Net salary for full time pharmacist after tax

[ice712]

I just became a full time pharmacist recently and got my first paycheck. I got only 60% of my gross income; is this normal? How come the tax was so high? I feel like I am not getting what I deserved...

Also as far as allowances, how many should I put? I currently put 2...

How do I enroll in 401K? Any thoughts would be appreciated... I don't know anything about this ..

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[flavor123]

I just became a full time pharmacist recently and got my first paycheck. I got only 60% of my gross income; is this normal? How come the tax was so high? I feel like I am not getting what I deserved...

Also as far as allowances, how many should I put? I currently put 2...

How do I enroll in 401K? Any thoughts would be appreciated... I don't know anything about this ..

CA pharmacist here. After maxing 401k contributions, I’m left with 50%

 

[lord999]

Paycheck Calculators | Online Payroll Calculators | Paycheck City

or some calculator. It's really state and withholding specific (401k, bennies, and others). 60% is mine due to living in a high tax state (9%), 401k ($18k) and benefits maximum inclusive of LTC Insurance (for both she who must be obeyed and me), professional liability insurance, tithe, and pension buy-in withdrawals.

 

[Momus]

I just became a full time pharmacist recently and got my first paycheck. I got only 60% of my gross income; is this normal? How come the tax was so high? I feel like I am not getting what I deserved...

Also as far as allowances, how many should I put? I currently put 2...

How do I enroll in 401K? Any thoughts would be appreciated... I don't know anything about this ..

Sounds about right 65% take home after tax. If you contribute max to 401k, it's even less around 50-55%. You really are only making ~$40/hr. Better start thinking that's the norm before you spend like a baller.

Welcome to the real word.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I'm maxing 401k, Roth, and HSA, plus the highest cost medical and I take home almost exactly $3000 every 2 weeks. So that's 55.7% of my "pay."

Keeping in mind that medical and retirement are voluntary and make up the lion's share of the money I don't see plop into my account.

 

[awval999]

I just became a full time pharmacist recently and got my first paycheck. I got only 60% of my gross income; is this normal? How come the tax was so high? I feel like I am not getting what I deserved...

Also as far as allowances, how many should I put? I currently put 2...

How do I enroll in 401K? Any thoughts would be appreciated... I don't know anything about this ..

Welcome to the real world.

 

[Sine Cura]

For allowances I put 2 for federal and withhold an additional $110 in income tax to get income tax owed at the end of year close to zero (+/- $500).

The additional amount I withhold in federal income tax is based on the estimated actual income tax owed, which in turn is based on estimated wage income from 26 pay dates in a calendar year minus 401k and HSA contributions (you can use an online calculator like Free Income Tax Calculator - Estimate Your Taxes | SmartAsset to estimate income tax owed)

 

[Charcoales]

I get 5k/month after taxes/401k/medical/dental/vision

 

[gwarm01]

Always funny when people discover income tax for the first time.

I would recommend maxing out your 401k. You'd be surprised at how little it changes your take home pay, but you will eventually get that money back. I recently bumped mine up to the maximum contribution from around 10%. I'm paying myself about $300 more per paycheck now, but my take home only went down by $100.

 

[pezdispenser]

The baseline number of W-4 allowances to claim if you are single with no other income or deductions is 2. One is for the $4,050 personal exemption and one is for the $6,350 standard deduction that everyone gets. You only go lower if you have other income like per diem jobs or investment income. In fact, you may be able to increase your allowances by 1 for every $4,050 that you exceed the standard deduction (state income tax, property taxes, mortgage interest, etc.)

However, new grads will usually get a large refund because:
- you only work half a year making ~$60k but your employer still withholds taxes like you're making $120k, unless you jack up your withholding allowances to 8+ for this year only.
- if your last semester of tuition was paid in Jan of this year, you may be able to claim the $2,000 Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. The income phaseout is $55k-65k.
- you may still be able to deduct up to $2,500 in student loan interest because the income phaseout is $65k-80k. This is on top of the standard deduction.

For 401k they should send you a packet when you are eligible or even automatically enroll you. There are some things to note however:
- You can be enrolled and making personal contributions but you might not be eligible for matching contributions until a later date.
- There may be a vesting schedule, so if you leave the company you will forfeit any unvested match. You will always keep your personal contributions however.

