MM survey

[flygirl]

A fun survey to spark some MM discussions:

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
7-How old will you be when you retire?
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
9-Do you save for your kids college?
10-Have you always been financially savvy?
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?


my answers:
1-I’d say a 7.5-we have enough to do fun things beyond necessities but I should be preparing for job loss more then I do.
2-Currently 4, working toward 12.  I always thought I wanted everything invested but I’m seeing that we need more cash on hand because of how my stock looks in down markets.
3-No.  H is a spender, although he pretty much leaves all financial decisions up to me and only takes a certain amount from his check every month.  If it were up to him we’d have all the toys and payments to go with them.
4-We have one account for everything but I do have my own savings account as I save my monthly money for something I really want vs spending it all (like H-lol)
5-No, being a landlord scares me-I don’t want the volatility of someone else’s ability to pay their rent and this man extra mortgage.
6-yes and I’m hoping to still be on track for the next level
7-I’m hoping for 62-64, but it will likely be 65.
8-My parents are ok as is MIL right now, but I really worry about some of Hs siblings taking too much of her money so she runs out when she needs it.
9-yes, targeting 85% and hoping to cash flow some later as well.
10-No, I didn’t get much help from family in college and ended up with a lot of student loans and stupidly bought a brand new vehicle (mine kept breaking down) my senior yr so it took nearly 10 years to dig out of that whole.  I learned a lot from the money board here-especially on making budgets otherwise I might still be playing the which bill game.  Now I budget to 0 every month. Every dollar has a place.
11- this board.  Learning what other people do and reading some books that were recommended really helped me to move out of that paycheck to paycheck mode.
12-lottery tickets.  I’ve cut back to like $2-5 a week, but I used to spend $10-20.  A girls gotta dream.  

[farfalla2011]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?

    I would say probably 7 or so? 
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?

    About 3 considering current spend level and zero income, but we could make lots of cuts to get it to stretch further
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?

    Overall yes, but thoughts on how to get there no. 
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?

    All joint accounts
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?

    Not anymore, sold our (mine from prior life) rental property to buy our dream house almost 2 years ago
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?

    If I'm looking at just mine, no, I got started late. But I'm lucky in that H carries me and is ahead of the recommended numbers
7-How old will you be when you retire?

    Hopefully mid to late 40s - benefit of H being almost 10 years older
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?

    Constantly worried about them And, my brother isn't in a place to be able to help things either
9-Do you save for your kids college?

    Just started since mine's a baby
10-Have you always been financially savvy?

    Always been interested, but haven't always had my s@#t together
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?

    Wanting a better life and more security than my parents have
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?
    My $5 coffees at Starbucks and other local places more regularly than I should!

[wildrice]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?

I am overall happy with what we're doing, so maybe a 7-8? Between us we have high student loan debt and we're behind on retirement, but I think we have reasonable plans to address both things and I'm comfortable with everything else.


2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?

It really depends - we just throw general savings and e-fund into the same account, so sometimes we take money out for purchases. Currently we have about 4.5-5 months saved, which would stretch us much further if we didn't both have total income loss.


3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?

Yes. I started posting on MM in late 2009 when I was married to my XH, who I was not on the same page with AT ALL. MM was immensely helpful with all the struggles I had back then. My now H and I really have no concerns about being on the same page. I handle our finances and my H rarely spends money, so it is very easy. He is probably a little more conservative than I am about things like taking on a car loan, but we don't have any trouble coming to agreement when we need to make decisions about things.


4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?

We have completely joint finances.


5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?

No. In fact, we've only even owned a primary home for 3 months. We don't have any interest in owning other real estate, though.


6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?

Not even close! We are 38 and have about 1x our combined salary.


7-How old will you be when you retire?

I am shooting for around 60, but as I answered in the last question, we are nowhere near on track for that. I do think we will have a lot of opportunity to catch up, though. I don't really expect our expenses to go up, other than with inflation, but our incomes both should grow considerably, especially my H's. So we should the ability to save a lot more over the next 20 years than we have up to this point.


8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?

Our parents are all financially sound. I actually don't know specifically about my H's parents' situation, but they are British and live in Germany, so they have pensions/healthcare/etc. My parents are in great shape and I have no concerns about their future.


9-Do you save for your kids college?

No kids. Our college savings will be paying off our own student loans, lol.


10-Have you always been financially savvy?

I have always been interested in and concerned about money. There was a time when I had a decent amount of credit card debt and made choices that weren't savvy, such as taking on larger car loans and other bills that were too high for my income. I've learned a lot more about my own priorities and what I actually NEED as the years have gone on.


11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?

Honestly, my parents have always been pretty good with money and seeing how that has paid off for them is a major factor. They have never been wealthy and we definitely had a lot of tight years when I was a kid, but they were able to pay for a portion of college for 3 kids, retire early, and can do a lot of things I want to be able to do - such as travel, going to concerts, being generous with their family and with charity donations, etc. I see what a nice life they've built and I want that for myself, too.

Also money stresses me out. I do not feel like that anymore since we've become more comfortable, and it's great. It used to keep me up at night a lot, and I don't like that feeling.


12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?

