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Accountant: pay, training and money by age
Preparing and checking financial records, taxes and audits for businesses and people. A bachelor's degree; the CPA license raises pay. About $81,000 a year at the middle of a career, about $39 an hour.
Opens Starting Out with this job picked. Change anything: school, rent, car, family, savings, detours.
Getting there
In-state public university, 4 years. About $25,000 a year in school costs. Pay starts near $56,700 and rises with experience. Student loans are paid off around age 31.
First month on the job (age 22)
| Pay before taxes | $4,725 |
| Take-home after taxes | $3,879 |
| Rent or housing | −$870 |
| Car | −$350 |
| Food, phone, utilities, health and personal | −$980 |
| Student loan payment | −$501 |
| Saved (10%, plus the tax a 401(k) saves) | −$469 |
| Left for everything else | $709 |
Plus about $189 a month from an employer match. Rent assumes roommates.
What changes the picture
| Choice | Result | Could stop at |
|---|---|---|
| Stay single, no kids | $483,691 at 45 | 57 |
| Invest $250 more a month | $803,584 at 45 | 54 |
| Rent from 18 instead of living at home to 22 | $644,071 at 45 | |
| A DUI at 22 | about $116,322 less by 65 | 58 |
| Smoking a pack a day from 22 | about $498,772 less by 65 | 60 |
At the same savings rate, higher pay doesn't always mean stopping sooner: spending tends to rise with pay. Saving more is what moves the date.
Questions
How much does an accountant make?
About $81,000 a year at the middle of a career (U.S. median, Bureau of Labor Statistics), or about $39 an hour. Starting pay is lower, around $56,700.
How do you become an accountant?
Preparing and checking financial records, taxes and audits for businesses and people. A bachelor's degree; the CPA license raises pay. In the model: In-state public university, 4 years. About $25,000 a year in school costs.
When could an accountant retire?
With the defaults on this page (saving 10% of take-home, a 4% match, married at 28, two kids, a home at 32), about age 57, and from 53 to 62 depending on pay and markets. Saving more moves it sooner.
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How these numbers are made: the FIRE Mission Starting Out model in today's dollars. Pay is the U.S. median from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023-24), rounded; starting pay is about 70% of it, rising to about 125% after 20 years. Defaults: start at 18, live at home to 22 with the rent invested, roommates to 24, $1,450 rent, a paid-off car with $150 insurance, married at 28 to a spouse earning $50,000, two kids from 30, a $400,000 home at 32 once affordable, saving 10% of take-home with a 4% match, 5% returns after inflation, Social Security from 67. The range runs from 25th-percentile pay with 3% returns to 75th-percentile pay with 7%. A sketch, not a forecast, and not financial advice.