 

[6GodPharm]

Right now I send 5% match to 401k and pay about $190 for my health insurance. Thats it until my loan is gone. I end up with roughly 61-63% depending on how many OT and DT hours I worked. Pick up shifts and work massive OT. Yes you pay more taxes but you get paid more as well. Taxes suck it’s life. I’ve paid $76,000 in Taxes so far this year. 76,000 freaking thousand and thats all from Pharmacy work. Hoping my refund check is nice.

 

[Carboxide]

I put 0 allowances because I prefer a slight refund - I'm single, have no kids and don't own a house, so it only ends up being about $1200. I don't miss the money every month and would probably just spend it otherwise; this way, I actually put it into savings in addition to my monthly savings. I put 8% into my 403b at this time (and max out my Roth, but that's post-tax). I take home 58%.

Boy, I wish I hadn't calculated that. On my budget excel spreadsheet, I have how much I earn and how much is take home, but it sucks to know the actual %...

 

[BenJammin]

~75% of my yearly salary goes into my pocket. That doesn't include paying insurance, 401k, roth IRA, and HSA accounts.

 

[mentos]

Congrats on your first job!

Many of your young peers realize around this time that a huge chunk of your paycheck pays for the junkies to go to the ER for free, drive to the pharmacy in their BMW, get free groceries and junk food with food stamps, and have their oxy filled for free.

 

[allantois]

Subtracting your retirement money is dishonest. It should be included in the “after tax” calculation.

 

[allantois]

Congrats on your first job!

Many of your young peers realize around this time that a huge chunk of your paycheck pays for the junkies to go to the ER for free, drive to the pharmacy in their BMW, get free groceries and junk food with food stamps, and have their oxy filled for free.

Fake news. Medicaid is a minuscule part of the federal budget.

 

[ice712]

Right now I send 5% match to 401k and pay about $190 for my health insurance. Thats it until my loan is gone. I end up with roughly 61-63% depending on how many OT and DT hours I worked. Pick up shifts and work massive OT. Yes you pay more taxes but you get paid more as well. Taxes suck it’s life. I’ve paid $76,000 in Taxes so far this year. 76,000 freaking thousand and thats all from Pharmacy work. Hoping my refund check is nice.

On my first paycheck, I got only 60% and that includes 10+ hours of OT... Sucks! I feel like the more I work, the less hoursly wage I got.... I still have a huge loan to pay

 

[trailerpark]

Fake news. Medicaid is a minuscule part of the federal budget.

I thought it was 10% of the federal budget. That's a lot!

 

[trailerpark]

On my first paycheck, I got only 60% and that includes 10+ hours of OT... Sucks! I feel like the more I work, the less hoursly wage I got.... I still have a huge loan to pay

How big is your loan?

 

[Momus]

On my first paycheck, I got only 60% and that includes 10+ hours of OT... Sucks! I feel like the more I work, the less hoursly wage I got.... I still have a huge loan to pay

You can be working an extra 8h shift OT/week for 1 yr (52 weeks), and that will only give you $40k extra a year or $24k net income extra after tax. Barely worth it. If the OT shifts are 13 at 1.5x, it maybe worth it. I like my 2 days off. Fudge the OTs.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

My net take home is about 60%, that is after all taxes, maxing out 401k, health insurance and maxing out dependant care account

If you need the money then OT makes sense but otherwise enjoy your life. I am not looking to work extra hours. I enjoy spending time with family and friends along with hobbies, exercise, etc

 

[ice712]

The baseline number of W-4 allowances to claim if you are single with no other income or deductions is 2. One is for the $4,050 personal exemption and one is for the $6,350 standard deduction that everyone gets. You only go lower if you have other income like per diem jobs or investment income. In fact, you may be able to increase your allowances by 1 for every $4,050 that you exceed the standard deduction (state income tax, property taxes, mortgage interest, etc.)

However, new grads will usually get a large refund because:
- you only work half a year making ~$60k but your employer still withholds taxes like you're making $120k, unless you jack up your withholding allowances to 8+ for this year only.
- if your last semester of tuition was paid in Jan of this year, you may be able to claim the $2,000 Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. The income phaseout is $55k-65k.
- you may still be able to deduct up to $2,500 in student loan interest because the income phaseout is $65k-80k. This is on top of the standard deduction.

