Poll

What's your income level and savings rate?

$0-$50k - 0%-20%
$0-$50k - 20%-50%
$0-$50k - 50%+
$50-$75k - 0%-20%
$50-$75k - 20%-50%
$50-$75k - 50%+
$75-$100k - 0%-20%
$75-$100k - 20%-50%
$75-$100k - 50%+
>$100k - 0%-20%
>$100k - 20%-50%
>$100k - 50%+

Author Topic: What's your income level and savings rate?  (Read 54354 times)

YoungGranny

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What's your income level and savings rate?
« on: June 12, 2017, 06:28:58 AM »
I recently started a podcast and had an episode where I was talking about savings but didn't get into too much detail about savings rate which I definitely want to cover soon. Then I started realized I might be a little skewed since I've always had a high savings rate but I've always made fairly high income. I started after college right around $60k and have gone up since. My savings rate just out of college was probably around 40% and has steadily climbed since when I get raises I just keep saving.

Anyways, I was curious to take a poll to see what different ranges of income have for a savings rate. Figured the mustachian crowd is more inclined to have the "goal" savings rates so I could try and give ranges for a target savings rate based on income. If anyone with an income bracket of $40k to $60k with a high savings rate would be interested in sharing their annual expenses & savings with me via a PM I'd love to chat more about it. I know quite a few people who ended up in this range after college and "can't possibly saving any money". I'd love a real life example to chat about on my podcast - of course you'd remain anonymous since between this forum and then my podcast you'd have 2 layers of protection.


Thanks for all of your help in advance!

boarder42

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #1 on: June 12, 2017, 06:34:14 AM »
*

Feivel2000

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2017, 06:42:11 AM »
Are we talking before or after tax income?

YoungGranny

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #3 on: June 12, 2017, 06:48:16 AM »
I usually calculate my savings rate based on take home pay and I'm looking for gross income.

BTDretire

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #4 on: June 12, 2017, 06:54:46 AM »
 I put $75-$100k - 20%-50%, but that is only true for the last 10 years or so.
Going back to when we married 36 years ago, we have varied from $18k to $100k.
Over those 36 years the average was about $47k, using my SS records to calculate.
The SS records don't tell the whole story, because we had a few houses and some capital gains that don't require SS payments. But it is fairly close.
  The only years I'm sure about savings numbers, is our first year of marriage when we earned $18k and saved $6k and sometime in the 80s, (86?) when I had a very good earning year and
earned $60k and saved $25k.
  2011 thru 2016 were very good years for us in savings and stock market growth. However we are probably done saving, as we now have two kids in college with one going to dental school at a cost of over $200k that we expect to pay for, hopefully with work income and dividends
that we receive. I hope we don't need to touch principal. Fingers crossed.

boarder42

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #5 on: June 12, 2017, 06:59:39 AM »
not surprised at where this is filling up at the top.  most around here are high income high savings.

Fire2025

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2017, 07:41:31 AM »
I make $60,000 and save about 50%.  I live in Los Angeles area, so it can be done, even in a HCOL area.  congrats on the new Podcast, I'll check it out.  I need podcasts for my bike to work, one of the ways to live on less, thanks MMM!!!!!!

inline five

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2017, 07:52:29 AM »
I actually don't know what our savings rate is, nor does it really matter, what matters is savings dollars and investment growth rates. You can save $0 but grow your nest egg 200% in a year and you're far ahead of where someone who stuffs money away in a conservative bond fund would be, or save 25% but put more into investments than someone saving 60% of their income if they earn less.

Personally I don't want to live my life for the next 30-40 years like I'm living now, I want to improve my standard of living as time goes on.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 07:56:14 AM by inline five »

APowers

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2017, 08:07:10 AM »
Our income has averaged around $25k/yr over the last 7 years, with a savings rate of around 50%.

boarder42

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #9 on: June 12, 2017, 08:46:26 AM »
Our income has averaged around $25k/yr over the last 7 years, with a savings rate of around 50%.

this is insanely impressive

YoungGranny

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #10 on: June 12, 2017, 09:13:03 AM »
BTDretire - seems like you had a decent savings rate no matter what! Good luck getting those kids through college and figuring out how to map out your savings as you move to a new chapter :)

boarder42 - yea i assumed mostly higher incomes which is why i tried to break it up a bit - helpful to see people at all tiers. Definitely easier to increase the % when you earn more but also not impossible if you earn less as evident by some BA people on this site!

