How much money did you make in 2016? (1 Viewer)

[El Floppo]

How many decimals you rounding to?

Rounding?

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Rounding?

Rounding

 

[El Floppo]

Rounding

Ah...

Sorry...

What were you saying?

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I lease my car. Once I own via balloon buy out next summer, I will consider this seriously. Just awesome, DD. If you have downtime or are bored, WTF not?

I've always had a side hustle.  I delivered papers in school, took a dishwashing shift when I worked at Radio Shack, installed stereos and did taxes when I was in the military, and still do taxes now (mostly for exchange in services.  Like I do my electricians taxes for example).  An extra few hundred bucks still comes in handy. 

 

[mquinnjr]

I've always had a side hustle.  I delivered papers in school, took a dishwashing shift when I worked at Radio Shack, installed stereos and did taxes when I was in the military, and still do taxes now (mostly for exchange in services.  Like I do my electricians taxes for example).  An extra few hundred bucks still comes in handy. 

I'm a CPA, and do friends and family who ask taxes for free. Makes me feel like I'm doing the world and my friends a solid, I ask for food/12 pack max. We all win. I'm doing taxes for my aunt this year, after finding out my CPA uncle was charging her like $300 for a minimal form return for like...ever . Plus, since I'm not a paid preparer, no legal liability since I'm not signing the taxes. I am letter of the law 100%, just don't want to go down that road. I use TurboTax, print and 2x manually.

Would totally love to kill time and separate people from their money doing Uber/Lyft in boredom/free time for 80% of the take for a service both sides want and need. Just need to own the car before I go there. Love the idea, though.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I'm a CPA, and do friends and family who ask taxes for free. Makes me feel like I'm doing the world and my friends a solid, I ask for food/12 pack max. We all win. I'm doing taxes for my aunt this year, after finding out my CPA uncle was charging her like $300 for a minimal form return for like...ever . Plus, since I'm not a paid preparer, no legal liability since I'm not signing the taxes. I am letter of the law 100%, just don't want to go down that road. I use TurboTax, print and 2x manually.

Would totally love to kill time and separate people from their money doing Uber/Lyft in boredom/free time for 80% of the take for a service both sides want and need. Just need to own the car before I go there. Love the idea, though.

I was a VITA in the military, so they have to sign at the end but I'm careful with all the returns I do.  I have been doing my good buddy's taxes for four years now and expect nothing in return.  But every summer I come home from work and find a cord of cherry wood in my yard for the fire place/grill, and cherry wood is ####### expensive!  I gotta stay busy. 

My family and friends think I'll go crazy in retirement but I can always find something to do.  My plan is to work as an usher at a minor league stadium in the summer, and then buy a car wash at wherever I live during the winter.  Car wash is busy work and I understand the business concept well, in fact I have a place near my house now I'd love to copy.  Car wash isn't gonna make you rich but it should supply some income if run correctly and it's terrific busy work.  13 years away! 

 

[St. Louis Bob]

I was a VITA in the military, so they have to sign at the end but I'm careful with all the returns I do.  I have been doing my good buddy's taxes for four years now and expect nothing in return.  But every summer I come home from work and find a cord of cherry wood in my yard for the fire place/grill, and cherry wood is ####### expensive!  I gotta stay busy. 

My family and friends think I'll go crazy in retirement but I can always find something to do.  My plan is to work as an usher at a minor league stadium in the summer, and then buy a car wash at wherever I live during the winter.  Car wash is busy work and I understand the business concept well, in fact I have a place near my house now I'd love to copy.  Car wash isn't gonna make you rich but it should supply some income if run correctly and it's terrific busy work.  13 years away! 

I've thought this as well.  Sooooooo you might want to reconsider GB.

 

[mquinnjr]

I was a VITA in the military, so they have to sign at the end but I'm careful with all the returns I do.  I have been doing my good buddy's taxes for four years now and expect nothing in return.  But every summer I come home from work and find a cord of cherry wood in my yard for the fire place/grill, and cherry wood is ####### expensive!  I gotta stay busy. 

My family and friends think I'll go crazy in retirement but I can always find something to do.  My plan is to work as an usher at a minor league stadium in the summer, and then buy a car wash at wherever I live during the winter.  Car wash is busy work and I understand the business concept well, in fact I have a place near my house now I'd love to copy.  Car wash isn't gonna make you rich but it should supply some income if run correctly and it's terrific busy work.  13 years away! 

