Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
They don’t need to survey 100 percent of people to know the true number. That’s why statistical sampling uses confidence intervals, which are usually at 95 percent.
Yeah, you really don't need to sample that many people to get a representative sample. Something like 1000 households will give you a good sample if you hit all the right demographics (age, race, area of the country, etc.).
Wow, you guys are so well-off. Break out your violins and get ready for a poor person’s stats:
Age 26
NJ
$55k per year
800 credit score
I identify as “middle class” in real life but impoverished on this forum . Lol but seriously, I understand that the average person out there is living paycheck to paycheck and has kids to support so things could be even worse. Overall, I live pretty comfortably. I’ve never understood the people who make $200k and still struggle to make ends meet.
I could have a major increase in salary once I gain more experience and land higher-paying jobs. Until then, we gonna be slummin it!
Assets: $26,500
- $14k in savings (plan to move most of it into money market soon).
- $12k in retirement (14% total contribution between me and employer)
- $500 misc
Liabilities: $12,500 (just student loans - I pay $800/mo in hopes of getting it all paid off by early next year. Sadly paying off my student loans will probably hurt my credit score.)
- Keep 1 cent in credit card debt (I think my limit is $1200...not sure).
Net worth: ~$14,000
Expenses:
- $675 per month for my half of the rent.
- $160 per month in groceries
- $148 per month for monthly bus pass.
- $100 per month for cell phone bill.
- $17 per month for my half of electric bill.
- I take one decent vacation OR long weekend road trip every other year totaling about $500-$1500 each time.
Dumb young adult mistakes made:
- Put $4k down for an expensive car lease. Lease is now over and now gladly have no car.
- Moving out of my parents house at age 24.
- Staying in the NYC metro area.
-Not doing better in HS/CC and securing more scholarships.
Smart choices made:
- Not having a car
- Not having kids
- Having a S.O. who could support themselves. My SO is not working but living off of a grandparents inheritance until college is done in 1.5 years.
- Finding a cheap apartment (by local standards).
- Going to public university instead of private.
- Refusing to ever get married.
- Not having cable.
Last edited by HomeHunt82; 06-04-2019 at 12:15 PM..
Age- 55
Net worth- 50K in savings after paying for our new home build this year. Property tax for new home will only be $55 a mo
401k- 25k so far. Will be working until age 70
Currently earn $35K year, however, we have a large house payment until the home is completed and this home is sold
Wow, you guys are so well-off. Break out your violins and get ready for a poor person’s stats:
Age 26
NJ
$55k per year
800 credit score
I identify as “middle class†in real life but impoverished on this forum . Lol but seriously, I understand that the average person out there is living paycheck to paycheck and has kids to support so things could be even worse. Overall, I live pretty comfortably. I’ve never understood the people who make $200k and still struggle to make ends meet.
I could have a major increase in salary once I gain more experience and land higher-paying jobs. Until then, we gonna be slummin it!
Assets: $26,500
- $14k in savings (plan to move most of it into money market soon).
- $12k in retirement (14% total contribution between me and employer)
- $500 misc
Liabilities: $12,500 (just student loans - I pay $800/mo in hopes of getting it all paid off by early next year. Sadly paying off my student loans will probably hurt my credit score.)
- Keep 1 cent in credit card debt (I think my limit is $1200...not sure).
Net worth: ~$14,000
Expenses:
- $675 per month for my half of the rent.
- $160 per month in groceries
- $148 per month for monthly bus pass.
- $100 per month for cell phone bill.
- $17 per month for my half of electric bill.
- I take one decent vacation OR long weekend road trip every other year totaling about $500-$1500 each time.
Dumb young adult mistakes made:
- Put $4k down for an expensive car lease. Lease is now over and now gladly have no car.
- Moving out of my parents house at age 24.
- Staying in the NYC metro area.
-Not doing better in HS/CC and securing more scholarships.
Smart choices made:
- Not having a car
- Not having kids
- Having a S.O. who could support themselves. My SO is not working but living off of a grandparents inheritance until college is done in 1.5 years.
- Finding a cheap apartment (by local standards).
- Going to public university instead of private.
- Refusing to ever get married.
- Not having cable.
You are doing fine at your age, just keep working hard and advance in your career/salary regularly and up your savings as your income increases, avoid lifestyle creep. I have a family of 4 phones and pay less than $100/month, so you might be able to cut down your cell bill as well.
