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TagUrIt posted:One more question about the magical 3-12 months expenses: Where do most people keep this money? I keep a good portion of my emergency fund in my checking account, personally, just because my savings/checking accounts aren't linked and it can take awhile to transfer money, and I may not have that time in a true emergency. I keep it at $5k and then anything above that gets transferred into my savings account for short term goals.
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Jan 21, 2010 20:33
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Picaresque posted:I am planning on studying abroad this Spring semester and am going to travel while abroad..... I'm not using it, and would appreciate having more of it when I really need it. Will you not be paying for that "traveling while abroad" this spring for some reason? If you're going to be paying for it then you will need at least some of that money to be free and available to you, so you wouldn't want it locked up in a CD. I'd research where you think you'd want to go, how you'll get there, where you would want to stay, what types of things you want to do while there and get an idea of how much you'll need for "Travel." Traveling can be cheap but it can also be very expensive - all depends what you have in mind, but it seems like you do want to use at least some of it, and you want to use it soon. When you finish school will you still have no expenses if you don't get a job right away? Just because you have no current expenses doesn't mean you can't get an estimate as to how much you would need - Any particular place you want to live? How much does rent usually go for there or would you be okay with moving back in with your parents? Emergency funds are also good for other things - injuries that insurance doesn't cover, major car repairs if you have a car, etc. After that - Any other short term goals you have planned? More traveling, etc.? Once you've got an idea as to discretionary spending while abroad/budgeting for travel/an emergency fund for if you don't find a job right away, like everyone else said - I'd open an IRA and invest the rest in there.
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Jan 22, 2010 05:00
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second best sponge posted:This only recently started happening, and I think it would earn more in a regular savings account. It would. If you don't mind something that doesn't work quite like a savings account, Smarty Pig is still at 2%. Most other savings accounts are 1.5% or below. I use American Express High Yield Savings and that gives me 1.5% interest for the time being. Interest rates just kind of suck right now so it's just going to equal about $4 a month in interest if you get one of the top rates.
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Feb 6, 2010 22:17
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On a related note to interest rates (and a double post - Sorry!), does anyone have any experience with Alliant Credit Union? (http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/) It's got a pretty good savings rate going on (2% APY), decent high interest checking (1.75% APY but with the only requirement being one electronic deposit per month vs. the usual 10-12 Debit Card Transactions) and some okay CD rates for the short term (12-18 month CD at 2%). Donating $10 to an Orphan foundation or being a PTA member can get you access if you don't live in Chicago so it's something I've been considering but would love to hear anyone's experience with it. Edit: They also seem to make your Experian Credit Report available to you free of charge. KarmaCandy fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Feb 7, 2010 |
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Feb 7, 2010 19:55
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lwoodio posted:Can anyone give some advice? I'd check around at local Credit Unions to see if there are any good rates out there. If not, possibly something like Smarty Pig would work for you - it's paying around 2%. If you have direct deposit and don't mind making 10 - 12 debit card transactions, you could put the money in a high interest checking account, those can pay out 3 - 5%. Rates just aren't very good right now anywhere.
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Apr 9, 2010 21:39
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herakles posted:my food and restaurant budget does include paying for my girlfriend whenever we go out to eat together and buying groceries whenever we cook together (she's broke). Groceries are expensive here, but I also eat out too much. Why is your girlfriend broke? I think fixing that may be the best solution to saving a little more.
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Apr 14, 2010 23:08
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3rd World Dictator posted:Any big obvious costs I'm forgetting? Rent?