Fire2025 - that is incredible! Have you ever shared your budget on the forums? I love seeing success stories like this and love to see how people do it when so many people deem it impossible!

inline five - i think most people on this site invest in pretty well performing mutual funds so increasing your savings rate has a direct correlation with FIRE date. I agree with having a nice standard of living but I don't always think the way to improve that is to spend more money :-)

APowers - that is absolutely incredible! Have you shared your expenses on the forums before? I'd love to look it over and see how you do that! Does that include living expenses or are you mortgage free?


joonifloofeefloo

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #11 on: June 12, 2017, 09:24:08 AM »
My income is about $48/k and our family has been spending about $1300/mo (though my newest rent is higher, so will have to see how things play out), two people (one adult, one teen).

I do most of the normal frugal things (don't really buy clothes, don't eat out unless it's cheaper than eating at home, etc). But I also have a car, etc, and a pretty luxurious life overall.

My biggest hack is housing costs. I haven't paid normal housing costs in a looooooong time, and will take pretty strong measures to avoid them. That one piece would make or break things for me.

My whole schtick is laid out in detail in my book, link in my sig :)
« Last Edit: June 12, 2017, 10:20:04 PM by jooniFLORisploo »

pachnik

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2017, 09:27:55 AM »
I make about $55,000 per year gross and save about 1/3 of my net income.   I also do the usual frugal stuff - buying as much secondhand as I can, eating out once a week, inexpensive hobbies like yoga and gardening.  But I do own a car and drive to work since my workplace location isn't transit friendly. 

Fire2025

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2017, 10:12:15 AM »
Fire2025 - that is incredible! Have you ever shared your budget on the forums? I love seeing success stories like this and love to see how people do it when so many people deem it impossible!

I have a journal.  Let the Games Begin.  But I don't update often.  Most of my spending is really automated and I don't do anything that others don't do.  Same stuff, different town.  I was a poor/broke artist most of my life, when I finally got a grown-up job at 42, I luckily found MMM, and became frugal.  No real changes from the days when I was broke, but now I feel free of everything I don't have, instead of feeling deprived.  Funny how one word - Frugal - can change your whole brain.

APowers

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #14 on: June 12, 2017, 12:37:04 PM »
APowers - that is absolutely incredible! Have you shared your expenses on the forums before? I'd love to look it over and see how you do that! Does that include living expenses or are you mortgage free?

I did a whole thread about it here.

It includes all living expenses, and while we're not mortgage free, our mortgage was ~$300/mo until we got it finally paid off. We now have bought another house and are renting the first one out, plus my job situation is different so I'm earning more now than I've ever before. Once our financial situation calms down to a more normal routine, I'm planning on figuring out how to best optimize it again. I expect we'll end up with about a 50% savings rate again.

FIRE Artist

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #15 on: June 12, 2017, 01:36:03 PM »
I'm no longer saving aggressively for retirement so my numbers are significantly different than they were 5 years ago.  My net worth is >$1MM (about $1.4MM CND) and I have downshifted to working in the public sector.   I have mandatory pension contributions which account for the lion's share of my current savings.  Building equity in the house I live in would be the second.  I am now just happily working at a low stress job and building equity in my house while watching my stash appreciate in value until it can replace my current post tax and pension contribution salary.  This should happen organically in about 5 years from now.  Then I will call it quits.  If I need to retire before then for some life altering reason, I will sell my house and move someplace lower cost. 

They weren't kidding when they said invest early and reap the benefits of compounding interest. 

dropspindl

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #16 on: June 12, 2017, 03:07:12 PM »
I'm a nanny in NYC. My take home pay is about $40k and I save over half of it.

