# First paycheck! Hooray! Got to keep a whole 28% of it... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 17, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203 "2016-09-17T21:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/21 "2016-09-18T01:43:26Z")
I know this is a long shot and I’d say no if someone asked me, but I’ll put it out there just for the hell of it: I run payroll at work, I’d be happy to look at your paystub and see if I can make sense of it. As we’re all thinking, it looks like either you left something out or you’re misreading it. If you were interested (and, again, I’m just putting it out there) redact all the personal info and probably all the YTD stuff. Of course, this is moot if you read the thread and figure out what’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/22 "2016-09-18T01:44:01Z")
> [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > I don’t think **Chessic** is coming back, maybe he was just trolling. Nah, he’s camping out in the hallway outside the door of his payroll department waiting for 0900 Monday. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/23 "2016-09-18T02:55:16Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Hah? (Uncle Sam). > [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Bad math makes **Antibob’s** brain hurt. > > First off, insurance premiums aren’t tax. That money isn’t going to any government, so why are you bitching that they are? I didn’t say that. I didn’t count that in the “62”. > [@](#): > > Are you self employed and paying both? Nope > [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > Anyway, I don’t think I believe the OP. What about other people? Anybody else here paying 62% in taxes or is the OP a special snowflake? I don’t believe it either. But there it is. > [@Colibri](#): > > Either **Chessic Sense** has misread his pay stub, isn’t telling us some crucial piece of information, or he has the absolute worst payroll department in the country. FICA includes Social Security and Medicare, so these shouldn’t appear twice. Social Security should be much lower, unless you are self employed (as I am), but in that case you wouldn’t be subject to withholding. And he appears not to have been charged any federal income tax. > > Something is definitely screwy. I did make a small error. I meant to type “Federal” but typed “FICA.” Nevertheless, the amount is correct, and the final check is 28% of the gross earnings. > [@PrimalEnvy](#): > > 62% taken, 28% kept? Where’s the rest? The medical premiums. 62% is the government’s haul, almost 10% to insurance companies, and 28% to me. I said the government took 62%, but my OP lists about 72% of deductions. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/24 "2016-09-18T03:23:03Z")
You’ve given them a W-4, right? I think they’re required to take out the maximum possible until you do. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/25 "2016-09-18T03:24:45Z")
So you obviously live in California since no other state has an income tax rate about 12%. In order to break 12.3% in California your income is $526,444 or higher. I agree that it sucks to pay that much in taxes but that’s what you get for living in California. As has been stated else where someone is screwing up your FICA payments badly and you should probably go talk to them since you’ll get back close to 10% there and should be paying just over half your marginal money to the government. All that being said I’ve kind of been there and it sucks to pay more in taxes then most people make in income, I had one year with six figures in total taxes so I can kind of relate, but you’ve just got to look at the bright side and realize that you just took home more than $550/day after taxes and from that you make roughly $23/hour to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/26 "2016-09-18T03:25:50Z")
W-4 wouldn’t explain why FICA above and beyond the limit was taken out, even assuming it’s at rate for self-employment. The payroll department is either incredibly screwed up or **Chessic** is leaving something out. None of the numbers makes sense. Even a 12.5% state income tax can’t be right. California tops out at 12.3% (marginal, not total) unless you make more than $1 million. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/27 "2016-09-18T03:33:09Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > The medical premiums. 62% is the government’s haul, almost 10% to insurance companies, and 28% to me. I said the government took 62%, but my OP lists about 72% of deductions. But you still didn’t answer any of the questions: Divide your take home by your gross earnings. Does it really come to .28? Are you sure you’re not adding (purposely or because it’s the way it’s written on your stub) your portion as well as the employer’s portion of medicare and SS? That would cause some confusion. I’ve had many employees over the years get their first paycheck and ask me why I’m taking takes out twice, after explaining it to them and sometimes doing the math in front of them (to show that the “employer contribution” is, more or less, just for show), do they begin to understand. Also, remember that taxes are taken out after insurance premiums. It’s not going to move the needle much in the is case but it’s something to keep in mind. And just to reiterate, FICA is a combination if Medicare and Social security and your FICA number seems to be (very possibly coincidentally) some odd combination of the correct numbers and the numbers your posted. What this comes down to is that unless we see your pay stub the logical conclusion is that this is either a math error or misunderstanding on your end. Again, it would really be helpful if you would check to see if your take home is, in fact, 28% of your gross or it it was a simple error. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/28 "2016-09-18T03:37:39Z")
