dfgsd wrote:
I am 24, $60k/year, 6% to 401k +4% match, 30k in checking account, Saving $1k/mo, no other investments, risk averse by nature.
What should I be doing with my money? Thinking about ~$10k + +$100/wk to index funds. Better ideas?
Invest some if not most of that 30K into the market.
barry mccockiner wrote:
According to Flagpole, this is because kids spend all their money on cellphones. It has nothing to do with a horrible job market, inflated college costs, and lower wages.
Don't worry. Obama's pro-business agenda will have us all singing again in no time.
erik wrote:
I'm not a milennial, but I'm only a few years off.
I'm in a PhD program now living on a stipend which barely covers living expenses. I save 5% of my take home each month. That's all I can afford after car payment, rent, food, etc.
Before the PhD I was teaching HS and putting every spare dollar I had to pay off student loans, which I did. That was probably about 1/3 of my take-home income.
In a few years I'll be able to save a lot more. So will my wife.
I'd be more interested in milennials saving patterns 5-10 years from now when they will be making a little more and have had some time to pay off school debts.
This is a typical scenario (shows a good understanding of the world today for these young adults) and right on target with responsible saving and investing.
LRC Life Choices Review Panel wrote:
dfgsd wrote:I am 24, $60k/year, 6% to 401k +4% match, 30k in checking account, Saving $1k/mo, no other investments, risk averse by nature.
What should I be doing with my money? Thinking about ~$10k + +$100/wk to index funds. Better ideas?
Invest some if not most of that 30K into the market.
Had he invested that $30K in the market a few years back he'd have $60K now. The market is a little run up at this point. If 30K represented all I had, I wouldn't plunk it into the market all at once now.
Granted I'm not in his position so I keep pumping in $30-40K into the market each year. But I've been doing that for years so that's just a drop in the bucket at this point. It wouldn't bother me in the least if the 50K I invested this year was only worth 40K next year cause It'll be riding the market waves for a few more decades before I need to spend it.
No kids, live with my long-time girlfriend so we split a lot of housing expenses. Our biggest non-housing expense is travel, but I guess you gotta have some fun along the way too, right?As someone else mentioned, cost of living does play a part. I live in a high cost of living area right now, but trying to keep my expenses low. I'll prob work here another 5 years and then move to a lower cost place and probably make a little less but have my assets built up nicely.Even though I'm doing ok, I have younger siblings and it was/is def harder for them to get a job without "prior experience". I was lucky enough to get into a training program that was outside of my college major and I didn't have any internships. Not sure that's happening a whole lot anymore. Companies want kids now to have interned in the same field as the job they are hiring for.
dldsl wrote:
Good job on the saving. Do you have kids? If I had your income, I would be retiring well before 67!
barry mccockiner wrote:
According to Flagpole, this is because kids spend all their money on cellphones. It has nothing to do with a horrible job market, inflated college costs, and lower wages.
No...not just cell phones. ALL of it. ALL of what you say is what affects investing and saving. I still don't get how some of you do not understand me. I write clearly. I write more clearly and more better than ALL of you here.
Let me spell this out for you, brother.
IT MATTERS NOT WHAT GOES INTO A PERSON'S EXPENSES!!! The GOAL should STILL be to get to 15% of your income going to retirement NO LATER than age 30, and preferably much sooner. I use age 30, because I'm giving people a chance to pay off HUGE student loans if they have them. People treat investing as an option when it should not be. Smart phones with data plans are an option. Cable television is an option. Investing for retirement should be a requirement (not imposed by the government, just your own personal requirement).
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need to have a smart phone with a plan that costs you $80 a month or more.
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need cable television.
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need to have a car with a car payment...go buy a beater for cheap or walk or take the bus.
I am heavily concerned about the tone of investing in the market right now; it is very reminiscent of how people were talking in 2006. The market is at all time highs and our house is not in order, domestically and overseas.
Robert Shilling came out this week and talked about a bubble in the Brazilian real estate market, there is undoubtedly a bubble in residential/commercial real estate in China, Detroit is going into bankruptcy proceedings (municipal bubble), the market has been driven up because of Federal Reserve funny-money, we have a education-degree bubble, true unemployment is north of 10%... but no, throw your money into a 401k account, it has no where to go but up, right?
letsrunners clueless about eco wrote:
the first drop in median household debt in more than a decade.
Wait a minute. But all of Flagpole's friends are doing better now than 10 years ago. This data cannot be true.
I agree it's a total crap shoot. My portfolio was hammered during the 08/09 slump but then has had a hell of an increase this year, so who knows how things will average out in the long haul. I'm also guessing that given the current U.S. financial situation, my taxes are going up in the future. So even if my income in retirement is smaller, my taxes might be the same. I'm also lucky to have a traditional pension. They cut it off for new people after 2008, but I'm grandfathered in. Hopefully they keep funding it for the long haul but I'm not really counting on it. I would take a new job paying more than stick around for this pension b/c I think there's at least a 50/50 chance it goes broke like the auto industry pensions did.
adsfasd wrote:
4 million sounds about right. 4 million in 2048 dollars is going to be about 1-1.5 million in todays dollars if you assume somewhat normal inflation. That is about ~50k in income in today dollars for the next 30 years. Throw in SS and you get up around 75-80% of your income. Of course it is also pretty easy to save 4 million bucks. Your 175k will be worth like 3 million dollars if you have an average stock market return over that time period.
Frankly guessing your future financial situation is a total crap shoot. Maybe medicare goes away and you are going to be writing 20k/yr checks for health care. Maybe we will raise taxes on everyone. Maybe you discover filling your free time is a lot more expensive than you think.