For 401k they should send you a packet when you are eligible or even automatically enroll you. There are some things to note however:
- You can be enrolled and making personal contributions but you might not be eligible for matching contributions until a later date.
- There may be a vesting schedule, so if you leave the company you will forfeit any unvested match. You will always keep your personal contributions however.

It looks like you know a lot about this... I have a follow up question on 401K, I tried to enroll it and it asked me the fund I wanted to invest. Does 401K always go with somekind of fund? I initially thought that I just putting money in an account and not making any risk. If I put money to any of the fund(s), is there a chance that I would loss some money? I am totally lost here...

 

[Momus]

It looks like you know a lot about this... I have a follow up question on 401K, I tried to enroll it and it asked me the fund I wanted to invest. Does 401K always go with somekind of fund? I initially thought that I just putting money in an account and not making any risk. If I put money to any of the fund(s), is there a chance that I would loss some money? I am totally lost here...

The idea is you invest the money to a mutual funds/etf. There is a stock fund, bond fund, target date fund and money market fund (stable value fund). Do not put your money into money market where it doesn't grow at all. If you don't want risk, there is no return. Stable fund normally give you 1-2% at most, while stock funds can go down in value temporarily in the very long term it gives you average 8-9%/yr (this yr it went up 14%). Read this to start. If you can.

If you list all available funds available to you to pick from, we can help you from there.

You can also pick a target date fund 2055 (Assuming you are going to retire that year) and put everything in that 1 fund. Target date fund that's not from Vanguard normally carries a higher expense ratio. So, that's something you have to consider but for simplicity sake they work well.

 

[ice712]

The idea is you invest the money to a mutual funds/etf. There is a stock fund, bond fund, target date fund and money market fund (stable value fund). Do not put your money into money market where it doesn't grow at all. If you don't want risk, there is no return. Stable fund normally give you 1-2% at most, while stock funds can go down in value temporarily in the very long term it gives you average 8-9%/yr (this yr it went up 14%). Read this to start. If you can.

If you list all available funds available to you to pick from, we can help you from there.

You can also pick a target date fund 2055 (Assuming you are going to retire that year) and put everything in that 1 fund. Target date fund that's not from Vanguard normally carries a higher expense ratio. So, that's something you have to consider but for simplicity sake they work well.

the funds are Stock Funds,Bond Funds,Cash/Stable Value Funds, Lifestyle Funds,CVS Health Common Stock Fund, Small Cap Growth, Global Equity, Small Cap Value, International Equity, Large Cap Growth,Core Equity, Mid Cap Index, Small Cap Index, Growth & Income.

I called the finance advisor that CVS 401 K referred me to and it looks like it is an added service that I will have to pay extra to have them monitor the fund. According to them, my employer will cover majority of the fees (I don't know how much I will have to pay in addition, if I add this extra service). Do you think this is necessary? I don't want to invest but it looks like it goes hand-in-hand with 401K. The advisor also suggested me to get lifestyle fund. I am pulling my hair now !!!

 

[Digsbe]

I live in a very high tax state. Aftet taxes, maxed 401k match, insurance, etc. I'm left with about 60%. If we are just strictly talking taxes (state, fed, FICA, local taxes) I'm left with ~65%.

Taxation sickens me, the government shouldn't need to take that much.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Congrats on your first job!

Many of your young peers realize around this time that a huge chunk of your paycheck pays for the junkies to go to the ER for free, drive to the pharmacy in their BMW, get free groceries and junk food with food stamps, and have their oxy filled for free.

One of my fondest memories in this "profession" is the time a TMHP patient who we filled a few thousand dollars worth of meds for each month started shrieking obscenities at us because he was requesting his Rx the day he ran out, 5 minutes before closing.

"I'm gonna take my tax money somewhere else!!!"

Fake news. Medicaid is a minuscule part of the federal budget.

Yeah, what a fake news.

The majority goes into policians pockets, and the rest of our taxes gets jizzed out of a predator drone onto villages full of brown people

 

[ice712]

I live in a very high tax state. Aftet taxes, maxed 401k match, insurance, etc. I'm left with about 60%. If we are just strictly talking taxes (state, fed, FICA, local taxes) I'm left with ~65%.