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Apr 23, 2010 21:48
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3rd World Dictator posted:I'm pretty sure I mentioned it? I guess I didn't mention a DOLLAR amount, but yeah, I mean there's rent and I'm budgeting 2.5x out of pocket in the first month for security deposit. I just didn't want to get into too many specifics because I dunno, I'd rather not get too deep into how much I make or whatever. Nobody cares how much you make. This is a finance forum - half of a budget is expenses but income is usually a pretty important figure to know too. Anyway, your biggest cost will be rent so be sure you have a truly accurate idea on how much it costs to live in downtown San Francisco and in whatever specific area you have in mind (since you have no car, be sure you probably want to be pretty picky about neighborhoods with good bus routes and grocery store access). I'd buy a bike too. Do you already have the roommate situation figured out? Are you going to move in with someone who's already living in an apartment or get your own apartment and then find a roommate? If you're going to move in to your own place then get a roommate, be sure you have a few month's rent saved up so you're not forced to take just anybody. Your dining out estimates look very low unless you're bringing lunch from home. I would estimate lunch at $7 - $10, for example. Do you drink? Do you like to do anything else aside from eating that could cost money? Do you like long hilly walks or is there a chance you're going to take a lot of cabs late night? I'm guessing you'll sleep on the futon but other things you may want - a TV, things like dishes and silverware, pots, pans, shower curtain, lamps, trash cans... it's good to have a large miscellaneous budget when you first move in.
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Apr 23, 2010 22:22
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3rd World Dictator posted:Thanks for the help, Karma. I appreciate it. I know that was a lot of text but this is the part of my budget I've always suffered at. The rest is mainly asking around and being slightly conservative. With food I feel people always want to be like "man I will just eat yogurt and ramen 8 times a day I will save SO MUCH" and end up destroying their budgets. China Town should be pretty cheap ($5 - $6 for an entree). If you're worried about food, try googling a few places. Here's one resource that has cheaper foods on there: http://www.allmenus.com/ca/san-francisco/ I'm mostly basing my lunch estimate on "convenience" lunches - those sandwich places are always pretty expensive and a sandwich will cost $7 - $8. If you go ethnic, it will be cheaper. When I was an attorney in NYC at a big law firm, people brought in lunch all the time and they're pretty judgmental people. If there's a fridge, I wouldn't worry about bringing stuff in. Pro Tip: We worked long hours and totally kept things like boxes of cereal hidden in our drawers. Also, if where you work has a lot of meetings, find where the leftover meeting food goes. A lot of places will leave out the leftovers for everyone to grab. I don't know what you mean by "nice restaurant" but personally, to me, $20 in San Francisco isn't going to get you dinner in a nice restaurant. Entrees at "nice" restaurants are usually $20 - $30 alone + tip. However, the economy sucks right now so if you make an effort there are plenty of restaurant deals out there if you look for them - think like 3 course meals at nice restaurants for like $30. One of the biggest thing I underestimated when I moved to NYC was cost of alcohol in the city. San Fran is a little cheaper but the average Bud Light in NYC was $5. Again, make an effort to find cheap bars and you can reduce this. Head out for the night and go into whatever bar you see and you'll probably end up paying for it. Avoid things like bottle service and pre-game a lot. My other advice due to my own bad experience is figure out how easy/hard it is to get out of your rental contract (two months rent to get out is standard). Being trapped in a high priced apartment in a high priced city after a layoff is pretty much the worst thing in the world. Sounds like you'll have plenty of disposable income, and you're prepared. Save money for San Fran winery trips.
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Apr 24, 2010 00:01
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Ziir posted:I'm curious where you go where it's $5/bottle of Bud Light. I was in NYC a few weeks ago and I thought the whole "drinking in NYC is expensive" was grossly exaggerated. But then again I was drunk the times I was buying beer so who knows. Actually I lied, it's not $5/Bud Light - it's $5 per Stella. The problem is there's often no Bud Light on the menu and Stella is the cheapest beer offered. If you end up in Times Square or near Grand Central, a bottle of Bud Light will probably be $5, but I've definitely had a $3 PBR "special" in Greenwich Village. There's a reason why everyone recommends Rudy's and it's because at $3 for a Budweiser, it's ridiculously cheap and they offer a good line up of cheap beer. It's ridiculously easy to drink for cheap in NYC if you do a little research and hit up all the great drink specials and dive/fratty bars that exist but if you wander around aimlessly, you're going to end up paying more. The same is probably true in San Fran.