How:
-Lots of roomies (but my own room)
-nyc subways mean I don't need a car
-My hobby is a medieval group that is run on volunteers, so costs are really low

HPstache

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #17 on: June 12, 2017, 03:17:54 PM »
Using the formulas contained in this MMM blog post:

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/01/26/calculating-net-worth/

I am saving 37% of my ~$70K income

VolcanicArts

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #18 on: June 12, 2017, 09:27:23 PM »
Right now my income is really good and has been that way for seven years. Unfortunately I had to spend a few years paying down student loans, but I am debt free noe and have a decent nest egg around 200k. I'm also in the process of starting a small side business which I will be putting 100% of profits into investments. Wish me luck. Kudos to the poster who makes 25k and saves 50% that is way more impressive than most.

monstermonster

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #19 on: June 12, 2017, 09:38:43 PM »
Highest I've made was $39,000 and I was consistently at 50% savings rate (some months as high at 65%). I quit my job last fall and am working part time while I start a business. Part time job has me making about ˜$23,000/year gross and saving 14-25% in an average month.

With the cost of self-employed health insurance my savings rate has plummeted on my sub-$25K income (but I'm still happy I can get it at all, I wouldn't be starting a business if it weren't for ACA insurance!)


YoungGranny

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #20 on: June 13, 2017, 06:05:28 AM »
Constantly impressed by all the B.A. people on this site. Kudos to all of you with a high savings rate - it's amazing when you talk to people with a high savings rate they almost never feel deprived yet once you inflate your lifestyle it can feel so much harder to cut back.

boarder42

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #21 on: June 13, 2017, 08:37:07 AM »
the most baffling thing to me is the number of people pulling over 100k who arent saving 50% or more of their income. I'd expect that to be a much lower number there.

wenchsenior

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #22 on: June 13, 2017, 08:47:43 AM »
the most baffling thing to me is the number of people pulling over 100k who arent saving 50% or more of their income. I'd expect that to be a much lower number there.

I had that reaction also, but then I thought very probably those people are latecomers to MMM who are paying down debt.

rockstache

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #23 on: June 13, 2017, 08:59:40 AM »
the most baffling thing to me is the number of people pulling over 100k who arent saving 50% or more of their income. I'd expect that to be a much lower number there.

I had that reaction also, but then I thought very probably those people are latecomers to MMM who are paying down debt.

Also the poll doesn't really account for how many people are being taken care of on that income. One parent working, one staying at home with 6 kids? 50% might be tough.

joonifloofeefloo

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #24 on: June 13, 2017, 09:02:38 AM »
^ Yes. I went back and bolded that mine was for two people.

NESailor

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #25 on: June 13, 2017, 10:37:26 AM »
the most baffling thing to me is the number of people pulling over 100k who arent saving 50% or more of their income. I'd expect that to be a much lower number there.

I had that reaction also, but then I thought very probably those people are latecomers to MMM who are paying down debt.

I'm in there at the moment.  But honestly, it's entirely possible I'll save more than 50% this year but I didn't want to mis-represent our situation.  Last year we made about 115K as a family.  To allow for 2 jobs this required 2 kids in paid daycare, 2 cars, etc.   With a lot of effort we probably could have done better but it would have cost us happiness, which we would not want to sacrifice.  Anyway, we probably saved about 50K-ish.  The rest was living expenses and taxes.

Going into this year we increased our pay quite significantly (about 40K+ gross) and one of our kids is aging into UPK (publicly funded pre-school...with RE taxes we pay anyway).  Depending on how much of this raise will be eaten up by taxes, we will probably get over the 50% threshold since we don't plan to inflate our lifestyle.

dropspindl

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #26 on: June 13, 2017, 10:46:41 AM »
Here's a breakdown of my spending for the past 30 days:

Details: Living in NYC, have 3-4 apartment mates

Rent:         
  $740

Food (which includes a snack box subscription that I signed up for introductory box and then forgot to cancel, and a delivery order on Seamless):
 $197

Subway Pass:
 $121

3 YEAR membership renewal to a medieval group I participate in (SCA):
 $90

Shared Utilities and Home Items: 
 $58

Cell Phone service (which should be $25 but I forgot to downgrade):
 $35

Netflix:
 $13

Student Loan that I should just pay off already (Have money, dislike calling beauracratic places):
 $55

Two Uber/ Lyft Trips when the L train shut down and I was too lazy to walk to a different subway line:
 $61

Shopping (charger cord, Kindle book, paintbrush, makeup, etc):
$50

Monthly donation to the Against Malaria Foundation
$33

TOTAL:
$1452



« Last Edit: June 13, 2017, 11:45:27 AM by dropspindl »

YoungGranny

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #27 on: June 13, 2017, 10:47:46 AM »
I did expect there to be more people over 50% at $100k but I also think there's a lot of high income earners that come to this site to start making changes. I bet people in the middle of their journey check in on the forum more often than people who have everything on auto-pilot. Also, like others mentioned a bias depending on how many people your income is supporting and likely somewhat of a bias on different cost of living areas although many people on this thread proved you can still save in a HCOL!