Probably entertainment. We (normally) do a lot of things like going to restaurants, sporting events, concerts, vacations/weekend trips, etc that might make people wonder if a) we're wealthy or b) in debt. Really, I'm just good at finding deals/using points and we never buy good seats for anything, lol. 

[k3am]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order? 8. Overall, we're doing pretty well, but I'd say the area that we would definitely get frowned on by MM folks is in regards to our mortgage. It takes up a big chunk of our income. But we are able to comfortably manage it.

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
Specifically earmarked for emergencies about 3 with no change to lifestyle, but in a downside scenario, significantly more could be pulled that are currently earmarked for "nice to have" short-term items we're saving for.

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Yes. DH and I were both raised by parents in the same age/income bracket/spending mentality. His mom uses some of the exact same phrases when explaining her views on finance that my mom does, and in our relationship we are pretty in sync, which is really nice.

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
We don't have any separate accounts.

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
Nope. We have considered it, but so far, neither of us is willing.

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
Close, but probably won't be there.

7-How old will you be when you retire?
No idea. My modeling says that 58 it would be doable, but I don't think I'm designed to retire.

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
My mom has always been financially sound, but we are having to worry about her because she's having some memory issues and they are messing with her finance. DH's parents are also in a good place, but I am worried that if either one of them have issues that require long-term care, they'd be in a pickle.

9-Do you save for your kids college?
Yep.

10-Have you always been financially savvy?
For the most part. I was lucky enough to make it out of college with zero debt (thank you scholarships and my mom grandma!) and about $50 in my checking account.

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
My mom.

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?
Books. I know there are sources where I can get them for free, but.. it's just a lot of effort. And I tend to blow through books pretty quickly.

[dr.girlfriend]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?

6 - I make a really good salary now, but it also seems like things change every minute. We recently completed a big addition on our house that we paid for in cash (yay!) but DH also just went part-time in June. However, with greatly reduced travel/restaurant/kid-related costs, it seems hopefully not to have had that much of a financial impact. There's a lot of stuff that's on my "list" like consolidating DH's multiple work retirement accounts from prior jobs, figuring out the Roth conversion stuff, etc. I don't know that I'll ever really get to it.

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?

5 - 6 months maybe...it was depleted by paying cash for our addition but we have been building it back up. Need to start an investment account outside retirement as the next step.

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?

Yes, in that he mostly lets me handle stuff, which is both helpful and frustrating. Even stuff that is clearly in his domain he is a slacker about addressing. Like, now that he's part-time I've told him a million times he needs to adjust his 401k deduction to a higher percentage of his salary and I think he still hasn't done it. But, he's pretty good about not spending a ton. He's just kind of a "dreamer." When I first met him, he said he wouldn't consider getting married or having kids until he had a three-picture movie deal, so I guess we've come a long way since then. He also grew up really poor so he has issues related to that. When we started dating he had never flown on an airplane, or made reservations at a restaurant. He didn't know how to drive, and could really only cook using a toaster. We're a long way from the financial instability he had when he was a child, coming home from school one day to find all their stuff out on the lawn because the sheriff evicted them.

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?

We each have the individual accounts we had before we were married, but the bulk of our money is deposited into our joint and we just transfer out a few hundred as needed for cash withdrawals. Our ATM cards are still linked to the separate accounts.

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?

No.

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?

Probably not, but that's a good thing and more reflective of how much my salary has jumped in recent years. I'm now making 3x my starting salary, which is CRAZY given I'm in a field that usually only gives 3% cost-of-living raises. But, I started out way underpaid, and benefitted significantly from advocating from salary corrections and equity adjustments as new people came in and negotiated better starting salaries.

7-How old will you be when you retire?

I actually like my job, so I don't really have solid plans to retire, although part-time is sounding good to me right about now.

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?

My parents were a wild ride over the past year. My mom finally started to divorce my dad after 50 years of marriage, and we had no idea what he would do with his finances since he was bipolar and very unstable -- he would talk about running for president, etc. -- it was all very Kanye. He passed away in April, and she's still ironing everything out with probate, etc., but she will be very financially well-off in the end. In the course of his last few weeks we found out he may have had a frontotemporal dementia which likely contributed to some of his behavior (although certainly he had longstanding issues that predated that).

9-Do you save for your kids college?

Complicated answer is not right now. The grandparents put big chunks into his 529, and I have a tuition benefit through work that should cover tuition for him at most any place. We will also have the house paid off by then and can put our mortgage payment into college expenses. I think we'll have it covered either way.

10-Have you always been financially savvy?

No. I've always been financially cautious, but not great about keeping track of things. Also, I was in grad school, which meant I had no money for a long time, and a Ph.D. which meant I wasn't exactly making bank even when I finished. :-) This board has been AMAZING.

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?

We had a financial rough patch right before we got married. We had already committed to the wedding expenses but then (now-)DH lost his job, plus I had just finished postdoc so we didn't have a ton in savings. That plus wanting to accelerate house and baby because I was already pushing 30 got me to this board, which really whipped me into shape!

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?

