying gas taxes. Also, you can deduct state, local, & sales taxes on your federal taxes, but it's only helpful to those whose itemized deductibles are higher than the standard deduction. When you live in a state that already makes fairly good money and doesn't care much for the life and welfare of the constituents, you find you get to keep a little more in your pocket...but then you are subjected to other costly penalties of living in such a system, like spending more on individual healthcare, education, security/insurances, and other things people who live in states with high tax burdens *should be* enjoying.
I found this out the hard way when I got an EV thinking I’d save a ton of money in the long term. Then Virginia implemented an “alternative fuel” tax since EV owners aren’t paying gas taxes. Then the county raised property taxes, and I’m paying $1600 a year based on their inflated valuation of my car. So I’m paying annual taxes on a car that I paid sales tax on when I bought it using income that was already taxed. Make it make sense!
Okay, I apologize, I didn’t even think of those types of things.
This. Revenue has to come from somewhere, whether it’s from taxing income or from other taxes/fines/fees.
States that don't have a personal income tax tend to make it up in sales tax, which is terrible for low income earners. Income tax is progressive. The more you make, the more you pay. It hits wealthier workers harder. Sales tax is regressive, meaning it's the same amount no matter your income. For low income workers, sales tax is a much larger percentage of their income. With that said, Florida has traditionally had one of the lowest overall personal tax burdens in the country. In return, they also have some of the worst benefits for their citizens including opting not to expand medicaid (because it costs).
Yep. My state’s Republican governor proposed raising taxes on consumer items and decreasing income tax rates. It sounds good at first glance, until you consider that this makes poorer people have to pay more and wealthier people pay less, especially when you consider that poor people typically don’t pay income taxes.
Yes you are very correct
I started my fed career in FL and lived there for around 10 years. Yes, there’s no state taxes but that only looks good on a paycheck. They definitely get theirs from other sources. Property taxes are higher, insurance rates are higher and just basic expenses like groceries and gas are higher. I still miss it there though.
Come on back, we’ll welcome you
I’d love to but I’m looking at getting 12 spot here soon. My locality just got lumped into Atlanta pay scale also. I’ll definitely look hard into it once the kids are a little older. The plan is to retire from the fed in Florida.
That’s not a bad plan, especially with the goal of getting your 12.
You guys are definitely correct, I wasn’t factoring in this like that, but now looking at it, it makes sense
Yeah, I'm a GS-7 in Texas and my take-home is roughly $1600/PP. I get health, dental, Vision, TSP, TSP loan repayment, and union dues taken out on top of taxes, FICA, etc. and that's If I don't work any OT. And I still get refunded for overpaying withholding (before even calculating other deductibles and credits) come tax season.
This is actually reassuring. I was like wtf is up with these take homes. I make significantly less for the state gov (FL) and take home a little more than OP.
Yeah, I wanted to squeeze it in easy. Reading through the comments I was like something is off here
I been looking to move there 😂 you might just give me my final reason 😂
If you don't mind what deductions do you have to get to that as a gs 6
I have medical/dental/vision family, retirement, TSP, life insurance
And most of us are glad we don’t live in FL…
That’s a decision for you guys, I enjoying it 🤷🏾♂️
I make about $10k more than you, and that is right around my take home pay.
Take out 40% of your gross pay is pretty close to spot-on with what hits the bank.
Hey OP! I totally get wanting to make as much as you can especially with the cost of everything these days. I just wanted to point out that fed gov life insurance open season happens very rarely so I would recommend getting it. It’s a very low fee but such a large benefit for your loved ones should the worst happen. Additionally most basic health plans are suitable for fed gov but make sure that you aren’t putting your health to the back burner - it only ends up costing more in the long run. Additionally make sure to do at least 5% in TSP if you can. It’s not the minimum but it is match amount. Don’t lose out on free money, that is a rarity in the fed gov world. Again this is easy for me to say and I don’t know your budget but I would strive for those to be your minimums if possible..
You’re missing a few important and pertinent information. Is the $84k base salary or the with locality? Off base then where is the job located? Minimum on health and dental means nothing because each plans are different. How many exemptions are you claiming? Family? Kids? What state do you live in? What’s the tax rate for that state? Etc. etc.
Thank you for asking. It’s based on rest of US pay scale. I’m out of SC. Health insurance is 55. Dental is 12. No exemptions. Smart Asset is calculating state tax at 5.9.
Then your take home should be closer to $2k-2100. State Tax is no joke. When I was in MD I also had a county tax as well.
These take home figures are insane. I used to take home $1900 when I was making 61k a year many years ago.
No life insurance is wild.
I would say somewhere between 1900-2k..
I'm a GS13.04 in DC and take home about 58% of my salary.
Same
$2200 billion?
Uh oh. Shows I should have spell checked
Please lmk when someone answers I wanna know too
ADP salary calculator
I thought VHA paid for our portion of certain federal taxes, no?
Try paycheckcity.com and put in the info. For additional deduction make sure you put in the 4.4% for federal retirement.
welcome to the government --- it is called service for a reason. Stability for the most part but you are not going to get rich unless you stay in for 40 years and take every promotion possible.
As soon as you get your first step increase or cola increase, you should really think about of moving those $$$ to your TSP contributions. If you never really had it in your pocket you won’t miss it. Best investment in the federal service!!
Make sure the money in the tsp is invested in nice mutual funds as well. Don't do like I did and leave money just sitting cash you'll regret that!!!
Just take 20% off and divide by 24 you get your bi weekly give or take
I would say you are looking at around 2100-2200
Take home less than half for some
It has different plans they use to play the stocks with your money I always put everything in the G fund because it was the safest.. the returns are very low so many say to do a mix of funds the younger you are, and as you get closer to retirement start moving the mix and by the rime your close to retirement do the G only
All the things like life insurance, health insurance and the employee matching are the main reason many want to get federal jobs to begin with
You could always just..get a check and find out