> [@Oredigger77](#): > > So you obviously live in California since no other state has an income tax rate about 12%. In order to break 12.3% in California your income is $526,444 or higher. I agree that it sucks to pay that much in taxes but that’s what you get for living in California. > > As has been stated else where someone is screwing up your FICA payments badly and you should probably go talk to them since you’ll get back close to 10% there and should be paying just over half your marginal money to the government. If it is in fact a payroll error, the payroll software I work with for a small company (Quickbooks) doesn’t let you set FICA for individual employees only state and fed withholding. Changing your withholding numbers will force Quickbooks to attempt to ‘catch up’ so that it’s where you want it to be by the end of the year. I can’t say if that would happen with FICA numbers. Now I’m curious if that’s even a number I can change. I do know that it comes down from the software updates, but I’ve never tried to adjust it on my own. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/29 "2016-09-18T05:37:53Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I did make a small error. I meant to type “Federal” but typed “FICA.” Nevertheless, the amount is correct, and the final check is 28% of the gross earnings. So they withheld 31.5% in income tax? [As has been pointed out, that means your income must be more than $190,000/year.](http://taxfoundation.org/article/2016-tax-brackets) And the table just gives the marginal rates, not the effective rate on total income, which implies your income is much more than that. Cry me a river. And whatever they withheld on this particular paycheck, I don’t believe you are only receiving only 28% of your total income on an annual basis. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/30 "2016-09-18T06:36:18Z")
For sure. With health insurance premiums being pre-tax, that implies an annualized premium of over $70k. He might as well hire a full-time personal physician. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/31 "2016-09-18T13:43:11Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > You’ve given them a W-4, right? I think they’re required to take out the maximum possible until you do. Answer this, **Chessic** , as it’s the most likely answer. And let us know what your salary is, and which state you live in. Without knowing that, we can’t judge if your taxes are correct or not. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/32 "2016-09-18T13:59:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > So they withheld 31.5% in income tax? [As has been pointed out, that means your income must be more than $190,000/year.](http://taxfoundation.org/article/2016-tax-brackets) And the table just gives the marginal rates, not the effective rate on total income, which implies your income is much more than that. > > Cry me a river. > > And whatever they withheld on this particular paycheck, I don’t believe you are only receiving only 28% of your total income on an annual basis. I certainly don’t make that much money. Either this is a drastic error or it’ll fix itself next paycheck. I sure hope so. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > But you still didn’t answer any of the questions: > Divide your take home by your gross earnings. Does it really come to .28? Yes. Check amount/gross earnings = .2798 > [@](#): > > Are you sure you’re not adding (purposely or because it’s the way it’s written on your stub) your portion as well as the employer’s portion of medicare and SS? That would cause some confusion. I’ve had many employees over the years get their first paycheck and ask me why I’m taking takes out twice, after explaining it to them and sometimes doing the math in front of them (to show that the “employer contribution” is, more or less, just for show), do they begin to understand. It doesn’t specifically say on the check, but the numbers check out anyhow. Gross - taxes - premiums = check amount. It’s not like there’s some other number shown (employer share or otherwise) that isn’t subtracted from my total. > [@](#): > > Also, remember that taxes are taken out after insurance premiums. It’s not going to move the needle much in the is case but it’s something to keep in mind. That solves one mystery. After taking out the premiums, tax withholdings are almost exactly 35%. > [@](#): > > What this comes down to is that unless we see your pay stub the logical conclusion is that this is either a math error or misunderstanding on your end. Again, it would really be helpful if you would check to see if your take home is, in fact, 28% of your gross or it it was a simple error. Not a mistake. It’s 27.98% I’m sure you’ll forgive the rounding. > [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > You’ve given them a W-4, right? I think they’re required to take out the maximum possible until you do. This is the most likely cause. I did give a W-4, but perhaps they didn’t file/load/apply/use it yet. I suppose we’ll learn next paycheck, eh? But even if there _is_ a logical explanation, it’s Pit-worthy that this happens in the first place. Nobody should start a new job and have to figure out a way to streeeetch the household finances to cover a gap in paperwork. The IRS shouldn’t be able to say “I’m just gonna hang onto this $$ for a few months, I’m sure you won’t mind.” 22%, I’d still bitch about, but could understand. 