We spent what is basically the cost of a new house for some over-improving our current house well past what made sense for the neighborhood, including a giant master bedroom/bathroom addition plus solar on the roof. But, it made sense for us -- we love the neighborhood in general, we love our house, this gives us the ability to age in place, etc. Otherwise, we are very much the opposite of "cut the cable" folks...DH is super into movies and television so we have fancy cable plus a lot of streaming packages plus he's always buying movies to stream from Amazon. On some level it bugs me, but he doesn't have any other expensive hobbies or tastes, and we can afford it, so I don't give him a hard time about it. And he doesn't give me a hard time when I come back with yet even more throw pillows from HomeGoods, but fortunately quarantine has really tamped down on my spending on house stuff! We got our addition finished off just in the nick of time.

I would like to adjust our spending so we divert more of it to travel. We kept ourselves from traveling for many years while my BIL was dying of cancer because we were scared to be away when something happened. Our first big trip was supposed to be Japan this month, but fortunately we had not actually booked anything before COVID hit. I feel bad for DS though...he's 11 and hasn't really had a real vacation with us that he can remember aside from short trips to visit family.

[RockNVoll]

1. On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
9. Where we're lacking is having an estate plan set up. I think not having kids has made us lazy about this.

2. How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
We don't have a designated e-fund. We're on the older end of this board's demographics and our finances are in a place where we don't have to worry about setting aside a specific e-fund vs. putting money into investments. 

3. Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Yes, very much so.

4. Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
Are finances are completely joint.

5. Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
No, and have absolutely no desire to change this.

6. Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
Yep, but our non-retirement investment accounts are significantly higher than our retirement ones.

7. How old will you be when you retire?
This is the key question. Theoretically we could quit working today if we were willing to downsize our house and commit to paying attention to our spending more vigilantly. But as the child of immigrant parents and having grown up modestly, I do harbor fears of running out of money.  Objectively this is probably ridiculous, but I also want us to be able to afford all the luxuries we want--extensive travel, fine dining, donations, sharing wealth with family members, etc.--without having to worry about running out of cash so we keep working to build up our cushion.  But when do we decide enough is enough?

8. Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
They're in great shape and I'm so impressed by what they've been able to save while raising three kids on salaries that individually never hit six figures during their respective working years.

9. Do you save for your kids college?
N/A

10. Have you always been financially savvy?
Yes, for the most part.  I've always been very careful with money and never spent what I didn't have--it simply never occurred to me to run up credit card debt.  But, again, I think that's part of growing up in an immigrant family where we always had to watch what we spent and were very frugal in our daily lives.

11. What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
Pretty much answered in #7 and #10 above.

12. What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?
Probably all house-related stuff: buying too much house for two people, paying someone to mow and maintain our oversized yard, and hiring landscape architects to start on a big project for said yard.  However, all of these excesses are now major positives in light of the pandemic, LOL.  I keep telling DH that if we were riding this out in our small London flat from a couple of years ago I think I would've lost my sanity by now!

[scm1011]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
8

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
6ish

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
yes. although basically he defers 100% to me.

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
we have his, hers, and ours.

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
we own a multi-family home where we live in one unit and rent out the other.

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
no. DH got a late start but we're aggressively catching up. Our rental property is also part of our retirement plan.

7-How old will you be when you retire?
not sure, in our 60s most likely if we want to pay for the majority of the kids college educations.

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
My in-laws and dad are fine, my mother is a disaster. I'm very resentful I may have to step in to help her at some point (we don't have the greatest relationship).

9-Do you save for your kids college?
yes, but minimally ($100/m per kid). Hoping to increase once daycare expenses are eliminated.

10-Have you always been financially savvy?
no. I grew up spoiled and then got into massive credit card debt in my early/mid 20s trying to maintain the lifestyle I had grown accustomed to lol. I found this board (well the old version) when I was digging my way out and I really credit the women here for helping me right the ship.

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
the anxiety that debt was giving me

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? in normal times we eat out and travel a lot. our "fun money" is way more than I see people admit to here.

[Mrs.flang]

Aug 13, 2020 8:08:34 GMT -5 flygirl said:

A fun survey to spark some MM discussions:

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
7-How old will you be when you retire?
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
9-Do you save for your kids college?
10-Have you always been financially savvy?
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?

1.  Maybe a 7 or 8.

2.  We only have about $5k in cash which is less than one months expenses.  We have ample access to credit, retirement savings, family that would probably be willing to help, and close to 2 or 3 months expenses saved separately for the kids if things were really dire so I don't keep much extra for emergencies.

3.  He is much more of a frivolous spender than I am and doesn't really get involved in finances so I make most decisions on my own. 

4.  Everything combined

5.  no

6.  not quite.  We have a little over 3x our income at 39 and 43, but we should have more based on DHs age.

7.  I have not thought about this at all yet

8.  We have not explicitly discussed this but I'm fairly confident both sets of parents will not need our help financially

9.  I've been putting $100/month per kid starting at age 1.  DDs are 4yo and 20mo.

10-11. idk if I'm savvy now!  We do have a bit of home debt due to a recent renovation.  We aren't struggling, but we don't have much extra to save at the moment.

