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you say this is just for you and not your wife. if that is correct then $500 for food for one person is crazy. Maybe I read that wrong. Also, $700 a month for a car is high. I'd work on lowering those two categories first (either sell the car or make your next one considerably less expensive) and putting more into retirement accounts.
I agree.. this is one thing i am having a hard time changing. I buy breakfast for $5 - $7 and lunch for $10. i know i know this is something i need to change. i am working on it and will get that to change. That plus every weekend eating out with family and probably once a week one a weekday we eat out. That is why it is $500 (thats being conservative too, its not always this high)
For my car, i owe $11,000 and it is worth $14,000 right now. I plan on paying it in full by next year and just keeping it until it breaks down, i figure that would be cheaper then selling it and buying something cheaper but less quality. I drive a 2011 BMW.
I think your savings for retirement are lacking. Shoot for 15% of annual income each year for retirement.
You should have no CC debt. If you are paying CC in total each month then ok.
Assume you have a one year loan for the car. If not way too much.
Assume the emergency 350 is building up an emergence fund and not monthly expenses. You need 6 months to a year of cash in case you are out of a job, disabled etc.
Where is your expense for health,life and disability insurance?
Where are your payroll and income taxes?
You do not get a passing grade but your income should be enough to get a passing grade. However a lot of info is missing and we would have to see all your family expenses. Put in a wife and Husband col.
It's a little low, but not that much assuming his wife has a similar amount and they split all living expenses. Doubled that would be 120k. Again, a little low, but not really low.
I think you're doing okay. Some of the people posting have a lot of resources and see the world with differently than most (which in my opinion is a good thing, but it's just not how most people think or are behaving... probably how they got to be where they are!) What they are telling you is good advice, so do it, but regardless I think you're doing pretty well for 33. We weren't much (if any) better off than you guys, but then I started hanging out here and other places (MrMoneyMoustache, Bogleheads, Frugalwoods) and it's taken us further along in financial security.
I think the only advice I have is to question your purchases more and define where you want to be in your finances. Don't let cars or clothing get in the way of a solid security.
From your answers to the questions it looks like you did a poor job a few years ago and you were smart enough to figure it out before you did a lot of damage to your financial health.
I think a lot of your (meaning most people) problems are due to a lack of financial education in high school and the ability to get credit.
If you want to be a patriotic American and help the economy, you are way underspending. You need to buy a new house as soon as possible, and another car, or at least a boat. You are underutilizing your credit, you can afford to pay another $500 a month, at least, on credit card bills.
I don't think you're doing badly at all, it's just that you can be doing better.
For your expenses -- shouldn't there for a line item for utilities -- some line item for cell/internet/cable/electric/gas/water? I'd imagine that's another $100-200 combined at least.
If I were you, I'd pay off the CC debt immediately; it's not that much compared to your 19k in savings. Just pay off that $2500 as I bet you're paying 15-20% interest on it. Then work on building your savings back up to your goal of 22k. Do you know what % you're contributing to your 401k? With your new paycheck -- your goal should be to keep your take home almost the same -- meaning the "extra" from your raise should be going into your 401k and your liquid savings, so up your percentages as needed.
In terms of expenses, I think lots of people think everyone can/should go from eating out 2 meals a day to eating rice and beans for 25 cents a day total. It's just not sustainable (for most), so make changes gradually. You say you eat 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 1-2 weekend meals, and 1 weekday dinner out. Ok -- how about cutting back in some combination -- meaning 1 day a week, skip breakfast/grab something from home AND 2 day a week, cut back on lunch and grab something for $5-6 rather $10/meal? That would be saving $15 per week over a week without totally depriving yourself. $15/week isn't that much, but it adds up to $60/month and $720/year.
Same thing with the gym -- $170 seems pricey to me. Can you find a cheaper gym? Or depending on how you work out -- could you quit the gym for the rest of the year, now that northern Va. weather is nice enough to work out outdoors and then re-join in January when gyms always give discounts to join? Saving $170/month for the rest of the year adds up to $510.
Drop the gym. There's plenty of home workouts and even MMA training at $60-70/month than what you are paying.
Much more should go to investing wisely.
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i know i know this is something i need to change. i am working on it and will get that to change. That plus every weekend eating out with family and probably once a week one a weekday we eat out. That is why it is $500 (thats being conservative too, its not always this high)