35%?! On top of FICA?! Then get hit up by the state, too?! It’s too much! I propose a new regulation: If you want to play the “We don’t have a W-4, so we’ll assume you’re a millionaire” game, you have to wait for a full-time paycheck or the third paycheck, whichever comes first. Until then, the taxpayer gets treated like he or she makes just their salary, not like they might have made $500,000 before starting the new job. Who could disagree? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/33 "2016-09-18T14:39:41Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > This is the most likely cause. I did give a W-4, but perhaps they didn’t file/load/apply/use it yet. I suppose we’ll learn next paycheck, eh? > But even if there _is_ a logical explanation, it’s Pit-worthy that this happens in the first place. Nobody should start a new job and have to figure out a way to streeeetch the household finances to cover a gap in paperwork. The IRS shouldn’t be able to say “I’m just gonna hang onto this $$ for a few months, I’m sure you won’t mind.” > > 22%, I’d still bitch about, but could understand. 35%?! On top of FICA?! Then get hit up by the state, too?! It’s too much! > > I propose a new regulation: If you want to play the “We don’t have a W-4, so we’ll assume you’re a millionaire” game, you have to wait for a full-time paycheck or the third paycheck, whichever comes first. Until then, the taxpayer gets treated like he or she makes just their salary, not like they might have made $500,000 before starting the new job. > > Who could disagree? It’s not “We don’t have a W4 so we’ll assume you’re a millionaire.” It’s “We don’t have a W4 so we’ll assume you are single and don’t have any withholding allowances.” Some people deliberately do not claim any withholding allowances for various reasons- someone else claims them as a dependent or they have other income not subject to withholding etc. But if this is what happened, it’s your employer’s fault, not the IRS’s. I don’t think the W4 even goes to the IRS under normal circumstances. If you completed the W4, there’s no reason the taxes couldn’t be properly withheld from your first paycheck. There’s a calculator [here](https://www.dinkytown.net/java/Payroll.html) that you can use to see how much should be withheld if your employer is using the single, no exemption rate. If the number doesn’t match your paycheck, there is some other problem. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/34 "2016-09-18T15:25:58Z")
Forget federal income tax withholding, none of that explains why FICA and state income tax withholding vastly exceeds the appropriate percentages, either. Things still aren’t adding up. There’s no reason to ever take more than 6.2% for social security and 1.45% for medicare in this case (apparently not self-employed). So, why is **Chessic Sense** reporting way more than twice that amount deducted from the paycheck for these items? Likewise, there’s no reasonable way that 12.5% is deducted for state income tax, even in California. This company or the OP is failing at some really basic arithmetic. The math is beyond wonky to the extent that we absolutely SHOULD be bitching at the government - for educating our kids so poorly that we must suffer the bad math in this thread. Fund the schools, goddamnit, and we won’t have to suffer stupidity on this scale. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/35 "2016-09-18T15:33:49Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > This is the most likely cause. I did give a W-4, but perhaps they didn’t file/load/apply/use it yet. I suppose we’ll learn next paycheck, eh? > But even if there _is_ a logical explanation, it’s Pit-worthy that this happens in the first place. Nobody should start a new job and have to figure out a way to streeeetch the household finances to cover a gap in paperwork. The IRS shouldn’t be able to say “I’m just gonna hang onto this $$ for a few months, I’m sure you won’t mind.” > > 22%, I’d still bitch about, but could understand. 