Did VITA for 2 years in college! The neighborhood near my school was lower income, so we had anyone who wanted to be in VITA and could study/pass the qualification test participate and help out. Was a great program and experience, really felt good to help people who wanted assistance and know that you made an immediate impact when you filed for them. You could tell the patrons genuinely appreciated the assistance, wins all around.

That's the key, don't take money. It makes you objective. I have an absolute 0% BS policy on questionable or aggressive tax positions when I'm helping. If you want that, go pay a stranger and have them sign their license on it. I'm out at that point for free. I've been asked, and have 0 qualms about shutting it down. Would rather educate on why XYZ is not good/what can happen in an audit/what can potentially happen post audit than assist.

Had a friend's GF who I did a tax return for ask about skirting Philly wage tax and "if they check." Which opens Pandora's box. I say listen, you don't have to do a single thing I tell you to do. But - if you want to live legally and sleep at night, listen. Stop registering your car in the mid-west state you lived in, you're committing insurance fraud now. Get a license here and get your insurance registered to your signed lease address. It will cost you money, but if you get pulled over or god forbid in an accident, you are f'ed if they follow up on you. With a long out of city commute, this is in your best interest. You cannot avoid city wage tax. It stinks, but you don't live in the mid-west anymore when you sign a lease in center city Philadelphia for a year+. Stop telling your employer you live in the mid-west with a center city lease. This is not good. I do these taxes again in a few weeks. Will be interesting to see where we stand a year out.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

I love doing taxes, I've always loved math and it's the closest thing I get to a challenging calculus problem these days.  Probably wouldn't love them if I was a CPA, but I think of it as a way to use my Finance degree for good.  Probably should volunteer and do taxes for the poor or whatever, but I just give money to charity.  I'm not much of a community involvement guy, I find the politics in all that to be gross.  When you are in community outreach programs there should never be politics, another thread sure, but the glory seekers on charity projects are abundant.  It's weird, people are dumb. 

 

[Otis]

I've got Otis pegged around 200-300k/year plus some kinda bonus structure. Maybe 500-650k in a real good year. 

X

 

[Otis]

I honestly thought one was you and the other was Chet. I have no idea how much money NYCers make.  Shows how much I know.

I wish. Over 5MM a year?   That's nuts. I'd run out of things to do with money. After year 1, pay off mortgage. After year 2, put away for kids' colleges and weddings. After year 3, spend a couple more years lining the retirement coffers. And somewhere pretty soon after that, retire.  That's pretty crazy income.  

 

[Zegras11]

I've always had a side hustle.  I delivered papers in school, took a dishwashing shift when I worked at Radio Shack, installed stereos and did taxes when I was in the military, and still do taxes now (mostly for exchange in services.  Like I do my electricians taxes for example).  An extra few hundred bucks still comes in handy. 

Fat chicks also?

 

[coyote5]

Hedge fund guys - generally speaking - won't know their 2016 comp until year end. Now, that's for guys who aren't General Partners or Managing Members or the Portfolio Managers who know their P&L real time and have a contract on what percentage of profits they will retain. 

Most hedge funds charge 1%-2% annually as a management fee. Those fees typically go towards legal, audit, accounting, keeping the lights on.  Then 20% performance fee IF you make money.  Down for the year, no performance fee and you must make up the loss before you can ever charge that performance fee.  

There is also staff to pay for... analysts, secretaries, IT, etc so there is a lot of burden on the fund managers to make a profit and thus, they tend to retain the most.  And they should, it's an enormous burden and a hard ####### job.  Managing your own money is one thing; quite another to manage other people's money.  Stress is a killer and you are paid to be right RIGHT away.  

Raising capital is damned hard.  Performance will only get you so far.  You have to check all the boxes of the allocators who are just dying to find a reason to pass on you.  Competition is fierce. Most investors won't even look at you if you are smaller than $100 Million (and I'm being generous here).  But how do you grow to that size so investors will look at you?  Catch .22

Hedge Fund guys get paid a lot only if they do well and that's fine because the job is much harder than most will ever know and more managers fail by an enormous margin than make it. 

 Let me pause real quick to shed a tear for the poor hedge fund managers that suck at their job.  #### off - go work at Hardees with the rest of the ####### losers that can't kill enough to eat.  And the ones that don't?  Doesn't really justify the other end of the spectrum.

 

[Dedfin]

Money isn't everything.

You might be right, but that sounds much better coming from a person that doesn't have any.

 

[Otis]

In Texas dollars or the NYC equivalent?

