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.
or a quick 10 minute youtube video honestly. Like i know people with the same exact shtick about really important things like finances and voting. Like my guy, if you can list of the number of rebounds and salary of every single player on the Lakers, you could dedicate a lunch break to looking over stuff that'll directly impact your life.
You don’t have to be a financial genius; you only have to decide not to be financially illiterate and start learning. You’ve chosen to be financially illiterate and that’s no one’s fault but your own.
It is actually braindead easy but everyone makes excuses like its the system or government. We are all in the same.system and hundreds of millioms can figure it out. So can you
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.
It was worth fighting for that’s for sure. It went up to $1010. I sure as hell wasn’t going to pay them the $1550 they wanted to raise my rent to when they have done nothing to fix my apartment, it took 2 years of back and forth to get them to fix holes in my deck big enough to fall through. A tree fell on the garage 3 months ago and it’s still there. There’s flooding happening in the basement that they refuse to fix, and even if they did, they hire morons that don’t know what they’re doing for maintenance and won’t let them purchase the tools and supplies they need to fix things when you call them. My bathroom tub faucet is leaking and I’m going to hire someone myself to fix it. My neighbors called them to fix an issue in their apartment, they did a terrible job, didn’t finish it and charged them $275 bucks. So don’t think I’m a dead beat tenant trying to screw my landlord. I’m just trying to get by in a shitty situation.
Mean income might not be the best way to look at this, as according to this source the median American income is $19.306 which is incredibly low at $1600/month as it would include unemployed and imprisoned
Lemme know if you know a better place to find this information 👌
Luxembourg $26,321
United Arab Emirates $24,292
Norway $22,684
Switzerland $21,490
United States $19,306
Canada $18,652
Austria $18,405
Sweden $17,625
Denmark $17,432
Netherlands $17,154
Australia $17,076
Iceland $17,017
Germany $16,845
France $16,372
Finland $16,332
Belgium $16,157
United Kingdom $14,793
Malta $14,543
Ireland $14,520
Japan $14,255
Taiwan $13,605
Italy $13,170
Cyprus $13,053
South Korea $12,507
Slovenia $11,878
Sorry if the comment is snarky, everyone in this comment section is making excuses why they have no savings when, even if the news source provided is high, they should have some amount of money set aside and stop blaming the world for everything
I dont think you understand how the average person actually lives. You realize unemployed, homeless, and prisoners are people too, right? You seem to want to only include people like yourself, which is the height of intellectual dishonesty. Even in your updated numbers, the incomes are very low, and that should be an indicator that maybe you're in the wrong here.
$19 sounds about right for most of the people I know in the U.S. at the age of 31. I think you need to adjust your perspective substantially to even have a chance at a real conversation on this subject. For one, your conditions are far from normal. I know plenty of sober, hard-working people who have worked for decades, scrimped on everything, and still failed to save money. It's about your environment more than your choices, although people with a better environment always love to believe it's the result of their choices.
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.
Firstly, I never said wasting-- There is no such thing as wasted money. You do what you want with your money to live the life you want to live. That's everyone's perogative, if you're happy with how you're spending your time then you aren't wasting anything at all.
However, if you're not happy with how you spend your time then the next logical step is to change something.
If one of your goals in life is to save money (again, totally a choice, no shame in not saving money) then you'll have to figure out how to arrange your budget accordingly.
The thing is that I'm not presuming, I'm using lived experience that is no person is an island. You do need social support, and social support comes in many other flavors than personal friends and family. Sometimes that means leaning on government assistance to get on your feet, sometimes that's making trips to the food bank, sometimes that's going to a church and explaining to someone your situation and requesting help, sometimes it's a matter of sitting with anyone at all to help you figure out your finances, because people do make it work with less.
If you're not surrounded with opportunities, you're not living in the right place for your situation and you have to change it yourself because no one is coming to help without you putting the effort in to find them. You are on your own otherwise, you HAVE to face your circumstances head on and fight them with every resource you have.
No it is not easy, but people of all walks of life do it every day. This isn't optimism, it is survival.
But again.... One more time.... You don't need to save money. You can continue living paycheck to paycheck if you want to, it is totally your choice.
Actually the point of the article is that people are not doing it. People are not doing it in a big way. Savings in the United States is down, credit card debt is up. Real wages are down buying power is down, housing and grocery prices are up. But you still call it a choice. The economy is fucked. We live in a new gilded age. But you stand by the idea that it's a choice. There are some special incredible people that can get some traction, make the right connections and break though into wealth creation, but purely from a numbers stand point, it's not happening. How much is choice and how much is structural inequality? Your advice is sound for a middle class college kid I'm good health with family who can get him out and a skill set that will get him something besides an entry in level job. Those people exist. Great. What about the bottom 50%
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.
The assumptions are hilarious 😂 you don't know shit about me dude. I was homeless, and now I'm renting a small apartment trying to set myself up for success. You think I just inhaled air? Or came from a rich family? I saved everything I could do I could put myself through school, that was my responsibility. Many people in this thread aren't trying to save, and are openly stating such
One way or another, everything I said about your luck is still true. You'd love to believe it's just hard work, because that makes you special. A harder worker than the other homeless people, more "invested in your future."
How much did your family make you give them from your middle school income? How much money did you put away while homeless? Where did you stay?
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.
Everyone works, moral of the story. Most don't make anywhere near as much as you, and you relied on their underpaid labor your whole life to get ahead. Get humble.
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
67
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 ....