YoungGranny

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #28 on: June 13, 2017, 10:49:48 AM »
Here's a breakdown of my spending for the past 30 days:

Details: Living in NYC, have 3-4 apartment mates

Rent:         
  $740
Shared Utilities and Home Items: 
 $58
Two Uber/ Lyft Trips when the L train shut down and I was too lazy to walk to a different subway line:
$61

What about groceries or restaurants? Is that just included in home items. Awesome rental price for NYC though - having roommates is one of the most efficient ways to save money that many people refuse to try.

dropspindl

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #29 on: June 13, 2017, 10:56:22 AM »
Here's a breakdown of my spending for the past 30 days:

Details: Living in NYC, have 3-4 apartment mates

Rent:         
  $740
Shared Utilities and Home Items: 
 $58
Two Uber/ Lyft Trips when the L train shut down and I was too lazy to walk to a different subway line:
$61

What about groceries or restaurants? Is that just included in home items. Awesome rental price for NYC though - having roommates is one of the most efficient ways to save money that many people refuse to try.

I accidentally posted before I was done typing :P. It's fixed now!

YoungGranny

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #30 on: June 13, 2017, 11:00:16 AM »
Here's a breakdown of my spending for the past 30 days:

Details: Living in NYC, have 3-4 apartment mates

Rent:         
  $740
Shared Utilities and Home Items: 
 $58
Two Uber/ Lyft Trips when the L train shut down and I was too lazy to walk to a different subway line:
$61

What about groceries or restaurants? Is that just included in home items. Awesome rental price for NYC though - having roommates is one of the most efficient ways to save money that many people refuse to try.

I accidentally posted before I was done typing :P. It's fixed now!

Thanks for sharing! This is really, really helpful information to have. It seems like housing, transportation, and food costs can truly make or break a budget. Plus, cheap hobbies are a win. $90 for 3 years is a small price to pay. Plus you still found room in your budget to donate which is awesome!

VoteCthulu

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #31 on: June 13, 2017, 11:09:04 AM »
I did expect there to be more people over 50% at $100k but I also think there's a lot of high income earners that come to this site to start making changes. I bet people in the middle of their journey check in on the forum more often than people who have everything on auto-pilot.
I consider myself on autopilot as I glide to my final number before pulling the cord, and I try to use the forum instead of tinkering with my accounts based on the hot news of the day.

I am a bit surprised at 11 people making $100k+ with less than 20% savings rate. Perhaps some retired folk with millions in investments or new Mustachians just starting out.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2017, 11:13:00 AM by VoteCthulu »

dropspindl

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #32 on: June 13, 2017, 11:20:49 AM »
Thanks!

The $90 SCA membership doesn't include ALL the SCA fees, just the membership fee. I still pay about $20 per event (which includes food, mead and ale, and occasionally overnight accomodation, so is still a WONDERFUL deal), and also spend money on project materials like paint and wool. I also pay people gas money to give me rides (when they'll accept it) and buy nicer-food-than-usual when we gather (which usually includes semi potluck).

For donating, I think we often forget exactly how rich we are when we compare it to the world. If you net $40k or more, you are in the top 2% worldwide, even adjusting for Purchasing Power Parity. As a member of the planetary wealthy elite I am happy to donate. I am also happy knowing HOW MUCH GOOD can be done with my money when it is given to some of the most effective charities such as the Against Malaria Foundation, the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, or Give Directly. In places where the average person only makes $600/year (adjusted for PPP), relatively small amounts of money can go very far.

(SCA and effective giving are two things I'm passionate about :) )

You can find out how rich you really are on this calculator: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved/how-rich-am-i/

StarBright

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #33 on: June 13, 2017, 11:28:19 AM »
the most baffling thing to me is the number of people pulling over 100k who arent saving 50% or more of their income. I'd expect that to be a much lower number there.