Taxation sickens me, the government shouldn't need to take that much.

the 60% I got did not include 401k or insurance.... mine would be much lower if these were included

 

[pezdispenser]

The idea is you invest the money to a mutual funds/etf. There is a stock fund, bond fund, target date fund and money market fund (stable value fund). Do not put your money into money market where it doesn't grow at all. If you don't want risk, there is no return. Stable fund normally give you 1-2% at most, while stock funds can go down in value temporarily in the very long term it gives you average 8-9%/yr (this yr it went up 14%). Read this to start. If you can.

If you list all available funds available to you to pick from, we can help you from there.

You can also pick a target date fund 2055 (Assuming you are going to retire that year) and put everything in that 1 fund. Target date fund that's not from Vanguard normally carries a higher expense ratio. So, that's something you have to consider but for simplicity sake they work well.

I agree with what @Momus said. You don't need a financial advisor. Just read things like that e-book "If you can" and educate yourself on personal finance and taxes. This knowledge will reap huge benefits in your life.

With your 401k, the driving force is Dollar Cost Averaging where you regularly buy a small portion every 2 weeks no matter what the stock market is doing. That way, if the market is down, you'll buy more shares or units because the price is low. If the market is up, you'll get fewer shares, but the long-term trend is always up so you'll eventually make a profit on these shares too. It will all average out, but the point is that you are regularly investing money, instead of procrastinating or spending it on something else.

Also, don't worry about losing money. A 401k is a long term investment. Even if you invested right before the crash in 2008 when the stock market lost 50%, you would've made back your money within 5 years. Plus with DCA, you would've invested at low prices after the crash and made a killing on those shares. So you should choose funds that contain broad stock indexes with low fees like Core Equity, and later when you have a larger balance you can add others like Mid Cap Index, Small Cap Index and International Equity.

 

[gwarm01]

With your 401k, the driving force is Dollar Cost Averaging where you regularly buy a small portion every 2 weeks no matter what the stock market is doing.

This is the strategy that's been the most successful for me. I made a couple of good calls with trading stocks, but just as many bad ones. I finally started profiting when I just put money into ETFs every month.

 

[pharm B]

I really liked White Coat Investor's book. Seemed like a good place to start. I ended up buying life and disability insurance right out of school. Small price to pay for the coverage provided.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I really liked White Coat Investor's book. Seemed like a good place to start. I ended up buying life and disability insurance right out of school. Small price to pay for the coverage provided.

Depends on your situation. If something happens to me, my wife can dust that PharmD of hers off and have my job instead of running a soccer team.

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

Depends on your situation. If something happens to me, my wife can dust that PharmD of hers off and have my job instead of running a soccer team.

Your wife doesn't work?

 

[owlegrad]

Your wife doesn't work?

Of course not, none of us work, there are no jobs.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Your wife doesn't work?

I know of at least two pharm.d couples where the wife doesn't work.

One bombed the PCAT once and never recovered.
The other who knows.

I know another who was my preceptor who never worked

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Your wife doesn't work?

She works part time. Like 15-20 a week or so.

Her soccer team won 3-0 today though. I've never left work thinking I won 3-0. So she's clearly doing better than me. So there's that.

 

[Momus]

I know of at least two pharm.d couples where the wife doesn't work.

One bombed the PCAT once and never recovered.
The other who knows.

I know another who was my preceptor who never worked

PCAT what?

 

[Momus]

Your wife doesn't work?

Women have that ability to drop to part time as soon as they get married or have kids. If we do that, we get the boot.

Society expectation...

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

PCAT what?

Whoops, meant NAPLEX

 

[Momus]

the funds are Stock Funds,Bond Funds,Cash/Stable Value Funds, Lifestyle Funds,CVS Health Common Stock Fund, Small Cap Growth, Global Equity, Small Cap Value, International Equity, Large Cap Growth,Core Equity, Mid Cap Index, Small Cap Index, Growth & Income.

I called the finance advisor that CVS 401 K referred me to and it looks like it is an added service that I will have to pay extra to have them monitor the fund. According to them, my employer will cover majority of the fees (I don't know how much I will have to pay in addition, if I add this extra service). Do you think this is necessary? I don't want to invest but it looks like it goes hand-in-hand with 401K. The advisor also suggested me to get lifestyle fund. I am pulling my hair now !!!

