We’ve used Turbo Tax for many years. We like it.
The first year was hardest with learning the tool. After that we could import some starter data. There were small learning curves as the tool evolved year-to-year.
We have W2, 1099-MISC, schedule C and schedule E income, along with state income tax. In the past I’ve has stock options and schedule D to deal with, and AMT for many years until this year.
I do my own taxes using TaxAct, which works fine for all of this if you get the right version.
The magic isn’t necessarily in the program though, it’s understanding what you have to do to do it correctly. If you don’t, then an accountant is probably worth it. No idea what they cost, I haven’t used one in more than 20 years.
90% of work is finding the right paperwork. 10% is getting it into TurboTax. We have all of the stuff @notrichenough has - minus the state tax. I am very thankful that WA does not tax income. I hate doing taxes. Did for a few years for kid (MA), and did not enjoy the extra “fun.”
The nice thing with the tax programs is that most of the state return gets down automagically. I think there was one extra form related to health insurance and everything else was handled by the program.
Is anyone actually answering the question? I will admit I’m confused how much I am supposed to have in my 401k. We have been maxing out our retirement accounts but how much should we have (by percent of income I guess?) by the time we are 50?
Somewhere in the previous 1000 pages. 
There’s no right answer, and different rules of thumb.
I don’t like the “8x your income” type of rules, because most people can easily adjust their spending by large amounts. Plus there can be large changes in your income near the end of your work time, and it seems silly to (for example) suddenly need 10% more savings because I got a 10% raise one year. Or need 40% less because you went part-time the last few years.
It’s better IMO to work up what you think your expenses will be, and work backwards.
There are quite a few hits on google to answer that question. It varies. At least after 50 you can up your contributions to 25K a year. I read 300K and I kind of snorted. Another was 400K-800K . Mostly it depends on your lifestyle and post retirement expenses if you still have a mortgage and debt.
Also, if you’ve developed some passive revenue streams over the years, like a pension or rental property, this greatly affects how much savings you will need because you will have income during your retirement and don’t need to live only on savings and SS.
And consider other retirement accounts, any pensions or other vehicles you have set up.
I think it’s the financial companies that push the story that you need 8x or 10x (or whatever) your income saved up, because obviously you the more you save the more they make.
I think at one point I calculated that 40% of my income was going to college tuition, mortgage, taxes on the 40%, and retirement savings. And we weren’t suffering at all, so that means we could get by with much less than 8x our income.
But every situation is different, you have to build your own model that applies to you.
Certainly the most scary figure is the health care spending over and above medicare. Not even talking long term care.
$300k will generate $12k a year at 4% return… not exactly a luxurious lifestyle here in my neck of the woods or even in the cheap areas of the country. IMO, SS should be out of the equation. While Mr. B might be able to collect some SS in a few years, I am not counting on it.
@thumper1 Colebrook and west stewartston level north? Or Berlin North Conway, Lincoln north. If it was Hanover. That’s almost a flatlander region. Lol.
That was my region out of college in the early 90s for the old first nh bank investment services formerly white mountain bank which all became RBS. Good memories.
What you need for retirement really needs to be based on how much you will spend in retirement, which may be higher or lower than what you are spending now. Remember to consider occasional large purchases (e.g. car, appliances, major repairs) so that they do not become a financial crisis when they are needed.
However, some of the hard to predict variables are:
A. Social Security and Medicare. Some people are assuming significantly reduced or nonexistent benefits due to fiscal and political limitations.
B. Medical care costs beyond what will be covered by Medicare. Even if Medicare continues as is, there are Medicare premiums, Medicare supplement or Medicare Advantage costs, and various out-of-pocket deductible and copayment costs.
One may want to make worst case assumptions for planning. But that works better in theory than in real life for most people, since the worst case assumptions could be very high (if Medicare goes away, a 65+ year old person would likely face very high insurance premiums, or be uninsurable if ACA goes away, so a retiree would need to save a lot of money to be able to self-pay medical costs).
Anyone coming to this thread in the hopes of finding the magic answer to the OP question will be disappointed. There is no magic crystal ball that can provide the answer (although Oracle’s Crystal Ball is a good Monte Carlo simulator program) 
Just like the Dressing Young thread evolved into a general discussion of fashion, this thread turned into a great place for all things financial and long-term retirement planning. I like to poke around here even though I am definitely not going to retire voluntarily any time soon… I hope to be able to work for another 20+ years, but life might interfere with my plans.
@BunsenBurner So true! We are just sending our first to college and retirement is at least 15 years away, but I learn so much following this thread!
@conmama, the kind of money DH was making as a 25 year old was a sign of an industry out of control, which is why it tanked, and tanked big. Going for over three years without making a dime was a very humbling experience for DH, and one that in retrospect, I don’t think he’d change.
He’s done very well for himself since the industry recovered, but that whole debacle changed the way he looks at finances and how he approaches life in general. I’m glad that I didn’t meet him until he’d already been taken down a notch-I probably would not have viewed him in the same way.
Yep… the answer varies very much per couple. For example, the lucky few that still have an annuity pension (or two) won’t need as much of a nest egg to maintain same lifestyle. If it comes with medical coverage (even more rare) better yet. A healthy 401K is really helpful, but decisions need to consider tbd lifespan.
The theme here (and in discussions with friends) is that DARN - that medical coverage is a challenge, especially before age 65/Medicare. I’m thrilled that we will have our mortgage paid of soon, but bummed that it’s barely enough to pay for 1-person med.
The May issue of Money Magazine came out - on the cover is Dave Ramsey. Favorable article with couples’ antidotes on their debt and how they made the sacrifices. If one has HS kids, the spring college guide is helpful - it has some short lists (only 20 schools per list) of best colleges for…liberal arts, business majors, merit aid, and transfer students. However with only a few exceptions they have high ticket priced schools (w/o grant, and then they list with avg grant). IMHO it would at least be worth investigating why certain schools did get their strong ranking. But also not limiting self to only these schools…for example a great flagship that gives good merit to high stat kids (in and OOS, University of AL) and has great facilities and worthy degrees and programs
To show my kids from this Money issue - short article on retire-looking forward, and a nice summary of 401k - participating, saving rates,and starting at a higher contribution rate. Also a one page “how to save $1M by age 65” - and if you start at age 20, 25, 30, etc - great way to show the time value of money invested.
Single DD2 is wanting to learn money/investing from me. Key for her is putting money aside right away and budgeting herself better. DD1/SIL are doing well with managing their money and debt.
Key for us to retire and SWAN is having the kids on very good financial tracks too. So far, so good.
This Father’s Day I plan to give reverse gifts to my kids. One just graduated college and the other is a soph in college. Have talked about finance related matters as they grew up. But when you are younger and you are not looking at actual decisions or money (beyond small savings from birthdays, holidays, etc.) I think its more abstract. Now that my son is starting a post-grad job with good sized paychecks and a 401(k), its become much more real. We talked for a while last night about it and I can tell he is listening much more closely and paying much more attention than he has up until this point. Again, this is now real.
Any thoughts on a good introduction book for someone just starting out? Maybe now it would be a website. Back in the day (probably about time oldest was born) my mom gave me and my siblings copies of the Wealthy Barber. I see there is a newer version now. Not sure if that is still worthwhile or if there are better options out there.