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My paycheck after taxes and benefits is $760 each week. How am I supposed to get to $10,000 on that? It would mean basically not spending a single dime for 3 months, or more realistically if I put $100/week away in savings that would still take two years.
Yes, the latter is precisely what you should be doing. Frankly it would be easier if you had decided to save before selecting an apartment and car but it's still doable. You'll be glad you did next time you go through a month or two unemployed or have a large unexpected bill, and won't have to stress about the risk as much either. If you're comfortable with it, once you have the first few thousand you can crank up your insurance deductibles which should accelerate the process.
Once you have that emergency fund sewed up you should keep saving the same $100/week and put the cash into a 401K. It's tax advantaged, you'll want to retire some day, and you can borrow up to half of it back from yourself (up to $50K) to buy a house if and when the time comes for that.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,604,784 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ALackOfCreativity
Yes, the latter is precisely what you should be doing. Frankly it would be easier if you had decided to save before selecting an apartment and car but it's still doable. You'll be glad you did next time you go through a month or two unemployed or have a large unexpected bill, and won't have to stress about the risk as much either. If you're comfortable with it, once you have the first few thousand you can crank up your insurance deductibles which should accelerate the process.
Once you have that emergency fund sewed up you should keep saving the same $100/week and put the cash into a 401K. It's tax advantaged, you'll want to retire some day, and you can borrow up to half of it back from yourself (up to $50K) to buy a house if and when the time comes for that.
That's nice and all, but not doable with my current budget, I have paired everything down to where freeing up $100/week would mean not eating. I'm not going to move to the ghetto either, so until my fiance gets her Bachelor's, we are stuck with our current budget
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
27,606 posts, read 14,604,784 times
Reputation: 9169
Quote:
Originally Posted by ALackOfCreativity
Yes, the latter is precisely what you should be doing. Frankly it would be easier if you had decided to save before selecting an apartment and car but it's still doable. You'll be glad you did next time you go through a month or two unemployed or have a large unexpected bill, and won't have to stress about the risk as much either. If you're comfortable with it, once you have the first few thousand you can crank up your insurance deductibles which should accelerate the process.
Once you have that emergency fund sewed up you should keep saving the same $100/week and put the cash into a 401K. It's tax advantaged, you'll want to retire some day, and you can borrow up to half of it back from yourself (up to $50K) to buy a house if and when the time comes for that.
And the last time I was unemployed for more than a couple days was in the fall of 08 when I was still in construction, which went in to the toilet at that point.
The top 5% are millionaires. The median American household has high five figures in assets, the mean about half a million. Limit to the 20-40% income band and the median is $30k. Limit to the 40-60% band the median is $60K. Mean for both bands is six figures.
You really should have $10K saved, and cut expenses to build that up if you don't. You don't need to be able to pay a $10K medical claim; you need to be able to pay a few months rent and a few months insurance premiums so you DON'T have to pay a $10K medical cost.
Oh please, how many of the middle class have that much saved. People need to live.....eat, pay the mortgage or rent, raise their kids which is expensive, etc.
Yes, the latter is precisely what you should be doing. Frankly it would be easier if you had decided to save before selecting an apartment and car but it's still doable. You'll be glad you did next time you go through a month or two unemployed or have a large unexpected bill, and won't have to stress about the risk as much either. If you're comfortable with it, once you have the first few thousand you can crank up your insurance deductibles which should accelerate the process.
Once you have that emergency fund sewed up you should keep saving the same $100/week and put the cash into a 401K. It's tax advantaged, you'll want to retire some day, and you can borrow up to half of it back from yourself (up to $50K) to buy a house if and when the time comes for that.
Oh please, how many of the middle class have that much saved. People need to live.....eat, pay the mortgage or rent, raise their kids which is expensive, etc.
If you're paying a mortgage you more than likely have 10k saved in your house. A house isn't necessary an investment but it's a nice savings account.
Many people are bad at saving and living within their means. Between eating out way too much and buying items on credit when it's not an emergency, it's no wonder we can't save.
If he endorses single payer, then he's not a conservative.
This is such a "conservative" mindset. The inability to adjust to new information and change by conservatives literally defines them. Plus, the idea that "all" conservatives (or liberals) are exactly the same.
Given that a majority of Americans would support single payer, if we restrict conservatives to those who follow some platform statement in lock step, the balance of power may shift "bigly".
Look at how the conservatives have embraced Trump, what exactly about his promise to create "really great" government mandated health care is "conservative"? His claim that "no American will die on the street when I'm President"?
Single payer WILL happen. Obama has put the GOP in a vice. Now that they have had Obamacare, the majority are turning away from GOP health care (lack of) initiatives.
There will be a step back, but after 20 or 30 million lose access to health care, the backlash will be incredible. The next step forward will be even bigger than Obamacare! And it will be strongly supported by a majority. Like it or not, we are in the midst of a health care crisis in the USA and the current system simply is not working.
In appx 12 years Medicare will reach a breaking point and well before you can expect more companies to start pushing even more of the costs associated with group coverage onto employees. Particularly if we go into recession. Plus, when the layoffs begin anew, lots of folks who thought the system was working fine (for them) will get a yuge wake up call. Then a whole lot more people will have some serious skin in the game.
Argue all you want, but when 75% of Americans are faced with losing everything they ever worked for or paying $20, 30, 40 thousand a year for coverage, the rubber will finally meet the road.
Last edited by shaker281; 07-24-2017 at 02:33 AM..
In the US health care is a commodity to be bought and sold for profit, in Canada, it's considered a human right. Canada's publicly funded health insurance, known as Medicare, covers all residents. The US may be the last developed country to go to universal health care, but there is no doubt in my mind that it will happen...Private for profit health care is no longer viable because it is far too expensive and does not cover everyone.
No matter what the republicans come up with, if it is for profit, it will fail.
Oh please, how many of the middle class have that much saved. People need to live.....eat, pay the mortgage or rent, raise their kids which is expensive, etc.
I found a way.
Live below your means.
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