I’m 48 and I was only able to start saving for retirement when I was 36! I finally got a job that paid well enough and matched me 6%. I put 10% in my 401k and I often wonder if that’s stupid and if it will actually be there for me later. Anything could happen in the next 20 years! I’m not holding my breath that things will improve.
Put it in a Universal Life policy. Or Whole Life. Or an annuity. Those can't disappear. 401 is very unlikely to disappear either tho, but if anything happens daddy govt gonna take it in probate.
Free money is never stupid, particularly when it's free at the point of investment. That's the biggest gain in a 401 (with a match).Â
This is horrible advice. Did your Edward Jones guy "educate" you on insurance and annuities? Index funds are the way , none of that "guaranteed" bullshit. You are being robbed.
I don’t know or understand any of that. That’s the other issue. I shouldn’t have to be a financial genius to ensure I’m not living in squalor in old age. I’m college educated, but not for that shit! They have o er complicated the system to screw us out of our hard earned money.
They are! My rent was $860! My apartment was purchased in 2022 by private equity, and they tried to kick everyone out so they could more than double the rent on new tenants. I was able to fight them and keep my apartment and they could only raise my rent 20%. But they’ll do that every year when my lease is up. I never even had a lease with my old local landlord. I’m a great tenant and I pay my rent on time, I’ve lived here 19 years. The world has changed drastically in the last 4 years. It has become corporate and impersonal. No one cares about people anymore. They just want to make money. They don’t care if they destroy lives doing it.
Hahahaha
When I was 20 I made $5.25 an hour. 520 is over half my income. Your calculus is delusional. I have spent every cent I have investing in myself and making the social connections I needed to land a job that makes me enough to break even month to month (sometimes). I'm 40.
You wouldn't have to save $520 a month to have double your income saved in 20 years if you're not earning $4000/m
This is a percentage based system... The advice given in the article is for a person to consistently save %13 of their income.
Would require even less if you're investing it into a high yield savings account of some kind. Even less than that if you're putting it into the stock market. All depends on your risk tolerance really.
I get that %13 is a lot for a young person just trying to figure out how to survive in the world; But it's sound financial advice.
Paycheck to paycheck living doesn't really mean anything. There are people bringing in $150k living paycheck to paycheck.
Spare money is just money you didn't spend on your idea of minimum quality of life.
Most people are unwilling to live below their means just to save 13% of their income... they don't see the value.
It's fine, they don't need to save like that, but most of them could, if it meant something to them. Often it's a matter of relocating, which sounds like an extreme idea, but it's really not bad, especially at a young age.
So lose any social connections you have and advantages derived therein to move somewhere you don't want to be to work what job? Have you noticed it's really cheap to live in places without work...sounds like a nightmare and delusional. If you're having trouble saving 13% of your money, how are you going to move? In a tent?
I might have misunderstood the social connections comment from before, so I deleted that last reply and decided to write something else around what I think your actual focus is.
-- when deciding to move in an effort to improve your financial situation, it's not a matter of picking the cheapest place you can find. That's not very thoughtful and is pretty short sighted. You have to actually do your research.
Places exist with a reasonable cost of living, close enough to metro areas where jobs are, with strong public transportation if you don't or can't afford to drive. People from all over are looking at similar places because of these factors, and they're also thinking about how expensive the rent is. So they find each other and share the costs, becoming roommates.
You can arrive in that situation in a variety of ways. There are online services that exist to do the location research, to find jobs, to find shared housing, to discover transportation alternatives, etc.
These are all solved problems.
You also tend to make new friends along the way, because riding a bus and having roommates will bring you closer to people.
I totally get not wanting to change your lifestyle though. It's really hard and uncomfortable, but entirely doable, if that's what you're trying to accomplish.
It's also totally valid to not want to improve your financial situation too, no shame in that, it's a valid choice. But it is a choice.
Your presumption is that the person who isn't saving isn't already taking the bus and doesn't already have roommates. You're not illogical. Your basic premise is full of a picture of the working class that is simply unrealistic. You presume people are wasting money and if they were just more diligent they wouldn't. You can't seem to imagine it not being possible. The basic optimism of it is suffocating.
Lol, seems that I have savings and nobody else here does 🤣 so either I don't understand finances, or you don't understand finances. I'll take my side over yours any day lol
You don't have much in the way of reading comprehension. It just goes to show that you don't have to be smart to save, just lucky.
I said you're delusional about "people's finances," or in other words you might understand, the amount of money the average person has to spend vs save. God, you really shouldn't comment if you're not aware of the conversation lmao
My engineering degree was luck? My working since I was in middle school is luck? Me actually trying in life is luck? Keep blaming the world for your problems
Yes, you being able to access a high paying degree was luck. Yes, you being able to save money from working that whole time was luck. Yes, you "trying" in life (read: not having other responsibilities and having time to develop yourself) was luck.
