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There's definitely more things to do these days. The world is a more fun place.
You used to have to go into the city for any good ethnic food, and to Las Vegas or Atlantic City for gambling.
Now the suburbs (where I live at least) are full of Tapas, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Greek, Vietnamese, Mexican places, you name it. There's casinos, ziplining, salsa classes, rafting, skiing etc, all within a drive.
I understand that saving $ is a source of pride for some people, but ... life is to be lived.
You don't take any $ with you when you die.
Agree.. There is a balance to everything. If someone is living off Ramon Noodles so they can save money they aren't living intelligently. Yes no one wants to be homeless or without money when they are older but we only get one life and living just to work and save money so you can die comfortably in an upper scale nursing home is definitely not a goal of mine.
It all comes down to your income! I hate the saying it's not how much you make it's how much you save. That is horse crap. I am 29 and make a modest 45k income with no kids or student loans and 99% of my mindset in life at his point is focused on how I can double, triple or even quadruple my income..... NOT how can I save a measly $2,000 a year on my current income after all my other bills by cutting out some of the little things that make life more pleasurable like the occasional massage, etc. I guess I can cut out the grass fed beef and buy the cheaper crappy dog food kind, but is that really living intelligently? To each is own. Once again agree with Jobaba's mindset 100%
Where do they get that kind of money? Are they Subsidy Kids getting free money from parents, boy/girlfriends, etc? Nobody I work with has that kind of money to spend.
No, most just have well paid jobs. My daughter and SIL (in their late 20s) make a combined income of about 325K. They both have advanced degrees and work in well paying fields. They've made smart decisions about their educations and careers and it's paying off. They don't spend that much on going out every month, but they easily could. Instead, they're concentrating on saving to buy a home in a high COL area.
That's a lot of money that can be put into retirement. Just do the math....The money spent X years X interest rates....that is a lot of money they will one day regret spending it.
Here's the math. Let's stay you start at age 25, investing $1000 per month invested for 10 years in your 401k at 6%:
$164,698.74 after 10 years at age 35.
Because of the tax discount this is only $800 a month (or even less) out of pocket, so you still have at least $200 a month to blow on dinner & drinks.
If you didn't invest another dime and kept earning 6%, you'd have:
$294,949 at age 45.
$528,208 at age 55.
$945,940 at age 65.
And note this isn't about living like a pauper or living on rice/beans/ramen noodles or anything of the sort. Just cutting back on blowing $1000 a month on stuff you don't truly have to have for a decade...and then at age 35, allowing yourself to spend that $1000 a month as you please, while not investing another dime until you're 65. And this is at a pretty conservative 6% rate of return. At a still conservative 8%, you'd end up with: $1,853,189 at age 65 (same pattern...invest $1000 per month for 10 years, then leave it alone for the next 30).
It never made sense to me to spend so much on partying, but I'm a nerd and tend to be a bit of a cheapskate. If it makes them happy and they can afford it, I guess that's their decision to make. I'm not really in a position to judge, I spend more on that per month in daycare for each of the kids I have.
The key to financial happiness isn't earning more, it isn't saving more, and it isn't spending less. The key to financial happiness is having enough. For some that means earning more, but simply earning more usually means wanting more. Saving can be a good way of ensuring you have enough in the future while keeping your current desires in check, but some people do make themselves miserable in the hopes of being famously wealthy in the future.
Here's the math. Let's stay you start at age 25, investing $1000 per month invested for 10 years in your 401k at 6%:
$164,698.74 after 10 years at age 35.
Because of the tax discount this is only $800 a month (or even less) out of pocket, so you still have at least $200 a month to blow on dinner & drinks.
If you didn't invest another dime and kept earning 6%, you'd have:
$294,949 at age 45.
$528,208 at age 55.
$945,940 at age 65.
And note this isn't about living like a pauper or living on rice/beans/ramen noodles or anything of the sort. Just cutting back on blowing $1000 a month on stuff you don't truly have to have for a decade...and then at age 35, allowing yourself to spend that $1000 a month as you please, while not investing another dime until you're 65. And this is at a pretty conservative 6% rate of return. At a still conservative 8%, you'd end up with: $1,853,189 at age 65 (same pattern...invest $1000 per month for 10 years, then leave it alone for the next 30).
Spending $1000 as a 20 something year old is WAY more fun that spending it as a retiree. Screw the numbers. Not all financial decisions need to be made using strictly math. Some of you guys need to live a little.
Spending $1000 as a 20 something year old is WAY more fun that spending it as a retiree. Screw the numbers. Not all financial decisions need to be made using strictly math. Some of you guys need to live a little.
You totally missed the point. The benefits come looooooong before retirement age. Did you not catch the part where I mentioned you could stop saving at 35 to reach those numbers?
What's the #1 cause of divorce in America? Stress / fights over money. And we all know divorce costs a bundle (not to mention all the other non-financial fallout the comes with it)
Do you think someone who has $168k put away at age 35 because they took the partying down a notch in their 20s is going to be happier and less stressed for decades to come? I sure as h*ll do.
And by the way, I DID give a little. Saving the $1k in the 401k gives a tax break which can be spent on whatever. And $1k a month is NOT a lot as a percentage of salary for someone with a professional level income.
Some of you guys need to save a little so that your lives aren't a constant ball of stress for decades.
Many in the "give a little crowd" are all too happy to reach into other people's pockets in their 60s (or advocate for such) when they haven't saved enough. Few of them say "I screwed myself because I never saved much, so that's the breaks".
Here's the math. Let's stay you start at age 25, investing $1000 per month invested for 10 years in your 401k at 6%:
$164,698.74 after 10 years at age 35.
Because of the tax discount this is only $800 a month (or even less) out of pocket, so you still have at least $200 a month to blow on dinner & drinks.
If you didn't invest another dime and kept earning 6%, you'd have:
$294,949 at age 45. $528,208 at age 55. $945,940 at age 65.
And note this isn't about living like a pauper or living on rice/beans/ramen noodles or anything of the sort. Just cutting back on blowing $1000 a month on stuff you don't truly have to have for a decade...and then at age 35, allowing yourself to spend that $1000 a month as you please, while not investing another dime until you're 65. And this is at a pretty conservative 6% rate of return. At a still conservative 8%, you'd end up with: $1,853,189 at age 65 (same pattern...invest $1000 per month for 10 years, then leave it alone for the next 30).
This all sounds great on paper, and in a later post you also say this is not difficult to do for one who has a professional level income (define professional level of income because the average income for a 25 year old is a lot less then you must realize). The majority of not just 25 year olds but people in general do not make a professional level income, whatever amount you define that income at, which I'm guessing is in the ball park well north of 50k for an individual....... These numbers you laid out is also are blindly assuming there won't be another market crash.
Once again this all sounds great on paper and probably is great for the high income earners who don't have to change their lifestyle at all while stocking away $1,000 a month into their 401k, and that is why as I've already said I hate the saying it's not how much you make it's how much you keep, it is such a fallacy.
Last edited by JPrzybylski07; 10-17-2017 at 07:44 AM..
Your cookin must be horrible or they are closet alcoholics. Or possibly both
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