Lifestyle fund is ok. It is broadly diversified to domestic and international stock, and small amount of bond. It comes with higher expense but it's a decent way to set and forget it fund. Put all 100% contribution there. If they charge more than 0.5% (click the nuts and bolt and check their total operating expense), don't use them. If you are in your 20s, pick 2060, 30s 2050.

Or, if they are expensive (more than 0.5%), just use core equity 100%, nothing wrong with putting everything into S&P 500. Once you read a couple of books, you might want to add a few other asset class, such as small cap value for slightly higher return but that's another discussion entirely.

 

[Pharmacy Kid]

She works part time. Like 15-20 a week or so.

Her soccer team won 3-0 today though. I've never left work thinking I won 3-0. So she's clearly doing better than me. So there's that.

Imagine if she worked full time, you guys could invest all the extra money and retire early.

 

[BenJammin]

She works part time. Like 15-20 a week or so.

Her soccer team won 3-0 today though. I've never left work thinking I won 3-0. So she's clearly doing better than me. So there's that.

How many kids do you guys have?

 

[pharm B]

How many kids do you guys have?

I thought WVU was intending to be the last of his name.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

How many kids do you guys have?

Ewwww.

No, a men's club soccer team. The highest non pro level in the US. We got dudes from like Botswana and Kosovo on the roster.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Imagine if she worked full time, you guys could invest all the extra money and retire early.

Yeah, but we wouldn't be able to start a no cost youth program in Wilmington, either. The club needs her administrative skills.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

Ewwww.
No, a men's club soccer team. The highest non pro level in the US. We got dudes from like Botswana and Kosovo on the roster.

... Lol... That's like saying you have guys from Columbia on your hockey team

 

[WVUPharm2007]

... Lol... That's like saying you have guys from Columbia on your hockey team

We got Colombians, Mexicans, and a French dude, too. The kid born in Kosovo actually has a call up to camp for the Albanian National Team. That dude has the most interesting and (literally) harrowing life story. Living through ethnic cleansing as a small child, stabbings, shootings, living in a tent for a year as a refugee.

 

[Sparda29]

I just became a full time pharmacist recently and got my first paycheck. I got only 60% of my gross income; is this normal? How come the tax was so high? I feel like I am not getting what I deserved...

Also as far as allowances, how many should I put? I currently put 2...

How do I enroll in 401K? Any thoughts would be appreciated... I don't know anything about this ..

Yep, that's normal. My pre-tax bi-weekly income is $4400, after tax comes down to $3100.

Allowances, depends. Do you want a nice tax refund check every April? Or would you like to just break even every time taxes come around. If you want a refund check, put 0 for allowances or 1 for a smaller refund. 2 will probably get you no refund.

Get married, buy a house, donate to your church, and start pumping out kids. That's how you lower your taxes.

 

[Sparda29]

Women have that ability to drop to part time as soon as they get married or have kids. If we do that, we get the boot.

Society expectation...

I'm trying to find a hot plastic surgeon to be wifey so she can be my sugar mama.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

We got Colombians, Mexicans, and a French dude, too. The kid born in Kosovo actually has a call up to camp for the Albanian National Team. That dude has the most interesting and (literally) harrowing life story. Living through ethnic cleansing as a small child, stabbings, shootings, living in a tent for a year as a refugee.

Columbia University Men's Ice Hockey

 

[pezdispenser]

Lifestyle fund is ok. It is broadly diversified to domestic and international stock, and small amount of bond. It comes with higher expense but it's a decent way to set and forget it fund. Put all 100% contribution there. If they charge more than 0.5% (click the nuts and bolt and check their total operating expense), don't use them. If you are in your 20s, pick 2060, 30s 2050.

Or, if they are expensive (more than 0.5%), just use core equity 100%, nothing wrong with putting everything into S&P 500. Once you read a couple of books, you might want to add a few other asset class, such as small cap value for slightly higher return but that's another discussion entirely.

I think the CVS lifestyle funds are just a fixed allocation of the other funds according to their risk, with Aggressive Lifestyle being mostly stock and Conservative Lifestyle having a large portion of bonds and Stable Value. They are not target date funds that change allocations to become more conservative as they approach the target date.