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Apr 28, 2010 15:56
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Miss Fats posted:The reason for the MacBook has almost nothing to do with the job and everything to do with what I want in a laptop while also having something I can use at work. Okay, except you can't afford it right now so you should look at other cheaper alternatives and hope an awesome computer that you like is available when you have no credit card debt and a steady job and can afford it. If you only spent money on rent/gas/groceries/utilities, you'd manage to save ~$9600. You already admit you want to go out and eat 1 - 2 times per week and go out to bars (in addition to spending $300 on groceries for just yourself, by the way, which is a pretty large number) so you'll probably have much less than $9600. You already have $7,798.25 in credit card debt. That leaves you with a balance of $1802. And you want a safety net for when the job runs out. It may be a lovely computer but it eats up about 30% of your savings and you don't have a job lined up after this one.
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May 10, 2010 03:00
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80k posted:like Airline mileage? I have yet to be able to use my miles for anything other than magazine subscriptions over the past decade. Which is sad considering I have 100k miles with Delta. There is always some restriction or it doesn't work with my schedule or something. I have a Delta Sky Miles Platinum card and personally, I'm happy with it and have never had a problem redeeming miles. They have both a "Book a Trip Using Miles" and a "Pay with Miles" where 10,000 miles = $100 off your flight. The Pay with Miles option never has any blackout dates, though it tends to be the bigger rip off than the "Book a Trip Using Miles" option. Still, it's better than using $100k in miles for magazines. I tend to make last minute weekend getaways vs. holiday travel and have never run into any blackout dates so depends what you're interested in. You just have to keep in mind the high annual rate though - $150/yr for the Platinum Card and $95/yr for the Gold Card. It is easily worth it if you travel a lot on Delta for your job and they let you use your personal cards to pay and then reimburse you but otherwise thats a pretty hefty yearly fee (though the waived first checked bag fee can make it worth it if you're not a light packer). KarmaCandy fucked around with this message at 18:24 on Aug 10, 2010 |
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Aug 10, 2010 18:12
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Large Hardon Collider posted:What's wrong with national banks? I just switched to BoA because they have an ATM on campus, saving me $4 per withdrawal. There are banks out there that will reimburse all your ATM fees so it's worth taking a look at some of the smaller banks (or online banks like ING and Schwab if the fact that they're online doesn't bother you).
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Aug 23, 2010 17:38
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Rodge posted:I've told my mum that if she wants a holiday (which is easily going to be £3000) we're going to have to go into total lock-down on luxuries. So you're putting a stop to luxuries so that you can save up for a different luxury. Wouldn't it be better to stop paying for all those luxuries so that you guys can have an emergency fund and be able to do things like fix your water heater or whatever? (hopefully in your bank account so that you can allocate it properly) I just don't really get this attitude of "Alright, time to buckle down and save. No more nice clothes, no more football games, no more video games, no more dinners out. Time to get serious. Then once we've saved enough - we'll just spend it all right away on a vacation and go back to being broke!" It sounds like you guys do need to go on lock down for luxuries but not so you guys can go on an expensive vacation.
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Oct 11, 2010 17:47
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Rodge posted:She says if we don't have a holiday she's going to end up killing herself, she's so depressed. You guys are still spending a lot of money on a vacation, especially in your situation - that's like $5000. You can definitely rent a caravan or cottage on the shore for less than that. So long as it has a kitchen so you can cook while you're there and is near cheap outdoor activities, I think you can find something that won't cost you anywhere near your budget.
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Oct 12, 2010 17:40
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And before you ask she doesn't believe in counselling and doesn't have time anyway (her words, not mine). She says she'd feel better if her life wasn't so hard.