12. I don't think I splurge much, but maybe clothes and makeup.  DH has a terrible coffee habit.

[liveintheville]

A fun survey to spark some MM discussions:

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
7
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
Around 3
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Yes
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
We have separate accounts because they’re from before we got married. But H’s account is the one all bills are paid from.
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
No
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
Yes
7-How old will you be when you retire?
I don’t work but H will work until at least 65. He has no desire to retire.
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
They are.
9-Do you save for your kids college?
We dumped lump sums in their 529s and no longer contribute
10-Have you always been financially savvy?
No. When I first started working I had no clue about finances.
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
I graduated with 30k of student loan debt
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not
financially savvy?
We spend a lot on streaming services in addition to cable. We eat out a lot.

[sandandsea]

1. I’d give us an 8. We are in good shape overall but could be doing more.
2. We keep a set dollar amount in our Efund. It would cover more than 6 months of expenses with no changes to our spending.
3. We are on the same page.
4. We have joint everything
5. No. We don’t have the time to deal with it. I also want to pay off our mortgage before we consider it.
6. Yes
7. Unsure. Before 65. Hopefully closer to 55.
8. They’re okay, not great. I think theyll be okay but we would help as needed.
9. Yes. We save $5k/year/kid for each of them for college.
10. Yes. I’ve always been a saver and conservative. I also found the MM board early in my 20s and got a lot of great advice that we put into place early in that has served us well. Such as having no debt (thanks mom), putting 15% to retirement, high(er) rate online savings accounts, etc.
11. We want to retire early with financial security and provide opportunities for our kids that we didn’t have. We want to pay for their college, weddings, help with down payments, international family travel/experiences, and other things that we didn’t have. Our parents are blue collar workers and made ends meet to where we never skipped a meal but there wasn’t any extra so we had to pay for our own college, first cars, etc so we started our young married life (met in college and married after grad school) with 6 figures in SL debt and worked hard to pay it off while buying our first house and put off having kids until our 30s.
12. Dh and now DS have a very expensive hobby. We also eat out a lot.

[keweenawlove]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?

   7. We've hit most of our big goals (funding an adoption ourselves and DD's 529 for this year, have a good saving amount built up for when DH's car has to be replaced). The next big milestones I'd like to hit are maxing 401Ks (DH is close, I'm saving at a rate that would max it but maturity leave late last year, early this year got in the way), investing some of our checking account, and setting up a will.

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?

   6 months in checking. We're working to invest some of this.  

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?

   Mostly. We've disagrees on priorities a few times, especially on travel earlier in our marriage but we're hit a nice happy place of saving enough to feel comfortable but enjoying life while we're young.

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?

    Joint checking account that our paychecks go into. We have separate credits cards for almost all expenses outside of our mortgage.  

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?

   Nope

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?

    Yes. I'm at 1.8x at 33. I'm really happy about this because I just started my "real" job in Jan 2019. I had income before then but PhD stipend and post-doc pay doesn't get you far toward retirement. 

7-How old will you be when you retire?

    Aiming for 60ish but there's so many unknowns before then. 

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?

    All are. My parents have always been frugal with money so they're in a good spot. My ILs are in general terrible with money but they're retired teachers with full pensions and health insurance so they're pretty set.

9-Do you save for your kids college?

    Still figuring this out but we opened a 529 for DD and maxed out the amount for this year

10-Have you always been financially savvy?

    Mostly. My dad was always really good with money (accountant) and I remember him teaching me about my family's budget when I was 7 or 8. 

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?

    Mainly seeing how great my parents had theirs setup and bad my ILs are with saving for anything. While my ILs are set with their pensions, my FIL is in this constant loop of buying a fancy new toy, needing money a few years later and having to sell it, then wanting it again later, buy a new one, repeat 

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?
    Travel to some - one of my friend's parents was questioning travel spending in general ("you're going to spend several thousand dollars on a vacation and what do you have to show for it at the end", um...)
    

[raangoli]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?


 8 ; there are a few things we need to do to before we feel like we're all in order

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?


 6 months

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?


Yep, completely. 

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?


One joint, rest are separate

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?


Nope

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?


Yes; we both do individually 

7-How old will you be when you retire?


I'd like to be 55-57-ish. But we will see what really happens.

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?


They are doing fine

9-Do you save for your kids college?


Yes, we're thankfully able to prioritize this and front load her college savings so that I can hope to meet my retirement age goal.

10-Have you always been financially savvy?


Yes; as the child of self employed immigrants, I learned a lot very young. My dad would listen to lots of AM radio shows about investing and so I listened, too. 

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?


N/A; they always have been.

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?

I lease my car. It works for me but I know that is frowned upon.

[imojoebunny]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
9
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
This isn't a thing for us
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Yes
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
We do not have joint anything, outside of a couple of mortgages
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
Yes, 2 duplexes (rentals) and a vacation house (not a rental)
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
No, but we have enough investments, just not all in retirement accounts.
7-How old will you be when you retire?
48 and 55
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
Yes, for my parents, and DH's dad.
9-Do you save for your kids college?
Yes
10-Have you always been financially savvy?
I don't know about savvy, but we both are savings and investment oriented, over spending on stuff.
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
My dad retired at 48. For Dh, it is about the win.
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?
Vacation house, booze, dogs, so much on the dogs.

