Another 50/30/20 Rule Article

[JAYSLOL]

Here we go with another lame 50/30/20 rule article for the financially challenged... the comments are the worst part (with a couple exceptions)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/50-30-20-rule-budgeting-120047420.html

[nnls]

It is still better than spending 50% on fixed expenses and 50% on discretionary and saving nothing which seems to be what a lot of people do.

It would be good if they talked about ways to get the "fixed expenses" down, shopping around for better deals, getting rid of credit cards payments entirely

[SwordGuy]

The thing that gets me pissed is that these writers can't even correctly place the different spending items into the correct categories!   There are only 3 categories, it shouldn't be that hard!

[JAYSLOL]

And somehow credit card interest is a fixed expense, lol

[ketchup]

And somehow credit card interest is a fixed expense, lol

And groceries are discretionary?

[JZinCO]

the comments are the worst part (with a couple exceptions)

sooooo whiny, I was laughing out loud.

Also, isn't debt repayments typically lumped into 'savings' in the 50/30/20 model? I'm guessing this writer freelances and just needs to crank out vapid, content devoid articles.

[Metric Mouse]

And somehow credit card interest is a fixed expense, lol

And groceries are discretionary?

That's what I thought!

[teadirt]

And somehow credit card interest is a fixed expense, lol

And groceries are discretionary?

You can tell that the author is having trouble getting her budget to match the 50/30/20, she admits this herself:

As you can see from this example, fixed expenses and savings are a bit less than the desired percentages and discretionary is higher — but they are close to those amounts.

Also, this absolute gem:

Those who seem to do better with this type of budget are people who do not have a regular income. For instance, it may be useful if you're paid an hourly rate with a fluctuating schedule or have commission-driven income. This budget is also not as specific when it comes to amounts to spend.

Of course! If you don't make the same amount month-to-month, just adjust your fixed expenses to maintain the 50% spending rate for the month, obviously! /s

[MrMoogle]

I too follow the 50/30/20 rule.  50% savings, 30% spendings, 20% savings.

[gimp]

Well, 20% is twice as good as people are "told" (the common 10% advice).

20% of gross income averages out to ten grand a year per family. Net might be, I dunno, $7500 ish?

God, at this point I'd be happy if people even did 10%. They currently do about half that.

http://assets.nerdwallet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/american-savings-rate.png

So I mean, is 20% good? No. But it's 4x better than the national average. So. Baby fucking steps are easier than giant strides.

[johnclauson]

Skimmed the article and headed for the comments. What a bunch of complainypants who REFUSE to open their eyes to ANYTHING outside of their white-picket-fences-and-debt mindset. Got me all cranked up

[JAYSLOL]

I too follow the 50/30/20 rule.  50% savings, 30% spendings, 20% savings.

Lol, I thought about putting in the comments that my income is only slightly more than the sample budgets, but my goal is to get to 50% savings, 30% fixed spending, 20% differed spending (car replacement fund, travel fund, college fund etc).  I'm not quite there yet, but working on it.  I can only imagine the negativity I would recive

[zephyr911]

I too follow the 50/30/20 rule.  50% savings, 30% spendings, 20% savings.

HAHAHA! Love it!

Why on earth would anyone try to set fixed expenses at anything other than "the lowest amount possible"? Even a recreational shopper can understand that setting your baseline costs low gives more free $$ for discretionary BS. I'm probably more of a consumer than the average forum member, and I figured that one out LONG before I embraced MMM.

[2Birds1Stone]

I too follow the 50/30/20 rule.  50% savings, 30% spendings, 20% savings.

I approve this message <3

[Travis]

Here we go with another lame 50/30/20 rule article for the financially challenged... the comments are the worst part (with a couple exceptions)

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/50-30-20-rule-budgeting-120047420.html

That's just Yahoo for you.

[runningthroughFIRE]

Was anyone else irritated by this little gem?

What is great about this type of budget is that you can change the percentages to make them work for you. So, if you need to set 60% for fixed and 15% for savings, that leaves 25% for discretionary spending.

What's great about this budgeting rule is you can feel free to fuck it up if you want.

[Apples]

And somehow credit card interest is a fixed expense, lol

And groceries are discretionary?

That's what I thought!

Yes!  It should be "needs" not "fixed expenses"...otherwise a $60 haircut and dye every month could go towards that 50%.  Also, they always skip life insurance in these articles, or stick them in the discretionary section.  I mean, if you're living hand to mouth then maybe life insurance is beyond your grasp.  But if you're the person who is supposed to be able to save 20% of your income, surely you need to think about life insurance! (I'm assuming this article is directed at people 25-50 with dependents and a mortgage).  Also the cable bill, while not explicitly placed there in this article, usually ends up in the "utilities" section and included as a need.  Bahaha.