Post by fortnightlily on Mar 1, 2015 16:39:01 GMT -5
I answered wrong because I didn't include retirement. But including retirement right now we're saving about 20% of gross. However, if we decide to have a second kid, the additional cost of child care will pretty much wreck any non-retirement savings.
Whatever is left over. Not a penny intentionally. My firm puts 33% of my year end draw into a retirement account and that's about 33% more of my income going into savings than I want.
There is a point at which I think a cash buffer is counterproductive. I put that number at $25K, but I can't be fired from my job (I can be voted out, but that gives me a year to find something new) and we can either sell stock or draw on our personal line of credit should we need more. If our cash gets above $25K I, ummm, fix that. In ways of varying productivity.
Currently nothing, not even for retirement. MM should probably not allow me to be a regular anymore.
I fully intend to start up retirement savings again when I get a regular job (I'm a temp right now). I don't really see myself ever saving thousands a month outside of retirement, honestly. Not only because it will probably be impossible anytime in the next couple of decades, but also because I don't really want to lol. I kind of can't imagine making enough money that I could be saving a ton and still be able to do anything I want to. This doesn't bother me as much as maybe it should, I guess.
I read recently that at 40 I should have x7 my salary saved for retirement. I recently got a raise and upped my 401k to 18%. I wont be close to x7 though and it worries me.
:? Seriously??? Fuck! Maybe H is onto something, lol. We don't have anywhere near, NEAR that in retirement.
If I get this new job the plan is to put 1k away a month. The rest of my new net income will go towards stu loans and separate savings to buy a car in cash.
Buuuut, it's all going away. We have a wedding to pay for right before my fiancé leaves his cushy job and goes to a ridiculously overpriced grad school. Sigh.
I have no real rhyme or reason to our saving. Once our E fund was complete (one year) we now save for other things separately. We have bought the boat club membership, Bahamas cruise and a few other big ticket items recently and all we had saved for previously. Next we want to buy a jeep for weekend fun.
We save 10% gross for retirement - but also invest in real estate as part of a diversified portfolio. My employer matches some too.
We should save more but we were so so poor when we had ds we needed to live a little before buckling down. That's what last year and this year were all about.
We aren't where we need to be but I'm comfortable enough overall.
It's kind of frustrating. If you look at our budget, the line that says "To savings" is only about $300/month. But in reality, we have some going into a car fund, some going into college funds, and some going into retirement. So it's a lot better than it feels.