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Rodge posted:Argh, I think it'd be easier to just abandon them and build a life on my own. Totally unfair, but easier. What does your mom do for a living? Family business stuff too? You're 21 years old - there's nothing unfair about going out on your own and starting your own life, pursuing a career you want and building your own nest egg so that you can live your own life. If you can't move out and never look back - at least take control of your own money and say no to things that are unnecessary. I don't really get the point of sticking around - you're not helping her learn to budget so that she can feed the kids and fix the water heater, you're just staying around and helping her save for a vacation that she still can't afford. Just let her live off credit like she's been doing and help out with the mortgage if you can and encourage each of your siblings to leave as soon as possible. Also, your mom is not going to kill herself if you guys don't go to Cyprus - she's being dramatic.
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Oct 12, 2010 23:46
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ImPureAwesome posted:I probably spend a total of like a high-balled estimate of $40 every two weeks on food/entertainment, and gonna (hopefully) graduate with a bachelor in Elec. Engineering in two years. Is it that easy? A lot of it will be adjusting to the fact that this won't always be the case (and honestly, you probably spend more than $40 every two weeks, you just dont realize it) and realize that now is the time to start saving while you do have so few expenses. Then, when you have money saved up, it won't be a total shock that you have to put 3 months rent down when you first move into your apartment And you have to pay moving expenses and you have to buy furniture AND you have to buy work clothes, etc.... and you have to do it all before your first paycheck even arrives. But in general, realize that you won't have only $40 in expenses forever. There's rent/your mortgage, utilities, cell phone bills, transportation costs, various forms of insurance, groceries, out of pocket medical/prescription expenses, and plenty of odds and ends - gym memberships, the cost of your hobbies, paying for lunch everyday, dry cleaning/laundry, haircuts, travel costs to the extent you want to go anywhere, cable, internet, netflix, the fact you have better taste than ramen and natty now... the list goes on and it all adds up and then when kids come along... Also realize that your salary isn't what you'll actually be taking home. Taxes can be a huge shock. To the extent you end up with a high paying job, you could see about 50% of your salary taken away after federal, state and local taxes. Take that into account when making important decisions like how much you want to spend on rent. Prioritize what's important to you because you probably can't have everything you want. Do you want to live alone after college? In an expensive city? In a trendy neighborhood in that city? With a minimal commute to work? In a building with a doorman for safety reasons? Things like that cost money and add up. A 500 sq. ft studio apartment in midtown manhattan in a doorman building can cost $2300+/month. It can be hard to have self control when you have a good paycheck and the things you want don't seem ridiculous.
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Nov 24, 2010 23:05
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SolidKZ posted:For example your house is supposed to be 1.5x your salary This number seems wildly inaccurate. Someone who makes $100,000, can afford more than a $150,000 house, unless you're looking to pay it off in a very quick amount of time. The one I've heard thrown around is that your monthly housing payments should be no more than 28% - 30% of your income. Not sure if that's supposed to be gross or net but I used net when I made my own decisions because anything else seemed like it would leave me a little tight when it comes to the amount I wanted to save. I don't know about car. In my own world, the car you can afford is the one you can pay for out of pocket. If you have $40,000 saved up and you want to spend it on a car, that's how much you can spend on a car. KarmaCandy fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 18:33
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SolidKZ posted:I'll simplify it: Is the standard for buying a car 20% of your annual gross ($19,000), or should the car payments on a 36 month loan be 20% of your monthly net($35,000)? Which is more acceptable? Or should I just buy a Koenigsseg SSX because I'm a Gazibillionaire? Your monthly car payment can be 20% of your monthly take home. However, that doesn't mean its the standard for buying a car. That is more like the maximum amount you should spend on a car. This calculator has Dave Ramsey's suggested budgetary percentages for major expenses: http://www.webwinder.com/calculators/calcbdgt.html
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Dec 5, 2010 20:44
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Exi7wound posted:If I take a part time job, can I continue to draw reduced benefits, or will my claim be invalidated because I've found employment? It'll be state specific. There are definitely some states that disqualify you if you work for four or more days during the week. So a part time job where you work 3 days but work for many hours won't disqualify you and you'll receive partial benefits, but a job where you work 4 days and less hours will disqualify you completely. A dumb, dumb rule that discourages people from taking part time jobs but it definitely exists and I assume other states have similarly dumb rules.