[mlkgls]

I love these and wish this board was a little more active too. 

1. On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order? Compared to most, probably a 7. I have an emergency fund, zero debt besides my home, a will, and healthy retirement funds. Compared to the rest of MM, I feel about a 3. 🤣

2. How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund? I’ve had an expensive summer and it’s down to about 4-5 months. Efund = security to me so I’ll be trying to beef it up asap.
3. Do you own real estate outside your primary home? Nope and I don’t anticipate having other real estate, short of winning the lottery.

4. Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)? I am about 10% short of the 4x by 45 goal after an expensive QDRO, but hoping I will be able to catch up.

5. How old will you be when you retire? In an ideal world I would like to down-shift to part-time around 60, but it may all depend on the current status of retirement funds, health, etc. I don’t foresee my job becoming less stressful and I’m not sure how well I’ll handle it as I age.

6. Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them? My parents struggled financially when I was growing up, but were relentless in contributing to retirement once the economy stabilized. Their home is paid off and they have enough saved that I don’t have to worry.

7. Do you save for your kids college? Yes, probably not as much as I need to save though.

8. Have you always been financially savvy? I feel more frugal, rather than financially savvy.

9. What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order? I was raised by a single mom and grandparents who were raised during the Depression. I can still hear my grandfather’s rule of “if you can’t pay cash for it, you can’t afford it” and I have to fight the urge to save all single use glass/plastic containers. Butter dishes = freezer Tupperware growing up.

10. What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? I built a pool and new patio this summer. Financially savvy? Not a chance, but I don’t spend money on bags, shoes, or vacations and I can’t wait to be able to regularly enjoy it.

[Pom]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
9.5 Keep in mind, we are olds. 49/50

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
Too much. One year plus right now. But H is also furloughed to halftime and I don't work currently. His industry has lots of downturns.

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Yes. He gets mad at me sometimes after a "no, that is a bad idea". He's always over it in about 5 minutes. LOL

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
All joint.

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home? Yes, a second home and farm land. Farm land is inherited.

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)? YES.

7-How old will you be when you retire? I'm retired, H plans to retire in less than 10 years.

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them? Both sets of parents are deceased but were comfortable.

9-Do you save for your kids college? No kids.

10-Have you always been financially savvy? Nope.

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order? We were in debt and married later (age 33,34) H started making exceptional money and we ramped up savings because we were lucky to have that opportunity. ETA: Coming here to MM and Suze Orman started us on a much accelerated path.

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? Have a second home that we remodeled this year, and looking for a lakefront property. Both would be rented for income, but still. We no longer go to the casino, since we'd cut way back even before Covid, but wahoo for isolation killing the urge completely.

[mbcdefg]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
Maybe 7? No student loans, we have savings, enough to do fun things. But we have not prioritized retirement as we should have. We also don’t have anything special set up for our DD (3) so we need to get on that.
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
No set amount of months, but we could go about six months very comfortably and with no real lifestyle changes. Longer if we cut back on a few things.
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Pretty much. Although he’s stricter about it than me, after going through some really bad financial times as a young adult and I don’t think he’ll ever quite get over that. Neither of us grew up in families with a lot of money.
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
Joint savings, separate checking accounts. We do not share any credit cards.
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
No, but I’d like a Shore house someday.
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
No
7-How old will you be when you retire?
No idea
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
My mom is the only living parent. I don’t think we’ll have to support her financially. Sadly, it’s my late dad’s life insurance policy that allows her to be in a fairly comfortable position today. If my ILs were alive today we might have had to help them out.
9-Do you save for your kids college?
At the moment we don’t have anything set up for her. We both put ourselves through college at a commuter school and had jobs - our parents helped with living at home, meals, let us use their cars, lunch money, bought books for us sometimes. We’d like to assist DD with college/another choice when the time comes but we haven’t decided how just yet.
10-Have you always been financially savvy?
“Savvy?” Nope. I really don’t know the ins and outs of most financial things. “Responsible” is a better word, I think.
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
I started posting here for ideas on saving money.
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?
I’ve been carrying a credit card balance for a while - paying it off is going slower than it should because I’m not cutting back all that much on creature comforts - which isn’t much, it’s stuff like buying lunch out, and I just ordered a few new shirts.

[sadlebred]

1. Let's say a 6. At other times it's a 7. Being a single income household can be difficult.
2. Usually 3, a bit less now (see another post for 2 major house expenses that are happening now). I can cut out a good bit quickly and stretch it.
3. NA-No SigO
4. See #3
5. No, and I have no desire to unless it's a vacation condo or townhouse.
6. No, but I'm trying to catch up.
7. Hopefully 61-62.
8. They are fine.
9. No kids.
10. I have always known financially savvy principles but have really only begun to use them in the last 6-7 years.
11. ex-H was finally gone, freeing me to do what I wanted to and what needed to be done. I lost 10 years in there and am playing catch up.
12. Bicycles. I love all the bicycles-road bikes, mountain biking, track/velodrome, cyclocross, gravel riding. I have been racing for 20+ years. I travel to bike races (obviously not now) all over the country. I have a side gig that helps to pay for the travel in a good year, and I do professional cycling photography that keeps me in camera gear (sort of). I also want to get back into horseback riding. I spent 20+ years riding Saddlebreds and Hunter/Jumpers. I think you need to spend money on what you love if you have the means.

