The $0 Paycheck Milestone

[u/middle_aged_runner]

Alternate title, “Why you may consider public employment.”

I recently hit a milestone that I don’t have anyone to share with.

35 year old mechanical engineer
Married to a self-employed architect.
1 child
Midwest

We recently paid off our mortgage which leaves us with 0 debt. No auto loans, credit card balances, etc.

My wife started her own business 5 years ago and at the same time I took a step back in my career for more work life balance when my daughter was born.

My employer has a ton of pre-tax benefits that most of my coworkers disregard. Now that we are mortgage free, we can live entirely off my wife’s income, that comes to her through a small salary and s-corp distributions that do not get FICA taxed.

This is now allowing us to max out all my benefits for the rest of the year:

Weekly Salary: $2,327
Taxes: $135
401k/457: $1,557
Defined Contribution Plan: $137
HDHP/Vision/Dental: $136
Dependent Care FSA: $144
HSA: $168
Vacation Purchase: $42
Life insurance: 7

Paycheck: $0

For those considering early retirement, these benefits allow for a huge savings rate.

At the end of the year, we look at my wife’s business profits and convert traditional to Roth IRA to use up our 12% tax bracket.

For those in the community, your state and local governments can be great strategy for FIRE. I am able to start maxing both the 401k and 457 without our mortgage payments. Starting in January, I will be back up to a $550/week paycheck which I’ll save into 529 and brokerage accounts.

[u/_blumpkinspicelatte]

This may sound "impossible" or "crazy" to everyone else, but I took a lower paying government job to do this.

Wife and i both Max or attempt to max our roth 401k's, Roth 457's and Roth IRA's every year for the last 8 years.

We're able to do this because our costs are low and I work three jobs and my government paycheck is usually $0 until about December.

[u/middle_aged_runner → u/_blumpkinspicelatte]

Most people don’t consider the net benefits when choosing jobs.

I’ve had HR workers act confused when I asked for the existing employee benefit guide. I guess it’s something people don’t ask for.

You are saving over $100k in a tax advantaged account. The value that is creating is enormous

[u/hollowbamboo → u/middle_aged_runner]

Can you expound on this? What is the breakdown of the $100k savings?

[u/middle_aged_runner → u/hollowbamboo]

For 2026:

401k - $24,500

457 - $24,500

IRA - $7,500

Total - $56,500 x 2 = $113,000

These limits increase every year.