Why do we struggle with money? (accounts, payroll, obligation, house)
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What's the big deal about retirement anyway? I watched my Pawpaw and now my dad only begin to get old once they were no longer working every day. My Nana, on the other hand, worked in some capacity (volunteering only toward the end) every day until maybe the last two years of her life.
I certainly do NOT expect to sit at a desk for too many more years (I'm 50), but I expect that I will always work. I have not even tried to plan for retirement, as I don't want to retire. Moreover, I want to do the things that cost money while I am still young enough to enjoy them, and not when my great grandkids are pushing me through ruins, museums, etc in a wheelchair.
You assume a lot. You assume you will always work. You assume you will always be employable. You assume you wont get ill or injured and wont be able to work.
Therefore, since you arent even planning for retirement, I assume you will be living in low cost housing counting your pennies. Good luck.
My widowed mom is a super-saver and managed to go from a near broke stay-at-home mom in 1986 to a city employee working in IT. She earns $118K a year with her total comp package costing $148K (this is all public information). The kicker is that her annual passive dividend income is twice her W2 earnings. She's always preached:
Living below your means
"Waste not, want not"
A penny saved is a penny earned
Don't compare yourself to others and be happy with what you got
Warren Buffett's advice of not investing a share unless you're confident enough to buy the whole company
Avoid paying interest..."where are you going to invest to make "X" amount in interest?"
Money and material wealth does not equate to happiness
I pretty much follow my mom's philosophies and have always seemed creative ways to save money by going the less conventional route. There are a bunch of ways to adjust your lifestyle to save a lot more money. I think it's worth at least looking into (you don't have to follow through, but at least do the research). One thing I think that would help most people is to stop citing salary figures and consider the actual post tax money. e.g.: do not think of yourselves as making $106K a year...you never had $106K because the taxman and other obligations (car payments, mortgage, property tax, state and local tax, etc) are whittling your income down to $66K a year, which you can spend or save at your choosing. Essentially you ought to sandbag your income to influence your spending...sort of analogous to "underpromise/overdeliver." (the contrapositive would be disastrous!)
I remember graduating college and a lot of my peers were buying/leasing $35K cars justifying it as "I can make that money in a year." It's a fallacy when you consider my above point, and that can easily lead to overspending because people have less money than they realize.
Your mom is awesome. Give her a “well done” for me.
What's the big deal about retirement anyway? I watched my Pawpaw and now my dad only begin to get old once they were no longer working every day. My Nana, on the other hand, worked in some capacity (volunteering only toward the end) every day until maybe the last two years of her life.
I certainly do NOT expect to sit at a desk for too many more years (I'm 50), but I expect that I will always work. I have not even tried to plan for retirement, as I don't want to retire. Moreover, I want to do the things that cost money while I am still young enough to enjoy them, and not when my great grandkids are pushing me through ruins, museums, etc in a wheelchair.
Ummm...being able to do things you enjoy while you are healthy...is why many of us want to retire in the first place. Has that thought honestly never occurred to you?? Retiring does NOT mean stopping all activity and sitting idle. It also does not mean that it was a voluntary choice. Many people have NO choice due to medical issues. I don’t think you have a very good grasp on reality if you’ve not given a single thought or action towards planning for retirement.
I make 41K, my husband makes 65K. So together we bring in 6 figures. Our mortgage with taxes escrowed in is $1535 a month. Our house is small and our heat and electric bills are low. We don’t have kids. We have 2 dogs but they are definitely less expensive than kids. We have the normal bills (car payments, cable, internet, groceries, credit cards). We don’t spend much. Most spending is eating out. But we’ve cut down. Wouldn’t you think a couple making 2 somewhat decent salaries and no kids would able to go on vacations etc? I mean we have some savings (about 20K which friends tell me is a lot but it’s not. Maybe for them it is) but we are always concerned about spending too much.
One suggestion to really see just how much you spend per month is to use your credit card (one card) for all payments and spending for one full month. Start off with $0 and see what the balance is at the end of the month.
I’m always torn on how far to take retirement savings.
I get 7 percent dollar for dollar match and my wife gets 6 percent dollar for dollar match. Technically, you could say we should be maxing out our 401k. But we’re so young, that hitting those kind of matches at our salary range of 120 to 150k let’s say, should easily make us millionaires. Let’s say we’re putting around $1400 per month away with the match. I don’t want to put more away. I’d rather have an extra life experience per year. I’d rather have fun and eat out. I wanted to pay down student loans, get a house, and travel.
Even if I get my next promotion in the next 2 years, my wife and I have already talked about that’s the point where I want to start farming out our inside and outside housework to cleaning and yard services. I’d rather buy my time back while I’m young to do other stuff when I’m not working rather than kick $5,000 more to an electronic account I won’t see for literally 30 years (at the minimum). I’m thinking we make enough early enough in life to still end up millionaires with our current savings. I want to enjoy the journey. Not hope I can do stuff in my so called golden years.
I’m always torn on how far to take retirement savings.
I get 7 percent dollar for dollar match and my wife gets 6 percent dollar for dollar match. Technically, you could say we should be maxing out our 401k. But we’re so young, that hitting those kind of matches at our salary range of 120 to 150k let’s say, should easily make us millionaires. Let’s say we’re putting around $1400 per month away with the match. I don’t want to put more away. I’d rather have an extra life experience per year. I’d rather have fun and eat out. I wanted to pay down student loans, get a house, and travel.
Even if I get my next promotion in the next 2 years, my wife and I have already talked about that’s the point where I want to start farming out our inside and outside housework to cleaning and yard services. I’d rather buy my time back while I’m young to do other stuff when I’m not working rather than kick 5,000 to an electronic account I won’t see for literally 30 years.
I started with a yard service to handle the seeding/fertilizing/weed control, a few years ago. I am not retired, but my time is just too valuable. Absolutely worth every cent. I do still cut the grass and do the physical maintenance, but that part I enjoy. Now housecleaning...I definitely want to find a good service for that. I had a cleaner years ago, before my son started college, and it was awesome, at first. But she got lax, and the money became too tight after college started so I ended it.
FWIW...I agree. I sure never waited to do things I wanted. Obviously I have to work, but I do an awful lot in “pursuit of happiness”. I think living like a miser when you don’t have to, makes no sense. Have some fun.
It is a good idea to put at least 10% of your salary in your 401(k) throughout your career.
I have not always been able to do that myself, but I ideally one should if it all possible.
Well by that measure, we’re saving 13%ish of our salary and then getting another 13% employers match.
Chessiemom, I agree. We’re doing our trips to Disney, big cities, landmarks, national parks NOW. I’m not waiting until I’m 60 and free to roam in my RV where I might not be able to walk 10 miles in a day.
My job is technical and stressful. There’s just something so unsatisfying about stacking up money beyond the match to “max out” your 401k, compared to going up into the St. Louis arch or walking through Chicago as a tourist and seeing the bean. After your needs are met, more money is just so....bleh. I’d rather have fun life days.
I work with many people who are millionaires and they’re going to live real grand in retirement. Someday. If they actually have their health.
Last edited by Thatsright19; 05-24-2019 at 10:17 AM..
Well by that measure, we’re saving 13%ish of our salary and then getting another 13% employers match.
Great, keep it up and you'll have nothing to worry about financially.
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