[dragon's breath]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
Probably a 9. Doing really well, but could do some things better.

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
"Official" e-fund isn't much, but I have month's worth of living expenses in "slush funds", and next month's expenses come out of this month's paychecks, so I'm always a month ahead. If stuff hit the fan, I could cut to bare bones and get by a year+ with everything I have set aside for different goals and expenses. This is with 0 income (no unemployment) and before having to resort to HELOC, selling anything, etc.

3 & 4

Single, N/A

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?

I own acreage where I will move eventually, but no rentals or income generating real estate. I go back and forth with turning the current house into a rental. If my son stays in the area, I would be willing to rent to him.

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?

Yes, more than enough. I have a pension on top of that.

7-How old will you be when you retire?

56 and 364 days, unless I can finagle a way to get out earlier with full benefits. I've tried to set myself up for this, being able to retire as early as age 46, in case the opportunity strikes. Retirement, to me, means never working again. I may volunteer, but I don't "hustle".

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?

Their house is paid off and my dad has a pension that covers them. They live pretty simply, and it's likely my mom will live into her 90s. They have enough for everything they need, but pension promises fell short of doing everything they want.

9-Do you save for your kids college?

I helped my son with college (community college) and mostly cash-flowed it. If he continues to a 4-year college, I'll help, but he'll need to pay much himself and may need to take some loans.

10-Have you always been financially savvy?

Pretty much. Deal when I got my first job in fifth grade was that I would save 50% of my income. I started receiving retirement benefits at 21 (both pension and retirement account). I was able to buy a house at 19 due to how much I had saved growing up.

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?

Dad told me I had to save 50% if I wanted a job. It stuck (though I have real expenses now, so it's not a strict 50% anymore).

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?

I'm not sure... Maybe travel? I'm still really frugal with that as well. My last trip (spring of 2019) was 9 days in Sweden and Finland from the west coast. Flight, rooms, and transportation came in under $800. However, I still got a lot of "must be nice" comments, as if I didn't prioritize my life differently to afford travel and that I somehow just magically had the money.

[lacey]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order? 8
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund? We have a dollar amount we don't let a particular savings account fall below but it's not specifically tied to months of expenses as there are other accounts we could pull from depending on the emergency.
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially? Yes.
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses? All accounts are joint.
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home? No
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)? Yes
7-How old will you be when you retire? No idea, we are 31 and 33 so it feels like a lifetime away.
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them? Both my parents and my ILs are fine.
9-Do you save for your kids college? Yes. I anticipate paying for all of their college expenses, likely through some combination of savings and cash flow.
10-Have you always been financially savvy? I don't know if savvy is the right word but we were fortunate to graduate into well paying jobs and have been responsible with money, which has set us up well. We probably are at the stage where we need to get a little more savvy because the retirement accounts are maxed, the backdoor Roth's are happening, we refinanced to a 12 year mortgage last year and we don't have any other debt. We have other investment accounts but probably need to better define some short, mid, and long term goals and figure out if we are being effective in getting there.
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order? Both my parents and my ILs were good roll models. My husband and I got married when we were 21 and 22, so I found the MM board on the nest young. I followed along and learned and saved.
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? In non Covid times we travel a lot which I'm sure some people think is frivolous. Currently I'm spending way too much on fabric that I'm not even sewing because I don't have time. It is a decidedly not financially savvy obsession!

[dcn]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?

8

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?

6

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?

Yes

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?

One account

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?

No

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
Yes

7-How old will you be when you retire? Hopefully 60 for both of us

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them? They are ok, in laws have passed

9-Do you save for your kids college? Yes

10-Have you always been financially savvy? Kind of - I have an accounting degree and am a cpa so I’ve always kept good track of our money

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order? We had lots of student loans and no extra money when we first got married, so we were very careful and frugal which has just continued as loans are paid off and H makes twice what we made together 15 years ago.

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? Health and fitness stuff - h has an entire gym in our garage along with 4 bicycles. It’s kind of ridiculous but really nice to have all of that right there, especially with covid.

[winnied]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?


7? We're DINKs but expecting a baby in December. We're very stable with good plans in place but could save more if we wanted/needed to. 

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?


3. We plan our e-fund around in the unlikely event we would both be jobless and we're both in very stable jobs. We're able to cash flow house repairs but we have a few big ticket items that we're going to save for once I receive my annual bonus in January (basically funnel the bonus directly to a 2nd account.) 

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?


Yes, except for small disagreements. It gives me peace of mind to do things a bit more Dave Ramsey like but H views the long-term and dollar for dollar comparison. 

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?


Shared

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?


Hell. No. We've seen our parents manage it and it's a nightmare for our own goals. 

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
 

No, but that's in part because H got a PhD and started late and we both have had significant increases in our salary over the last 10 years. 

7-How old will you be when you retire?
 

It's so far away but in our 60's. 

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?


They are thankfully financially sound. 

9-Do you save for your kids college?
 

Kid #1 due in December and we will save. My goal is to pay off my student loans next year and then directly funnel that money into a 529. 