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Dec 27, 2010 23:20
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Tricky Ed posted:Credit score gurus: No it doesn't, the length of time you've had a bank account open doesn't matter at all. The length of time you've had a credit card open, on the other hand, does matter and is a factor in your credit score. Tricky Ed posted:Anyone have a suggestion for a better place to save in the short term but keep things relatively liquid? You could look into smarty pig. They have slightly higher rates and it's still a liquid account.
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Jan 29, 2011 16:07
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Listen to moana. The difference between smarty pig at 1.35% and a 2 year CD at 1.5% is 0.15%. To give up the liquidity and any upside potential for 0.15%, at no amount of money does that make sense. That is $1.50 per year per $1000. Even if its $1,000,000, if you have that much money, an extra $125 per month will mean nothing to you. Just remember that Smarty Pig only gives that rate up to $50,000 so if she really did inherit a whole lot of money, she'll want to put anything about $50,000 in some other account - whether that be a CD or a savings account like Amex with it's 1.3%.
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Feb 18, 2011 22:58
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Omerta posted:I don't have an exact list on me, but from memory the usual list is: What about non-food items that most people buy in the grocery store? Are they included in that bill? Couscous takes like 10 minutes to make and beans are really cheap - try making those yourself rather than buying them in a premade mixture? If you eat a lot of chicken breasts, buy bulk frozen chicken breasts. Where I am, mangos are usually expensive - replace mangos with a non-exotic fruit grown locally if they're pretty expensive relative to other fruit where you live too. You have some expensive things on there - almonds, coffee, granola... those things are all usually pretty pricy. Most of these things can also be bought in bulk if you want to keep them on there and will be cheaper. Also buy brown rice and black beans in bulk to use for carbs. Mostly, it just doesn't sound like you have a whole lot of carbs in your diet and carbs are usually both cheap and filling. Instead of eating an extra serving of organic pork, try serving it with a side of brown rice or black beans that you bought in bulk. Its better for you than most granola anyway.
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Mar 2, 2011 03:42
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Fuschia tude posted:I've usually found the opposite. Not sure what to tell you? Most fiberous, complex carbohydrates are filling and are digested slowly. Brown rice, whole wheat pasta and beans, for example, are very filling and pretty cheap (esp. the rice and beans). Plenty of cultures use the rice & beans as a base and go lighter on the meat because it's filling and inexpensive. Oatmeal is cheap too if you buy it in bulk and makes for a really hearty breakfast. Protein is filling too but it's more expensive. It's much cheaper to have a filling carb as a staple and throw in fresh veggies and meat on top than to have a dinner of pure meat and fresh veggies.
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Mar 5, 2011 01:29
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I am really bummed that Mint has stopped working for me as far as connecting to my Schwab accounts. That's my checking account, my regular investment account, and my Roth. Still good for recording what I'm spending on junk but it no longer sees my paycheck or my rent check.
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Mar 6, 2011 00:35
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Mr Tweeze posted:Should I just keep the citi card and continue making small purchases with it, or am I ok to cancel it and apply for a card with a better reward system? You can keep it open AND apply for a new card. I would suggest applying for the new card before you cancel your old card anyway. Closing an account doesn't hurt that badly if you're not looking to do anything credit-related in the near future like buying a house but if there's no annual fee then there's no real reason to cancel it.
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Mar 6, 2011 17:14
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alreadybeen posted:FYI - I've had intermittent issues with Mint over the past month as well, but most have worked themselves out. Those that didn't I just re-entered my information and all works now. Hopefully it'll work out - it's been going on for awhile now and I think it's Schwab specific rather than having to do with their updates. It connects but all of my accounts show up as $0. The first time I saw it, my first thought was complete panic.
