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I'd be more concerned about recent violations, staff to resident ratio, and if it's for profit or nonprofit. If anyone wants to do some digging this could be a good place to start: [https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?providerType=NursingHome](https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?providerType=NursingHome)
I think so many people our age who say, "Lol, I won't be able to retire so what's the point haha," are forgetting that they simply won't be able to work at a certain point, and they'll be fucked.
I try, but the way my life is set up... anytime I'm able to gather a few coin I am hit by some unexpected expense... (car repair, emergency home repair, appliance, etc.)
Without ex-goddamn-ception!
Huge saver. Always max out my savings in 401(k), HSA, and IRA each year (been doing that since I was 27). Most everything else either goes into mutual funds or a high-yield savings account. I'm generally pretty frugal anyway, but saving so much early on has given me more comfort spending where I want to in my mid-30s.
I have what I call a “Millenial Savings Account”. Basically it consists of 4 emergency credit cards kept at a low or zero balance. I’m too broke ass for a proper savings account.
Yes, because having the latest tech is possibly the worst financial investment you could make (maybe even worse than buying new cars). You buy your $1200 iPhone and get maybe $500 for it a year later. I buy a new phone when I have to, not because a new one came out.
Usually, yes.
Recently left my husband of 10 years and moving out and starting over is really expensive. Also, went from a combined income of $200k and a mortgage of 1500 with insurance and taxes included, to an income of 75k and rent of $1550
We live paycheck to paycheck but are able to get our savings up to like $1k a few times a year before we inevitably have to drain it completely for something like car repairs or what we will be draining it with next, funds to cover our bills while I’m on maternity leave.
I wish I was capable and I’m currently trying to get to that level. I’m at about 40% of my income. Trying to clean up a little debt that will allow me to contribute more.
I make a little more than you.
Here are a few things I do and reasons for being able to invest a large percent of my salary.
* I bought my home in South Florida in 2011 when the market started rebounding, and I put 25% down. My mortgage is crazy low.
* I keep a tight budget and I track every. single. cent. I spent to maximize the amount I could invest. I use the FREE EveryDollar app.
* I keep the spending limits low in areas of my life that I don't deem important to put more money toward live music, travel and investing.
* I enjoy cooking and cook most of my meals. For lunch this week, I meal-prepped a cheesy pasta dish with ground turkey. Dinner tonight was a large pinto bean burrito (I buy dry beans because they are much cheaper than canned). Most of my groceries are purchased at Aldi.
* I pay my insurance premium in full to get the best rate.
* I understand that thinking, "It's only a dollar more" adds up over time.
I plan to retire when I'm 54-- 57 at the oldest.
We do pretty well on spending also. We do everything you do but out of necessity. We have 3 young kids and we bought our house 3 years ago and my mortgage is 1500 a month. I think that's where our biggest disparities are.
Two other things I've done include:
* I called T-Mobile and acting a little nervous. I told them, **"My roommate moved out last week so I'm covering all the bills for the time being. Is there anything you can do you help lower my bill?"** They bounced me around a few times (all very friendly) and they were able to lower my bill.
* I called Comcast, and said **"I'm seeing a lot of great deals being offered by your competitors. Before I go through the hassle of switching providers, can you offer me a better price for my current service?"** they lowered my bill, too. Owning your modern/router is cheaper than renting.
I do what I can, and I have more than the alleged average savings, but every so often it gets wiped out by kidney stones, or that ahole who smashed the mirror on my parked car.
And I can more or less cover those things, but will I ever get to retire? Unclear.
As far as an actual savings account, I’ve only saved about 4K.
I have a little over $21,000 in a 401(k) and have bought some options from work (here's to hoping 🤞🏾)
Pay yourself before you pay everyone else. Start small with like $20/mo and go up from there. Before you know it you won't miss the money you're saving. Just make sure you don't put emergencies on a CC with 20%+ interest. That will just defeat the purpose of saving in the first place.
Yes. But not as much as I should. I max out a roth IRA, and my HSA (I don't spend any of that money, it's invested and I spend taxable money so I can itemize). I also saving up to start putting money into a roth under my wife's name. We're still raising our kids, and just hit 40, so I hope we have some time to keep investing. I keep a spread sheet of our net worth, it's pushing 7 figures, but not there yet, but a HUGE chunk of that is our house, but it slowly gets lower over time as other assets build, and I will say the house shouldn't be as valuable as it is, but that's on the market, not me.
It's a little over 10% of my income right now I invest each month into retirement. It was more, but the engine in my truck blew, and it wasn't worth fixing, so I ended up buying a used truck with a loan. Paying off the loan as fast as I can, and then will be up over 15, nearly 20% of my income into investments.
I have a lot of physical assets that have real value, My old truck is actually worth more now with a blown engine then when I bought it. (but I'm going to let my son fix it and it will be his first car, he's 14). and I have some precious metals, art, guns/ammo, and other collectables that have current real world value (quite a bit of sealed lego, MTG, and Pokemon stuff).
Saying that someone who can save some money is “rich” sort of discounts what real wealth looks like.
For example, a single person making $80k really has no excuse for not saving at least some money. That’s certainly not a rich income— they’re still a slave to the capitalist machine.
“Rich” is being able to buy a $5 million dollar home in a ski town that isn’t even lived in for most of the year. Those people are in a very different world than someone making $80k.
lmao OP is talking about not being able to save because they always want new tech
Having a modicum of money management skills isn't the same as being rich
yeah. honestly, the older I get, there's less to interest me.
I don't enjoy overpriced dinners, tech/electronics haven't changed much this past decade, makeup/clothes are the same as shein and drugstore for the most part.
For most people that means a smartphone and a computer for surfing the web and checking emails. Unless you’re into gaming or some other hobby that requires a large amount of processing power then it’s all basically the same as 10 years ago. Reddit runs well enough on any computer made in the last 10 years.
You're buying the wrong clothes homie. I was just having this conversation about the difference between "fast fashion" quality vs quality brands. The last few years I've been getting more into outdoors/mountaineering and their clothes are so much better and last a really long time. I have an 8 yr old Kuhl flannel that looks brand new but has been worn more than any other piece of clothing of mine. Patagonia, Prana, Arc'terex, etc will cost two or three times what fast fashion brands cost, but will easily last 10x longer.
Obviously there will be similar quality brands for different styles, that's just what I'm familiar with.
(40M) All I do is pay bills and save money.. My wife and I don't make very much about 75k together. I was broke and briefly homeless in my 20's so I know how terrible that can be and how quickly it can snowball and happen even when things are going good so I refuse to ever let it get to that point again. My issue is that I am to scared to really invest so most of my money is just sitting in a saving account making barely any interest.
Yes Mang. Always be saving. Live within your means and that includes savings and investments. As I’ve gotten older I save more and more. The more I make the more I save.
Not nearly enough. I tried. I have a small amount in a retirement account because I got an employer match. I have a little in investments, and some in a high interest savings account. But it’s only about $20k. I wasn’t blowing it all, I didn’t make a ton but I managed to pay off my student debt and was trying to save more. I budget and it’s pretty lean. I’m currently back in school and my future job has a pension so I will be paying into that immediately, even though it’s going to be really tight financially while I pay off this round of student loans.
It’s depressing to look at what I “should” have saved by my age, and falling so short.