I had that reaction also, but then I thought very probably those people are latecomers to MMM who are paying down debt.

Also the poll doesn't really account for how many people are being taken care of on that income. One parent working, one staying at home with 6 kids? 50% might be tough.

Yeah - my immediate assumption on this was two working parents and kids in full time childcare. But any configuration of working parents and more than 1 child have that number making a lot of sense to me (and is the personal reason why my family REALLY struggles to hit 50%).

marielle

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #34 on: June 13, 2017, 11:51:30 AM »
60k income, looks like the first year of working I'll save a little over 50%, but I had some expenses that shouldn't repeat again. I bought a good bit of furniture (used), a mattress, a brand new bike, and caught up on some much needed preventative maintenance for the car. Possibly up to $5000 that I won't be spending again in the 2nd year of working.

I did live with a roommate, paid about $575 a month after utilities but currently looking at a roommate situation a LOT closer to work for only $400 a month. I may have a bit of an interesting budget if everything works out! Sub $1000 average monthly spending should be very doable after I move.

Bumperpuff

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #35 on: June 13, 2017, 12:54:25 PM »
I'm earning $62K while living in Alaska.  My voluntary savings rate is 60% and my controllable. If I'm including involuntary savings and employer contributions I'm about 70% of gross income (not including health benefits).  My total living expenses run between $17k and $19K per year, not including income taxes and other non-voluntary paycheck deductions.

CorpRaider

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #36 on: June 13, 2017, 01:18:53 PM »
I need to step it up.

VolcanicArts

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #37 on: June 13, 2017, 01:22:37 PM »
the most baffling thing to me is the number of people pulling over 100k who arent saving 50% or more of their income. I'd expect that to be a much lower number there.

I had that reaction also, but then I thought very probably those people are latecomers to MMM who are paying down debt.

I think most likely a lot of that group are professionals who are grappling with high amounts of debt from their schooling. I think if they were Mustachians with no debt then they would be in at least the 40% savings rate range. When I was grappling with student loans my savings rate was a lot less than 50% where it is now. I plan to do a gradual jump to 60% once my side business is up and running in the next 3 months.

NESailor

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #38 on: June 13, 2017, 02:17:37 PM »
the most baffling thing to me is the number of people pulling over 100k who arent saving 50% or more of their income. I'd expect that to be a much lower number there.

I had that reaction also, but then I thought very probably those people are latecomers to MMM who are paying down debt.

I think most likely a lot of that group are professionals who are grappling with high amounts of debt from their schooling. I think if they were Mustachians with no debt then they would be in at least the 40% savings rate range. When I was grappling with student loans my savings rate was a lot less than 50% where it is now. I plan to do a gradual jump to 60% once my side business is up and running in the next 3 months.

A couple people including me brought up the kids / # of dependents situation.  100K household income with 2 earners and 2 kids is not a whole lot in many areas.  Daycare & housing will easily cost you 30%, taxes another 15% and you've still got to eat and so on...  Not hard to spend more than 50% of 100K on non-negotiable "fixed" costs.

Of course things get much easier once the 100+ income gets farther away from the bottom end of that range.  We are approaching 160K this year and our "fixed" costs will remain around 60K all in so we should be able to save more than half.

Very impressive numbers all around, though.  Especially from the lower ends and in HCOL areas!  Good job everyone!

BTDretire

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #39 on: June 13, 2017, 03:33:10 PM »
I did expect there to be more people over 50% at $100k but I also think there's a lot of high income earners that come to this site to start making changes.

  I have a different take, I think there are a lot of readers that have not really embraced the "full on, hard core" 35% to 50% savings rate that a "full on, hard core mustachian" would think is the way to go about FIRE.
  The full on, hard core mustachian saving rate is not for everyone, but just getting people to save 20% will certainly make a difference in their lives. And maybe next year something will click.

PoutineLover

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #40 on: June 13, 2017, 03:44:21 PM »
I'm at about 40k gross, ~30% savings of net income. I want to increase my income to save more, because I've optimized as much as I can without sacrificing my quality of life too much. Luckily I live in a relatively inexpensive large city, and I have a good deal on rent to live alone, for me the benefit of not having roommates outweighs the potential 200 or so in savings. I know I could cut back on some entertainment and travel but the trade-off isn't worth it for me. Actively looking for a new job, so hopefully I'll move up a bracket in the survey soon!