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Mar 6, 2011 21:04
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brosmike posted:
I'm assuming you're erring on the high side of federal income tax so it may not matter, but just in case - there are other payroll taxes to consider like Social Security and Medicare and other payroll deductions that you will probably be interested in like health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance and pre-tax commute/travel option. These shouldn't be a huge deal, just something to be generally aware of. Also, remember that your 401k is pretax so that will come out before you're taxed. I can't really speak for owning a house, but I would check with other homeowners to see how much utilities for a house typically run. If you guys are getting cable, that alone could be a good portion of your planned utility budget, add in heating an actual house vs. apartment, water, internet, and possibly things like trash and it may come to more than $300/month for the three of you depending on the house you choose. If you'll be eating in the cafeteria daily, I would also up that budget unless you're going to go for a sandwich, no drink most days. I know a sandwich + drink at my cafeteria is between $5 - $8, so I think $100 would be on the low end. Is the air travel of $100 a month a rollover budget? There are cheap flights but generally, flights are still not less than $100. Also, do you guys already have furniture to furnish this house? I was set back for about two months furnishing my one bedroom. I assume you guys don't really care about making it "nice" or anything, but the first couple months of moving + furnishing can really make a dent in the first two month's worth of income, which then pushes you back a little for everything else. KarmaCandy fucked around with this message at 12:39 on Jun 6, 2011 |
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Jun 6, 2011 12:31
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Fire In The Disco posted:Going back to work full-time isn't an option right now, though I may have a very part-time job soon watching my soon-to-be-born niece a couple hours a day. Have you thought about legit stay at home jobs that have flexible hours like Leapforce or Lionbridge or doing some freelance writing for something like Demand Studios to bring in some extra cash? The online money making thread has similar ideas. http://en-us.lionbridge.com/Company.aspx?pageid=1718 http://www.leapforceathome.com/qrp/public/jobs
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Jul 8, 2011 18:38
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Rurutia posted:Discover Savings seems to be 1.15% which is barely better than SmartyPig. I never see this mentioned but I figure it's a common enough membership that people should take note - if you're thinking of doing the Discover Savings Account and you belong to Triple A - be sure to try to go through the Triple A website first to open up your savings account. Although it doesn't apply to certain areas of the country (Im in the Midatlantic and it works for there), many Triple A members get an extra .05% on savings accounts/cds from Discover so 1.2% at the moment for their savings account.
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Jul 21, 2011 15:46
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Saint Celestine posted:I can afford it, I just dont have a lump sum of 5k sitting around. Why not? Assuming you've worked longer than 3 months and every 3 months you have saved up $5k+ interest, where has this money been disappearing to?
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Aug 19, 2011 00:58
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Mighty Amoeba posted:Plus I've been reading Cornholio's story from the beginning and just got to the part where everyone mocks him for taking a loan from his dad, so I wasn't sure about BFC reactions to this kind of thing. Of course, my situation is quite different from his at that point. If your parents are well to do enough, the blunt truth is that a portion of that money will probably be yours someday anyway. There are plenty of parents out there who feel its more, or just as, important for their children to get off on the right foot (whether it be buying a reliable car or paying for college or letting them live rent free for awhile post college while they get settled) than for their children to collect that windfall when they're in their 50s or even 60s. Not everyone's parents are that well off, but if your parents are capable of it and want to help you do that, there's nothing wrong with that and there's nothing to be embarassed about -- it really is one of the greatest gifts a parents can give their children - starting out debt free and on solid footing. Be proud and happy that you have a drama free family where loans don't cause huge blowouts and you have successful and generous parents who love you -- and give them a big hug and remember that later on it life. You don't want to be dependent and you don't want to develop bad habits because you're used to living on more than you actually make, but there is nothing wrong with accepting your parents generosity at the starting point of your adult life or during tough times if it causes them no hardship. Many parents would be more upset if you didn't reach out for help or let them help. As your mom has acknowledged, you may someday be helping to care for her. Hopefully she has enough money for retirement herself or else she really shouldn't be giving you "loans" but quite often relatives aren't... the nicest... when picking out things like retirement homes for their parents and are considering how much it costs per month (can be $5000+) vs. how much they will inherit. Just store it in the back of your mind how generous your parents were and be sure to repay that later on in life with similarly unselfish decisions and visits to see them. Seriously, stop apologizing to us about your situation and go give them a hug and tell them how much you love and appreciate them.