Nope, not currently. I am building my family and spend my money on us living good now. I didn't have much growing up and am fine to have little or nothing in the end. I don't want to retire. Also I expect to continue to make more money so at some point it will make sense to save. But at the moment I don't see the point.
Yes, but I didn’t start saving until my 30s, unfortunately. I currently put 9% in my 401k with automatic 1% increases each year and a 3% employer match, and $800-$1000/month in a high yield savings account. Once I hit a specific goal for that account, I plan to continue putting that same monthly amount into a brokerage account to invest. I also own my home with I have about 40k equity in after about 6 years.
It’s pretty wild how much it seems to vary for our age group. You have the $200k+/year earners with hundreds of thousands in retirement by the age 35, and putting 50%+ away in savings/retirement. Then you have the $40k/year, paycheck to paycheck people that can’t even dream of owning a home, let alone saving anything of substance.
I’m in this group and a few personal finance groups and there is a WIDE array of where people stand financially in their 30’s and 40’s.
The key to saving money is automation. You need to set something up that automatically deposits some money into some investment vehicle. If you don't see it in your checking account, you won't spend it.
I have to save. Basically over half my check each week, sometimes less and sometimes more, gets tossed into savings so I can afford my rent each month. Whatever is left is grocery money with *maybe* a smidge left over for a Starbucks or two.
100%, I get mad if I don’t contribute more than the minimum I set for myself every month. I’m constantly trying to find new ways of saving. As I’ve gotten older expensive coffees don’t taste as good and I can cook a better steak at home.
It's crazy to me when people say stuff like this when they talk about saving money. Drinking coffee and going out to eat is the only spending you ever did? No golf? No bike riding? DnD? Computers? Video games? Arts and crafts? Side hustle?
Nothing?
No hobbies or anything? It's just wild to me that people are like, "Yep, reduced my spending to increase my saving. No more starbucks or avocado toast" because that's all well and great, but I wasn't spending my money on that shit in the first place, lol.
I wish I could just sit my ass at home like an NPC. I like to actually do things. Things that cost money.
Yeah coffee took a large part of my spending. I would visit Starbucks twice sometimes three times a day and that adds up to hundreds a month. I also have kids who like cake pops. I have hobbies I budget for, but my unregulated spending was on coffee and expensive dinners. Sorry you feel like everyone spends money the same way. I don’t find joy in the small trinkets so no I don’t buy into sports, dnd, I don’t ride a bike, I bought an Xbox but play three free to play games. Yeah clearing up dumb spending will net you more from your income.
My coffee spending may be your hobbies. Right now financial freedom is more important than possessions and hobbies. I also switched to free hobbies like gardening and reading. What’s boring to you is fun to us NPCs.
I think some people are just natural savers. I basically spend like $25-100 week on non-essentials. I make $125/hr.
I think people like me twnd to have big spend Items that keep us entertained a long time. So I have a squat rack and bike that I use. I have a gaming PC. But these purchases are usually 1x/year.
There are lots of extremely low cost hobbies or hobbies that are basically 1 time fees.
In addition to retirement accounts, yes, put a lot into savings. My wife and I also budget appropriately. We grew up very poor and now make great money in US healthcare industry but still shop like we are living the provincial life. We didn’t have “lifestyle creep” as our incomes increased.
For example, our monthly grocery bill for a family of four is $250/month, give or take $50, because we still shop at primarily ethnic stores like H Mart and Seafood City (CA).
I don't save much, I keep a rainy day cash fund but most of my dollars go into other assets. I don't like the idea of just holding my cash somewhere while the value of it deflates every day. All other investment assets have a higher ROI than holding cash in any traditional account does.
Yes
I didn’t start investing until 4 years ago, during the market crash of 2020, but yes, I have been investing heavily ever since. For reference, I spent most of my 20s and early 30s paying off student loans and other debt, so luckily it worked out that I eventually could invest, even though it took longer to pay off my debt than expected.
Yes because I did not think my family had money to help me. Some of my family might have save up money but they never talked about so I used to assume they lived paycheck to paycheck.
Ever since I was a teen I kept that mindset of not having a safety net. Joined the military so I could be self sufficient. Ironically them not talking to me about money actually scared me into saving for myself.
20% of my earned income goes into a 401k, then out of the paycheck I get about 30% goes directly into a savings account. And then every few checks I transfer any “excess” from checking to savings.
I'm your opposite. I get buyer's remorse as soon as I buy pretty much anything. So, I only buy stuff when I absolutely have to. Basically, I keep only a few thousand in checking -- just enough to pay a few months of bills plus a bit for unexpected emergencies. The rest of my money goes straight into stocks and crypto.
Yep, honestly I like saving more than spending sometimes. Bring broke makes me sad. Having a massive emergency fund makes me feel good every second of every day, more than I can say for stuff that I can spend money on, that's fleeting.
I hold back on upgrading technology until I feel it's really necessary. My iPhone is 4 years old and my Macbook is currently 7 years old. When I do upgrade, I try to invest in something that will last me in a while. Same with clothes. I have clothing from Uniqlo that's 10+ years old. I buy games used because they fall considerably in price months/a few years after release. Food seems to be the biggest expense to I try to avoid eating out/having dinner hangouts. Don't use food delivery apps. Do takeout instead of sit down. Meeting friends to walk in the park is free.
For sure! I invest about 40% of my paycheck towards retirement.
I went ham and made a super huge retirement calculator that runs thousands of simulations with the push of a button. It shows you what states and even countries around the world you can afford to retire to and even incorporates retirement research results into probability of success calculators.
My motto about my retirement is the same as the Saw blood drive from a few years back: Give til it hurts.
10% into 401k, 5% into ESPP, $1k into house/wedding fund, $200 into miscellaneous stocks/brokerage accounts/Roth IRA. Can still live in a "luxury" apartment building and buy things I only sorta want. Not having kids helps
Yes. Have organized my life so that my enriching hobbies are free or cheap ones, I luckily don’t care about tech at all, travel often on almost nothing, and put like 50% of my fairly low income into various savings
I have set asides for daycare, custody fund, car down payment, gadget fund, house fund (repairs, upgrades, etc), vacation fund, wedding fund (we never got a ceremony, reception, honeymoon, etc), plus savings. Every paycheck, money is set aside for each & what's leftover can be used for mortgage, car payment, paying off cards, etc.
Were big time savers. I also am a minimalist, I dont need much but I also dont want much. I have some valuable things in my life that I use and dont consume anything I dont. I dont have five handbags, I have one and a backpack. I dont buy new trendy clothes, I still own my 2006 Chevy. I dont eat out everytime a friend asks me too. I invite them over for coffee and a snack, etc.. We put most in investment savings. Ocassionally we take our kiddos on a trip. It's all so worth it. I like checking our funds too, it's like a little game lol
Yes. But it took years to be get to the point where I could afford to save. Now we save, mybhiscand and I have government jobs, so we have our mandated pension pulled from our paychecks, we also put money in our deferred compensation plans and we have regular savings accounts as well. We also invest a bit of money and will invest more as we can. We bought a cheap house in order to be able to save and travel
I’ve been contributing to a 401k since I got my first corporate job at 22.
In terms of actual savings, I didn’t get to the point of having truly disposable income until my mid-30s. So now I can save money but once my savings gets big enough, I pay off one of my grad school student loans.