Raenia

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #41 on: June 13, 2017, 04:15:11 PM »
I just squeaked into the 50-75k/50%+ category.  Last year I grossed ~56k, and my savings rate hovers around 55%.  That's supporting just one person, though.  Hoping to pull that up to 60% this year, but I'm not quite on track for that so far.

SpareChange

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #42 on: June 13, 2017, 06:42:47 PM »
On pace to make 85-90k this year, and so far saving 75% of net.

lexde

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #43 on: June 13, 2017, 06:45:50 PM »
65K/55% net

WYOGO

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #44 on: June 13, 2017, 07:28:08 PM »
Funny how greater than 30% of the poll is 100K or more with greater than 50% savings yet not one comment from this group. Scarcely anything from anyone cresting 100K at all which is greater than 50% of all participants. Interesting.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2017, 07:29:52 PM by WYOGO »

DaKini

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #45 on: June 14, 2017, 03:36:10 AM »
Funny how greater than 30% of the poll is 100K or more with greater than 50% savings yet not one comment from this group. Scarcely anything from anyone cresting 100K at all which is greater than 50% of all participants. Interesting.
They just have no time to reply because fire is approaching so fast ;)

With 100k gross income i would save about 70% net easily. I would fire in 3 years or so.
Sadly i am way more down (60k € gross) but currently feed a family of four, so still doing great in my opinion.

YoungGranny

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #46 on: June 14, 2017, 06:01:40 AM »
Well I created this poll and am one of the 100+ 50%+ people so I'm replying at least lol. I think a lot of us don't have much to add. Personally since I don't have kids yet I feel as though it would be hard for me to not save that much. I don't even necessarily feel like a super frugal b.a. because my life is easy and full of luxury. One of the reasons I created this poll because I want to be able to give advice to people in lower salary ranges on my podcast without coming across as super out-of-touch - figured absorbing other peoples stories is one strong way I can try to do that.

Mmm_Donuts

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #47 on: June 14, 2017, 06:44:14 AM »
I'm on the lower income scale here, but am working PT and semi FIREd. I don't really know my savings rate yet, because I just went back to working PT and am not sure what I'll make this year. Aiming to set aside 50%, but some of this could be for future spending. I like having a lot of EF padding in case I go through long periods without work.

rockstache

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #48 on: June 14, 2017, 07:07:11 AM »
Well I created this poll and am one of the 100+ 50%+ people so I'm replying at least lol. I think a lot of us don't have much to add. Personally since I don't have kids yet I feel as though it would be hard for me to not save that much. I don't even necessarily feel like a super frugal b.a. because my life is easy and full of luxury. One of the reasons I created this poll because I want to be able to give advice to people in lower salary ranges on my podcast without coming across as super out-of-touch - figured absorbing other peoples stories is one strong way I can try to do that.

I am one and also don't have much to say about it. We're DINKs, so that makes it easier, although I don't know if we will remain so, and if we have a kid, I may quit working, which would push the FIRE date out significantly. Since we don't know our future plans, we just stash away while also trying to enjoy life. We do save a lot, but we don't have super low spending.

StarBright

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Re: What's your income level and savings rate?
« Reply #49 on: June 14, 2017, 07:21:46 AM »
Well I created this poll and am one of the 100+ 50%+ people so I'm replying at least lol. I think a lot of us don't have much to add. Personally since I don't have kids yet I feel as though it would be hard for me to not save that much. I don't even necessarily feel like a super frugal b.a. because my life is easy and full of luxury. One of the reasons I created this poll because I want to be able to give advice to people in lower salary ranges on my podcast without coming across as super out-of-touch - figured absorbing other peoples stories is one strong way I can try to do that.

If DH and I were living as individuals we'd both be 50k-75k and saving between 20%-50%. Together we are 100+ but still saving between 20% and 50% - the combined power of having someone to split expenses with is effectively wiped out by two kids in full time childcare.

Last year we came in at the high end of the range for savings though (somewhere in the 40% range)  - I'm happy to PM you the budget/spending if you want.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!