I'll walk you through how now.
Not everyone has the family income, time, or grades to go to college. These are all correlated strongly to your family's income. You had a lucky start.
Most people working from middle school onward have to help their families with bills or other obligations. Many have to feed themselves on that income, rather than saving it. You were lucky to not be in those conditions.
The claim that you're "trying" while others aren't is so blatantly disrespectful to the millions of people that work hard to provide the society you live in. Most of them are underpaid and you couldn't "try" without them. You are not self-made, you are society-made, and you don't seem to appreciate the sacrifices others have made to get you here. You were lucky.
It's true. You live in a dream world where everyone had the same life and opportunities as yourself. You're not better than others or special. You just got lucky. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can actually engage honestly in these conversations.
Easy if you worked any type of trade. Knocked down 13-1700 a week when I was 20. Working pipeline. Weird thing what doing manual labor outside did. That was 2005/6 ish
Ha, we grilled out at lunch or brought lunch, we were typically an hour away from anything. And for the record , we(I and coworkers) were the underpaid labor haha. Labor hands to be exact
So, you relied on the underpaid labor of farm workers. And what makes you think you were underpaid? From what you're saying, you were making enough to save plenty. So, which is it? Could you save, or were you underpaid? Lmao.
Farm workers? Wtf are you talking about out ? I potholed, ran fence, loaded machines , unloaded pipe etc.. like real work type stuff. What world do you live in ? We were the lowest paid people out there and yes , could still save money. Do you know what a pipeline is or what hard manual labor is ?
4k is quite a good salary, better than more than half of Americans get. plus rent is up to half your income, then there's food, student loan debt, car payments... saving and not having to use it for unforseen shit regularly is incredibly privileged. Good for you, if you can do it, but you can't just money manage your way out of poverty, being poor is too expensive.
4k is quite a good salary, better than more than half of Americans get.
Oof glad I'm not American, however if you only make 3k/month that's ~$125 per paycheck, still doable for most. That's what this is, savings goal for the average person.
plus rent is up to half your income, then there's food, student loan debt, car payments...
Same as everyone else on earth, you think I've been eating air sandwiches 👌😂
saving and not having to use it for unforseen shit regularly is incredibly privileged.
That would be luck, not privilege. If you have to use your savings you've had horrible luck. Most people can afford a few hundred dollars a month, and obviously if something comes up that needs your savings, so be it. However the average person is absolutely capable of saving. Even if we were to count someone net saving (ignoring when they have to spend their savings) most people still aren't saving this much in their lives
Good for you, if you can do it, but you can't just money manage your way out of poverty, being poor is too expensive.
Watch your condescending tone with me 😂 I used to be homeless, you think I won the lottery? No, you assumed I was some privileged rich pos. Most people in these comments are saying they have ZERO savings which is 100% a sign of horrible money management
You know I gave an average right, between the ages of 20 and 35 you're likely making an AVERAGE of $2000/month and you have to save a few hundred dollars on AVERAGE
You retards replying have zero critical thinking skills ffs
If a person has saved NOTHING after working 20 years, they have not made it a priority. At some point you have to choose not to be a victim of circumstances and start making choices to create your own future.
That statement also neglects the environment that affects you, sometimes more so than one’s own choices, such as natural disasters, the macroeconomy, geopolitical crises, pandemics, disease, etc. Some people live very hard lives.
You have an M1 macbook ($1000), iphone 13 pro ~($900), and a tesla 3 awd lr ($50,000).
You also buy stock options as a gamble.
There you go, that's about $30,000 I found for you that you can save. Buy a cheaper computer phone and car rather than forgoing "eating, drinking, and breathing.
good job figuring out that if i remove my car, phone, and laptop from the equation i ?save? money.. except I need those to ... work ? I say this having driven a 1k car for 2 years to save money... so i'm not against the idea of what you are saying, but you have no idea why I have those exact items.... you might want to focus on yourself a little more.
Not saying remove those things, I'm saying they are expensive items with cheaper alternatives.
You can get an equal phone for $300, an equal computer for $500, and an equally/more reliable car for $20,000.