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Oct 1, 2011 22:18
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muscat_gummy posted:Those high yield savings accounts look better, but will I be selling my soul to a bank in the process? I'm a credit union type of person. You will probably have to put it in a bank (and most likely an online bank at that) vs. a credit union, yes, unless you live near one of those awesome credit unions that offer great rates on things like high yield checking accounts (but then watch for loopholes) but... nothing bad happens to you when you put your money in a savings account. It's FDIC insured. You just stick your money in there, leave it there, and close the account when you want to take it out. So long as you pick an account without a balance minimum and don't plan on making excessive withdrawls (usually greater than 6 in a month - in which case, a CD isn't right for you either) - nothing bad happens. I have used both American Express (1%) and Discover (1% or 1.05% if you have and go through your Triple A membership) savings accounts, other people use ING and Ally - all are good and no hassle.
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Oct 20, 2011 01:00
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Niwrad posted:But isn't that overdoing it though for some? Lets say you make $100,000 a year. Putting $15k in a year from 25 till 65 with a rate of return of 8% would leave you with nearly $4 million at retirement. This brings up something that I'm always curious about - people always talk in terms of percentages and a lot of people on SA are young, how much, in monetary terms, and not percentages, do most people here save each year? Is there a chart that shows by age or salary how much people save? I'm always scared that I'm not saving enough because the money that I have put in over the last 8 years has not necessarily had a great rate of return - its hard to see it one day being worth millions. I know for me, it's generally been up and down. I always put $5k away each year in my IRA but some years that's all I've done, some years I've put away the $5k plus the full $16,500 into my 401k and some years $5k and just some contribution.
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Nov 17, 2011 02:41
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Guinness posted:This year I'm on track to save ~$20,000 on top of paying down the remaining ~$15,000 of outstanding student loans And that $20k is all going into your retirement accounts? Do you also put anything into personal accounts? Obviously people spend their personal savings in their lifetime usually vs. keeping it til retirement, so if some are in your personal accounts, how much is going towards retirement?
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Nov 17, 2011 03:32
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 09:28 |
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Guinness posted:I have $15,000 cash in emergency savings (~1 year's worth living expenses) in a "high-yield" savings account with ING and I max out my IRA contribution each year ($5000). Almost everything beyond that goes into my personal brokerage account, which is basically my long-term/retirement savings. Investing is kind of a hobby of mine, I spend a lot of time reading and researching, and I'm far from a day trader trying to make short-term gains. My employer's 401k plan is pretty lovely and has no match, so I have not opted into it. While I know you may have intentions of saving for retirement, since you still have things like a house to purchase (and I assume there are other long term things that could come up like children and tuition, etc), I'm assuming that those funds aren't really "permanently" earmarked for retirement in the same way your IRA account is (assuming you don't plan to tap into it), so I wouldn't necessarily consider that saving for retirement vs. just "long-term" savings so they're not really what I'm curious about. I know you said investing is a hobby, but if you don't plan on staying with your employer for the rest of your life, you'll be able to roll that over at some point into an IRA and choose to invest it in anything at some point. This is my first job with a 401k match and I've never had great choices, but unless they're really, really bad, there's usually one low rate boring fund you can put all your money into and then roll it over. My Roth now has over $50k in it and I have complete freedom over it thanks to rollovers and by putting it away, I know it's truly meant for retirement and not for something like a house (that's a separate savings account)
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Nov 17, 2011 03:47
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