10-Have you always been financially savvy?


Savvy? Maybe, moreso interested. I joined MM in my early 20's so I've read a lot and been mindful for a long time. 

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?


Seeing the value of prosperity over several generations in my family. My grandparents were poor and my parents took care of them. They were happy to do it, of course, but I don't want my kids worrying about me. I also appreciate the quality of life difference between poverty and comfort. My goal isn't to be "rich" but to be secure. 

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?

Take out and leasing our car. We're only leasing because we needed a new car but didn't want to get a huge car, though will want a bigger one in just a couple years. We get a lot of take out or dine out because we're lazy. 

[chpmnk1015]

Fun poll

1- 7ish? In order- just wish we had more to save and stuff
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund? about a year right now.. but would use up to 6 months to buy an investment house if we needed some more
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially? yes thank goodness
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses? joint
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home? Not yet but want to
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)? for the most part yes.. a few K short but with the market...
7-How old will you be when you retire? I hope 60
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them? i worry less than i used to. they came a long way
9-Do you save for your kids college? not really.. trying to save for them a little
10-Have you always been financially savvy? yes.. but always learning
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order? watching my godparents who were Loaded.. i learned a lot of what i wanted to aspire to.. and hated always watching my parents struggle and work so hard
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? Lego. Lol.. hobby of my son and we love doing family builds together

[dottyblue]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
Around 6? We have no debt other than our mortgage, but we don’t really budget or track our spending...

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
6 months of my net salary (I’m the higher earner)

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Mostly. We don’t spend frivolously and consult on large purchases

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
Everything is joint except for retirement.

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
Nope, and I have no desire too.

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
Yup

7-How old will you be when you retire?
I would love to retire early (60?) if I can. DH wants to work a lot longer than that

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
Mine will be ok if they are careful. DH’s will be very comfortable

9-Do you save for your kids college?
Yes

10-Have you always been financially savvy?
Kind off. Budgeting was never taught, but “save for retirement early” was always a subject of discussion

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
Are they in order? (Hint: nope)

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?
Massages? We spend insane amounts on food because we both love to cook. But we aren’t extravagant on much else

[mich1]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?

7-How old will you be when you retire?

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?

9-Do you save for your kids college?

10-Have you always been financially savvy?

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?

1.  Prior to marriage, I would have been ok with my own retirement plus disability.  After marriage (we married in 2016), combining our resources put both of us sitting very well.
2.  No e fund, per se but we have accounts we can pull from without issue.  
3.  Pretty much
4.  We married late in life, both of us have separate accounts.  He knows what I carry in my accounts, I know what's in his accounts and we move money around as necessary.  
5.  No
6.  More than enough
7.  I'm 61, DH is 62.  The only reason why he's still working is access to good health insurance.  I'm disabled, and have Medicare.  Medigap plans locally for disabled suck too, so his work's job also is my primary insurance.  However, if something happens to this job, he's retiring as we'll figure out the insurance issue.  He does not see himself working past 63.5 so he can do a COBRA slide into Medicare.
8.  My parents are dead.  DH's parents are sitting such that we will likely be getting an inheritance from his mom.  We don't have to worry about them, but we do worry about siblings and figure we may need to help them out.
9.  No kids
10.  No.  DH caught on faster than I did, but when I was 40 I had dug myself into a hell of a financial hole I had to dig myself out of.  It took a long time, but I will never do that again.
11.  For me, it was moving and being offered an incredible deal on a house.  The only reason why the house was being sold was that a wealthy couple had married and they had moved his mom out of the house and into a nursing home.  They wanted this house gone, and were willing to let it go for a song.  Even as cheap as it was, I was in so much debt that there was no way I'd get a loan for a house.  None.  I pretty much cried when the same house was sold again 10 years later for 2.5x what I was offered it for.  I knew I would have gotten an incredible deal if I could have swung it.
12.  Our travel.  Under normal circumstances, we spend waaay more on travel than many do on their yearly income.  We have absolutely no idea how much longer I'll be as mobile as I currently am, so are taking advantage of it.   

[trissie18]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
6.5 - we have paid down almost all of our consumer debt (one more cc to go) and will then be focusing on cars and mortgage while also boosting our e-fund.
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
1 right now
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
yes
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
one account
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
no
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
DH does, I do not.
7-How old will you be when you retire?
at least 67 but we dont have an exact age in mind.
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
financially sound
9-Do you save for your kids college?
yes 
10-Have you always been financially savvy?
no
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
this board 
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? Lately, a daily ice coffee from Dunkin.

[cherry1111]

-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order? 8

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund? We have 6 in savings and another 14 in a Roth (not sure how much of that we could actually access without penalty if needed)

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially? Mostly. But he’s definitely more of a spender and I think more about the future.

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses? One checking account

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home? No. It would be awesome if we could rent out our current home when we decide to move because we don’t owe much more on it but we will need the equity to buy our next home.

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)? Not quite 40 yet but I anticipate we’ll be between 2 and 3. I am already 3x my salary on my own but DH has only recently gotten some salary increases and he started his “grown up” job a good bit after I did. It’s amazing the difference in our retirement because of his late start. Start as early as you can!!!!!