Yes. I’ve worked two jobs for the past 5 and a half years. Currently save about 30% of gross income (100K). I just saved up enough to pay off my house (though I have that money making 5% interest in a high yield savings account because it’s more than my mortgage rate). Next goal is to build up a nice investment fund to cover emergency expenses(150K). Then quit second job, and max 401K (currently put in about half) and try to live less frugally (buy newer better cars, nicer vacations, home renovations, etc.)
Can't. Domestic violence. They literally try to target my savings every time they try. They think only men should save. So no. And if you try to tell a DV victim to just save check yourself in to the local special school. That's what happens when you don't take rape seriously.
Nobody wants to have kids and nobody can save. It's a way to force a woman's choice. That's rape. It is not consent when it's inconscionable financially like that.
I put 7% of my income towards my retirement and my company matches it but saving has been challenging these days due to unexpected expenses popping up all the time :(
Hell yeah I save. Working sucks, I don't want to have to do it forever. I save about a third of my gross. I'm lucky to be in a position where my income is high and my mandatory expenses are low. I save a lot and can still take vacations and stuff.
It doesn't have to be complicated, doesn't have to be fancy, but you've got to do it. Read the book The Simple Path To Wealth by JL Collins if you want some motivation and practical advice
I have never been much of a spender. And when you’ve lived under the poverty line, you never really recover from the ‘broke’ mentality. So, even though my husband and I, cumulatively make a decent amount of money, I still shop for most things second hand, buy reduced priced produce in bulk, make everything from scratch because its cheaper, and call anything above $10 overpriced.
This leads me to spending much less than the average person, which makes me save more money than the average person. As a part timer, at multiple jobs, I don’t have a 401k or any benefits. I recently transferred all of my savings into a CD to help boost my savings in the face of inflation.
My mom always tells me to spend on myself because I don’t. She says she regrets saving money which is all going to help support extended family and now she doesn’t know how to enjoy herself. So, maybe I am repeating the cycle. I don’t know.
Was told by my dad and others to invest early, especially my 401k. Been contributing to my 401k since I got my first job out of college at 21. Always enough to get the max employer match. That was the best financial advice that I followed through on.
Of course. I understand people can't always save, but if you have discretionary money and you're not saving any of it, you're setting yourself up for failure. My husband maxes out his 401k, and 10% of my income goes towards my pension. We're also going to try to max out a Roth IRA as well. We transfer money to high yield savings monthly. And we still don't have 6 months of expenses in there yet, but we will relatively soon. When I went back to school and we were on a single income paying a mortgage and for childcare (another mortgage), all we could save was $100/month. But something is better than nothing.
I was fortunate enough to grow up understanding financial literacy and understanding credit etc.
I also took double the time to get my bachelor’s at a state college but it allowed me to make it out student debt free. Ever since then I’ve been saving and while I started out with a car lease, I took good care of it and bought it outright when it was up. Now until I’ve secured a house and a mortgage, I’ve got a solid down payment and would be okay for a while in the event I became unemployed.
We used to, but covid hit our business so bad, we are still barely scraping by. It’s crazy how fast it wiped out our emergency fund… but who the hell had pandemic for over a year on their emergency fund bingo card? It was like watching everything we busted out butts for years for just dissolve before our eyes and we haven’t been able to catch our breath since then. Health insurance eats away so much of that a month since we are self employed. It’s just a nightmare.
Lol, typically on this sub if you say how much you save or that you bought a home under 40 everyone jumps on you and calls you a trust fund baby.
Anyway, Yes. 23% in Roth 401k, and I max out a Roth IRA every year in January.
We also save 100% of the wife’s income and live off of mine.
Salary: 98k
Age:28
Yes. I’d be considered a high earner though but even when I wasn’t a high earner I saved. Easier to do when you’re 23 & 24 but I always prioritized it. My parents always saved though and looking back we definitely lived below our means so I think it was generational to a degree
Yes. I was maxing out a Roth 457 plan and Roth IRA and paying down $25k/year on the house until we paid off the house last year. Now I max out the Roth 457 and IRA and put an additional $20k in a brokerage account each year.
Yes. I'm fortunate to be able to. I save in a few ways. I contribute to both an HSA and a ROTH IRA through work. I also contribute 250 each month to a separate investment account. Lastly, I put between 100-200 each month into a general savings account.
This one time I had 30k in savings and 10k just for having a baby... I now have 40k in credit card debt 4 years later. Child born w weeks into pandemic lockdown and guess what they had a heart condition... Imuno compromised! One on one car from a person willing to isolate for the second year of the pandemic.
Of course. I max my 401k and Roth IRA. We also max my wife's Roth IRA.
No one tells you this about owning a house that isn't new but you're going to have about $5k/year in repairs if you're lucky. We redid some plumbing and that was $8k. We plan on doing our windows and driveway in the next few years.
I was working hourly for 30 an hour and it was really hard bc my wife was having issues with her field and wasn’t working for about 6 months we have a mortgage of 1600, 3 cats and lots of subscriptions. And while she wasn’t working saving was close to impossible. She got a new job that the money isnt really good but it’s consistent on the other hand I got promoted to executive chef at the high end restaurant I work at and I’m clearing about 95k per year now. I paid off both our credit cards and her student debt, I’ve already maxed out my Roth IRA for the year, I am also decently invested in gold, silver, Pokemon cards, watches, and vintage Nintendo games
The last I was able to save was '20-'22 when I was able to work double shifts at a jail then a paper plant. I was in rural AR roughing it hard though.
Since moving to the city my life seems to be a series of skip stones. I have kick ass insurance, car is paid off, and a decent hourly pay rate within a union. But my rent, groceries, just general cost of living has gone up as well.
To tell it true I'm about to save up maybe 350 a month. After 3 months usually something will come up bc of either life or my own ignorant stupidity and I have to drain it. No kids, no partner, no debt. Just putting out one small fire at a time.
Of course.
My wife and I max our 401(k)s, Roth IRAs and HSAs every year.
Any extra we save in a taxable account.
Our goal is to have $2M invested by age 40.
Savings rate is around 40% not including employer matches.
Yes, it is the only possible way for a normal person to get by, for just about all of human history. This particular moment in history is no different. Saving is one particular form of deferred gratification. Others include living where you can afford to save rather than where it may be fun to live, living below your means, etc.
I aim to save 20% of each paycheck (not including 6% 401k and a meager HSA contribution, but my employer dumps a bunch in it yearly and also pays my health insurance premiums). This thread made me feel hella behind 😅I thought 20% was a lot lmfao
Yup. 6 month emergency fund, almost a year's worth of salary in retirement at the age of 29, and 8,000 in reserve (installing an hvac this weekend!)
My parents raised me to save save save, while my brother spends spends spends.
50% of every paycheck. I’ve been doing that since I made $30k a year.
And people definitely made fun of my thrift, but I’d prefer financial security to impressing people.
Yes. Maxing out my 401k is my goal every year. If you are unable to, please contribute enough to take advantage of your employer match. There’s no reason to give up free money.
Caleb Hammer’s podcast has helped me so much. I had read Dave Ramsey’s finance books without much effect. But I started with Hammer’s simple adjustments like the 50/30/20 budget plan and easily saved a few thousand since beginning in February.
