Leaving mmp

Increasing your taxable income because one day you might leave the union and have to do some paperwork is terrible advice.

Max out a 401k and a ROTH or a traditional IRA. Get that AGI as low as you can.

This right here is what I was responding to. This is terrible advice.

You cannot invest in a 401k outside your employer unless you are self employed. You can invest in an either an ROTH or Traditional IRA on your own. If you invest with a traditional you will only reduce your AGI by $6,000 in 2019.

You can also have your own taxable brokerage account but this will not reduce your AGI and you will have to pay taxes on your gains.

Investing in your employers 401k plan will reduce your AGI by $19,000 (2019).

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Thatā€™s not even true in this case because you have a qualified retirement plan through your employer/union so you canā€™t write off traditional IRA contributions.

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Having left sailing in the past to pursue other avenues, my best advice would be to keep paying the dues. Itā€™s a small amount to pay for the opportunity to have a Plan Bā€¦and you keep accruing points towards your book.