What percentage of your income do you save?

[CincinnatiControlsGuy]

20% into Roth 401K and probably another 10% into my Schwab account. However, I have no debt, kids, house payment, and my car is cheap/used. I have to save like it's going out of style as I really can't see working into my 70's. I envy those of you getting it done with kids and SOs that spend a lot. That would break me for sure.

 

[Supe]

Was saving roughly 40%, sometimes more, prior to buying the house. With the typical new home expenditures, that's dropped to 10-20% on any given two weeks, but will crawl back up after the settling in.

 

[roadwreck]

I'd never added it up as a percentage until yesterday. I'd always just looked at my savings goals in terms of dollar figures so it was a bit surprising to calculate it as a percentage of my gross income.

My budgeted savings, which I have set up to automatically withdraw and go to various accounts, is 45%. About half of that goes to retirement accounts (IRA's or 401k's) the other half goes to various savings or investment accounts. In reality I end up saving more then that since I typically have money leftover in my monthly spending allocation, and that eventually finds it's way to some savings account.

 

[Road Guy]

get your wife preggers and all that will go away

 

[roadwreck]

which is why it's all the more important to sock it away now right?

 

[MA_PE]

get your wife preggers and all that will go away

:true:

 

[willsee]

I must have made some wrong choices in life to barely be able to save anything.

I'm also paying 60% of my income to debt right now

 

[kevo_55]

get your wife preggers and all that will go away

:true:

:true: lusone:

 

[Flyer_PE]

The BC (Before Child) savings rate >>>After Child savings rate. The other major hit was that we decided to do the stay-at-home-mom thing which clamped the income side of the equation at the same time the expenses increased.

 

[jeb6294]

I'm in the same boat as a lot where my wife is staying home with the boys right now. Still, I manage to put away about 6% that the Gov't matches for retirement and right now while my salary is inflated I am maxing out my TSP contribution which is just over $16K per year. The TSP is basically just another retirement plan that lets you invest pre-tax $$$ into different investment accounts. I am also diverting $1,000 every paycheck (bi-weekly) straight into my savings account at the credit union right now too just to have some mad money put aside for once.

 

[Road Guy]

I also do $40 / paycheck into my own personal double secret account thats just for me.. sad.. but it does add up after a while..

 

[willsee]

I also do $40 / paycheck into my own personal double secret account thats just for me.. sad.. but it does add up after a while..

Wife and I get $20 a week for 'blow' money to do whatever with. I never spend mine so when we went on our cruise I had about $300 to gamble with.

 

[Master slacker]

We never spend any money and I stress out over the smallest purchases. :true:

And using the mortgage payoff spreadsheet, I can see how much interest I will NOT be paying due to my additional principal payments now. I never have been a "here and now" money man. I've always looked down the road for the biggest payoff.

 

[Ble_PE]

The BC (Before Child) savings rate >>>After Child savings rate. The other major hit was that we decided to do the stay-at-home-mom thing which clamped the income side of the equation at the same time the expenses increased.

This is very true. We're lucky that I got the job I did before we had kids, because my pay now is almost double what it was at the consulting company I was working for. If I had it to do over I would have been saving a lot more than we did, but you live and learn.

 

[Supe]

I also do $40 / paycheck into my own personal double secret account thats just for me.. sad.. but it does add up after a while..

Wife and I get $20 a week for 'blow' money to do whatever with. I never spend mine so when we went on our cruise I had about $300 to gamble with.

$20 won't get you much blow!

 

[willsee]

I live in Kentucky...we do the cheap stuff

 

[roadwreck]

I also do $40 / paycheck into my own personal double secret account thats just for me.. sad.. but it does add up after a while..

Wife and I get $20 a week for 'blow' money to do whatever with. I never spend mine so when we went on our cruise I had about $300 to gamble with.

$20 won't get you much blow!

lol, I was thinking the same thing!

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I'm convinced the gov will find a way to seize the savings plans. there's just too much money out there for them to ignore.

 

[csb]

which is why it's all the more important to sock it away now right?

Wait, are you guys talking about money or something else?

 

[jeb6294]

Just to be fair, before I came over here we were doing the standard paycheck-to-paycheck thing. My sole retirement was the 5% minimum it took to get full matching. Since I've been here, I've made enough to pay off our cards and the equity loans. The wife still has plans (I hope) of going back and finishing her clinicals and working again once the boys are a little older. Once that happens, we'll probably sock most of her paycheck away and just keep a bit for fun money.