[Manuel_D]

> You've got taxes on that so 40% and then health insurance at Cobra rates.

Your taxes would only be 40% (actually 47%) if you make beyond $500k a year. Cobra rates are quite affordable. I was on Cobra when I was laid off due to covid, and it was $550 a month for top tier healthcare.

[lotsofpulp]

The tax rate is only that high for amount earned after $500k too. And only for those in a few states like California.

$550 for gold level insurance is expected for someone young, which I guess you are.

You can ballpark almost anyone’s premiums based on the figures in link below. I would use Omnia Gold or Omnia Silver HSA numbers, and plus or minus 20% for your state.

https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...

[mosburger]

If it's a one time payout (to be clear, I'm not that will be the case here? It was for me the only time that I was laid off), I think the withholding would be calculated as though that single payment were a regular salary extrapolated to the entire year. This is similar to what happens if you receive a bonus; to compute the withholding they assume your annual salary is $BONUS * $PAY_PERIOD. So you'd likely be taxed at a much higher rate on that single payment than you would be amortized over a year like a salary is.

You'd get that withheld money back after filing taxes, but most people who are laid off would prefer to have that money now.

If Stripe is making regular salary-like payments instead of one lump sum, then the taxes would be pretty much the same as always.

[iterati]

> Cobra rates are quite affordable. I was on Cobra when I was laid off due to covid, and it was $550 a month for top tier healthcare.

Those two statements are in odds with one another. $550 is quite a large sum of money to put out each month, particularly when you don't have an income.

[lotsofpulp]

Yes, you should have quite a bit of cash as an emergency fund. There are government subsidies available for health insurance, but they phase out if you earn more.

https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/premium-tax-credit

Generally, decent insurance costs anywhere from $400 to $1,200 per month, depending on age of insured, plus up to $9k out of pocket maximum for individual and $18k for families, per calendar year.

So to adequate insure one’s self for healthcare expenses, you would need $18k or $36k for out of pocket expenses (since things can happen at end of calendar year), plus $400 to $1,200 per person per month minus any premium tax credits. For a young family, I would guesstimate $24k to $30k per year in premiums minus any tax credits.

Basically, be poor enough to qualify for free healthcare, or earn enough to be able to spend a few tens of thousands of dollars for a healthcare emergency, but try not to be inbetween.

[theGnuMe]

Try making your coffee at home. That’ll help.

[lotsofpulp]

I had to cut down to just tap water.

(I actually do not have any compulsion to drink coffee, or anything much other than tap water).

On a serious note, I cannot blame many young people for eschewing forming families of having kids when faced with the numbers I quoted.

[ghaff]

Basically Cobra is whatever you were already paying plus whatever the employer contribution was.

Obviously family plans etc. will be considerably higher.