American dollars. 

 

[boots11234]

I'd love to know what in adjusted dollars 100-150k in today's dollars would be say back in the 80's. 

I remember as a kid my dad was a blue collar machinist making about 80k a year working tons of OT.  I use to think wow if I could only make that kind of money when I grow up.  

Fast forward to today I do much much better than that and I honestly feel just very middle class. 

The other crazy thing is 200k a year in the Midwest is much more a year then 200k on both coasts.  A guy can get a very nice home on that cake here however not so much so on the coasts. I honestly don't know how someone making 80k a year in Boston DC etc makes a life off so little. 

 

[xulf]

I'd love to know what in adjusted dollars 100-150k in today's dollars would be say back in the 80's. 

I remember as a kid my dad was a blue collar machinist making about 80k a year working tons of OT.  I use to think wow if I could only make that kind of money when I grow up.  

Fast forward to today I do much much better than that and I honestly feel just very middle class. 

The other crazy thing is 200k a year in the Midwest is much more a year then 200k on both coasts.  A guy can get a very nice home on that cake here however not so much so on the coasts. I honestly don't know how someone making 80k a year in Boston DC etc makes a life off so little. 

Here you go http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

 

[Dr Oadi]

I get paid $10 per post. 

5+ million bracket eh?

 

[Baloney Sandwich]

I'd love to know what in adjusted dollars 100-150k in today's dollars would be say back in the 80's. 

I remember as a kid my dad was a blue collar machinist making about 80k a year working tons of OT.  I use to think wow if I could only make that kind of money when I grow up.  

Fast forward to today I do much much better than that and I honestly feel just very middle class. 

The other crazy thing is 200k a year in the Midwest is much more a year then 200k on both coasts.  A guy can get a very nice home on that cake here however not so much so on the coasts. I honestly don't know how someone making 80k a year in Boston DC etc makes a life off so little. 

I remember an old beer commercial from when I was growing up and it must of been late 70s/early 80s when it aired, I want to say it was for Heineken.  Of course, now that I think of it I'm not sure it was even a beer commercial but it was basically two guys on the screen talking about the good money one of them was making.  The guy was asking, "You are not making 30K a year, are you?".  I don't know, I've done a lot of drugs so the details are fuzzy but the gist of it was that 30K a year was a lot of money and constituted someone doing quite well.

 

[Quez]

We've always said FBGs make six figures and have supermodel wives. Generally looks about right. 

I must be in the minority here. I don't make six figures but my super model wife does.

 

[James Daulton]

I'd love to know what in adjusted dollars 100-150k in today's dollars would be say back in the 80's. 

I remember as a kid my dad was a blue collar machinist making about 80k a year working tons of OT.  I use to think wow if I could only make that kind of money when I grow up.  

Fast forward to today I do much much better than that and I honestly feel just very middle class. 

The other crazy thing is 200k a year in the Midwest is much more a year then 200k on both coasts.  A guy can get a very nice home on that cake here however not so much so on the coasts. I honestly don't know how someone making 80k a year in Boston DC etc makes a life off so little. 

I hear what you're saying but the truth is that the vast majority of people in those place make far less than $80k and folks get by just fine.  Their house doesn't cost $3k/mo, car payments are probably reasonable, and they're likely not fully funding their retirements and kid's colleges, but they get by just fine.  It does takes more discipline and restraint.  I still remember making $35k at age 26 with a kid, stay at home wife, and a house and car payment.  I wonder now how we did it but we did.   Everything was just more structured and financial decisions were more thought out.  

I try to remind my kids (and wife regularly) that even though now we can whip out the plastic and solve almost any problem (car broken, sink needs fixin, etc) or satisfy most wants, the vast vast majority of this country (and world) do not have it close to as "easy" as we do.  Do they listen?  Not sure but all we can do is try and hopefully set a good example.  Work hard, take advantage of your opportunities, and be good stewards of your life, loves, and resources. 

 

[Otis]

I'd love to know what in adjusted dollars 100-150k in today's dollars would be say back in the 80's. 

I remember as a kid my dad was a blue collar machinist making about 80k a year working tons of OT.  I use to think wow if I could only make that kind of money when I grow up.  

Fast forward to today I do much much better than that and I honestly feel just very middle class. 

The other crazy thing is 200k a year in the Midwest is much more a year then 200k on both coasts.  A guy can get a very nice home on that cake here however not so much so on the coasts. I honestly don't know how someone making 80k a year in Boston DC etc makes a life off so little. 