7-How old will you be when you retire? No idea. Just thinking mid 60s at this point.

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them? They are very frugal. I’m not worried about them at all.

9-Do you save for your kids college? Yes but not as much as we probably should.

10-Have you always been financially savvy? My parents hammered it into me from an early age. I probably waste more money than I should based off of their teachings.

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order? I am a worrier. I’d never be able to relax if I was always worried about money.

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? Lawn service, shoes, when we worked in an office I’d buy lunch out more often than bring.

[scout8]

1. 7-8
2. We were both 100% commission for 20 years so we keep a lot (too much) in cash. A couple of years worth.
3. Yes.
4. We each have our own accounts and then a joint account.
5. We don't own any real estate right now, but we have owned both a primary home and an investment property in the past.
6. Yes.
7. We will probably go part time in three years at 52 (me) and 51 (H), then retire 3 or 4 years later. We will likely retire in Mexico.
8. Both sets of parents are in good shape financially.
9. No kids.
10. I've always been pretty on top of things financially.
11. I got serious about my finances when I went into real estate. Working off commission made me get serious about saving money.
12. Travel. We also lease our cars.

[melmel48]

A fun survey to spark some MM discussions:

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order? I would say around a 7. I still have some consumer debt I need to get rid of, and I need to really up my retirement, especially after being furloughed for 4 months.


2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund? I would like 6.. Most I have had is 3, and I am currently using my efund because I am not working 40 hours back at work yet.

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially? I am single
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses? N/A
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home? No
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)? Definitely not.
7-How old will you be when you retire? 100
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them? I used to really worry about them; I am a little bit less worried now that some things have fallen into place for my Mom, but I am not sure how their expenses will go when/if we end up needing to put my Dad somewhere. They are married, but have separate finances.

9-Do you save for your kids college? No kids
10-Have you always been financially savvy? I have stressed about finances for as long as I can remember
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order? Not wanting to be like my parents; being able to be financially sound as I get older.
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? Pre-COVID.. A lot of road races, running shoes and running gear.

[sillygoosegirl]

1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
9 probably. We don't pay much attention to them anymore... most things are set and forget these days, which does have a certain cost, but they were set well in the first place.

2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
About 5, now that daycare isn't a thing anymore.

3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Mostly. I wish he was more climate conscious with his financial decisions, but on the money side we are pretty much on the same page.

4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
We have joint accounts only.

5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
Nope

6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)?
Yes, and then some.

7-How old will you be when you retire?
Not sure. Probably could soon, not sure if I want to or have enough faith in the longevity of Obamacare for that.

8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
They are fine.

9-Do you save for your kids college?
Not explicitly.

10-Have you always been financially savvy?
Pretty much

11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
Not being able to afford a pair of salt and pepper shakers I really liked at the thrift store, when I was probably like 5-years-old.

12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy?
Working part time. Slow travel.

[minzy]

Aug 13, 2020 8:08:34 GMT -5 flygirl said:

A fun survey to spark some MM discussions:
1-On a scale of 1-10, where do you think you are in terms of having your financial house in order?
9. We could probably have someone review our investments, but that would cost money, and frankly, it doesn’t seem necessary. I don’t technically have health care directives yet, but I’m not too worried that there would be dissension. My husband and twin are both level headed and know me really well. They both know I’d want to donate everything possible if that were part of the discussion.
2-How many months of expenses do you keep on your e-fund?
I don’t think in terms of monthly efunds anymore but we could move stuff around if need be and coast for a very long time.
3-Are you and your significant other on the same page financially?
Yes. We are both very frugal and always have been. If anything, I would like him to enjoy more of what he’s earned.
4-Do you have one account with your SO or do you do separate and one for expenses?
Everything is joint.
5-Do you own real estate outside your primary home?
No, but we have some stock in a real estate index fund.
6-Do you have enough in your retirement account to meet Fidelity’s multiple of your salary based upon age (1x by 30, 3x by 40, 6x by 50, 8x by 60, 10x by 67)? In actual 401(k)s, I don’t think, but with other stuff, yes.
7-How old will you be when you retire? I probably already have. I would absolutely go back if needed but am somewhat doubtful I’ll work for pay again. I volunteer for damn near everything though and love it. I’m not sure when my husband will retire. Probably not until kids are at least college age and he may stick around longer if they do graduate school.
8-Are your parents financially sound or in a place you have to worry about them?
Both sets seem to be ok and we likely will not have to help financially. I would consider having any of the three live with us if they needed help though. (My stepmother would go to her daughter and/or son, first.)
9-Do you save for your kids college?
Yes.
10-Have you always been financially savvy?
Yes, but not quite as smart about it as I have become since pairing off with my husband/reading the boards.
11-What was your inspiration for getting your finances in order?
I remember as a kid looking at the interest growing in my little paper bank book and just very strongly wanting to save as much as possible. We came out of school 110k in the hole so that prompted us to live frugally for years, and the habits have not changed.
12-What do you spend money on that would make people think you are not financially savvy? I don’t think much of anything. We do have a nice house and just bought a new car but generally we really fly under the radar and that’s the way I like it.