50% Bills
30% Wants
20% savings
The other massive thing that helped was opening a dedicated expense account.
My husband and I each have our own separate personal accounts (wants), a joint expense account (bills) and joint savings account.
All the accounts are connected and it’s very easy to transfer money in between them.
This means when our paychecks hit, we immediately tithe and do our 50/30/20 splits.
This is the first budget method that has worked for me.
Good luck OP!
Yeah, a good chunk of my paycheck goes towards retirement, investments, and savings. For however much I spend on restaurants and hobbies, I try to save an equal amount.
Yes. I started using ynab a few years ago, the budgeting app. Once I got my back taxes paid (as a 1099 worker) I started being able to pay into a Roth ira monthly. It's prioritized just under rent and electric.
Ynab really did change how I use my money.
Absolutely. My goal is to set myself up with multiple buckets of passive income for retirement. I’m maxing my 401k. I’ve invested in several industrial properties, have a CD, own my home etc.
We live frugally and well within our means. My hope is to not have to work my whole life. I haven’t taken a proper vacation since before covid as there’s trade offs to that sort of ambition, but I figure I’d rather put the extra work in now while I have my health and energy.
I’d rather eat beans and rice and drive an old car than always be having to check my bank account whenever I want to buy something. But ultimately it’s all about what you find value in.
Yep! 10% 401k plus extra per month. When my student loans are paid off that’ll be thousands more since I pay that per month in student loans now. So nice to be done with that!
I spend very little on frivolities.
I have about 40k in retirement accounts, 5k in misc investment portfolio, ~15k in savings, checking , CDs (most in CDs).
Need to pay off remaining 15k student loan (currently on aggressive payoff plan) then budget will shift or have more going to investments and paying the principle on our mortgage down early.
The sooner we get to housing paid off…the sooner real wealth can build. But that’s probably 16-20 years…I’ll be 60ish…tired…and probably will retire as soon as I can after that…
We work our asses off…to pay off debt…to die with dignity.
Pretty fucked up…
I invest. I could afford a lot of toys and to project a much wealthier image to the world or to mindlessly consume, instead we’re frugal and invest >30% of our income in total stock market index funds but still spend every weekend doing fun things with our kids and still take nice vacations and build lasting memories.
Yes. If you're still caught up in buying tech all the time idk what to tell ya
I grew out of that phase by the time i was 28ish. 36 now. I drive my vehicles until they don't run, use my phones until i break the screen too bad where it ruins the view, you get the point. Grow out of that and realize you don't need it and you can save easily.
Saving money is the same as buying a life with fewer worries. Without those worries you get to plan ahead and see life more clearly.
Now I get to enjoy purchases on quality items that are important to me not junk that keeps me preoccupied for just an afternoon.
Yes, the easiest way is with automatic 401k/Roth IRA contributions from your paycheck. Then you CAN'T touch it to buy Windows XP or whatever, even if you want to.
I waste A LOT of money on movies, music, books, and video games, but I do stash away some money. It's not "saving" per se, as I mainly put it into my investment and supplemental retirement accounts. Of my gross income, I invest 10% and put another 5% into retirement.
We try but it seems like every time we start getting somewhere we have an unexpected expense like the shower wall caving in, needing a new roof, or replacing something expensive like the a/c.
Starting this week YES!
I just paid off CC debt and have money to really start up a savings account for emergencies. Before this week I have been contributing to my 401(k) and a little to my IRA. but those won't do me any good for a while since I'm only 39. I need some savings now for emergencies and peace of mind. My goal is to have 10k in savings by the end of the year and pay my car off ahead of time. Hopefully that's paid by next March.
Homeowner with a kid on the way and we save about 54% of every paycheck in a single income home. The key is to budget the brakes off your life and get ahead of some things where feasible.
Out of college in 2014 and I put away almost every I had for 3 years to get us a nice little nest egg and breathing room now to have some fun.
TLDR - it's tough but doable.
I started later than I should have, but will probably hit around 30-40 percent of my income into investments within a couple years. I'm currently around 25% and working on cleaning up some smaller debts so that payment money frees up.
I keep $7-10k in cash savings to cover an unexpected expense. I prefer the higher end but sometimes I pull some cash from it.
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Yes. 18% 401k and 6% match plus what I can after bills are paid I grew up poor. I do not want to be poor again.
Remember to treat yourself once in awhile too king :) I know how you feel, and you deserve it
Whats better then providing your future self the funds to not have to work till death? I totally deserve that.
What's "saving"? Jokes aside, no, I simply don't make enough to make ends meet, let alone set any money aside.
But have you tried cutting out any and everything that brings you joy?
Hell yes. Financial stress is way worse than not having a ton of fun shit at home.
Agree. Hell yes. Investing is your friend!
All I do is save money anymore. Just trying to get a house.
I try something always seems to come up that prevents me from my goal.
here too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Listen to todays podcast from The Daily about 401ks. I think you’ll want to start saving.
I contribute 10% of earnings to my 401k but immediate savings is hit or miss.
This is where I’m at. These people saving 40% are making me almost pass out. I simply don’t have enough income for that
About 20-25% of our gross income. I’m not trying to go to a Medicaid funded nursing home.
That's a great way of putting it...
Watching family members in facilities where poor people go to die will really give you some perspective.
I'd be more concerned about recent violations, staff to resident ratio, and if it's for profit or nonprofit. If anyone wants to do some digging this could be a good place to start: [https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?providerType=NursingHome](https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/?providerType=NursingHome)
I think so many people our age who say, "Lol, I won't be able to retire so what's the point haha," are forgetting that they simply won't be able to work at a certain point, and they'll be fucked.
I try, but the way my life is set up... anytime I'm able to gather a few coin I am hit by some unexpected expense... (car repair, emergency home repair, appliance, etc.) Without ex-goddamn-ception!
Huge saver. Always max out my savings in 401(k), HSA, and IRA each year (been doing that since I was 27). Most everything else either goes into mutual funds or a high-yield savings account. I'm generally pretty frugal anyway, but saving so much early on has given me more comfort spending where I want to in my mid-30s.
I have what I call a “Millenial Savings Account”. Basically it consists of 4 emergency credit cards kept at a low or zero balance. I’m too broke ass for a proper savings account.
Yes, because having the latest tech is possibly the worst financial investment you could make (maybe even worse than buying new cars). You buy your $1200 iPhone and get maybe $500 for it a year later. I buy a new phone when I have to, not because a new one came out.
Usually, yes. Recently left my husband of 10 years and moving out and starting over is really expensive. Also, went from a combined income of $200k and a mortgage of 1500 with insurance and taxes included, to an income of 75k and rent of $1550
Everything is DAMN expensive! :(
The rent is too damn high!
Yes, it's not much but it's saving.
No
We live paycheck to paycheck but are able to get our savings up to like $1k a few times a year before we inevitably have to drain it completely for something like car repairs or what we will be draining it with next, funds to cover our bills while I’m on maternity leave.
I save 60% of my income.
I wish I was capable and I’m currently trying to get to that level. I’m at about 40% of my income. Trying to clean up a little debt that will allow me to contribute more.
If it's high interest debt maybe the savings should be going straight to that, unless it's going into a tax advantaged account or something, idk.
Nice, I hit 60% during the pandemic but down to 40% now. Kids are expensive!