So true. That's probably scraping by in those cities. 

 

[Baloney Sandwich]

I used to say that if I could make X per year I would be all set.  Well, I've made X plus a good amount over the last few years and it doesn't seem enough.  I'm about to enter in negotiations with my boss tomorrow on revised comp as I'm receiving a bump up in title and responsibilities and my guess is it will still leave me wanting more.  Perhaps that is a good thing but I've found the additional money that has come in just gets spent.  We moved recently to a really good public school district so both my kids are now in public but I was paying for Montessori school prior to that and spent more on tuition for them at ages 4-5 than I paid for my first year of college.  Majority of the additional income has gone into improvements on the house or my property.  I'm putting away a good deal for retirement and my kid's college but I still feel like I'm in the rat race.  

I firmly believe our schools should be teaching money management skills to kids as early as elementary school and following through with more advanced lessons as they go through middle and high school.  I know I could have used those lessons when I was in the my 20s and early 30s.

 

[Slapdash]

I wish. Over 5MM a year?   That's nuts. I'd run out of things to do with money. After year 1, pay off mortgage. After year 2, put away for kids' colleges and weddings. After year 3, spend a couple more years lining the retirement coffers. And somewhere pretty soon after that, retire.  That's pretty crazy income.  

You left out the step where you have another kid or two and buy an even nicer house

 

[James Daulton]

X

I'd say Oats is more around $400k base with bonus potential of another $500k.   

Guessing Otisloot is fun!

 

[Otis]

You left out the step where you have another kid or two and buy an even nicer house

I don't know about that, though 5MM would net me a pretty sweet beach house in the hamptons. 

 

[Otis]

I'd say Oats is more around $400k base with bonus potential of another $500k.   

Guessing Otisloot is fun!

X 

 

[James Daulton]

X 

WTF?  We in the ballpark gb?

 

[Otis]

I used to say that if I could make X per year I would be all set.  Well, I've made X plus a good amount over the last few years and it doesn't seem enough.  I'm about to enter in negotiations with my boss tomorrow on revised comp as I'm receiving a bump up in title and responsibilities and my guess is it will still leave me wanting more.  Perhaps that is a good thing but I've found the additional money that has come in just gets spent.  We moved recently to a really good public school district so both my kids are now in public but I was paying for Montessori school prior to that and spent more on tuition for them at ages 4-5 than I paid for my first year of college.  Majority of the additional income has gone into improvements on the house or my property.  I'm putting away a good deal for retirement and my kid's college but I still feel like I'm in the rat race.  

Agree. It's crazy. 

 

[Otis]

WTF?  We in the ballpark gb?

Sort of. 

 

[Slapdash]

I don't know about that, though 5MM would net me a pretty sweet beach house in the hamptons. 

Shoot, forgot that was the latest shtick.   

 

[Otis]

Shoot, forgot that was the latest shtick.   

If I had that 5MM sitting in an account somewhere it would be far from shtick. 

 

[James Daulton]

Sort of. 

And to parrot some of Otis's earlier thoughts, I'm sitting in the lobby of a Nashville hotel while my wife and kids sleep, putting in a few hours of work before we continue our short "vacation."  Whole lotta Bronco fans walking through this joint. 

 

[Ministry of Pain]

100k barely gets you middle class on this board...this thread proves how out of touch most folks are in here with real America.

 

[Otis]

100k barely gets you middle class on this board...this thread proves how out of touch most folks are in here with real America.

So far a pretty standard distribution in here. 

 

[jon_mx]

Hope you put away enough for taxes before your boozing.

I am pretty sure booze qualifies as a business expense for Uber drivers. 

 

[TheWalkmen]

Total income on tax return $202k in 2015; ~$70k was RENT, ROYALTY, PARTNERSHIP, SCORP, TRUST.

EFFECTIVE TAX RATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.6%

Lower tier FBG.

 

[James Daulton]

JB really should take this info to advertisers and let them know the median income for this bored is somewhere around $125k.  He'd be able to charge Walking Dead rates.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

So far a pretty standard distribution in here. 

Otis, I'm blessed because I have been able to work in teaching which doesn't pay but I have had the luxury of being there for a couple years or so now. I don't want to make this about me because I still get to live a very blessed life but my day to day interactions with economically challenged folks has kept me grounded a bit lately. The problem is I don't want to stay for much longer. I've seen what I wanted to see and accomplished a lot, time to move on. 

