Your realized income from your primary job is $2,034.24/month. Your fixed expenses are 30% of your primary job’s realized income. You have a second job that pays $9.50/hr with deductions of FICA (7.65%), federal tax withholding (11.5%), and state tax withholding (7.75%). If you want to save enough in the next 10 months to have an emergency fund that will cover 5 months using only 20% of your discretionary monies from your primary job, how many hours per month do you need to work at your second job to meet your monthly savings goal?

Answer 1

First, calculate your fixed expenses:

Fixed expenses = $2,034.24 * 0.30 = $610.27/month

Next, calculate your discretionary income from your primary job:

Discretionary income = $2,034.24 - $610.27 = $1,423.97/month

Calculate the amount you want to save each month:

Monthly savings goal = $1,423.97 * 0.20 = $284.79/month

Calculate your net pay per hour at your second job after deductions:

Net pay per hour = $9.50 * (1 - 0.0765 - 0.115 - 0.0775) = $9.50 * 0.730 = $6.935

Finally, calculate the number of hours you need to work at your second job to meet your monthly savings goal:

Hours needed per month = $284.79 / $6.935 ≈ 41 hours

You need to work approximately 41 hours per month at your second job to meet your monthly savings goal.