I need some help and apparently I am not smart enough to figure it out on my own.

I realized something today... I am not putting enough back for my retirement in my 401k. Money is tight right now since Im also trying to get out of debt and I am trying to figure out a way to tell what a change in contriubtions will have on my "net pay" bottom line.

I know the 401 comes out before taxes but not sure how to figure out what effect it will have on my "net pay"

Can someone help me with these calculations?

If other numbers are needed then let me know, but I think these will be the only ones needed.

Gross > 1,977.44
401 amount > 94.16 (5%)

I would like to figure out what changing it to 8% or maybe 10% would have on my bottom line.

I get $98.87 as 5% of your gross, but anyway you can calculate it

Gross *(1-X) = your take home PRE tax.

Where X is the percentage of your contributions in decimal form i.e. 10% = .1

To calculate after tax, we'd need to know what percentage is being withheld (to calculate your take home per paycheck).

I got that too... but that is what they held out of my check.

Guess that is some more of that wonderful govument accounting in action. They are even screwing me on my retirement and it's not even here yet.

What percentage are you looking for?

By the time taxes, retirement, and insurance is held out the net is 1,371.34

Your tax rate. Or since we are looking at calculating how much you take home each pay period, we'd need to know what percentages are being withheld for you taxes (fed income, state income, SS, etc), and since you have insurance being withheld, how much is being withheld. Without knowing all this, we won't be able to help calculate your take home figures.

However, I can give you a rough idea with rounded figures. Bumping your contributions up to 10% would be roughly another $100. However, your take home pay would only decrease by about $75 (assuming 25% tax bracket, no state taxes, and your withholding is set up efficiently), because you aren't paying tax on that $100

Thanks... a ballpark was kinda what I was after. I was really hoping to up it to 10 percent, but I dont think I can currently take a $75 hit to the bottom line right now.

Sorta in a rush, so just skimmed the replies. But another simple trick, figuring that the amount for 5% is pretax already, and you want to remain pre-tax, if you want to know what 10% is, just double what the 5% amount is. This is how I figure out quick things like tip (how every, its take 10% and double it, or triple, w/e the case may be.)

see if this calculator over at bankrate (i love these) can help you out. you can tweak as needed and see the resulting effects on your take-home pay.

http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/tax ... lator.aspx

Thanks.. I'll check it out.