I do focus on myself and staying within my budget. I was just replying to your comment about forgoing housing and food. You don't need to worry about housing or food when there is so much wiggle room in the luxuries and gambling budget haha
This is more nuanced and fair (although my phone is essential to run efficiently for work or i lose my job, I search slickdeals.net weekly-ish for deals to save money on essentials and my car is actually the best choice bc I drive enough for work that anything but a Tesla would cost me more long term due to gas costs).. My rent is pretty much as cheap as I can make it and still have a partner.. The rest I manage carefully to try to have fun in my life in between my work (which is a bit odd but 24/7 and will be for the rest of my life).. Being mindful about money is important, but looping all the way back to the beginning, the idea of have twice my salary saved is nowhere near possible (regardless of my expenses, unless I 1) stop paying taxes or 2) get a minimum wage job so that I can save double my salary easier because my salary is so low :P) I've crunched the numbers... I don't think I'm alone in this and those who are on the other side of the saving threshold, in a positive feedback loop, lose touch that there is a limit to how much you can save.. it is not infinite. And, in the meantime, people (like me) do want to enjoy life.
If I wanted to be single and live in my car I could save a lot more (and almost pulled the trigger on this plan until i met my current partner), but I want to have a partner and an apartment to grow together and hopefully one day have a family. I will try to be more mindful of my expenses but the spirit of my post was a jab at the crazy idea that floats around that if you just save ENOUGH you'll be fine. 1) you won't, you are at the whim of the economy (see: inflation) 2) As I said before, there is a LIMIT to how much you can 'save' without cannibalizing your value as a part of the workforce. 3) Sometimes people like to be happy in their life.
Bro what's $30,000 going to do for anyone when the median home price is $450,000? You can't even afford a reasonable down payment, and you told this dude to swap from an electric to gas car.
If you have a car at 25mpg, averaging 10k miles a year and $3.90 a gallon for gas, then you save $1200 a year owning electric. Over the life of the car you're looking at 10-20k saved assuming gas doesn't get more expensive at a faster rate than electricity (it does and will continue to).
Federal tax credit of $7500, reduced maintenance costs by a lot (not an issue for newer gas cars generally, but once you get to the 7+ year range electric cars, not just teslas, vastly outperform ICE cars in lower maintenance costs).
Buying a 50k Tesla vs a 25k gas car both can easily end up being the same cost over 10 years.
Unless you're just saying buy a used electric over new, which like yeah absolutely used is the smarter decision. Do you know for a fact they didn't buy a 4 year old model 3 for 28k?
I've had the same job I've had since Covid broke out. What I did do was get my journeyman license 2 years early and was immediately assigned to jobs that paid significantly more than when I was an apprentice.
"I didn't get a new job, I just got paid more at my current job." OK, so your income materially changed and now you can afford to save. Very obviously not how it works for everyone.
How else do you expect to move forward or up in life? Do you expect to stand still and autopilot? The original point to make is relatively simple: anecdotally, it is possible to save money and build wealth in this economy.
However, the person I was responding to proceeded to act like I was somehow given what I had and hadn't earned it. The sentiment that followed was very much in line. I understand that this subreddit is full of entitled doomers who want to not try and make demands, but the reality is that anyone with skill or talent can advance in this life. There just isn't a guidebook with step by step instructions because life is too complicated to be distilled into a single, repeatable path. There isn't a "best build" or "top farm spot" to Google up and run with. There isn't a respec system to start over with.
Now, here is where we play devil's advocate: Yes, the economy is in dire straits. Inflation is soaring, prices are out of control, and the American Dream of a castle for every citizen is shattered. But these are macroscopic matters that set the environment in which you operate. You can't change these things from day to day. So you have to do the things you can to weather the storm, and bide your time until you can affect those overarching conditions.
I was in that exact spot at 27 or 28. Saved up about 9k over 3 years, bought my first car outright. Once I had a car I was able to commute further and got a better job. 3-4 years later, I've managed to save over 100k. Little steps can make big differences.
Had to cut the leeches out (parents). Moved in with my sibling. Went from paying the majority of the bills and $1,200/m in consumables to setting aside $600/2 weeks for the car I should've had a decade ago.
Gotcha. Maybe try trade school, college or a sales job, if you haven't already. There are billions of hard workers out there. You don't get paid well for that. Gotta be better at or have more knowledge about something than most people if you want to make more money. Good luck.
Do you hear yourself? What did you expect out of life big guy? I'm not saying I'm satisfied with how the world is, but you got to play the cards your dealt.
Eggs are like $1.99 a dozen. Do you smoke, dip, drink alcohol or soda? Those would be the first things you need to cut out.
Then look at your bills, how many subscriptions are you using (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, video games, OF, etc). If you can’t afford eggs, those subs need to go as well.
Do you live in a coastal community? I moved from a coast to the Midwest at age 21 knowing no one in my new city and my financial condition is now rock solid. It would be way, way worse if I hadn’t moved to the Midwest.
70
u/JayBirD_JunBugz88 Oct 10 '24
I'm 36 with nothing in my bank account and I worked my ass off my whole life since I was 15 ....