Rate my live BR plan

[KipBond]

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Ok, this is getting ridiculous. Obviously a single guy in his 20s can live on 50k extraordinarily easily.

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Ironically, a widowed man in his 60's can live on 50K much easier. See, he doesn't have to worry too much about the future: building a bankroll, saving for retirement, improving his skill sets, dating, marriage, kids, prolonging his life with good health-care, vacations, cars, yada yada yada.

[facepull]

15000 in tax? you must be smoking it. who pays [censored] tax on their cash game winnings? lololol

[facepull]

25k is large 20-40 bankroll. a very healthy one indeed. I also think that if can make 50k a year thats enough to live good. some of these people on 2+2 have no idea. also health insurance will not save you if you have a lengthy stay in a hospital. you will still be in major debt.

[*TT*]

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15000 in tax? you must be smoking it. who pays [censored] tax on their cash game winnings? lololol

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Someone who wants to someday buy a home, get insurance, etc. I suggest you read Barry G's story in his book, IRS came down on him very hard - you dont want to be in the same situation by falling of the tax radar for years, and then suddenly showing up making 10k transfers at casinos..

[KipBond]

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also health insurance will not save you if you have a lengthy stay in a hospital. you will still be in major debt.

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How old are you? This just isn't true. Good health insurance provides millions of dollars worth of coverage. Then there is short/long-term disability which even covers lost wages. Not having good health insurance, and supplemental insurance if you have history of certain diseases, is naive.

[bav]

The idea that $50K/yr ain't enough income is bizzare. That exceeds the median household US income of $46K (unverified data yanked from Wiki...but that sounds about right). If $50K/yr isn't enough, then I hope nobody ever goes into teaching, or becomes a nursing assistant, or poker dealer, or any of hundreds of other worthwhile professions that don't pay well.

This debate comes up all the time when people ask "can I retire on $xxx,000?" There will be a buncha posts that are incredulous that someone would consider $xxx,000 anything other than a good income for a single year. And there will be posts from the folks who after working for 30 years never made more than $8/hr and can't imagine ever having $xxx,000.

Everybody lives their life differently. $50K/yr is clearly enough to live on. Over half of the US populace supports an entire household on that much.

It's good to mention special expenses that may have been overlooked that are part of being self employed, like health insurance and FICA taxes, but that won't shift the numbers all that much. And whether OP can actually make $50K/yr from poker (particularly in Tunica) is a whole 'nuther sorta debate.

Basically, we have a single guy who has $45K who wants to be free for a while. Can it work? Sure. Will he make it work? Maybe. What are the ramifications of failure? He goes back to 9-5 work. I've heard far stupider life plans.

[El_Hombre_Grande]

I think OP thoroughly understands that the safest thing to do is to get an IT job. I am assuming that he hates it and loves poker, like just a few people I've met. In any event, there has been a lot of good advice here, especially about health insurance. 50 year olds break down a lot more than 20 year olds, and I can only imagine health insurance costs 20 or so years from now. I suspect they will be astronomical. But I also suspect that the traditional workforce is going to be hurting on this issue as well.
I am self employed (half poker/ half not) and the insurance issue is a big deal.

The second thing I would say is you should expand your overall poker knowledge to include other games. Saying I'm going to play 20/40 is a good short term goal, but overtime you really don't know what's going to happen. I suspect that finding juicy high level limit games might be tougher than you suspect in the future. If you are going to make poker your complete living for life, you should be able to play a few games. You don't know precisely what the future will bring. Good Luck

[KipBond]

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The idea that $50K/yr ain't enough income is bizzare. That exceeds the median household US income of $46K (unverified data yanked from Wiki...but that sounds about right). If $50K/yr isn't enough, then I hope nobody ever goes into teaching, or becomes a nursing assistant, or poker dealer, or any of hundreds of other worthwhile professions that don't pay well.

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Most of those occupations come with benefits: healthcare, retirement/pension funds, etc. They also increase their earning potential without using any of their income (they don't have to add money to their bankroll).

Re-read what I posted, bav. I never said $50K isn't enough. I actually said it's very do-able. He can retire in 40 years. About the same amount of time a teacher can retire. I'm just trying to put this into reality. $50K sounds like a lot to a 20-yr old. It's not a lot. It's not bad... it's OK.

[pig4bill]

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This debate comes up all the time when people ask "can I retire on $xxx,000?" There will be a buncha posts that are incredulous that someone would consider $xxx,000 anything other than a good income for a single year.

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Heh, heh, you've been peeking at the Finance forum.

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Basically, we have a single guy who has $45K who wants to be free for a while. Can it work? Sure. Will he make it work? Maybe. What are the ramifications of failure? He goes back to 9-5 work. I've heard far stupider life plans.

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A friend of mine lives in Seattle, never made 50 grand a year, buys a new car every 7 or 8 years, and lives very comfortably.

[badhandoop]

It seems like my plan for moving up in games is getting ignored. 50K will not always be my average take.

As my BR increases, so will the limit of the games I play. If I consistently make 50K a year, that means my BR will increase by 10-15K per year.

Because of the availability of limit games, or rather the lack thereof, I do also play NL. Unfortunately, I am only an ABC TAG. It's enough to beat the soft 1-2 and 2-5 NL live games, but not as much as what I can win from limit.

I may try to get some NL coaching if I cannot find adequate limit games.

Just to reiterate: 5-6 years from now, I plan to be playing 50-100+ LHE or 10-25+ NL. By then, I expect to make 150K+ per year or more. If I don't keep improving and moving up, I will give it up and find a decent job I enjoy.

Kinda off topic: I lived in Thailand for around 9 years, so going there is not just a whim.

Thanks for all the thoughts and input.