Thanks to some additional savings and the luck of being gifted an almost-new car (my grandmother's 2016 Prius with 6000 miles that has been meticulously maintained for how little it's driven and spent its winters in a garage), I crossed over the 100K net worth mark and for the first time in my adult life have absolutely no debt. I'll be able to dump all the car payments, higher maintenance, and gas costs I was spending on my previous vehicle into my house downpayment fund and increase my savings rate to about 25%.
Might not be much to some, but considering that 7 years ago I was making 35K a year and staring down a net worth of -35K thanks to cancer, it's huge for me. When I realized that I hit that milestone, I cried for about 2 days. I might even take my first *real* vacation away since college!
Note: I generally don't count my vehicle in my net worth, but I like the psychological boost here.
Moral of the story: if you're in a rough patch, even a prolonged rough patch, it can get better. Make compound interest work for you. I'd like my retirement savings to be more, but they're pretty good given how little money I made for so many years because I consistently put at least 13% away and increased that a little bit with every raise.
Nice, 6 figures is good at your age, I had no net worth until my mid-late twenties due to graduate school but quickly made up ground with aggressive saving. More importantly having a positive outlook is a fantastic trait that will get you far in life. Too many are too focused on the negatives instead of counting their blessings.
You are doing fine at your age, just keep working hard and advance in your career/salary regularly and up your savings as your income increases, avoid lifestyle creep. I have a family of 4 phones and pay less than $100/month, so you might be able to cut down your cell bill as well.
That’s definitely true.
I know certain prepaid vendors like Boost, Sprint and Cricket have deals for a fraction of the price.
But I needed unlimited data and the latest iPhone so it sorta set me back a bit
You are doing fine at your age, just keep working hard and advance in your career/salary regularly and up your savings as your income increases, avoid lifestyle creep. I have a family of 4 phones and pay less than $100/month, so you might be able to cut down your cell bill as well.
Not very likely unless you're willing to go to some cheap company. The price is $100/month for a cell phone, bottom line, it sucks being single with cell phones. It's literally like $15 to add a line. I had this same issue being a single guy, it felt ridiculous to me that I'm paying $100/month and a family of 4 is paying $145/month because they added 3 lines to the original, like what the heck?! That's AT&T, Verizon, any of the carriers with any decent plan even their lower end plans, it's still always the same thing.
That being said, if I was struggling financially like many people, sure, I'd probably try one of those hokey services like Cricket or whatever it is out there, I know there are some options for cheaper coverage, just not with the major carriers.
Nice, 6 figures is good at your age, I had no net worth until my mid-late twenties due to graduate school but quickly made up ground with aggressive saving. More importantly having a positive outlook is a fantastic trait that will get you far in life. Too many are too focused on the negatives instead of counting their blessings.
Oh trust me, I've spent a lot of time focused on the negatives and still feel pretty depressed that even owning a condo within a reasonable commute to work and future job opportunities feels out of reach to me. The key is not getting thwarted from my savings goals. It helped that I lived with roommates until I just couldn't stand it one more minute.
Luckily, I was able to get my master's degree for free through tuition remission. I'm considering picking up a second master's degree just for the hell of it because not taking advantage of that benefit feels like leaving money on the table.
I've always been someone who experienced a lot of luck. It's not always the good kind (like getting diagnosed with a rare stage IV cancer in my early 20s), but it's not always bad either. I'm very lucky to have found a job that has given me a pathway for advancement and covers my master's degrees, and also very lucky I had the foresight to maximize scholarship opportunities even if I had to trade in a little prestige so I wouldn't have debt for undergrad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JonathanLB
Not very likely unless you're willing to go to some cheap company. The price is $100/month for a cell phone, bottom line, it sucks being single with cell phones. It's literally like $15 to add a line. I had this same issue being a single guy, it felt ridiculous to me that I'm paying $100/month and a family of 4 is paying $145/month because they added 3 lines to the original, like what the heck?! That's AT&T, Verizon, any of the carriers with any decent plan even their lower end plans, it's still always the same thing.
Definitely true. I am 31 and still on a family plan because it keeps all of our costs down. I pay $50 a month for my share of the family plan when, if I was to go on my own, I would pay well over $125 for the same service. I'm expected to have a data plan due to my work (social media management) and needing to be accessible and able to access all of our channels 24/7. I could go a bit cheaper with less data, but not that much.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. Lol but seriously, I understand that the average person out there is living paycheck to paycheck and has kids to support so things could be even worse. Overall, I live pretty comfortably. I’ve never understood the people who make $200k and still struggle to make ends meet.
I might even take my first *real* vacation away since college! 