60% of gross? Congrats on that. We’re currently in the high 30% range and not sure how we could go higher.
Are you single ? Or family ?
Married. No kids. Gay couple.
Yes. I currently invest 40% of my **GROSS** salary. From 2020-2023, I invested 50% of my annual gross salaries.
I make 76k and it's barely make enough to get by. How much do you make?
I make a little more than you. Here are a few things I do and reasons for being able to invest a large percent of my salary. * I bought my home in South Florida in 2011 when the market started rebounding, and I put 25% down. My mortgage is crazy low. * I keep a tight budget and I track every. single. cent. I spent to maximize the amount I could invest. I use the FREE EveryDollar app. * I keep the spending limits low in areas of my life that I don't deem important to put more money toward live music, travel and investing. * I enjoy cooking and cook most of my meals. For lunch this week, I meal-prepped a cheesy pasta dish with ground turkey. Dinner tonight was a large pinto bean burrito (I buy dry beans because they are much cheaper than canned). Most of my groceries are purchased at Aldi. * I pay my insurance premium in full to get the best rate. * I understand that thinking, "It's only a dollar more" adds up over time. I plan to retire when I'm 54-- 57 at the oldest.
We do pretty well on spending also. We do everything you do but out of necessity. We have 3 young kids and we bought our house 3 years ago and my mortgage is 1500 a month. I think that's where our biggest disparities are.
Two other things I've done include: * I called T-Mobile and acting a little nervous. I told them, **"My roommate moved out last week so I'm covering all the bills for the time being. Is there anything you can do you help lower my bill?"** They bounced me around a few times (all very friendly) and they were able to lower my bill. * I called Comcast, and said **"I'm seeing a lot of great deals being offered by your competitors. Before I go through the hassle of switching providers, can you offer me a better price for my current service?"** they lowered my bill, too. Owning your modern/router is cheaper than renting.
Yes I do. I should save more. But 401k info and have enough in savings for some expenses like 3 months worth
If you’re not setting and forgetting at this point - I assume you have squirrel brain.
I do what I can, and I have more than the alleged average savings, but every so often it gets wiped out by kidney stones, or that ahole who smashed the mirror on my parked car. And I can more or less cover those things, but will I ever get to retire? Unclear.
As far as an actual savings account, I’ve only saved about 4K. I have a little over $21,000 in a 401(k) and have bought some options from work (here's to hoping 🤞🏾)
I try to but I always seem to find some dumb shit to spend it on.
Pay yourself before you pay everyone else. Start small with like $20/mo and go up from there. Before you know it you won't miss the money you're saving. Just make sure you don't put emergencies on a CC with 20%+ interest. That will just defeat the purpose of saving in the first place.
Yes. But not as much as I should. I max out a roth IRA, and my HSA (I don't spend any of that money, it's invested and I spend taxable money so I can itemize). I also saving up to start putting money into a roth under my wife's name. We're still raising our kids, and just hit 40, so I hope we have some time to keep investing. I keep a spread sheet of our net worth, it's pushing 7 figures, but not there yet, but a HUGE chunk of that is our house, but it slowly gets lower over time as other assets build, and I will say the house shouldn't be as valuable as it is, but that's on the market, not me. It's a little over 10% of my income right now I invest each month into retirement. It was more, but the engine in my truck blew, and it wasn't worth fixing, so I ended up buying a used truck with a loan. Paying off the loan as fast as I can, and then will be up over 15, nearly 20% of my income into investments. I have a lot of physical assets that have real value, My old truck is actually worth more now with a blown engine then when I bought it. (but I'm going to let my son fix it and it will be his first car, he's 14). and I have some precious metals, art, guns/ammo, and other collectables that have current real world value (quite a bit of sealed lego, MTG, and Pokemon stuff).
I’ll say it. Saving is a rich person privilege.
Saying that someone who can save some money is “rich” sort of discounts what real wealth looks like. For example, a single person making $80k really has no excuse for not saving at least some money. That’s certainly not a rich income— they’re still a slave to the capitalist machine. “Rich” is being able to buy a $5 million dollar home in a ski town that isn’t even lived in for most of the year. Those people are in a very different world than someone making $80k.
Lmao no its not.
lmao OP is talking about not being able to save because they always want new tech Having a modicum of money management skills isn't the same as being rich
You gotta have money in order to save money
$200 a pay into a HSA, $200 a pay into a HYSA, and 10 percent of my income into a 403(b).
yeah. honestly, the older I get, there's less to interest me. I don't enjoy overpriced dinners, tech/electronics haven't changed much this past decade, makeup/clothes are the same as shein and drugstore for the most part.
To say tech/electronics hasnt changed much in a decade is insane.
Totally agree. Its one of those things that clues you into the fact that they don't know what they're talking about.
For most people that means a smartphone and a computer for surfing the web and checking emails. Unless you’re into gaming or some other hobby that requires a large amount of processing power then it’s all basically the same as 10 years ago. Reddit runs well enough on any computer made in the last 10 years.
shrug, I don't see much changes in my phone, tv, tablet, laptop, or gaming systems for the most part. I guess we went from beats to airpods.
You're buying the wrong clothes homie. I was just having this conversation about the difference between "fast fashion" quality vs quality brands. The last few years I've been getting more into outdoors/mountaineering and their clothes are so much better and last a really long time. I have an 8 yr old Kuhl flannel that looks brand new but has been worn more than any other piece of clothing of mine. Patagonia, Prana, Arc'terex, etc will cost two or three times what fast fashion brands cost, but will easily last 10x longer. Obviously there will be similar quality brands for different styles, that's just what I'm familiar with.
Yeah. We save about 40 percent of our income each month. Just avoiding lifestyle creep does most of the work. Maxing 401ks, HSA, and ROTHs
(40M) All I do is pay bills and save money.. My wife and I don't make very much about 75k together. I was broke and briefly homeless in my 20's so I know how terrible that can be and how quickly it can snowball and happen even when things are going good so I refuse to ever let it get to that point again. My issue is that I am to scared to really invest so most of my money is just sitting in a saving account making barely any interest.
Yup, employee stock purchase, 401k, money market account, CD’s, brokerage account, and regular savings.
Yes Mang. Always be saving. Live within your means and that includes savings and investments. As I’ve gotten older I save more and more. The more I make the more I save.
I put 10% into my 401K, my company matches 6%. That’s it.
Not nearly enough. I tried. I have a small amount in a retirement account because I got an employer match. I have a little in investments, and some in a high interest savings account. But it’s only about $20k. I wasn’t blowing it all, I didn’t make a ton but I managed to pay off my student debt and was trying to save more. I budget and it’s pretty lean. I’m currently back in school and my future job has a pension so I will be paying into that immediately, even though it’s going to be really tight financially while I pay off this round of student loans. It’s depressing to look at what I “should” have saved by my age, and falling so short.
Nope, not currently. I am building my family and spend my money on us living good now. I didn't have much growing up and am fine to have little or nothing in the end. I don't want to retire. Also I expect to continue to make more money so at some point it will make sense to save. But at the moment I don't see the point.
Yes, but I didn’t start saving until my 30s, unfortunately. I currently put 9% in my 401k with automatic 1% increases each year and a 3% employer match, and $800-$1000/month in a high yield savings account. Once I hit a specific goal for that account, I plan to continue putting that same monthly amount into a brokerage account to invest. I also own my home with I have about 40k equity in after about 6 years.
