Comments on: Breaking up is hard to do…

By: Revanche

Revanche — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:36:34 +0000

My head spins. This is the advanced version of the game I was playing on my post-layoff to-do list Saturday night and Sunday afternoon — so much paperwork and sorting out of rules, regulations and exceptions thereof!

Best of luck!

By: frugalscholar

frugalscholar — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:52:55 +0000

Another way to reduce your income is via losses on your side businesses–e.g. your blog and your editing biz.

OR you could reduce your profits via a SEP-IRA or Keogh.

In 2009, you may make little enough to claim the “Saver’s Credit” for whatever you put in an IRA or other tax-deferred acct.

By: funny

funny — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:55:28 +0000

@ frugalscholar: I was just up to the SS office the day before yesterday: consumes an eighth of a tank of gas and is in the opposite direction from GDU. So what I’m doing is collecting questions, so as to consolidate them into fewer trips. That’s definitely one of the queries.

Clearly, if I can roll community college pay into deferred compensation, I could take the vacation pay and then move the adjunct pay off the table. It would help, since three classes a semester will put me $300 over Social Security’s earnings limit.

I think your employer has to participate in the deferred comp plan, doesn’t it? I’ll ask while I’m at this outfit’s office (they have a punch-a-button runaround on the phone, so I’ll have to physically drive down there to talk with someone…argh!!!!) whether I can defer income from the community college district. Remember, I’m adjunct, so not a “real” employee of the district. Although the district withholds Medicare & taxes, they regard adjunct faculty as contractors. So even though if they have a plan for f/t employees, adjunct instructors may not qualify.

The other question, of course, is just how much this outfit charges in management fees. I’ll bet it’s not cheap. God, how I resent having to pay someone to hold my money to protect it from confiscation by the government!

The problem is, I really do need to put these little “windfalls” (har har) from GDU into long-term savings. If Social Security gives me two dollars with one hand and then rips off a dollar with the other and I can’t find a way to shelter the money GDU will pay after SS gets started, then I will have to use the RASL and vacation pay to buy food and gasoline. We’re talking about a 2010 net of around $8300 that could and should go into Vanguard or Fidelity funds ASAP, to help rebuild my devastated life savings. Add all three years of RASL into the pot, and it represents about $17,500 that should be going into my retirement savings…not to the Safeway, the Costco, and the utility companies!

By: frugalscholar

frugalscholar — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:20:49 +0000

You can talk to the people in the Social Security Office; a friend says they are helpful and knowledgeable.

Also–couldn’t a deferred comp plan or SEP IRA serve to reduce your income from teaching? It doesn’t really matter where you take the money from as long as you get it.

OR–if you are still planning on doing the thing where you pay back social security to reset at 70, I think you get all the taxes back!

I have a colleague who is hoping never to retire so he doesn’t have to deal with all this–including cleaning up his office.