Whenever you get paid, you’re going to receive some type of paystub. Some people don’t pay much attention to the stubs that they receive, but this is a mistake. It’s important to understand the different elements of a stub. Continue reading to learn everything that you need to know about stubs.
Information About How Much You’ve Been Paid
On your stub, you’re going to get information about how much you’ve been paid. You’ll see your gross earnings, net pay, and year-to-date gross earnings. This allows you to keep track of how much money has been withheld for tax purposes. You’ll also know how much you’ve earned so far this year by looking at the year-to-date gross earnings.
The tax information is especially important to pay attention to. You should see three types of taxes being withheld on your stub. There are state and local taxes (SALT), federal income taxes, and FICA. FICA stands for Federal Insurance Contributions Act. This is the amount of money that you’re contributing to national programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Insurance
If you have employer-provided insurance, then information about this might be present on the paystub as well. You’ll be able to see your insurance contributions on the stub. These entries might be labeled pre-tax as an indication that you’re paying for the insurance and don’t need to pay taxes on the amount listed. The insurance portion on your stub can refer to many things such as medical insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, and even disability.
Retirement Savings Plans
It’s possible that you might have a retirement savings plan through your employer as well. There are many different plans such as 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, and traditional IRAs. Signing up for these plans will see you deduct a portion of your salary to put into your retirement fund. You’ll be able to see how much you contributed to the fund on your stub.
This is a good way to save for the future. The money is taken from your pre-tax salary. Keeping an eye on your contributions will help you to understand just how much you’re putting into the account.