The FIRE Side Hustle Self-Employment Tax Surprise

Episode 98 of the FIRE Podcast drills into a specific tax trap that catches early retirees who lean on side hustles to bridge the gap before Roth conversions or pension payouts. Lucas and Luna walk through the self-employment tax threshold: if your net freelance income exceeds $400 in a year, you owe 15.3 percent — Social Security and Medicare — on every dollar up to the wage base. They illustrate with a real-world case: a Coast FIRE consultant earning $18,000 from part-time work and underestimating the tax bite by $2,754. The discussion covers how to adjust your quarterly estimates, the deduction for half the SE tax, and why this surprise often pushes people back into the workforce a year longer than planned. No jargon, just the math and a clear fix. #FIRE #SideHustle #SelfEmploymentTax #FIREPodcast #CoastFIRE #TaxPlanning #EarlyRetirement #FreelanceTax #Finance #PersonalFinance #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #SEPIRA #QuarterlyTaxes #Form1040ES #SocialSecurity #Medicare #TaxTrap Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo