At what age should you no longer be living paycheck to paycheck? I know it varies some situation to situation, but what is your opinion on this? Would you judge someone negatively if they were past a certain age and still had little to no savings?
Most retired people I know live SS check to SS check. Just the way it is.
I am 27 just got a fairly decent job (I am chasing passion right now, I could easily double my salary if I sold my soul) but anyways the last year has been tough in that I make alot more now but rent and everything has also exploded in costs.
At what age should you no longer be living paycheck to paycheck? I know it varies some situation to situation, but what is your opinion on this? Would you judge someone negatively if they were past a certain age and still had little to no savings?
There is no SHOULD there.
1) The GOAL is to not be in that situation as soon as possible. Acceptable debt to carry for a long time are for a mortgage and a HUGE student loan.
2) Debt other than the above is not acceptable, so you need to become debt free but for the above two things as soon as you can.
3) Once #2 is achieved, you need to build up an emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses. THIS is what keeps you from living paycheck to paycheck.
4) Yes, life happens, but you should always PLAN to do the above, and if you are thrown off track by a life event, plan once again to do the above.
5) No judgement from me about ANYTHING a person wants to do...they will either ultimately be financially independent or not.
This is just another "poor people are lazy" thread. When you are born poor, ALL opportunities in life are lower. Education, chance to pursue anything other than sustenance. It is very hard for an individual to break out of that.
At what age should you no longer be living paycheck to paycheck? I know it varies some situation to situation, but what is your opinion on this? Would you judge someone negatively if they were past a certain age and still had little to no savings?
Assuming you're living in the 1st world and have at least a decently paying job (i.e. somewhere above minimum wage), I think it all depends on how you want to live. If you are ok with driving a cheap car (or no car at all), small apartment, little to no subscriptions, rarely eat out, and budget like crap, it can be done somewhat easily. The hardest part is disciplining yourself to follow your budget.
I don't think there's shame in living semi-paycheck to paycheck if you're putting a lot of money into savings (retirement, etc.)
I also think it's a really smart idea to have an emergency fund with like 1-2 months worth of funds in case something terrible happens.
All of this is achieved in time. There is no date or age where you NEED to have it all done, but the earlier is definitely the better.
How do you define living paycheck to paycheck? Does that mean if you lost your job, you'd become homeless within 6 months? A year? Five years?
Does it mean needing to have your monthly/bi-weekly/weekly income in order to pay your bills?
I assume most people don't have enough saved to live comfortably for a year without ANY income from work.
Overall, more people live paycheck to paycheck than we think. Unless you have millions of dollars in the bank and can afford to never work again, you technically live paycheck to paycheck.
At the moment I'm unemployed in my late '50's and would love to be able to live to this way, but cannot. I won't worry about other's judging me negatively and besides, I'm too scared and freaked out by the situation anyway. I worked for over 3 decades, but got laid off 4 times and every time I managed to start earning enough money to think about the future, I'd have to start again. Now I feel too old and unwanted and it's hard to overcome.
How do you define living paycheck to paycheck? Does that mean if you lost your job, you'd become homeless within 6 months? A year? Five years?
Does it mean needing to have your monthly/bi-weekly/weekly income in order to pay your bills?
I assume most people don't have enough saved to live comfortably for a year without ANY income from work.
Overall, more people live paycheck to paycheck than we think. Unless you have millions of dollars in the bank and can afford to never work again, you technically live paycheck to paycheck.
My definition is exactly how it functionally sounds like: you cannot live (buy groceries, pay rent, get gas) without your next paycheck. If you could, without changing your lifestyle, survive without your next immediate paycheck (not talking about next 2,3,4), then you are not living paycheck to paycheck.
Assuming you're living in the 1st world and have at least a decently paying job (i.e. somewhere above minimum wage), I think it all depends on how you want to live. If you are ok with driving a cheap car (or no car at all), small apartment, little to no subscriptions, rarely eat out, and budget like crap, it can be done somewhat easily. The hardest part is disciplining yourself to follow your budget.
I don't think there's shame in living semi-paycheck to paycheck if you're putting a lot of money into savings (retirement, etc.)
I also think it's a really smart idea to have an emergency fund with like 1-2 months worth of funds in case something terrible happens.
All of this is achieved in time. There is no date or age where you NEED to have it all done, but the earlier is definitely the better.
