Retired Couple Moving to N.J. (Chatham: college, taxes, living in)

[Capo1213]

Originally Posted by cw30000

I would like select NJ to retire.

Property tax - many have already mentioned that this is the highest in the nation and it will only go high and higher.

But no one has talked about income tax.

NJ has the worst income tax in United States. I am not talking about it has the highest rate. It is #5 behind Hawaii -11%, Cali - 10.3%, Oregan - 9.9%, Iowa - 8.98%. NJ is 8.97%

What I am talking about is NJ is the only state (if I am not mistake) that you cannot offset loss from different income AND (most important) you cannot carry the loss over to next year.

For example: You have 3 incomes: Wage from work, passive from rental, capital gain/loss from investment. Assume you are have a net positive for every categories, you pay a net tax. There is no problem here.
If you have net loss, then you have a problem. I use below example to illustrate.

In 2010 you've earned: 50k from wage, -5k rental (depreciation), -10k from capital loss. You net income is 50k, you determine how much tax you own.

For 2011, you have earned: 50k from age, -5k rent, +10k from capital loss. You net income is NOW 60k.

If you live in NY with the above example:
2010: You NET income will be 42k with 7k capital loss carry over.
2011: You net income will be 58k (60 - 5 - 7k capital loss carry over)

You see. If you live in NJ, you would pay tax on 110k, but if you live in NY, you only have to pay tax on 100k. Saving of 10k

Since you are retiree, I would assume most of your income will be come investment such as stock and rental. So NJ is a bad choice.

There is no question that NJ has high taxes, but it also has the highest income in the US. So, some people might find the extra tax worth it, and if you work in retirement, there are well paying jobs. Also, there are reasonably priced places to live, great healthcare, low gas prices (relative) and other inputs that might make the choice not so clear in comparisons to other states. I, for one, would not live somewhere just because taxes are lower.

It's a consideration, but there are other important criteria.

[KoalaNJ]

Originally Posted by richrf

Hi,

Thanks for the additional information.

I know that it may not exist, but my wife and I love a multicultural neighborhood. Is there a good mix of nationalities in the Chatham, Madison area, e.g. Asian, Indian, European ex-pats, South American, etc.?

Thanks much for all of your help so far.

While the majority of those living in this area identify as Caucasian, there is diversity. There are many from EU, especially since about 50 of Fortune's top 500 either have major facilities or are headquartered here. There are many US HQ for multi-national companies as well, BASF, Hoechst, as well as almost the entire pharmaceutical industry have major facilities in this area. Being that the Morristown/Madison/Chatham areas are such a desirable place to live, we get many of those who transfer from overseas while working at these multi-national companies. While shopping at Whole Foods and Kings you will hear many different accents, and more then a couple of languages being used

Morristown is around 25% hispanic, (Mexican, Spanish, Central & South American, Caribbean, etc) about 10% African American, about 5% Asian with more than a few Asian Indians, Pakistani, Vietnamese, Native Americans etc. While Madison and Chatham have smaller percentages, there is diversity. Remember, these are small towns that pretty much run contiguously, getting from the heart of Chatham to the center of Morristown (one end to the other of the string of towns) is only about 7 miles. One of the things I enjoy the most about the diversity of the area, (besides the people themselves) is the plethora of cuisines represented in the local restaurants, besides the typical Italian, deli's, Chinese, etc we have Japanese, Afghan, Caribbean, Indian, Korean, Thai, Costa Rican, Vietnamese, and Mexican to name a few.


KoalaNJ

[Gibbcutter]

Maybe I missed something here but Chatham is not a multi-cultural community. The mayor is white.

[camaro69]

Originally Posted by Gibbcutter

Maybe I missed something here but Chatham is not a multi-cultural community. The mayor is white.

So is the Mayor in Madison and Morristown....So?

[Gibbcutter]

Originally Posted by camaro69

So is the Mayor in Madison and Morristown....So?

So.....I say the same thing. I was referring to an earlier post where it was stated that the Chatham mayor was a black gay man. I don't have a problem with either but merely trying to understand the comment.

Hope this clears things up.

[KoalaNJ]

Originally Posted by Gibbcutter

Maybe I missed something here but Chatham is not a multi-cultural community. The mayor is white.

Absolutely wrong here....the current mayor of Chatham is Bruce Harris, an openly gay black man. See the following links

NJ Governor nominates openly gay mayor to state Supreme Court – LGBTQ Nation

Bruce Harris, Chatham N.J. Mayor-Elect, Believed To Be First Openly Gay African-American Republican Mayor

Republican Party embracing the LGBT community | Washington Times Communities

VIDEO: Reorganization Address by Mayor Harris - Chatham, NJ Patch

KoalaNJ

[Gibbcutter]

I aplogize for being wrong. Thank you for correcting my error. I hope Bruce does a good job.

[KoalaNJ]

Originally Posted by Gibbcutter

I aplogize for being wrong. Thank you for correcting my error. I hope Bruce does a good job.

Perhaps you were just not up to date, Mr. Harris took office fairly recently and was elected as mayor this past November. (Though he has been on the town council for about 12 years.) One thing I found most telling was Mr. Harris's statement to the press regarding all the hoopla about his being the first black/gay/republican to be elected mayor anywhere.

"Harris said in his 30 years of living in Chatham, he has "always felt welcomed here and at home, and I've felt a member of the community. So I don't really see it as Chatham making a statement at all, other than that they're continuing a tradition of recognizing people who have contributed to the community. ... And I think all of the other stuff is, who cares about that?"

Although there certainly could be more diversity in Chatham, there does not seem to be a problem within the community regarding acceptance of "non WASPS" (for lack of a better term to use.)

KoalaNJ

[Lady Rahrah]

Originally Posted by tahiti

this is patently false. you haven't seen real conservative politics in action if you think that area is one of the most in the country.

it's a socially moderate to liberal area with what i like to call "quasi-faux" fiscal conservatism.

It was when I was there. It's probably changed, though. Reagan was god in Morris County at that time. Really. I walked about with a Democratic button on Election Day and everyone was laughing at me! I'm sure it has changed, though, and I'm glad.

However, Montclair is very progressive and diverse, if that's what the OP wants.

[depanj]

I live in central Jersey. Yes it is diverse, but there are few social activities because everyone's always working or commuting. Taxes are going up because housing prices are tanking; close to 5% loss per month according to zillow. Where's it going to stop?? Retirees really are leaving in droves so the overall population is dropping. College graduates are also leaving.

My sister has lived in Toronto for 40 years. Has two major downsides. One, stopped traffic on city expressways. Two, expensive. Otherwise, shockingly clean. Diverse. Excellent restaurants. Much to do. Artistic. Waterfront on lake shore. Various types of grocery stores. Wide variety of restaurants, even in suburban strip malls. Huge green belts by law and parks nearby. Outdoor concerts. Indoor concerts. The Exposition all summer. Kids on bikes. Local pools. Outstanding public transportation. Wide, well-maintained roads. Winters identical to Jersey. Summers cooler. Less corruption. General population more sensible. Suburban architecture rather bland, but also is in much of Jersey. Canada's economy is booming because even though they have suffered like the rest of the world, they didn't have crap like balloon mortgages or excessive debt. Oil sands are raking in so much money, taxes are going down. Three nephews and one niece got dream jobs readily out of college. I know it's an odd thought to really leave the US, but it's closer to you than here and would be no further for you to visit anyone here.