I also think the income levels in here are partly why everyone was shocked Trump won. We have a lot of wealthy or high earning Liberals which I do find interesting to read their POV but I feel they are massively out of touch. 

Great thread. Nobody wants to post this stuff but it's important in gaining everyone's perspective. I know you work in law but my notebook says not an ambulance chaser. You're a family man now, you could make more money with your law degrees but you chose to do something a little different that meant more to you, that's worth a tip of the cap in my book. 

 

[Capella]

Dr D > how much do you net on uber after gas, expenses? 

My wife works about 60 hours a week at her job and I work a straight 40 (and we both telework) so I kicked it around to not feel so guilty, but decided with the gas and my general hatred of people it wouldn't be worth it. 

 

[Treynwreck3]

My wife makes all the money. She facilitates my lazy ###.

 

[jon_mx]

So far a pretty standard distribution in here. 

It is definitely not standard and not even a normal distribution in mathematical terms.  Certainly does not match typical distribution of average Americans.  It looks more like a sample of mostly white professional Americans who have 20 plus years of experience. 

 

[AAABatteries]

Fortunately, Mrs. Galilei makes more than me 

I hate you

 

[James Daulton]

Otis, I'm blessed because I have been able to work in teaching which doesn't pay but I have had the luxury of being there for a couple years or so now. I don't want to make this about me because I still get to live a very blessed life but my day to day interactions with economically challenged folks has kept me grounded a bit lately. The problem is I don't want to stay for much longer. I've seen what I wanted to see and accomplished a lot, time to move on. 

I also think the income levels in here are partly why everyone was shocked Trump won. We have a lot of wealthy or high earning Liberals which I do find interesting to read their POV but I feel they are massively out of touch. 

Great thread. Nobody wants to post this stuff but it's important in gaining everyone's perspective. I know you work in law but my notebook says not an ambulance chaser. You're a family man now, you could make more money with your law degrees but you chose to do something a little different that meant more to you, that's worth a tip of the cap in my book. 

Oats is a patent attorney.  Pretty sure there's not many other ways for a lawyer to make more money.  

 

[AAABatteries]

Kutta probably one

Dude is wicked smart

 

[jon_mx]

Dr D > how much do you net on uber after gas, expenses? 

My wife works about 60 hours a week at her job and I work a straight 40 (and we both telework) so I kicked it around to not feel so guilty, but decided with the gas and my general hatred of people it wouldn't be worth it. 

My understanding of Uber from an admittedly very bias source (taxi drivers some of whom own the business) is that the rate charged by Uber if you take into account vehicle depreciation, they might be lucky to net minimum wage.  You are required to drive a fairly new and nice car for Uber, so while your cash flow may seem pretty decent, your net really is not all that good.  But take that with several grains of salt. 

 

[James Daulton]

Dude is wicked smart

He certainly runs a wicked FBG t-shirt exchange.  100% compliance? 

 

[James Daulton]

Dr D > how much do you net on uber after gas, expenses? 

My wife works about 60 hours a week at her job and I work a straight 40 (and we both telework) so I kicked it around to not feel so guilty, but decided with the gas and my general hatred of people it wouldn't be worth it. 

Man if I got @Doctor Detroit as an uber driver I'd book a several hour trip just to be able to spend the time talking with him.  That'd be beyond awesome.  Mix in some @Henry Ford and I'd be set for the day. 

 

[Baloney Sandwich]

My understanding of Uber from an admittedly very bias source (taxi drivers some of whom own the business) is that the rate charged by Uber if you take into account vehicle depreciation, they might be lucky to net minimum wage.  You are required to drive a fairly new and nice car for Uber, so while your cash flow may seem pretty decent, your net really is not all that good.  But take that with several grains of salt. 

Depending on the Uber service, the quality of car varies greatly.  I been picked up in plenty of crap cars utlizing Uber X

 

[Da Guru]

I've always had a side hustle.  I delivered papers in school, took a dishwashing shift when I worked at Radio Shack, installed stereos and did taxes when I was in the military, and still do taxes now (mostly for exchange in services.  Like I do my electricians taxes for example).  An extra few hundred bucks still comes in handy. 

When I got out of college and started at Ford I hated my first job so finding side things to do got me through it.  Coached HS football for 6 years as an assistant, got paid 2K for the whole season but I loved it. Then did the same with hockey.  I would be at endless boring meetings and while people were taking notes I would be drawing plays and planning that nights practice. I am sure everyone thought "This guy is really taking good notes"