It isn't hard to live on SS checks. It is hard to live a life a lot of us are accustomed to on them though.
Conflict of Interest wrote:So first thing to notice about this article is that it's sponsored by Fidelity. Hence you see stuff like "not taking enough risk in their investments" etc. This is a puff piece to get people to over save or invest in risky stuff so Fidelity can boost their managed assets and trading income.
Second, as someone mentioned already, as you get older and pay off student loans and get pay increases, it's way easier to save more. I only had about $90k saved when I was 30 because I had to pay off undergrad and grad school loans hence, lower nest egg. however, I've just about doubled that nest egg in 3 years b/c I make more money and have debt paid off
Second, the savings calculator substantially over estimates how much I'll need in retirement.
I'm 33, have $175k save, make $120k in income and expect to retire at 67.
The calculator says I'll need over $4 million to retire.
The methodology say it is estimating how to replace 85% of my income. The problem with that is that I'll need only about half that.
For starters, I save ~25% of my income. Therefore, you could lower my target income to 75% of current just off of that. Second, since my income will be smaller, you could assume I'll be in a lower tax bracket, easily saving 10%, especially if I target a low or non-state tax place to retire. Further, I'll need less for work clothes, spending food on eating out b/c I'm working late, etc. I'm guessing all in all, I could get by on 50% of my current income if needed.
i thought he was an expert wrote:
letsrunners clueless about eco wrote:the first drop in median household debt in more than a decade.
Wait a minute. But all of Flagpole's friends are doing better now than 10 years ago. This data cannot be true.
You do realize that the comment to which you responded supports my view of the US economy, right?
I'm also an expert in reading comprehension by the way.
It's "these data."
Flagpole wrote:
barry mccockiner wrote:According to Flagpole, this is because kids spend all their money on cellphones. It has nothing to do with a horrible job market, inflated college costs, and lower wages.
No...not just cell phones. ALL of it. ALL of what you say is what affects investing and saving. I still don't get how some of you do not understand me. I write clearly. I write more clearly and more better than ALL of you here.
Let me spell this out for you, brother.
IT MATTERS NOT WHAT GOES INTO A PERSON'S EXPENSES!!! The GOAL should STILL be to get to 15% of your income going to retirement NO LATER than age 30, and preferably much sooner. I use age 30, because I'm giving people a chance to pay off HUGE student loans if they have them. People treat investing as an option when it should not be. Smart phones with data plans are an option. Cable television is an option. Investing for retirement should be a requirement (not imposed by the government, just your own personal requirement).
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need to have a smart phone with a plan that costs you $80 a month or more.
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need cable television.
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need to have a car with a car payment...go buy a beater for cheap or walk or take the bus.
Amen. I agree with almost all of what you post here. Thanks for the contributions. Also, I enjoy the humor you insert here and there :)
adsfasd wrote:
A paid off house is just a sign that someone doesn't understand basic math. Or is insanely risk adverse. And I would take 100k in cash over a 75k house any day of the week.
I certainly wasn't thinking of a 75k house.
What about a $500K house?
And I mentioned a reverse mortgage so I am talking about taking the equity out.
Point is, home ownership wasn't mentioned and is a huge part of the retirement equation.
But as someone else mentioned, it was really an add for investing, not retirement planning.
The baby boomers taught us well.
Is this your view of the economy?
Median Income still below pre recession levels.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/08/21/us/household-incomes-slow-climb.html?ref=politics
But you and your friends are doing well, so this data is meaningless.
Worst. Recovery. Ever.
I write clearly. I write more clearly and more better than ALL of you here.
[/quote]
Whatever you say, dude.
;alsdfjasd wrote:
Amen. I agree with almost all of what you post here. Thanks for the contributions. Also, I enjoy the humor you insert here and there :)
Thanks, brother. Glad you like the humor.
Flagpole wrote:
barry mccockiner wrote:According to Flagpole, this is because kids spend all their money on cellphones. It has nothing to do with a horrible job market, inflated college costs, and lower wages.
No...not just cell phones. ALL of it. ALL of what you say is what affects investing and saving. I still don't get how some of you do not understand me. I write clearly. I write more clearly and more better than ALL of you here.
Let me spell this out for you, brother.
IT MATTERS NOT WHAT GOES INTO A PERSON'S EXPENSES!!! The GOAL should STILL be to get to 15% of your income going to retirement NO LATER than age 30, and preferably much sooner. I use age 30, because I'm giving people a chance to pay off HUGE student loans if they have them. People treat investing as an option when it should not be. Smart phones with data plans are an option. Cable television is an option. Investing for retirement should be a requirement (not imposed by the government, just your own personal requirement).
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need to have a smart phone with a plan that costs you $80 a month or more.
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need cable television.
IF you are only able to get a job at Chipotle out of college, then perhaps you don't need to have a car with a car payment...go buy a beater for cheap or walk or take the bus.
Question: what is 15% of your income when your income is $0?
Another one: how is one supposed to service the debt on their student loans while working at Chipotle? I don't think the Federal gov't will appreciate being repayed with burritos.
W0W wrote:
barry mccockiner wrote:According to Flagpole, this is because kids spend all their money on cellphones. It has nothing to do with a horrible job market, inflated college costs, and lower wages.
Don't worry. Obama's pro-business agenda will have us all singing again in no time.
It is pro-business. He's giving big businesses free money and tax breaks. What's not to like?
Flagpole wrote:
I write more clearly and more better than ALL of you here.
Don't even bother trying to claim you did that on purpose.