Paycheck and Emergency Fund Calculators
It’s that time of year where the early-birds amongst us are doing our taxes. Coinciding with that (for many people) is the year-end performance appraisal process at the day job which often results in a lump sum bonus and/or a base pay increase. Rich gave us his take on “Tax Refunds and Other Lump Sums” and Nina chimed in with her take in Part II. Whether you choose to spend or save your newfound stash, it is worth taking a few minutes to calculate and plan for the future.
Lifehacker recently pointed out a great Paycheck Deduction Calculator and Emergency Fund Calculator which can come in mighty handy as you assess what happened last year and what you most want to have happen this coming year.
While I agree with Nina and Rich and personally enjoy a small refund lump sum even though it is an interest free loan to the government, it still pays to do the numbers to make sure you’re not going overboard with that loan, or god-forbid goofing up and owing a big sum. This Paycheck Calculator at PayCheckCity.com can come in handle to estimate your tax obligations for the next year. You can put in a variety of factors such as gross pay, filing status (well, duh, we’re all “single”, go figure…), additional withholding, voluntary deductions, and more to get a picture of what the 2007 tax year will look like for you. You can then use that information to adjust your paycheck and withholding as you desire.
The ever popular emergency fund is bantered about a lot, but I know I personally have trouble really calculating what my emergency fund should contain. I realize it needs to cover my monthly expenses and for a period of 3-9 months, depending on what expert you talk to, yet I never know which monthly expenses? All of them? The fixed ones? How much would I reasonably cut out if I weren’t working?
BankRate has a simply emergency money account table you can use to de-mystify your requirements.
In about 10 minutes you can get a pretty accurate picture of what your emergency fund requirements are. No more muss, fuss, and hair pulling over-analyzing your needs. It’s an approximation anyway, and better to have a fund than to put off creating one because you’re in analysis paralysis.
While these might not be the most exciting things to spend your time on, if you take a few moments to do this, you can automatically set up a savings plan with your lump sums and/or pay increases to quickly reach your goals and then forget about it for another year.
Hey Paula, this was a very helpful article! Using these tips, I found out I really *overestimated* the amount I need to keep in my emergency fund. (Suddenly, things that seem like necessities aren’t so much in an emergency.)
So, psychologically, this frees up some money to invest or put to work in other ways!
Ooh, I love that paycheck calculator. I was guessing at the impact of starting up 401(k) deductions, but now I know for sure.
I’m not allowed to build an emergency fund. A student loan garnishment takes 15% of my $1004 monthly income, after which I live on fumes and food stamps.
Student loan collections have NO provision for an emergency fund.