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.
Did you mean gross income, not net? Net income can already have some savings factored in.
A lot of our income is already going to tax-advantaged savings before we even see it, so for us it ends up being ~30% of our net, 16% of gross. We then kick in extra savings, bringing us to about 36% savings right now. It'll be over 50% when we move to TN next spring.
0%, since you are just including rent or mortgage.
I do believe the recommendation is 30%.
At least it was when we bought.
Saving as much as you want means... what??
Saving as much as you want = your personal savings goal, which is usually a percentage of your income.
Basically I was asking what is the maximum % you'd be willing to contribute to housing and it not impact whatever that monthly savings % is that you strive to put away.
My net income varies but at most, 18% of our income at this time. I do agree with the others in terms of some money pulled away already from your paycheck.
20% at most, I would rather invest my money or spend it on experiences, than into a house. Houses are just not that important to me. You need to look at what you value and spend accordingly.
Our planned upper limit (we're starting house hunting) would place us right around 25% net when you factor in taxes, homeowner's, HOA, etc. Without that it will be more like 18% for the mortgage/interest alone. That is also not counting my wife's potential salary bonus and any (admittedly likely negligible) side income. Gross it is more like 15% (counting everything).
We're also contributing 15% to 401k/403b (with an employer match of ~10% so around 25% of gross savings are pre-tax), so that is largely where the discrepancy comes from. I'm working hard to talk my wife into keeping the house purchase relatively small. As others have said - the house seems to be where most people go horribly awry in their spending. We could certainly go above this number and probably still meet our savings goals, but we'd need to cut discretionary spending. I'd rather have less house and more money for other things given it will be us and maybe 1-2 kids. That said, we also don't want to undershoot on the house and end up wanting to move 4-5 years down the line.
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.