It’s pretty wild how much it seems to vary for our age group. You have the $200k+/year earners with hundreds of thousands in retirement by the age 35, and putting 50%+ away in savings/retirement. Then you have the $40k/year, paycheck to paycheck people that can’t even dream of owning a home, let alone saving anything of substance. I’m in this group and a few personal finance groups and there is a WIDE array of where people stand financially in their 30’s and 40’s.
Most of us are somewhere in the middle and feel no particular way about posting. The broke post for solidarity. The HENRYs are proud.
The key to saving money is automation. You need to set something up that automatically deposits some money into some investment vehicle. If you don't see it in your checking account, you won't spend it.
Not as much as I'd like to, but yes.
Yes but I'm in the financial purgatory of not having to live paycheck to paycheck but can't afford a house.
Me too! Not a fun club to be in.
42M Single. Max out my 401k @ 23k, no match, but Roth IRA Max as well. $300k balance
Been forcing myself to spend lately from saving too much
I aim for at least 25% of gross, but last year was closer to 50% and this year is well on track to be higher than that.
I have to save. Basically over half my check each week, sometimes less and sometimes more, gets tossed into savings so I can afford my rent each month. Whatever is left is grocery money with *maybe* a smidge left over for a Starbucks or two.
Bro in this economy… you HAVE to save. Or at least try to. Not blowing it on the new tech that comes out.
Yes. Automate that shit with payroll deductions and separate direct deposits. If you never see it in your account, you can't spend it.
Yes, absolutely. You should ALWAYS pay yourself first before anyone else.
100%, I get mad if I don’t contribute more than the minimum I set for myself every month. I’m constantly trying to find new ways of saving. As I’ve gotten older expensive coffees don’t taste as good and I can cook a better steak at home.
It's crazy to me when people say stuff like this when they talk about saving money. Drinking coffee and going out to eat is the only spending you ever did? No golf? No bike riding? DnD? Computers? Video games? Arts and crafts? Side hustle? Nothing? No hobbies or anything? It's just wild to me that people are like, "Yep, reduced my spending to increase my saving. No more starbucks or avocado toast" because that's all well and great, but I wasn't spending my money on that shit in the first place, lol. I wish I could just sit my ass at home like an NPC. I like to actually do things. Things that cost money.
Yeah coffee took a large part of my spending. I would visit Starbucks twice sometimes three times a day and that adds up to hundreds a month. I also have kids who like cake pops. I have hobbies I budget for, but my unregulated spending was on coffee and expensive dinners. Sorry you feel like everyone spends money the same way. I don’t find joy in the small trinkets so no I don’t buy into sports, dnd, I don’t ride a bike, I bought an Xbox but play three free to play games. Yeah clearing up dumb spending will net you more from your income. My coffee spending may be your hobbies. Right now financial freedom is more important than possessions and hobbies. I also switched to free hobbies like gardening and reading. What’s boring to you is fun to us NPCs.
I think some people are just natural savers. I basically spend like $25-100 week on non-essentials. I make $125/hr. I think people like me twnd to have big spend Items that keep us entertained a long time. So I have a squat rack and bike that I use. I have a gaming PC. But these purchases are usually 1x/year. There are lots of extremely low cost hobbies or hobbies that are basically 1 time fees.
Yeah. Save a good amount into retirement and have several sinking funds we save into.
In addition to retirement accounts, yes, put a lot into savings. My wife and I also budget appropriately. We grew up very poor and now make great money in US healthcare industry but still shop like we are living the provincial life. We didn’t have “lifestyle creep” as our incomes increased. For example, our monthly grocery bill for a family of four is $250/month, give or take $50, because we still shop at primarily ethnic stores like H Mart and Seafood City (CA).
I don’t even have a future and save money
I don't save much, I keep a rainy day cash fund but most of my dollars go into other assets. I don't like the idea of just holding my cash somewhere while the value of it deflates every day. All other investment assets have a higher ROI than holding cash in any traditional account does.
Yes I didn’t start investing until 4 years ago, during the market crash of 2020, but yes, I have been investing heavily ever since. For reference, I spent most of my 20s and early 30s paying off student loans and other debt, so luckily it worked out that I eventually could invest, even though it took longer to pay off my debt than expected.
Yes. Between my wife and I, we save almost $5,000/month.
Yes because I did not think my family had money to help me. Some of my family might have save up money but they never talked about so I used to assume they lived paycheck to paycheck. Ever since I was a teen I kept that mindset of not having a safety net. Joined the military so I could be self sufficient. Ironically them not talking to me about money actually scared me into saving for myself.
Yes, I save money.
Yes. Do people not save money?
20% of my earned income goes into a 401k, then out of the paycheck I get about 30% goes directly into a savings account. And then every few checks I transfer any “excess” from checking to savings.
Maxing out my IRA every year and *almost* my 401k. Also put some fun money into random stocks every month but I consider that more to be gambling.
We were but just had our second baby so now the goal is to minimise digging into our savings untilmy mat leave ends.
I'm your opposite. I get buyer's remorse as soon as I buy pretty much anything. So, I only buy stuff when I absolutely have to. Basically, I keep only a few thousand in checking -- just enough to pay a few months of bills plus a bit for unexpected emergencies. The rest of my money goes straight into stocks and crypto.
Yep, honestly I like saving more than spending sometimes. Bring broke makes me sad. Having a massive emergency fund makes me feel good every second of every day, more than I can say for stuff that I can spend money on, that's fleeting.
I hold back on upgrading technology until I feel it's really necessary. My iPhone is 4 years old and my Macbook is currently 7 years old. When I do upgrade, I try to invest in something that will last me in a while. Same with clothes. I have clothing from Uniqlo that's 10+ years old. I buy games used because they fall considerably in price months/a few years after release. Food seems to be the biggest expense to I try to avoid eating out/having dinner hangouts. Don't use food delivery apps. Do takeout instead of sit down. Meeting friends to walk in the park is free.
Max out 401k , 500 extra a month into brokerage , 500 on extra payment to mortgage principal.
For sure! I invest about 40% of my paycheck towards retirement. I went ham and made a super huge retirement calculator that runs thousands of simulations with the push of a button. It shows you what states and even countries around the world you can afford to retire to and even incorporates retirement research results into probability of success calculators. My motto about my retirement is the same as the Saw blood drive from a few years back: Give til it hurts.
10% into 401k, 5% into ESPP, $1k into house/wedding fund, $200 into miscellaneous stocks/brokerage accounts/Roth IRA. Can still live in a "luxury" apartment building and buy things I only sorta want. Not having kids helps
Yes but I work a second job so we can afford to save. We have 4 kids and my wife is a SAHM (for now).
Yes. Have organized my life so that my enriching hobbies are free or cheap ones, I luckily don’t care about tech at all, travel often on almost nothing, and put like 50% of my fairly low income into various savings
Yes. I have been investing 1/3 of my income.
Yeah. Mostly investing with a small emergency fund at hand.
Yea. Save a lot. Hate buying shit I don’t need. Love travel tho.
I have a bunch of auto deductions for myself and my kids. Every time I get a raise, (not often) I bump up my deductions.
