You guys keep leaving out state income tax, which is 6% in my state. We're actually looking into moving to a state with no income tax.
To the guy who suggested getting a house for a mortgage deduction, we hate debt, and want nothing more than student loans.
Buying a house with the intention of saving taxes is silly, it's not a way to save money, especially if you hate debt.
When those are paid off, we are not getting into debt again. Besides, the 1k a month we pay for rent is far cheaper than the mortgages on the 400k+ houses in this part of town. To find cheaper rent or houses requires us to move so far away from work that we can't walk and bike to work anymore. We'd end up paying more in gas, car expenses and stress from traffic.
Looks like you made some good choices, that's good. So, let's get some more numbers on the table.
Forgive me for still not buying your story of "people making 20,000 live better than me".
Take 2011 for example, tell us, how much did you make gross, and tell us what your expenses were, and how much, IF ANY did you end up putting into savings?
I am intelligent enough to know about itemized deductions. If we went this route it would have saved us a thousand dollars or so. Big deal. Did not want to itemize for $1k in savings because most IRS audits are geared to those who itemize. In short, I do not want to risk the headaches for $1k in savings. If it were significantly more than that, then of course I'd itemize.
$1,000 in net savings of taxes? Or a $1000 deduction from your income?
If the former, that's your wife's laptop you're talking about, keep complaining.
The student loans are well over six figures.
Surprise surprise! I bet your $20,000 relatives didn't get such a luxury.
In the line of work one of us is in, most students graduate with over 150k in loans, lots of them over 200k or 300k. We personally know coworkers who owe more than 300k. You would be shocked at what kind of debt people are graduating with these days.
No, we'd be shock of how little some manage to graduate with.
If you go to a public university, you are fine. However, if you go to a private university as an undergrad, or a choose to go to any graduate school to pursue higher level education, chances are that you are graduating with tons of debt. I made a poll last year here on RPF, asking how much debt people had. Even people on this forum had over 300k in debt.
Nobody was born smart, but some learn. It's the choices you make.
[edit] to the person who brought up Obama's loan repayment program that is based on income, it is a scam. Those programs do limit the monthly payment, but they are stretched out over 25 years. If we went this route and had remaining debt forgiven at 25 years, we still would have paid almost as much as if we just hurried up and paid the loans off in 10 years or less. Besides, we want to pay back the full amount since the government stole the money from other tax payers; and we want to pay it back ASAP because we don't want to be in debt for 25 years.
Yes, I am with you there, just pay it off ASAP. And look at all the luxuries you HAD and continue to have that your $20,000 relatives didn't and don't. They are NOT better off than you. Please tell me what I am missing.