Living paycheck to paycheck means you're not saving anything and have no savings, that literally the only money you have is whatever you have left from your last paycheck, and you essentially run out of money and end up at zero dollars by the time your next paycheck is about to come in.
I took it for granted the OP meant people living in the US or comparable countries. Obviously people in Africa etc aren't going to be accumulating wealth. Any time time I've talked about this subject, people get pretty defensive, but it's also been my observation that most people are absolutely atrocious at managing money. They will eat out for at least one meal every day and then tell you there's no way they could spend anything less than they're currently spending. They'll complain about how expensive life is while living in a two bedroom apartment by themselves (no roommate) and driving a car that's only a year or two old. Before people call me a hypocrite, I had a roommate until my early 30s when I was making roughly double what I actually needed each month, and I drove the same car for 11 years that was already 8 years old when I got it in the first place. Between no car payment and having a roommate, I estimated I saved myself around $70,000 over a 10 year period, actually more since I invested that money and watched it grow.
If you can't figure out how to not be perpetually broke by your 30s, you're a fool.
I don't judge people. I stay in my lane and do my thing. Judging people is for those with low self esteem and a lot of self doubt. So I would never judge someone negatively if they have no savings. C'est la vie, my friend.
wow, look at this guy being so much more evolved than everyone else. He doesn't ever judge anyone for anything. Congrats on being better than everyone!
To actually answer the question and no virtue signal, there's no set age for this and to me, it varies for the person's background or education. If you have a good education, got a good job, and are making good money by almost any standard and are still living paycheck to paycheck, then I judge extremely harshly. For example, there's an article on marketwatch(dot)com right now about a couple who makes $400k and spend beyond their means.
If you didn't get much of an education, don't have the brainpower to really be successful on your own (without an education), make near minimum wage working a low-skill job and are living paycheck to paycheck, then I can't judge that person harshly.
Evolve beyond your lizard brains like sbeefyk2 here and stop buying more house than you need, quit buying all the fancy new toys that keep you poor, say no to the marketing of garbage products shoved down your throats constantly, be aware of lifestyle creep, and live as far below your means as possible. I save and invest about 65% of what I make.
My reality sucks - I feel for you, and agree that living securely is harder than it looks. Your case is why I agree with Dave Ramsey on getting rid of mortgage obligations as early as you can. Sure, there are lots of smart people that can point to investment performance which exceeds the historically low interest rates on mortgage loans, but there is just nothing like having the option of not having to pay for a roof over your head (except for property taxes and utilities, which don't ever go away). I did the 15 year mortgage plan and paid it off in 11 years. I live in a nice place, but eschewed offers from realtors to move up to a huge mcmansion in the next neighborhood. At the end of the day one only needs so much and debt is really a life burdening factor. Note that these discussions have zero to do with being lazy and everything to do with having only scant trust in the economy and planning along these lines. And making these decisions doesn't make anyone better or what have you. It just reflects the forks on the road one took when they could.
After maxing my 401k, Roth IRA, and putting ~500 a month in my personal investment fun account, and making sure I have a nominally 8 month emergency fund, and budgeting my once yearly 2.5 week Europe trip and my 2.5 week Asia/Oceania trip and my travel for my Fall marathon, I'm always paycheck to paycheck.
Assuming you're living in the 1st world and have at least a decently paying job (i.e. somewhere above minimum wage), I think it all depends on how you want to live. If you are ok with driving a cheap car (or no car at all), small apartment, little to no subscriptions, rarely eat out, and budget like crap, it can be done somewhat easily. The hardest part is disciplining yourself to follow your budget.
I don't think there's shame in living semi-paycheck to paycheck if you're putting a lot of money into savings (retirement, etc.)
I also think it's a really smart idea to have an emergency fund with like 1-2 months worth of funds in case something terrible happens.
All of this is achieved in time. There is no date or age where you NEED to have it all done, but the earlier is definitely the better.
This...I lived in a 288-square-foot garden apartment in Westerville for 6 years (no dishwasher and no TV) and made it work. Drove an '07 Corolla and loved it! Had it from '14 to '20. Living simply is great. At the time I made 32k a year but was able to increase my income over the years and finally am in a spot where I can use my tech writing in a good job. But not eating out is HUGE.