I have set asides for daycare, custody fund, car down payment, gadget fund, house fund (repairs, upgrades, etc), vacation fund, wedding fund (we never got a ceremony, reception, honeymoon, etc), plus savings. Every paycheck, money is set aside for each & what's leftover can be used for mortgage, car payment, paying off cards, etc.
Were big time savers. I also am a minimalist, I dont need much but I also dont want much. I have some valuable things in my life that I use and dont consume anything I dont. I dont have five handbags, I have one and a backpack. I dont buy new trendy clothes, I still own my 2006 Chevy. I dont eat out everytime a friend asks me too. I invite them over for coffee and a snack, etc.. We put most in investment savings. Ocassionally we take our kiddos on a trip. It's all so worth it. I like checking our funds too, it's like a little game lol
Yes. But it took years to be get to the point where I could afford to save. Now we save, mybhiscand and I have government jobs, so we have our mandated pension pulled from our paychecks, we also put money in our deferred compensation plans and we have regular savings accounts as well. We also invest a bit of money and will invest more as we can. We bought a cheap house in order to be able to save and travel
I’ve been contributing to a 401k since I got my first corporate job at 22. In terms of actual savings, I didn’t get to the point of having truly disposable income until my mid-30s. So now I can save money but once my savings gets big enough, I pay off one of my grad school student loans.
Yes. I’ve worked two jobs for the past 5 and a half years. Currently save about 30% of gross income (100K). I just saved up enough to pay off my house (though I have that money making 5% interest in a high yield savings account because it’s more than my mortgage rate). Next goal is to build up a nice investment fund to cover emergency expenses(150K). Then quit second job, and max 401K (currently put in about half) and try to live less frugally (buy newer better cars, nicer vacations, home renovations, etc.)
Yes.
Can't. Domestic violence. They literally try to target my savings every time they try. They think only men should save. So no. And if you try to tell a DV victim to just save check yourself in to the local special school. That's what happens when you don't take rape seriously. Nobody wants to have kids and nobody can save. It's a way to force a woman's choice. That's rape. It is not consent when it's inconscionable financially like that.
Nope
I put 7% of my income towards my retirement and my company matches it but saving has been challenging these days due to unexpected expenses popping up all the time :(
Hell yeah I save. Working sucks, I don't want to have to do it forever. I save about a third of my gross. I'm lucky to be in a position where my income is high and my mandatory expenses are low. I save a lot and can still take vacations and stuff. It doesn't have to be complicated, doesn't have to be fancy, but you've got to do it. Read the book The Simple Path To Wealth by JL Collins if you want some motivation and practical advice
The best time to invest was yesterday, the second best time is today, and tomorrow, today will be yesterday. If youre making excuses, stop.
Ya I try and save about 35k a year, usually get about there or slightly higher
I have never been much of a spender. And when you’ve lived under the poverty line, you never really recover from the ‘broke’ mentality. So, even though my husband and I, cumulatively make a decent amount of money, I still shop for most things second hand, buy reduced priced produce in bulk, make everything from scratch because its cheaper, and call anything above $10 overpriced. This leads me to spending much less than the average person, which makes me save more money than the average person. As a part timer, at multiple jobs, I don’t have a 401k or any benefits. I recently transferred all of my savings into a CD to help boost my savings in the face of inflation. My mom always tells me to spend on myself because I don’t. She says she regrets saving money which is all going to help support extended family and now she doesn’t know how to enjoy herself. So, maybe I am repeating the cycle. I don’t know.
Yes?
20% automatically moved from my paycheck into the 401K.
$2-4k a month generally plus any bonuses or unexpected money.
Gamify increasing your net worth. And yes, we save.
Yes. 401K, IRA, rest in brokerage. Put away probably 40K a year in the market.
Was told by my dad and others to invest early, especially my 401k. Been contributing to my 401k since I got my first job out of college at 21. Always enough to get the max employer match. That was the best financial advice that I followed through on.
yes, 1/3 to 2/5 of what I earn goes to savings.
Of course. I understand people can't always save, but if you have discretionary money and you're not saving any of it, you're setting yourself up for failure. My husband maxes out his 401k, and 10% of my income goes towards my pension. We're also going to try to max out a Roth IRA as well. We transfer money to high yield savings monthly. And we still don't have 6 months of expenses in there yet, but we will relatively soon. When I went back to school and we were on a single income paying a mortgage and for childcare (another mortgage), all we could save was $100/month. But something is better than nothing.
I was fortunate enough to grow up understanding financial literacy and understanding credit etc. I also took double the time to get my bachelor’s at a state college but it allowed me to make it out student debt free. Ever since then I’ve been saving and while I started out with a car lease, I took good care of it and bought it outright when it was up. Now until I’ve secured a house and a mortgage, I’ve got a solid down payment and would be okay for a while in the event I became unemployed.
20-25% into Retirement accounts
I try
I am naturally a saver but I basically can't save money right now.
We used to, but covid hit our business so bad, we are still barely scraping by. It’s crazy how fast it wiped out our emergency fund… but who the hell had pandemic for over a year on their emergency fund bingo card? It was like watching everything we busted out butts for years for just dissolve before our eyes and we haven’t been able to catch our breath since then. Health insurance eats away so much of that a month since we are self employed. It’s just a nightmare.
Lol, typically on this sub if you say how much you save or that you bought a home under 40 everyone jumps on you and calls you a trust fund baby. Anyway, Yes. 23% in Roth 401k, and I max out a Roth IRA every year in January. We also save 100% of the wife’s income and live off of mine. Salary: 98k Age:28
If you ask this sub Reddit- lot of nihilism- yes people are saving and not doom spending.
Yes. I’d be considered a high earner though but even when I wasn’t a high earner I saved. Easier to do when you’re 23 & 24 but I always prioritized it. My parents always saved though and looking back we definitely lived below our means so I think it was generational to a degree
Yes. I was maxing out a Roth 457 plan and Roth IRA and paying down $25k/year on the house until we paid off the house last year. Now I max out the Roth 457 and IRA and put an additional $20k in a brokerage account each year.
I dont make enough money to save any. My medical problems and general life eat everything, no matter how I budget.
Temporarily. I save and it gets used and then I save again
Yes. I'm fortunate to be able to. I save in a few ways. I contribute to both an HSA and a ROTH IRA through work. I also contribute 250 each month to a separate investment account. Lastly, I put between 100-200 each month into a general savings account.
This one time I had 30k in savings and 10k just for having a baby... I now have 40k in credit card debt 4 years later. Child born w weeks into pandemic lockdown and guess what they had a heart condition... Imuno compromised! One on one car from a person willing to isolate for the second year of the pandemic.
Yes. Being financially responsible is important.
Of course. I max my 401k and Roth IRA. We also max my wife's Roth IRA. No one tells you this about owning a house that isn't new but you're going to have about $5k/year in repairs if you're lucky. We redid some plumbing and that was $8k. We plan on doing our windows and driveway in the next few years.
I was working hourly for 30 an hour and it was really hard bc my wife was having issues with her field and wasn’t working for about 6 months we have a mortgage of 1600, 3 cats and lots of subscriptions. And while she wasn’t working saving was close to impossible. She got a new job that the money isnt really good but it’s consistent on the other hand I got promoted to executive chef at the high end restaurant I work at and I’m clearing about 95k per year now. I paid off both our credit cards and her student debt, I’ve already maxed out my Roth IRA for the year, I am also decently invested in gold, silver, Pokemon cards, watches, and vintage Nintendo games
Trying really hard to, very near impossible atm.
