Reader Mailbag: Packing Books for Trips
My wife and I recently had a long discussion about how many books we should pack for a trip. I usually tend to read more when traveling, so I usually pack one book for every two days’ worth of a trip.
So, let’s say we go on a ten day trip. That would mean five books. Does it make sense to tote that many books back and forth?
Our idea is this. We each take one book with us and look to borrow stuff when we’re there. If that doesn’t work, we hit the bookstore. If we finish a book and aren’t sure if we’ll read it again, we do the ol’ “put a read-me note inside the book and leave it on a park bench” technique that I often use to pass along books.
That way, we don’t weight our luggage down with books either coming or going.
I am 30 years old and have finally found my dream job at a non-profit after years of working in a very fast-paced, stressful environment. Of course, my dream job pays much, much less than my previous job. And the work is fairly easy for me, based on my previous experience, but is very fulfilling. I also have very reasonable, flexible hours. However, there is also not much room for me to grow beyond my current position at the non-profit.
My husband thinks I am being undervalued and not utilizing my hard-earned skills, and should be maximizing our earning power right now while we are young (we don’t have kids yet). Especially since, right now, we depend primarily on his income and would be in trouble if he lost his job. Theoretically, he is right, I am very capable of getting a much higher paying job and would probably be able to do so fairly easily, based on my past work experience. But would probably lose the stress-free, fulfilling environment I have grown to love.
What do you think I should do?
- Meg
You’re comparing two sets of values to each other, and that’s more of a question of what you personally feel is important. There is no black-and-white answer to a question like this.
How much, dollar-wise, are the positive attributes of your current position worth to you? For some, they might not be worth much at all – for others, they’re worth a lot. It all depends on your personal makeup.
It sounds like the positive attributes of your job are worth a lot to you. If they are, they should trump earning more money. Of course, they should also point you toward having more energy and initiative to take on endeavors in your personal life outside of the workplace.
I just looked at the anticipated tax brackets for 2010 from the link on your site. It’s anticipated that $34,000 is the cut-off between the 15% and 25% brackets. So I make $35,000 as a single person. 25% of my salary goes to taxes ($8750) but if I only made $34,000 then I’d be in the 15% bracket and 15% of my salary ($5100) would be going to taxes.
So, I am very new at all of this stuff but am I interpreting this correctly? If I made $1000 dollars less each year, I would actually pay $3650 less in taxes?
This can’t be true…can it? I either need to ask for a big raise to make the jump to the 25% bracket “worth it” or I need to ask for a small pay cut? Oh, and I always seem to take the standard deduction. I work for a non-profit (not sure what other info you need). How do I decrease my taxable income so that I am in the 15% bracket…I think that’s the place I need to be.
- Amitra
Amitra is referring to a link to my old pal Jim’s site that lays out the predicted tax brackets for 2010. This question also shows one of the biggest problems with our tax system – it’s just simply very confusing.
OK, let’s use your example. Let’s say you make $35,000 as a single person (after deductions and the like – $35K is your actual taxable income). The tax brackets on that link are:
10% Bracket: $0 – $8,375
15% Bracket: $8,375 – $34,000
25% Bracket: $34,000 – $82,400
Here’s how it works. Of the $35,000 you’re paying taxes on this year,
$8,375 of that income is in the 10% tax bracket.
$25,625 of that income is in the 15% tax bracket (the $34,000 maximum of the bracket minus the $8,375 minimum).
$1,000 of that income is in the 25% tax bracket (the remaining income).
Your total tax bill for the year would thus be the total of:
10% of $8,375, which is $837.50
15% of $25,625, which is $3,843.75
25% of $1,000, which is $250
which adds up to $4,931.25. That’s what you’d pay for the year.
Now, if you earned $1,000 less, you’d owe only $250 less in taxes. If you earned $1,000 more, you’d owe $250 more in taxes.
The paranoia about higher tax brackets is just that, paranoia. You’re always better off earning more money.
Do you ever get a question or request for advice that just makes you say “What were you THINKING?!” Do you ever find it hard to give the patient, thought-out answers you do?
- Jess
The only questions I get that make me really uncomfortable are the ones where people are basically asking me permission for them to do something unethical or illegal. I usually just delete those without any kind of response.
People will write to me about how to commit Social Security fraud in various ways. I get questions about how to avoid paying any and all taxes. I’ve had questions about money laundering schemes. That’s the kind of stuff I don’t like – breaking the law to take more than your fair share or pay less than your fair share.
I don’t really mind when people are struggling with the ins and outs of how a complicated situation works. For example, in a question below, I address a family trying to deal with a nanny employment and being unsure how to do it. In these situations, it’s clear to me that the person wants to do the right thing, but the right thing is made difficult by confusing and draconian laws and regulations. If a person’s heart is in the right place, then shaky legal standing doesn’t make me feel bad.
Jointly, my husband and I make a pretty good income. We have no debt, besides our mortgage, and we spend about 80% of our after-tax income, which does 401K contributions as they are taken out pre-taxes. Our savings equal about $2,000 a month.
We currently max out my husband’s 401K at $15,000 a year (my company does not offer a 401K program). We have one IRA with about $10,000 and one Roth IRA with about $21,000 (I don’t know the difference between Roth and non-Roth, whoops) but do not contribute to them regularly.
However, we still don’t know how to invest the rest of our savings and I am embarrassed to admit that we have about $20,000 in our checking account (no interest!), which serves partially as our emergency fund/save up for house purchases fund, although we do not need this much in checking. I thought about investing the extra cash in a CD, but the rates seem so low right now. I am not sure if we should add more $$ to our IRAs or invest is somehow else?
Any advice?
- Megan
Quickly, a Roth IRA is one that takes in after-tax money and pays out after-tax money in retirement. A normal IRA does the same with pre-tax money.
At the very least, you should have that extra cash in a savings account earning at least a little interest. Your own bank can be a start, but you’ll ...