35%?! On top of FICA?! Then get hit up by the state, too?! It’s too much! > > I propose a new regulation: If you want to play the “We don’t have a W-4, so we’ll assume you’re a millionaire” game, you have to wait for a full-time paycheck or the third paycheck, whichever comes first. Until then, the taxpayer gets treated like he or she makes just their salary, not like they might have made $500,000 before starting the new job. > > Who could disagree? Regarding the W-4 thing, that had no bearing whatsoever on your FICA tax. Your W-4 is used to calculated your state and federal withholding. I think someone upthread said you’re in California. That means your should be filing a DE 4 for your state withholding. If it’s anything like it is in Wisconsin, if your employer doesn’t have that paperwork on file, they just file you as Single with no exemptions. That’s not going to change your take home from 70% to 30%. For most people, adjusting those numbers changes their pay by a few dollars one way or the other. Also, as I said earlier, when you change those numbers, the payroll software will work to ‘catch up’. So while I’m not sure quite exactly what you’re proposing (Again, I really don’t think you understand how payroll tax works) but as for ‘who would disagree’ it would probably be the people that do finally turn in the paperwork and get a bunch of $12 paychecks to make up for all the huge ones they got because they claimed 0 exemptions. Also, it should say right on your paystub what your exemptions are. Single 0/0 or Married 2/1. See any numbers along that line or anything that says Married or single? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/36 "2016-09-18T15:37:44Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Forget federal income tax withholding, none of that explains why FICA and state income tax withholding vastly exceeds the appropriate percentages, either. > > Things still aren’t adding up. There’s no reason to ever take more than 6.2% for social security and 1.45% for medicare in this case (apparently not self-employed). So, why is **Chessic Sense** reporting way more than twice that amount deducted from the paycheck for these items? Likewise, there’s no reasonable way that 12.5% is deducted for state income tax, even in California. This company or the OP is failing at some really basic arithmetic. > > The math is beyond wonky to the extent that we absolutely SHOULD be bitching at the government - for educating our kids so poorly that we must suffer the bad math in this thread. Fund the schools, goddamnit, and we won’t have to suffer stupidity on this scale. It’s his portion plus his employer’s portion (12.4 and 2.9) divided into the gross when it should be divided into [gross - untaxed insurance premium]so it appears higher. ETA, it should be just his portion divided by [gross - untaxed insurance premium]. But if his take home really is 28%, something somewhere is really wrong. Of course, we can see right in the OP he (or in the very unlikely case his employer) is quadrupling his FICA taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/37 "2016-09-18T16:18:49Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > It’s his portion plus his employer’s portion (12.4 and 2.9) divided into the gross when it should be divided into [gross - untaxed insurance premium]so it appears higher. Still shouldn’t be that high. Even with some weird math, you can maybe get up to 14.2%, not 14.9% for social security and just over 3%, not 3.5% for medicare. I’m not seeing a way to get up to 14.9% even from 12.9% or 3.5% from 2.9% without some incredibly poor reading of the paystub combined with some bad arithmetic. I’m not really seeing a way to get these numbers without the OP being wrong in at least some way, even if the employer has some issue with the amount of federal withholding. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/38 "2016-09-18T18:28:10Z")
So there are 3 scenarios: 1. **Chessic** is misreading his paycheck. 2. **Chessic** is getting seriously ripped off by his employer, either accidentally or purposely. 3. **Chessic** is telling stories (I have no reason to believe this is the case). **Chessic** , do you feel like blacking out all personal information on your pay stub and uploading a picture of it? If scenario 1 is the case, we can help you decipher it. If scenario 2 is the case, we can help you document your case for the correct legal authorities. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/39 "2016-09-18T18:55:41Z")
Sneak bragging about his extreme tax bracket, because he makes THAT much! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203/40 "2016-09-18T20:38:49Z")
> [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > So there are 3 scenarios: > > 1. **Chessic** is misreading his paycheck. Can we dispense with this theory already? I don’t care how strongly Antibob thinks I’m incapable of division, I’m not miscalculating my numbers. If I were, I would notice that the pieces aren’t adding to 100% or that there’s money in my “Net Pay” column that doesn’t belong there. > [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > 1. **Chessic** is getting seriously ripped off by his employer, either accidentally or purposely. Most likely. > [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > 1. **Chessic** is telling stories (I have no reason to believe this is the case). Nor should you. > [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > **Chessic** , do you feel like blacking out all personal information on your pay stub and uploading a picture of it? Heeeeeeell no. That’s, like, a 9 on the “really bad idea” scale. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-paycheck-hooray-got-to-keep-a-whole-28-of-it/766203.md?page=3)