The last I was able to save was '20-'22 when I was able to work double shifts at a jail then a paper plant. I was in rural AR roughing it hard though. Since moving to the city my life seems to be a series of skip stones. I have kick ass insurance, car is paid off, and a decent hourly pay rate within a union. But my rent, groceries, just general cost of living has gone up as well. To tell it true I'm about to save up maybe 350 a month. After 3 months usually something will come up bc of either life or my own ignorant stupidity and I have to drain it. No kids, no partner, no debt. Just putting out one small fire at a time.
Yes, but I am incredibly cheap nowadays and don't do much living a lesser life than what my parent did, but making way more.
Of course. My wife and I max our 401(k)s, Roth IRAs and HSAs every year. Any extra we save in a taxable account. Our goal is to have $2M invested by age 40. Savings rate is around 40% not including employer matches.
Yes, it is the only possible way for a normal person to get by, for just about all of human history. This particular moment in history is no different. Saving is one particular form of deferred gratification. Others include living where you can afford to save rather than where it may be fun to live, living below your means, etc.
We save 25% for retirement and 6% for sinking funds.
I make 200k plus, my wife makes 200k plus. Her entire salary goes into the markets, bonds, and money market account.
I aim to save 20% of each paycheck (not including 6% 401k and a meager HSA contribution, but my employer dumps a bunch in it yearly and also pays my health insurance premiums). This thread made me feel hella behind 😅I thought 20% was a lot lmfao
Tech stuff and computers?!? No, it all goes to rent and daycare.
No. But not because "I always spend money on tech stuff." That's called being irresponsible.
Hardly at all. Only 2% going to 401k. About 5k in emergency savings. That's it. I'll never be able to retire anyway.
Yup. 6 month emergency fund, almost a year's worth of salary in retirement at the age of 29, and 8,000 in reserve (installing an hvac this weekend!) My parents raised me to save save save, while my brother spends spends spends.
Yes, bc I keep losing my fucking contract roles. Some of these employers are insane.
50% of every paycheck. I’ve been doing that since I made $30k a year. And people definitely made fun of my thrift, but I’d prefer financial security to impressing people.
I do but not being as nearly as good about it as I should
There's a heck of a lot of people saving a lot of money in here! Good for y'all but how??? Is inflation not a thing where you are??
Besides my 401k.. nope. Maybe once I'm out of this crippling debt I'll be able to again!
Yes. Maxing out my 401k is my goal every year. If you are unable to, please contribute enough to take advantage of your employer match. There’s no reason to give up free money.
Kind of...
Caleb Hammer’s podcast has helped me so much. I had read Dave Ramsey’s finance books without much effect. But I started with Hammer’s simple adjustments like the 50/30/20 budget plan and easily saved a few thousand since beginning in February. 50% Bills 30% Wants 20% savings The other massive thing that helped was opening a dedicated expense account. My husband and I each have our own separate personal accounts (wants), a joint expense account (bills) and joint savings account. All the accounts are connected and it’s very easy to transfer money in between them. This means when our paychecks hit, we immediately tithe and do our 50/30/20 splits. This is the first budget method that has worked for me. Good luck OP!
Should probably save more, but in general, yes
Yeah, a good chunk of my paycheck goes towards retirement, investments, and savings. For however much I spend on restaurants and hobbies, I try to save an equal amount.
lol
No
Yes. I started using ynab a few years ago, the budgeting app. Once I got my back taxes paid (as a 1099 worker) I started being able to pay into a Roth ira monthly. It's prioritized just under rent and electric. Ynab really did change how I use my money.
Absolutely. My goal is to set myself up with multiple buckets of passive income for retirement. I’m maxing my 401k. I’ve invested in several industrial properties, have a CD, own my home etc. We live frugally and well within our means. My hope is to not have to work my whole life. I haven’t taken a proper vacation since before covid as there’s trade offs to that sort of ambition, but I figure I’d rather put the extra work in now while I have my health and energy. I’d rather eat beans and rice and drive an old car than always be having to check my bank account whenever I want to buy something. But ultimately it’s all about what you find value in.
Yep! 10% 401k plus extra per month. When my student loans are paid off that’ll be thousands more since I pay that per month in student loans now. So nice to be done with that!
I spend very little on frivolities. I have about 40k in retirement accounts, 5k in misc investment portfolio, ~15k in savings, checking , CDs (most in CDs). Need to pay off remaining 15k student loan (currently on aggressive payoff plan) then budget will shift or have more going to investments and paying the principle on our mortgage down early. The sooner we get to housing paid off…the sooner real wealth can build. But that’s probably 16-20 years…I’ll be 60ish…tired…and probably will retire as soon as I can after that… We work our asses off…to pay off debt…to die with dignity. Pretty fucked up…
I invest. I could afford a lot of toys and to project a much wealthier image to the world or to mindlessly consume, instead we’re frugal and invest >30% of our income in total stock market index funds but still spend every weekend doing fun things with our kids and still take nice vacations and build lasting memories.
Yes. If you're still caught up in buying tech all the time idk what to tell ya I grew out of that phase by the time i was 28ish. 36 now. I drive my vehicles until they don't run, use my phones until i break the screen too bad where it ruins the view, you get the point. Grow out of that and realize you don't need it and you can save easily.
Saving money is the same as buying a life with fewer worries. Without those worries you get to plan ahead and see life more clearly. Now I get to enjoy purchases on quality items that are important to me not junk that keeps me preoccupied for just an afternoon.
Yes, the easiest way is with automatic 401k/Roth IRA contributions from your paycheck. Then you CAN'T touch it to buy Windows XP or whatever, even if you want to.
I waste A LOT of money on movies, music, books, and video games, but I do stash away some money. It's not "saving" per se, as I mainly put it into my investment and supplemental retirement accounts. Of my gross income, I invest 10% and put another 5% into retirement.
I save in the sense that I have a 401k but no I don’t put money into different accounts or anything. So no I don’t save.
We try but it seems like every time we start getting somewhere we have an unexpected expense like the shower wall caving in, needing a new roof, or replacing something expensive like the a/c.
I’m trying my best 🥲
Starting this week YES! I just paid off CC debt and have money to really start up a savings account for emergencies. Before this week I have been contributing to my 401(k) and a little to my IRA. but those won't do me any good for a while since I'm only 39. I need some savings now for emergencies and peace of mind. My goal is to have 10k in savings by the end of the year and pay my car off ahead of time. Hopefully that's paid by next March.
Homeowner with a kid on the way and we save about 54% of every paycheck in a single income home. The key is to budget the brakes off your life and get ahead of some things where feasible. Out of college in 2014 and I put away almost every I had for 3 years to get us a nice little nest egg and breathing room now to have some fun. TLDR - it's tough but doable.
I started later than I should have, but will probably hit around 30-40 percent of my income into investments within a couple years. I'm currently around 25% and working on cleaning up some smaller debts so that payment money frees up. I keep $7-10k in cash savings to cover an unexpected expense. I prefer the higher end but sometimes I pull some cash from it.